Top picks: The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie, Don Binney Flight Path by Gregory O' Brien and Flora edited by Carlos Lehnebach et al.
Top picks: The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie, Don Binney Flight Path by Gregory O' Brien and Flora edited by Carlos Lehnebach et al.
The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary
by Sarah Ogilvie (Chatto & Windus)
A fascinating tracking-down by an Australian-born lexicographer of the diligent souls all over the globe – including some in this country – who offered their word suggestions to those compiling the firstOxford English Dictionary.
Don Binney: Flight Path
by Gregory O’Brien (AUP)
Despite his work, often stylised depictions of birds, being some of the nation’s most recognisable artistic images, there has been no full-length monograph devoted to Don Binney. This has been remedied by this handsome and insightful 400-page, large-format hardback on his life and work, using much previously unreleased material, by one of the country’s best art writers.
Flora: Celebrating Our Botanical World
edited by Carlos Lehnebach et al (Te Papa Press)
Mammoth, sumptuous celebration of the relationships between people and plants as revealed through Te Papa’s collections, sourcing botany, art, Māori and Pacific culture, design and photography.
Gordon Walters by Francis Pound, Jenny McLeod - A Life in Music by Norman Meehan and Shakespeare was a Woman and Other Heresies by Elizabeth Winkler.
Gordon Walters
by Francis Pound (AUP)
Magisterial account of the New Zealand painter’s work and unfolding artistic imagination and struggle for perfection, by the late critic, complete with hundreds of fantastically rendered images.
by Norman Meehan (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Vivid and beautifully constructed bio of one of our most brilliant and unpredictable composers captures her voice, with the help of her writings and interviews.
Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies
by Elizabeth Winkler (S&S)
Witty and illuminating investigation probing the limits of biography and scholarship of the claim through history that Shakespeare might not be author of the plays and why the very question has become taboo in literary circles.
Be in to win 10 books
For a chance to be the lucky winner of 10 books, email your name and address to listenergiveaways@aremedia.co.nz with ‘Best Books’ in the subject line by midday on December 1. We’ll be running The Year in Books throughout the next week so look out for hot picks for lovers of fiction and non-fiction stories alike.
The 100 Best Books was compiled with the invaluable assistance of Chris Baskett, Helena Brow, Catherine Chidgey, Sue Copsey, Kiran Dass, Nik Dirga, Greg Dixon, Elisabeth Easther, Brigid Feehan, Charlotte Grimshaw, Kirsty Gunn, Linda Herrick, David Hill, Stephanie Johnson, Anne Kennedy, Elizabeth Kerr, Rachael King, Graeme Lay, Eileen Merriman, Chris Moore, Kelly Ana Morey, Emma Neale, Jenny Nicholls, Jeremy Rees, Sue Reidy, Catherine Robertson, Anna Rogers, Josie Shapiro, Tina Shaw, Craig Sisterson, Elizabeth Smither, Gill South, Rebecca Styles, Fiona Sussman, Andrew Paul Wood and others.
