The premise of Richard C. Morais' Buddhaland Brooklyn is that an apparent fish-out-of-water can eventually find, and adjust to, its new pond. Morais takes rather a long time to get there, but he makes it.

Nicky Pellegrino finds the tale of a diary washed ashore intriguing and compelling.

C.K. Stead’s remarkable new collection of poems, The Yellow Buoy: Poems 2007-2012, was completed in his 80th year.

The book I love most is ...

Stephenie Meyer was a Mormon housewife when her novel about vampires spawned a billion-dollar industry. But fame scares her, she tells Chris Ayres

Crime writer Harlan Coben still enjoys confusing his readers, writes Stephen Jewell

The thing I love most about Maggie O’Farrell’s writing is the way she colours in her characters.

Set in Japan and on an island off the Pacific coast of Canada following the Japanese tsunami, A Tale For The Time Being has two narrators, Japanese Nao and American/Japanese Ruth, who are worlds apart yet eerily connected.

Katy Perry has denied rumours that she is planning to write a book about her relationship with Russell Brand.

Emma Watson continues to be the subject of speculation she will star in the big screen adaptation of erotica novel Fifty Shades of Grey.

Nicky Pellegrino finds she wants 'something else' from a writer she admires.

The book I love the most is ...

Being praised by, among many others, Daniel Woodrell — the author of the bleak Winter’s Bone, which was made into a suitably monochromatic and emotionally grim feature film — shows where Ron Rash’s fiction lies on the graph.

Book clubs, commuters and celebrities have gone wild for Gone Girl, the smash-hit thriller that has Hollywood in a spin. Tim Walker talks to author Gillian Flynn about being this year’s literary sensation

My happy place is my home in central Auckland. I travel quite a lot. Last year I went to Europe a couple of times and the States a couple of times and I had a few other trips - but part of the reason I love to travel is that I get to come home afterwards.

Six years ago, Sarah O’Neil was unhappy, unwell and living on one of Auckland’s busiest roads. Now she’s happily feeding her family all year round from her large rural garden south of Auckland. Greg Dixon talks to her about fleeing the city and about livi

British author Deborah Moggach returns to the rickety hotel setting that earned her big box-office success, writes Stephen Jewell

Parents are wasting money spending a fortune on books when a small selection of favourites can achieve far better results.

A story that lets its heroine rework her life holds Nicky Pellegrino spellbound.