Feb 10: Books for all tastes

Memoir ...

Then Again, A Memoir

by Diane Keaton

HarperCollins, $40

Keaton the  award-winning actress, I love; Keaton the author, I'm less enthused about. She writes well but this is an unusual book as  it contains letters she writes to her dead parents.

She's a self-confessed neurotic,  and there is a  plaintive note to her tales. Romances with Woody Allen, Warren Beatty and Al Pacino ended badly for her. She realises that, approaching 50, she's a "single, white female" and childless. So she adopts two children. To her credit,  she doesn't dish the dirt on  her famous friends. There's no malice in her.

I wholeheartedly agree with this observation of hers: "Comedy is invariably relegated to  second cousin to drama. Why? Humour helps us get through life with a modicum of grace."

- Graeme Barrow

Kids ...

Two Little Bugs

by Mark and Rowan Sommerset

Dreamboat, $29.99

This  cute hardcover book is the second by the  New Zealand  couple.  The first, Baa Baa Smart Sheep, won the Children's Choice  section at the NZ Post Children's Book Awards.

Their latest  little beauty is full of surprises. It's the story of two bugs on a leaf, one on top and one underneath. It is told in rhyme with cleverly positioned peepholes to give both sides of the story.

One bug wants to come out from underneath the leaf, while the other is  interested only in  chomping his way through it. Lovely story with a message of new beginnings.

- Linda Hall

Thriller ...

The Water Treatment

by Steven Radich,  $29.95

This self-published novel is a fictionalised account of the mysterious disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on New Year's Eve, 1997. They were on board a yacht in the Marlborough Sounds and then  were never seen again. Scott Watson was somewhat controversially convicted of their murder, but we have not heard the last of this mystery.

The book is  too long. It has its moments, but doesn't really convince. The author, in his prologue, writes that he hopes the family and friends of the people involved in this tragic mystery will not take umbrage at the way he has portrayed the events. I think he's being optimistic.

- Graeme Barrow