A Back Country Miscellany
Brian Turner
Into the Wider World: A Back Country Miscellany
What he says under his breath when someone says he's been wasting his time, "You Calvinist cretin, you dreary, self-opinionated, unworldly twat." and he opines, "They do not mean that I have been doing nothing.....They mean that I have been doing things they are not interested in."
Brian Turner is a keen fisherman (which is what I think he had been doing when accused as above), hunter, cyclist, climber and conservationist as well as being a respected and well known author and poet. This is a book to cherish and dip into again and again. It features beautiful photography by Grahame Sydney and Gilbert van Reenan and a fascinating selection of essays and poetry about the back country.
"..you have to accept that millions of sandflies are intent on unceasing intimate relations with any and every piece of you that you are foolish enough to bare."
Ngai Tahu
Rawiri Te Maire Tau
Nga Pikituroa o Ngai Tahu / The Oral Traditions of Ngai Tahu
In this book, Tau examines the waiata, karakia, whakapapa (songs, chants & genealogies, for those who don't know), myths, rituals, traditions and place names of Ngai Tahu. He addresses the question of what is myth and what history. He looks at the differences between the traditions and beliefs of Ngai Tahu and other tribes.
Ths is not meant to be a history of Ngai Tahu; rather it is a fascinating investigation into how, why and by whom the tribe's traditions were formed and how much the oral traditions can tell us about Ngai Tahu's past.
Chinese Poetry
Translations from the Chinese
by Arthur Waley & Illustrated by Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge
Chinese traditional poetry has a strict form: a fixed number of syllables per line and rhyming is obligatory.
By Yang-ti (AD 605-617), Emperor of the Sui dynasty
WInter Night
My bed is so empty that I keep on waking up;
As the cold increases, the night-wind begins to blow,
It rustles the curtains, making a noise like the sea:
Oh that those were waves which could carry me back to you!
Science
Roger Penrose's
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe
As you might guess from the title, this is a comprehensive account of the physical universe and its underlying mathematical theory. You apparently need no special scientific or mathematical knowledge to read it! I am not convinced.
I glanced inside at the index and caught sight of complex-number calculus, Fourier hyperfunctions, manifolds of n dimensions, fibre bundles, Minkowskian geometry, Lagrangian formalism, quantum field theory, supra-dimensionality, and Schrodinger-Newton states. At that point I was pretty convinced that you needed slightly more knowledge of science and maths than I posses. I gave it one more chance and opened the book at random. The equations that confronted me cemented my first impression.
YOu are no doubt more au fait with maths and science than I am. Come on in and get a copy. The book has had superb reviews and, by all accounts, Penrose conveys a feeling for the deep beauty and philosophical implications of our universe. Maybe you can explain it all to me!
Jean-Paul Sartre
Words
by Jean-Paul Sartre
I am not even going to try and write about the above book as the blurb on the back says it far better than I ever could. I shall plagiarise.
"Reminiscences of a precocious childhood spent within the confines of French provincialism before the First World War. After his father's early death, Sartre was brought up at his grandfather's home in a world even then 80 years out of date. In Words he recalls his illusion-ridden childhood - dominated by a false conception of life, ideas and literature - and considers its effect on his work. Essential background to the philosophy of one of the world's profoundest thinkers, this self-analysis is also a brilliant study in child psychology and a witty, lucid story that will delight all those who have previously found Sartre over-complex."{
Bluff Oyster Season
Celebrate by going out for a feed or having a take-away of battered Bluff oysters and chips - one of the greatest meals you can have.
You could also celebrate the arrival of these lovely bivalve molluscs by coming in to the shop and buying a book on 50 ways to prepare them. Then you can enjoy them in a different style nearly every night of the season.
Katherine Mansfield Short Stories
The Garden Party: Katherine Mansfield's New Zealand Short Stories
This is an Illustrated edition of Katherine Mansfield's short stories. It is published by Century Hutchinson and is a lovely volume with patterned red cloth boards and an illustrated title label on the front board.
Among the artists represented are Christopher Perkins, Raymond McIntyre, Rhona Haszard, Maud SHerwood, Thomas Ryan and lots of paintings by the marvelous Frances Hodgkins. Each story has its own painting plus a lovely flower illustration.
Stories include How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped, The Stranger, The Canary, The Voyage and another 12 stories.
The joy of Italy
Many people daydream about a new life in Italy: it's something to do with the food, the wine, the people and the way of life. There have been numerous books written by people who have actually upped sticks and started a new life. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and several others of that ilk spring to mind.
Italian Joy by Carla Coulson is one of these books. She's an Australian who gave up a Sydney flat, a designer wardrobe and a successful business to move to Italy, where she fell in love with the Italian approach to everything. The book shines with her love of Italian food, cooking, wine, customs, family, markets, men, women, and even their driving!
If you don't want to move to Italy yourself by the time you get halfway through, I'll be surprised. Coulson is a photographer (she trained in Italy while learning the language) and the book is generously illustrated throughout.
