THE GROOVE BOOK REPORT

Rosie and Don are back with one last project. And this time it’ll require a father–son heart-to-heart. Don and Rosie’s eleven-year-old son Hudson is having difficulties at school: he’s socially awkward and not fitting in. Don’s spent a lifetime trying to fit in—so who better to teach Hudson the skills he needs?  With Don’s expertise in social problem solving (remember the wife project? Success!) and a little help from an amazing cast of friends, old and new, Don and Rosie will tackle what might be their biggest project yet—with suprising results.  And in true Melbourne spirit, ha ha, Don has big plans to open the world’s best cocktail bar... The finale to the Australian series loved around the world is bound to make you laugh, think and maybe even shed a tear.  And there's a website:  https://www.therosieresult.com.au

Lowering the tone somewhat, this is laid-back Kiwi humour at its best and will have you laughing out loud and cringing in recognition at the same time. Based on the hugely popular Facebook page 'Shit Towns of New Zealand' (pardon our French), this book describes New Zealand's towns and suburbs from the affluent to the effluent, the rural to the urinal, profiling all the best places not to visit, or heaven forbid, live. Slagging off our towns is as much a national pastime as binge drinking and ball sports. Ever since a Dutch bloke in a sailboat did a drive-by and claimed to have discovered the place, New Zealanders have revelled in taking the mickey. The towns and cities reviewed here have been carefully selected using an exacting set of scientific criteria, combined with extensive field research and a healthy sense of humour. 'Offensive.' Todd McClay, Rotorua MP 'Pretty funny.' Frankie Stevens, National Treasure Under New Zealand law, for...

Mary Oliver, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose work, with its plain language and minute attention to the natural world, drew a wide following while dividing critics, died on Thursday at her home in Florida. She was 83. Her literary executor, Bill Reichblum, confirmed the death. Oliver had been treated for lymphoma, which was first diagnosed in 2015. A prolific writer with more than 20 volumes of verse to her credit,  She received a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for her collection American Primitive , published by Little, Brown & Company. She won a National Book Award in 1992 for New and Selected Poems , published by Beacon Press. Oliver, whose work appeared often in The New Yorker and other magazines, was a phenomenon: a poet whose work sold strongly. Her books frequently appeared on the best-seller list of the Poetry Foundation. Her poems, which are built of unadorned language and accessible imagery, have a pedagogical, almost homiletic quality. It was this, combined w...

I first saw Mary read from the wonderful little collect back in October last year as part of Randell Cottage's Open Day.  She chose a couple of neat little poems including Things They Don't Tell You On Food TV .  That poem was my favourite.  It has these lines: Snapping of the ends of beans like lips popping, a pork cookbook is the best place to find that picture of you and your mum and later in Stokes Valley with an Italian and dawn brings porridge and bells, at the end of a long day in the city there's nothing better than tomato and oregano and garlic walking you up the path and the eldest son at the beach grating cheese, no better rice than his brothers' And on it goes.  Yogurt and warm bread, lemons and pasta.  Dad says it reminds him of when he worked in Italy and Greece.  Every day events in kitchens and houses.  The best food is in Mum and Dad's kitchen.  Dad's pizza, made by hand and cooked on an old concrete block in the...

At the Groove Book Report we get all sorts of samples to read.  These books came via a digital service but can be purchased in hard copy and through apps such as Kindle (which is how we read them).  Below is the first of a series of 'catchups' - books I saved to read over the summer holidays.  Once again thank you to all the wonderful publishers who have supported the Groove Book Report.  Here are my reviews: Cane, by Jean Toomer. (Penguin Classics) In 1923, noted Harlem Renaissance author Jean Toomer published Cane , the single, slender novel upon which his reputation rests. He shared the stage with poets like Langston Hughes, revolutionaries of the time, who led "The New Negro Movement" of the 1920's. The novel is structured as a series of vignettes revolving around the origins and experiences of African Americans in the United States. The vignettes alternate in structure between narrative prose, poetry, and play-like passages of dialogue. It tells of ...

There’s something ghoulish in our collective fascination when we are presented with a child-killer. It upsets the natural order of things – children are meant to be innocent, full of light and happiness – not given over to dark and uncontrollable rages, let alone take another life. Think of the fear and paranoia surrounding Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, or closer to home – Juliet Hume and Pauline Parker. We’re equally fascinated and revolted by these under-age murderers. And, the obsession doesn’t just stop once justice is meted out. We follow their journey into adulthood and beyond. Knowing that they will one day be released back into society, under a new name, gives us chills. Juliet Hume was living under a new name, Anne Perry, in a remote Scottish village, when her identity was uncovered. Her quiet, unassuming life was upended by a crime she committed over 40 years earlier. She had done everything asked of her upon release, was a devout Mormon and a successful crime novel...