THE GROOVE BOOK REPORT

Library services returned to central Wellington today with the opening of a new combined pop-up library and Council Service Centre at 12 Manners Street. Mayor Justin Lester officially opened Arapaki Manners Library and Service Centre at a small ceremony, before the service opened to the public at 9am. “Manners Street is a great location for the first in our network of replacement library services for the CBD, and a welcoming new space for our service centre customers. At Arapaki, Wellingtonians can browse and borrow items, read papers and magazines and even pay their rates or register their dog all in one place,” Mayor Lester says. Arapaki has roughly 7500 items on the shelves. These include a small children’s collection and a range of fiction, non-fiction and AV items. Library staff are available to answer questions, process library payments, register new customers, and provide support and advice on the wide range of online content available through the eLibrary. Free wi-fi, ...

Our youngest reviewer has a fick through an intriguing story about a determined and stubborn cat.  Based on a true story. When we moved house a few years ago (before I was born), our cat Barney disappeared for 2 days.  We think he may have tried to find his way home.  We were getting worried and were out at all hours rattling biscuit boxes and calling for him.  But fortunately, he found his way back to his bowl and blanket at his new house.  I've read other stories about cats that walk miles and miles to get back to their old house.  This is one of those.  It's about Dwayne, a high country cat, who really doesn't want to leave his beloved farm.  And when he's 'shipped up country', he takes matters into his own hands. It says in the 'blurb' from the 'Penguins' (Penguin Random House Publishers) that The Cat From Muzzle is a true story.  Apparently, Dwayne really did embark on this epic, five-week journey back his old home in New Zeala...

For anyone who loves cats, dogs (or both!), James Patterson's most 'pawsome' story ever is set in a society defined by the oldest rivalry in the world: katts versus doggs!  Our youngest reviewer, Kate stayed up late to finish this one for you. (Ahem. Kate! Bed!) (Ummm.  Sorry Dad).  Ok, folks, here we go... Oscar is a happy dogg---a rambunctious kid who loves being a Dogg Scout. He loves every one, except katts.  Thanks to his family, he knows that snobby katts are good for nothing but chasing up trees. Molly is a pretty, clever katt who just knows she's destined for fame and fortune as an actress. She comes from a family of well-bred katts who despise drooly, disgusting doggs! For their whole lives, Oscar and Molly have been told that katts and dogs hate each other. One day, they each get hopelessly lost in the woods, but those lifelong prejudices flare up when they cross paths. Slowly, they realize that the only way to survive and find their way home is t...

In his entertaining and insightful new novel Marshall both skewers and celebrates small-town New Zealand. The CoffeeBar Kid reads closer. We've all heard it - that saying - 'pride goes before the fall', or words to that effect.  It's a universal theme.  One that Kiwi writer, and good Southern Bloke,   Owen Marshall has taken for his character Pat (Pearly) Gates.  On the surface, Pearly shouldn't have much to complain about.  Happily married, two kids - all grown-up.  His daughter's making great strides, career-wise.  His son is not in jail.  Pearly was a top rugby player with Otago, destined to be a All Black, had it not been for a serious knee injury.  Still, he's managed to carve out an alternative career as a real estate agents, and he's also mayor his local town (which is about the same size as Timaru or Ashburton).  He's on his second term and everything's looking optimistic for re-election.  He's even got ...

YOUR GUIDE TO THE FESTIVAL WEEKEND Are you ready to immerse yourself in a weekend of books, writers, conversations, laughter and ideas? More than 230 writers from all over the world have gathered here in Auckland and will be appearing in events for all ages across the weekend. There is something for everyone - from morning until night We can't wait to welcome you. Here are a few ideas to whet your appetite; see you there! Check out the full programme online View the programme ebook PERFORMANCE FICTION POLITICS AND CURRENT EVENTS  DEAD PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN: SHAYNE CARTER   POETS SHOWCASE: TEND II HERE WITH THANKS TO OUR MAJOR FESTIVAL PARTNERS:                            ...

The new children's book from No. 1 bestselling author David Walliams - a deliciously daft tall story of a child who had everything, but still wanted more. Illustrated by artistic genius, Tony Ross. Meet the Meeks! Myrtle Meek has everything she could possibly want. But everything isn't enough. She wants more, more, MORE! When Myrtle declares she wants a FING, there's only one problem... What is a FING? Mr and Mrs Meek will do anything to keep their darling daughter happy, even visit the spooky library vaults to delve into the dusty pages of the mysterious Monsterpedia. Although the flamboyant Britain’s Got Talent judge frequently pushes the boundarieswith his tales full of wildly exaggerated stereotypes, somehow they work — youngsters just can’t get enough of them. A new David Walliams book is always a big event in my house, with my daughter rejecting all others to read it as soon as possible. For the past decade, 45-year-old Walliams has dominated the kids’ bo...

This was published by Auckland University Press Today: "It is with sadness that we have learned that art historian, curator and author Roger Blackley has died. Working with him on his book Galleries of Maoriland was immensely satisfying for us at the Press and experiencing the combination of his expertise, authentic passion for art, and of course, his great sense of humour over that time was a real treat. A true scholar, his best-selling book and the accompanying exhibition 'Goldie' in 1997 was a seminal moment in the study and reconsideration of colonial-era artists. He will be greatly missed." Roger Blackley is an associate professor in art history at Victoria University of Wellington. From 1983 to 1998 he was the curator of historical New Zealand art at Auckland Art Gallery. He is the author of a number of books, including the bestselling Goldie (Auckland Art Gallery/David Bateman, 1997). Lindauer and Goldie, the Dominion Museum and the Polynesian S...

Georgina Young Melbourne writer Georgina Young has been chosen from almost 300 entrants for the $10,000 Text Prize for her YA novel Loner . Loner is a humorous and heartfelt exploration of new adulthood. Presented in a series of irreverent episodes that brim with linguistic playfulness and warmth, Loner announces Georgina Young as a powerful new Australian voice. On winning the Text Prize, Georgina said, ‘While continuing to disbelieve in fate and fortune, I count my ordinary, unlucky stars to have heard word of the Text Prize at exactly the moment I had a manuscript to submit. I have always deeply admired (and, as a reader, benefited from) Text’s commitment to young adult literature, and I am thrilled and honored to be working with them to publish my book.’ Publisher Michael Heyward said, ‘We can’t wait to publish this clever, funny and hugely readable story about a young woman juggling the unexpected demands of friendship, family and romance.’ Awarded annually, the Text ...

ACORN FOUNDATION FICTION PRIZE This Mortal Boy Published by: Vintage, Penguin Random House Fiona Kidman In This Mortal Boy Fiona Kidman has written an intensely human and empathetic story, recreating the events leading to the real life hanging of “jukebox killer” Paddy Black at Mount Eden prison in 1955. With seeming effortlessness, she pulls the reader into mid-century New Zealand – the restlessness of a new urban youth culture, the moral panic that led to the Mazengarb report, the damning assumptions of the legal profession and the unchallenged omissions that eased the pathway to a young man’s death. Kidman draws her characters deftly, alternating between the bravado and vulnerability of Auckland’s young bodgie culture and the desperation of a poor and dis-empowered family in Ireland. The result is moving, memorable, authentic and urgently relevant to our times. MARY AND PETER BIGGS AWARD FOR POETRY Are Friends Electric? Published by: Victoria University...