New talking books

Biographies

All Blacks don't cry: a story of hope by John Kirwan with Margie Thomson. , N.Z.: Penguin, 2010. A prominent and revered figure the author seemed to live a charmed life. Nobody knew that behind closed doors 'JK' was living a life of tormented fear. Afflicted with depression he was able to survive by reaching out for help. His story of hope, of working through the pain and living a full life, is a poignant, inspirational and helpful example for anybody battling depression. Read by John Leigh on 1 cassette, 4:34 hours. RNZFB.

TB8226

CD61633

Beside the dark pool by Fiona Kidman. Auckland: Vintage, 2009. The author continues her memoirs with this second volume. She discusses the writing of over twenty books, of her involvement in New Zealand's literary circles, her championing of writing and writers and the significant people she has met along the way. Sequel to: At the end of Darwin Road, TB8065 and CD52601. Sponsored by the Netta Memorial and Jack Shortt Trust. Read by Frances Edmond on 2 cassettes, 11 hours. RNZFB.

TB8217

CD58869

Cat amongst the pigeons: a memoir by Cath Tizard. Auckland: Random House, 2010. This former Auckland mayor and our first woman Governor General is a feisty, shrewd, fun-loving and resourceful person. She built the Aotea Centre and lifted Government House out of its stiff and starchy past and into a more relevant present. This lively memoir captures her remarkable life and is full of insights into some of the key social movements, political events and intrigues of our modern history. Read by Elizabeth McRae on 3 cassettes, 12:17 hours. RNZFB.

TB8230

CD61641

The life and times of a brown paper bag by Kevin Milne. Auckland: Random House, 2010. The author's memoir is funny, insightful, moving and all-round entertaining. He talks of his long television career, including twenty-five years of the top-rating Fair Go and the characters he has met. His personal story is told with self-deprecating humour and great honesty. It is the story of a boy who really didn't amount to much at school but who went on to make the most of his talents. Sponsored by Vivien Ward. Read by Merv Smith on 2 cassettes, 6:36 hours. RNZFB.

TB8234

CD61872

Rebel with a cause by Ray Avery with Paul Little. Auckland: Random House, 2010. He is the current New Zealander of the Year because of his clever work in the Third World. He used his scientific and business knowledge to provide cheap cataract operations, cheap and more effective incubators for babies and other creative scientific solutions. From an orphanage upbringing, to his Mt Eden garage managing a global network of experts working on specific projects, he tells his story. Read by Paul Barrett on 2 cassettes, 7:16 hours. RNZFB.

TB8229

CD61639

The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton: Friday 29 April 2011. A selection of magazine articles on the Royal wedding. Read by Rosemary Ronald on 1 cassette, 4:48 hours. RNZFB.

TB8241

CD62432

A sacrificial pawn: being a memoir of his war experiences, particularly of his time as prisoner of the Japanese, 1942-1945 by Peter R. Jackson. Christchurch: Wily Publications, 2011. A story of survival. The author was young and recently married when he arrived in Singapore, soon to become a prisoner of the Japanese Army. He was forced to work on the infamous Thai-Burma railway before escaping with other soldiers. Upon re-capture he was treated harshly. Many felt despair during the four long years but they also had a strong will to survive. Read by Matthew Norton on 2 cassettes, 7:18 hours. RNZFB.

TB8258

CD62725

South-west of Eden: a memoir 1932-1956 by C.K. Stead. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2010. This is a coming-of-age memoir by New Zealand's leading poet, novelist and critic. He writes of running wild in Cornwall Park, joining the Labour Party aged seven, discovering poetry in a third-form English class and enjoying a newly married annus mirabilis in a flat on Takapuna Beach down the road from Frank Sargeson and Janet Frame. Read by Paul Barrett on 3 cassettes, 12:14 hours. RNZFB.

TB8231

CD61643

Business and Economics

Family trusts 101 by Janet Xuccoa. Auckland: Cheshire Pub., 2010. After years of study and experience the author brings you a simple, easy to understand guide to the basics of trust use and management. The book includes: how trusts came to exist, whether a trust is appropriate for you, the best steps to take to place assets into a trust, how trustees should act, what a professional trustee can and should do for a trust and how to manage a trust. Read by Rosemary Ronald on 1 cassette, 4:45 hours. RNZFB.

TB8225

CD60110

Country Living

Common table: an uncommon tale of friendship and food by Janice Marriott and Virginia Pawsey. Auckland: HarperCollins, 2010. A high school friendship is rekindled through two women's shared love of gardening, writing to each other with humour, compassion and joy. They continue their journey through the seasons in their different kitchens, one in the city and the other on a high country farm. They nurture each other through a challenging year which produces life-changing decisions. Recipes sprinkled throughout the book. Sequel to: Common ground, TB8049 and CD52555. Read by Michele Hine and Elizabeth McRae on 2 cassettes, 7:05 hours. RNZFB.

TB8228

CD61637

New Age Spirituality

Finding the path: awaken your connection to spirit by Kelvin Cruickshank. Rosedale, North Shore, N.Z.: Penguin Books, 2011. The author shows you how each of us can find the peacefulness and pure love of spirit in their own lives. It means stepping outside your daily business and distraction and actually making a time and a space for that spirit connection. Read by Kevin Keys on 2 cassettes, 5:51 hours. RNZFB.

TB8257

CD62722

Religion

Such is life!: a close encounter with Ecclesiastes by Lloyd Geering. Wellington: Steele Roberts Pub., 2010. The author brings Ecclesiastes to life in a series of dialogues with a Jewish sage called the Proclaimer. The sage is revealed as a free-thinker, a humanist and an existentialist. This biblical heretic is considered to be at odds with the rest of the Bible. The author hopes the sage's gems of wisdom will goad us to think for ourselves in our search for meaning. Read by Paul Barrett on 2 cassettes, 6:49 hours. RNZFB.

TB8215

CD58421

Travel

Ghost train to the Eastern Star: on The Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux. Camberwell, Vic.: Hamish Hamilton, 2008. Thirty years after the epic journey chronicled in his classic work The Great Railway Bazaar, the author re-creates his journey through eastern Europe, central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan and Siberia. This area of the world has undergone phenomenal change in that time which he explores from stifling trains, rattletrap buses, illicit taxis and mud-caked feet. Sponsored by the Trusts Charitable Foundation (Inc). Read by Jim McLarty on 4 cassettes, 22:23 hours. RNZFB.

TB8150

CD55348

The Family

Recipe for life by Nicky Pellegrino. London: Orion, 2010. A recipe for life should be of simple things; happiness, family, friends and food. Alice knows life is fragile and feels alive when cooking. Babetta tends her Italian garden, growing food for a family that is gone. They come together through a world of food and soil. There, under the heat of the Italian sun, secrets will be spoken, fears and hopes shared. Sponsored by Shampoo Plus Ltd, Palmerston North. Read by Maggie Maxwell and Jo Crichton on 2 cassettes, 8:25 hours. RNZFB.

TB8203

CD57880

General Fiction

Inheritance by Jenny Pattrick. Auckland: Black Swan, 2010. Elena glimpses her friend Jeanie in a New Zealand art gallery. Twenty-three years ago Jeanie suddenly disappeared from her Samoan home and bullying husband. Elena is intrigued to discover Jeanie has a daughter who is unaware of her Samoan ancestry. There is family secrets here, possibly dangerous ones, that Elena is determined to uncover. Sponsored by the Nelson City Council. Read by Elizabeth McRae, George Henare, and Madeleine Lynch on 2 cassettes, 8:33 hours. RNZFB.

TB8193

CD57837

Still Alice by Lisa Genova. London: Pocket Books, 2010. Alice is a Harvard professor of cognitive psychology and at the top of her game. Her kids are grown, her marriage secure, her career on fire when she finds herself in the rapidly downward spiral of early onset Alzheimer's disease. With no cure, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose in her everyday life as her concept of self slips away. An emotional story of discovery and renewal. Read by Susan Ronn on 2 cassettes, 8:15 hours. RNZFB.

TB8253

CD62714

Historical Novels

Lunch with the stationmaster by Derek Hansen. Pymble, N.S.W.: HarperCollins, 2003. Four friends gather to share lunch and their mutual passion for storytelling. Milo's takes them back to 1940s Hungary, a time when Jews are persecuted and rumours of the terrifying death camps are circulating. It is also the story of two brothers who vie for the affections of the same girl. Sponsored by the Netta Memorial and Jack Shortt Trust. Read by John Callen, Elisabeth Easther and Kevin Keys on 4 cassettes, 17:32 hours. RNZFB.

TB8218

CD58873

Modern Women's Fiction

Head over heels by Felicity Price. Auckland: Black Swan, 2010. Typically Penny rushes from one calamity to another, a new boyfriend, a demanding job and learning to live without her husband. The first set back comes when she hears that the glamorous young woman Steve ran off with is pregnant. Her daughter is infatuated with her aging lecturer, she's worried about her father coping with his wife's dementia and then there is a badly behaved spaniel. Sequel to: A sandwich short of a picnic, TB8064 and CD52599. Read by Elisabeth Easther on 2 cassettes, 11:29 hours. RNZFB.

TB8194

CD57841

Mystery and Detective Stories

Among the mad: a Maisie Dobbs mystery by Jacqueline Winspear. London: John Murray, 2009. Christmas Eve, 1931, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street. The following day, the Home Secretary receives a letter threatening a massive loss of life if certain demands are not met. Maisie is recruited by Scotland Yard's elite Special Branch as a special adviser on the case. Sequel to: An incomplete revenge, TB8213 and CD58417. Read by Barbara Cartwright on 3 cassettes, 11:52 hours. RNZFB.

TB8236

CD61879

Bound by Vanda Symon. North Shore, N.Z.: Penguin, 2011. A brutal home invasion shocks the nation. A man is murdered, his wife bound, gagged and left to watch. When Detective Sam Shephard scratches the surface, the victim is not all he seems to be. When the evidence points to Dunedin's most hated criminals, the case seems cut and dried, until the body count starts to rise. Sequel to: Containment, TB8206 and CD57887. Read by Laura Hill on 2 cassettes, 6:53 hours. RNZFB.

TB8227

CD61635

An incomplete revenge: a Maisie Dobbs mystery by Jacqueline Winspear. London: John Murray, 2008. Maisie's new case takes her to Kent where acts of arson, theft and vandalism have gone unreported for more than a decade. An old friend wants her to uncover the truth before he buys an estate in a village. Maisie discovers that the villagers are bitterly prejudiced against outsiders and, even more troubling; seem possessed by the legacy of a wartime Zeppelin raid. Sequel to: Messenger of truth, TB8144 and CD58417. Sponsored by Jenny Bristow. Read by Barbara Cartwright on 3 cassettes, 11:52 hours. RNZFB.

TB8213

CD58417

New Zealand and Pacific Novels

As the earth turns silver: a novel by Alison Wong. North Shore, N.Z.: Penguin, 2009. From the late nineteenth century to the 1920s, from China to New Zealand and the battlefields of the Western Front comes a story of two families. Yung faces a new land that does not welcome the Chinese. Alone, Katherine struggles to raise her children and find her place in the world. In a climate of hostility towards the foreign newcomers, Katherine and Yung embark on a poignant and far-reaching love affair. Read by Blair Cooper and Elisabeth Easther on 2 cassettes, 8:06 hours. RNZFB.

TB8222

CD59892

The open accounts of an honesty box by Julie Helean. Paekakariki, N.Z.: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 2011. Things are heating up for the women in a Central Otago town. They desperately need a public toilet but the council doesn't agree, so the women conspire to build their own. Pandemonium ensues when they proceed without a council permit, use stolen materials and their builder is a stubborn lesbian who likes to break the rules. Read by Elisabeth Easther on 3 cassettes, 11:33 hours. RNZFB.

TB8238

CD61913

Romance Novels

Barefoot by Michelle Holman. Auckland: HarperCollins, 2010. When Sherry slept with Glenn, she had a career and a future. Little did she know she'd leave them all behind in a motel bedroom. What was she thinking? A wild roller-coaster ride through the foibles and fumbles of modern relationships, where sex complicates everything, pride definitely takes a fall and there are tears before bedtime. Explicit descriptions of sex. Sequel to: Bonkers, TB7898 and CD50221. Read by Elisabeth Easther on 2 cassettes, 11:01 hours. RNZFB.

TB8232

CD61645