This is not a great book, but it is mildly diverting, which was the reason I bought it when I saw it in the airport recently. Something light to read on a subject I know something about. Nothing new in this book for Kiwi's and no great insights for non-Kiwi's either.
'When Polly Evans read a survey claiming that the last bastion of masculinity, the real Kiwi bloke, was about to breathe his last, she was seized by a sense of foreboding. Abandoning the London winter she took off on a motorbike for the windswept beaches and golden plains of New Zealand, hoping to root out some examples of this endangered species for posterity. But her challenges didn’t stop at the men.
Just weeks after passing her bike test, Polly rode from Auckland’s glitzy Viaduct Basin to the vineyards of Hawkes Bay and on to the Southern Alps. She found wild kiwis in the dead of night, kayaked among dolphins at dawn, and spent an evening on a remote hillside with a sheep-shearing gang. As she travelled, Polly reflected on the Maori warriors who carved their enemies’ bones into cutlery, the pioneer family who lived in a tree, and the flamboyant gold miners who lit their pipes with five-pound notes, and wondered how their descendents could have become pathologically obsessed with helpfulness and Coronation Street.
The author of the highly acclaimed It’s Not About the Tapas reaches some unexpected conclusions about the new New Zealand man – and finds that evolution has taken an unlikely twist.'
Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett
I know Terry Pratchett is one of those authors that can inspire total fanatic support or hatred, but I just like his books. I like the style of writing, his humour and sensitivities. They are a rollicking good read and the Monstrous Regiment is no exception.
'War has come to Discworld…again.
And, to no one's great surprise, the conflict centres around the small, insufferably arrogant, strictly fundamentalist duchy of Borogravia, which has long prided itself on its ability to beat up on its neighbours. This time, however, it's Borogravia that's getting its long-overdue comeuppance, which has left the country severely drained of young men.
Ever since her brother Paul marched off to battle a year ago, Polly Perks has been running The Duchess, her family's inn -- even though the revered national deity, Nuggan, has decreed that female ownership of a business is an Abomination. To keep The Duchess in the family, Polly must find her missing sibling. So she cuts off her hair, dons masculine garb, and sets out to join him in this man's army.
Polly is afraid that someone will see through her disguise; a fear that proves groundless when the legendary Sergeant Jackrum accepts her without question. Or perhaps the sergeant is too desperate to discriminate -- which would explain why a vampire, a troll, a zombie, a religious fanatic, and two uncommonly close "friends" are also eagerly welcomed into the fighting fold. Soon, Polly finds herself wondering about the myriad peculiarities of her new brothers-in-arms. It would appear that Polly "Ozzer" Perks is not the only grunt with a secret.'
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