In a four-part series, experts take a look at the toxic surprises that could be lurking in the backyard, beach or bush - or even the bathroom - this summer. We start with a look at the beach.

Looking for something absorbing to read over New Year? You’ve come to the right blog.

Does it exist, what is its raison d'être - and do the answers lie in the stars?

We have the idea that the celebrity cult is a modern phenomenon. But when Charles Dickens visited America in 1842 he was surrounded by cheering crowds wherever he went.

It's said that you are as sick as your secrets.

The boldest travel writing crosses every frontier of genre as well as place.

The turbulence of the title keys us into the parts weather and water play, but that turbulence also works on a metaphorical level.

Nicky Pellegrino checks out a pithy perspective on self-improvement.

Max Cryer's books are published worldwide. His latest is Preposterous Proverbs (Exisle).

With Christmas almost here, Canvas book reviewers take the hassle out of gift-shopping with ideas for all ages and tastes.

New Zealand's own favourite food writer dishes the dirt on what it's like to be a bookworm.

The characters, once they finally arrive, are great, writes Nicky Pellegrino.

Mirabel Osler, as one friend has said of her, "could make a shopping list seem lyrical".