The disintegration of American dreams into nightmares is the leitmotiv of this first novel. Its narrative punches you from the first paragraph: "I'm ten years old ... I opened our front door and found my mother hanging from the rafters..."

Sick of cheesy 'chick-lit'? A new novel about brain injury revises the genre.

David Mitchell is a UK author whose most recent novel is The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. He will be appearing at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

Brimming from the excitement of the royal nuptials, a story about a self-exiled princess proves timely for writer Monica Ali.

Popular historian Niall Ferguson tells Stephen Jewell how television democratises knowledge and why colonialism wasn't all bad.

Emma Neale is a poet, novelist, teacher and anthologist living in Dunedin. Her latest novel, Fosterling, is the sort of book that can only come from multiple roles and experiences.

Family treasures helped create a stunning, unique cookbook with nostalgic appeal.

This author's début is less than the sum of its brilliant parts.

Tanya Moir is a Southland writer who recently published her début novel La Rochelle's Road (Random House, $39.99).

Americans love their 'special days', each dedicated to some section of society.

A British actress' first novel reveals her comedic talent.

Nervous readers need not fear, Jason Webster's new Spanish detective, Max Camara of Valencia, hates bullfights.

Elizabeth Smither is an acclaimed New Plymouth-based poet, novelist and short story writer. She has recently released The Commonplace Book (AUP, $34.99), a collection of thoughts about writing and the writer's life.

On May 27, 1942, two Czech parachutists ambushed and wounded SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich near Prague. Heydrich was not seriously wounded but a ricochet bullet had carried cloth, wire and wool into the wound.

Not a picture book, not a graphic novel, not anything easily pigeon-holed, Chris Slane and Matt Elliott's study-cum-evocation of life in World War I is a great resource and a great read.

Anyone looking at New Zealand's military participation in the 20th century would see us as a bellicose little nation. For decades, we eagerly went where Britain (and later the US) went.

On First Looking into Chapman's Homer, by Michael Parekowhai, comprises a Steinway grand piano carved with Maori patterns, two blackened bronze pianos with bulls on top, a life-size sculpture of his brother as a security guard, and some bronze pot plants.