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Princely sum sought for 'rare' book
An enterprising Australian seller is hoping to reap a huge windfall from a set of books by NZ author Witi Ihimaera.

Book review: <i>Steve Price - Be Your Best</i>
First a confession. I don't really like sports biographies. I just couldn't care when a sportsperson first kissed a girl, burned themselves with matches or hit their first six playing for the school 3rd XI.

Travel book: <i>Best in Travel 2011</i>
One of the quirkier lists ranks the top 10 vampire-spotting locales around the world.

An F-Word recipe for disaster
Gordon Ramsay might be dropping an f-word or two after he topped a US doctors' list of the worst cookbooks of the year.

Book Review: The Elephant's Journey
Alas, this this is the second-to-last novel from the Portuguese Nobel Prize winner from whom I have gained so much enjoyment and stimulus over the past few years.

The present lies between the pages
Left your Christmas shopping to the very last moment? Want to do the whole lot speedily, all in one shop and with the minimum of fuss? Books are the answer to all your gift needs. Here's our pick of what's on the shelves.

Book Review: Traitor
A book that poses the really big questions: about war and friendship, about love and loss, about living and dying.

Book Review: The Complete Brigadier Gerard
It’s not often that you get a book endorsed by both Philip Pullman and Winston Churchill. But then, Conan Doyle’s French cavalry officer has been around for nearly 120 years, and has been read by five or six generations.

Wine: Read all about it
Quench your thirst for wine knowledge from expert writers passionate about their topic.

Book Review: Griffith Review 30
This second annual Griffith fiction collection focuses on contributors and topics from the Pacific in a generously interpreted sense.

Mastering French cuisine (+recipe)
Learn to cook like the French with this cookbook from Serge Dansereau.

<i>The Muddle-headed Wombat</i> author dies
New Zealand-born Ruth Park resonated with generations of Australians, novelist Thomas Keneally said today.

Book Review: Parisians: An Adventure History Of Paris
Graham Robb has that rare gift of storytelling that compels riveted attention from readers of non-fiction as much as fiction and he understands that stories may spring emotionally from places but inevitably embrace the lives of people.

Travel book: <i>Chasing the Devil</i>
Adventurous foreign correspondent Tim Butcher decides to emulate a 560km trek that novelist Graham Greene made in 1935.

Handmade in Canada
With almost 50 books to her name, the formidably intelligent Margaret Atwood is a force to be reckoned with. She talks to Robert McCrum about cowardly politicians, her love of birds and why she's joined the Twitterati.

Book Review: The Marrowbone Marble Company
An enormously worthy and well-intentioned novel, strengthened by its ethical content, burdened by the very same ethical content.

Book Review: The Night Bookmobile
First, because it has to be done, let's get our definitions sorted. The cover of this slim volume bills it as a graphic novel.

Celebs spin yarns for charity
Ten well-known Kiwis have written a Christmas book to promote a ChildFund programme which lets New Zealanders give animals to families in developing countries.