Fish ladders are structures that Britons began building in the 19th century when they started damming and blocking waterways.

There are too many Michael Moorcocks. I don't mean the books - although there are a bewildering number of those, there could never be too many for his admirers.

In this final volume of Graeme Lay's fictional trilogy on the life of James Cook, we confront a very different man to the legend or, for that matter, the first two books in the series.

How do you spell these bears' name? The answer could hold the key to a vast conspiracy, theorises a tinfoil hat-wearing Karl Puschmann.

Some of the world's top sports legends, actors and musicians, including Serena Williams and Dustin Hoffman, are spilling the secrets to their success. Want to become a tennis phenomenon or a Hollywood star? Just sign up, says Abigail Jones.

Playwright Gary Stalker's intriguingly titled work pulls off a surprising feat with sophisticated, unashamedly literary writing.

Yachting commentator Peter 'PJ' Montgomery's memories of what started his long-running feud with Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton have been challenged.

A sexually explicit book that has been restricted to people aged 14 and over has been cleared for unrestricted release after an unusual appeal by librarians.

No. That was quite a chastening experience and I feel very betrayed by Rolf Harris.

Auckland Grammar School's first cookbook, A Taste of Grammar, is being launched at the school's main hall on Sunday afternoon.

Like every other book of Stephenson's, this one uses formal language to position itself a small, strategic distance from its readers, like a speaker standing behind a lectern.

It begins near the end of the 20th century. The Big One has finally hit; on a strangely warm July afternoon, the Wellington Fault tears asunder, and New Zealand's capital is wrecked.

A grinding, persuasive power binds this collection of short fiction and essays, many of which have been published elsewhere in the past two or three years.

A story about the bond between a teenage boy and a young orca whose mother has been killed by whalers won the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year.

"I'm writing a book on caring for people with Parkinson's. I hope I can finish it because I'm now facing the really heavy stuff. You don't die from Parkinson's, you die with it."

In an age of low-cost carriers, DVT and crappy movies on crappy little screens, we often lose sight of the old-fashioned wonder of flight, writes Winston Aldworth.

When he founded Te Araroa - the national walkway - Geoff Chapple encouraged us to go out and see the extraordinary beauty of this land of the long white cloud.

In Benjamin Markovits' vivid new novel, the city becomes a symptom of America gone wrong. He tells Mick Brown about losing out and fitting in.

Kim Kardashian may be the second-most followed celebrity on Instagram, but that doesn't mean people want to pay for her selfies in book form.

Amongst the dozens of teams Marvel has put out over the decades, there are plenty that don't have any cinematic selling power. In honour of the latest team to hit the big screen, here are four not-so-fantastic teams.

Bianca Zander is a lecturer in creative writing at AUT and recently published her second novel, The Predictions. She talks about leaving her journalism career to write fiction.

The future of the country's premier book honours - the New Zealand Book Awards - is now secured, thanks to sponsorship from an Auckland property development company.

It is the greatest mystery in fiction - but now experts claim to have revealed the secret to Agatha Christie and have come up with a formula of how to spot whodunnit.

A new book has detailed how sexual predator Robert Hughes has suffered daily in jail, with fellow inmates throwing faeces at his face.

Kiwi readers have named international titles as their favourites over local works, to the dismay of a book buyer who says New Zealand has "terrific" fiction.

Food is a family business for an expat pair who headed to Britain to study and found they just couldn't stay away from the kitchen.