Now that the dust has settled, it is possibly a good time for me to step back and think about all the things I learnt from the Eleanor Catton interlude.

Colourful, cheap and cheerful, chinoiserie ticks the boxes.

Midlife crisis? What crisis? Suzanne McFadden meets three women in their 40s reinventing their lives.

Get back to the grind with help from some high-powered accessories.

We tell 10 lies every week — but what’s the reasoning behind so many untruths, asks Olivia Goldhill.

Christchurch crime writer Paul Cleave, whose books have sold more than half a million copies, has no qualms killing people on the page. But now online piracy is killing him, he tells Linda Herrick.

Lucy Wood’s first novel is a magic realist ghost story set in Devon. Lucy Popescu went there to meet her.

Dylan Cleaver conquers his fears and discovers a new outlook over Sydney.

In the aftermath of a reckless Christmas/New Year/summer holiday spend-up, and faced with a credit card account spinning out of control — here are some great, inexpensive buys.

Cafe Hanoi deserves its fashionable reputation.

You can leave your hat on.

As the film of their life is released, Jane Hawking recalls how she fell in love with the legendary physicist against the haunting backdrop of his developing motor neurone disease.

There’s something for everyone at this newcomer to the eastern suburbs — especially if you like tomato juice.

Every September 1, Lee Child begins work on another of his massively popular Jack Reacher mysteries. this time, he had Andy Martin looking over his shoulder.

Being world famous in New Zealand is all very well, but a new, fresh-faced wave of New Zealand actors is choosing to be world famous in Australia.

"Tell you what", write the editors of this excellent collection, is a phrase that promises "a revelation, a shift, a new truth".

I went to a funeral today. This is not an ideal way to kick off the year, a funeral in January.

Break a sweat (or maybe not) in workout clothes that work overtime.

Jodi Picoult has written 23 novels, eight of them No 1 bestsellers. Just don’t call her work ‘women’s fiction’, says Bryony Gordon.

Apart from Euro, Apero is the only wine bar we've tried that takes the food side of the experience seriously.

Nearly 40 years after the first IVF birth, scientists are still unsure of the long-term effects of their laboratory Beginnings. Helen Massy-Beresford reports.

Social media has been accused of everything from killing conversation to making us lonely. But if you do it right it can do the complete opposite. Greg Dixon, a social media dummy, has six pieces of advice for other social media dummies.

When a computer virus hacks into the Australian prison system in 2010, it also infects the American corporations that licensed the software.

Looking for summer bubbles, a lovely uncomplicated white that goes with anything or something tiny, transportable and functional? Here they are…