Bookshelf

Reads to inform and inspire.

Funny As

Paul Horan and Philip Matthews, Auckland University Press, $50. Explore the history of New Zealand comedy through the stories of many of this country’s talented comedians, including The Topp Twins, Billy T. James and Fred Dagg, to more recent

funny folk, like Flight of the Conchords and Rose Matafeo.

By the Light of the Moon

Bernadette Marama Gavin, Chocolate Fish Publishing, $35 A true story about a young woman who joins a solo sailor on his quest to travel 28,000 nautical miles on a small sailboat over four years, and what she discovered about herself then and beyond.

Eat Like A Fish

Bren Smith, Murdoch Books, $33. Written by someone who has gone from being a commercial fisherman to a restorative ocean farmer, this read sheds light on the different ways the ocean could sustain us.

Fire Islands: Recipes from Indonesia

Eleanor Ford, Allen & Unwin Book Publishers, $55. Experience Indonesia via your tastebuds with gorgeous recipes inspired by the spices, colours and flavours that make the destination so enticing.

The Talking Cure

Professor Gillian Straker and Dr Jacqui Winship, MacMillan Publishers, $38. Through nine stories of transformation, you’ll discover how finding a relationship that works between a patient and a therapist can be life-changing.

On Eating Meat

Matthew Evans, Allen & Unwin Book Publishers, $37. A book that is described as an “urgent read for all vegans, vegetarians and carnivores”. Learn all about the issues that surround the way humans are producing and consuming animals.

Choked

Beth Gardiner, Allen & Unwin Book Publishers, $37. Through stories of characters from around the world, Choked provides an understanding of pollution’s hidden dangers and how it’s not impossible to make a difference now.

Women, Men & the Whole Damn Thing

David Leser, Allen & Unwin Book Publishers, $33. An investigation into the roots of misogyny, how it links to the patriarchy and a discussion around the #MeToo movement, while looking for ways we can make permanent change. One for everyone, but especially the men in our lives.