Mark Lynch does love his rugby. I remember once when Lynch and I and a few stragglers went to see the Waratahs play the Stormers in Sydney.

To state the bleeding obvious, we can be a nation of blunt-ended rugby fanatics. As 1987 All Blacks captain David Kirk quips in his foreword of Ian Grant's book Having A Ball, "it's part of the rhythm of life, and long may it remain so".

Dan Cleary is one clever guy - actor, writer, producer and someone who doesn't mind poking the borax.

When the sumptuous Great Gardens of Italy series recently screened here, you couldn't help but notice quite a few shots of its host, British garden guru Monty Don, staring pensively out at the scenery, chiselled chin on hand.

The tale of a nun's betrayal proves shocking - and thought-provoking, writes Nicky Pellegrino.

Some evenings when I pick up my October feature read, The Cat's Table, I feel like a spectator at a variety show.

Viva photographer Babiche Martens shares her journey to create a cookbook with leading chef Michael Van de Elzen.

Amy Winehouse's father Mitch is set to publish a memoir to tell the true story about the soul singer's life and to aid his recovery.

I'm a bit of a classics junkie. I've been known to go for several years without reading a single new-release book. It's not unusual for me to have not even heard of the titles on the Booker Prize shortlist, let alone read them.

Minrose Gwin clearly had a miserable time of it. Her father, Al the airman, only stuck around long enough to witness her birth, then fled to parts unknown, never to be seen again, although, to be fair, he did send Minrose a birthday present every year.

Murders, battles, seduction, witchcraft ... and a water goddess. It would be hard not to write a ripping history of the English War of the Roses.

Christchurch-born, Britain-based Edlin's first novel, The Widow's Daughter, was a crammed narrative of World War II Auckland, and the reverberations of a sexual liaison across decades and oceans. It was commendably ambitious and inevitably uneven.

Linda Olsson's novels sell in mega-numbers overseas. There are many places in this tender, loving story where you can understand why.

When the stone deer was placed in position in the pool in front of the Chalabi home in Kazimiya, near Baghdad, locals immediately named the palatial home the Deer Palace.

Out with vampires, in with other-worldy romance, writes Nicky Pellegrino.

When I picked up my October feature book, The Cat's Table, I recalled a radio interview I had once heard with New York Sun columnist Lenore Skenazy.

Radio personality and bibliophile Lily Richards tells her story to Viva.

Crooner Rod Stewart will “hold nothing back” in his autobiography.

"Life is hard" is one of the Noble Truths and Yang Pao, as a young boy landing on the streets of Jamaica in the 1930s, learns that lesson quickly.

In the opening pages of Michael Ondaatje's new novel, a young boy named Michael sets out for England on a passenger liner. It's the early 1950s.

Bronwyn Sell turns to the bookies to help her decide what to read and comes up with The Sense of an Ending.

A decade after it opened, the rail trail has become - to use an overworked phrase - a New Zealand tourist icon.

Wine writer Michael Cooper has recently released 100 Must-try New Zealand Wines (Hodder Moa, $34.99)

This author deserves bouquets for her insight, writes Nicky Pellegrino.