Jeffery Deaver's 007 is young and modern, writes Nicky Pellegrino.

Booker Prize winner Alan Hollinghurst is not noted for his prolific output, so a new novel is always a great event. And his latest could be his best yet.

A new book and exhibition by photographer Fiona Pardington examines the historic - and now derided - practice of taking casts of people's heads to study their brains. Some were her ancestors.

The historical novel is history-lite, the easiest of entrées into another time and place.

Do you tire of the people who always bang on about how much better the book was than the movie? Well, you can rest easy if this James Bond yarn is ever committed to screen.

James K. Baxter wrote once (I paraphrase from lapsed memory and lost book) that most authors like to picture their words being read by grave scholars in studies and beautiful graduates in tutorials.

Secrets and tragedy make this novel hard to put down, says Nicky Pellegrino.

This is a fascinating eye-opener to the history of a country, which this book made me realise I knew very little about.

Owen Marshall is one of New Zealand's leading fiction writers. His latest novel is The Larnachs (Vintage, $39.99).

The publication of The Waste Land app marks the end of the beginning.

Anyone glancing at the three books currently stacked on my bedside table would suspect a pre-occupation with love affairs.

In an exclusive interview, the book and stationery chain's new owners tell Karyn Scherer about their plans for one of the best-known names in NZ retailing.

The inquest into the deaths of the Kahui twins has heard evidence of an alleged confession from Macsyna King from a former partner. The twins died of head injuries at the Starship hospital in 2006.

Expat New Zealand director Andrew Niccol is working on a sci-fi film written by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer.

It can be a good or a bad thing if you finish a novel wanting more. In the case of Sarah Quigley's The Conductor it's both.