Auckland stand-up comedian Ben Hurley gives insight into his reading preferences.

The proliferation of household focused magazines has brought housekeeping professionalism to the fore.

Jonathan Franzen, Tony Blair and Ken Follett are all guilty of crimes against brevity, writes Robert McCrum.

Set in Mumbai, Saraswati Park is a vivid portrait of intergenerational family dynamics in an ever-changing, modern day India.

Theme-based anthologies serve several purposes. They explore and represent particular subjects from a thousand vantage points and they assemble diverse voices, both familiar and unfamiliar.

Maeve Binchy does it again. After more than 20 novels, novellas and short story collections, and at an age when some writers have trouble staying current, Binchy has pulled off yet another thoughtful yet undemanding story that will delight.

This is the first full biography written since the publication of the two-volume edition of Mansfield's Notebooks (2002), transcribed by Margaret Scott, and the final (fifth) volume in 2008 of her Collected Letters.

Way back in the 1980s I was addicted to Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City novels.

Jock McLean is sticking to his claim that his late father - sportswriter Sir Terry McLean - had an affair with a South African MP.

Making teachers' lives easier is the mantra for Invercargill company.

Chat-show supremo Sir Michael Parkinson pays tribute to guests but despairs at TV's descent into mediocrity.

New Zealander Henry Hargreaves is an ex-model making a name for himself in the Big Apple with a book celebrating breasts.

The hype over the publication of a royal wedding biography nearly matches the fervour accompanying the event itself.

Nicki Greenberg loves Shakespeare, she "gets" Shakespeare, and she has done something wondrous with him, a thing I have never seen done before.

The most ambitious history project of the year — the British Museum’s A History of the World in 100 Objects — is now a book. Boyd Tonkin talks to its creator and author and finds out that how the world looks depends on where you stand.

Wellington chef Martin Bosley's new book is a work of art. He explains to Kerri Jackson why he couldn't have done it five years ago.

Move over Bridget, it's the blokes' turn.

David Hill reviews two new Australian novels depicting two very different sides of modern life.

It is a tricky little bugger of a book this one. Distant, confusing and perhaps a little cliched in parts, it is also compelling, subtle and maybe even brilliant.

Judge not a book by its title.

Israeli David Grossman tells Helen Brown how writing helps him cope with grief.