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.

The striking photos of geothermal activity and scenery in this 64-page booklet certainly make you want to go to Rotorua.

Stephen Jewell talks to director-turned-writer Guillermo Del Toro about his life post Middle-earth and the newly released second part of his spine-chilling vampire trilogy.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo shares his recipes of Italian food like Mama used to make in his new book.

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.

Judge not a book by its title.

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

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.

Melbourne restaurant Red Spice Road has released a cookbook modernising age-old Asian dishes.