Being a large man taking up a space usually occupied by three Vietnamese, writer Walter Mason was obviously an easily noticed foreign visitor in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon).

Wellington teacher and author Leon Davidson tells Rebecca Barry what inspired him to delve into Anzac history on behalf of younger readers.

War from the horse's mouth.

The historical preoccupation with Gallipoli becomes easily comprehensible when you remember that 8141 Australians and 2721 New Zealanders died during the brief campaign.

An artistic diversion from bloody reality, writes Steve Scott.

Another Anzac Day remembered (this is the 95th anniversary) and another clutch of books with military themes have appeared...

A palatable picture of the past.

Self is a profoundly anti-romantic writer, which is to say that he's a romantic with his back turned and his buttocks bared, so naturally he begs to differ.

Few books make me laugh out loud but there was a point where I laughed so hard while reading this one I had to put it down.

I finished writing a book this week. There are 74,945 words assembled into 12 chapters, which should leave me with a nice sense of achievement, but there is nothing nice about it.

Mass murderers, mothers who hate their children, and now cancer ... is there a difficult topic Lionel Shriver won't tackle? Nigel Farndale finds out.

A new biography about talk show host Oprah Winfrey reveals more through what it cannot say.

Talkshow star Oprah Winfrey's father is not actually her biological father, no one is allowed cellphones in her presence, and her staff call her Mary.

Thirty years after the Korean War, an American veteran and an Asian woman are still confronting the conflict that briefly brought them together.

Readers will need both stamina and stomach to get through Lionel Shriver's 480-page So Much for That.

This full and funny first novel, set around a Rome-based English-language newspaper, comes with faux reporters' room coffee stains on the cover.

New author D.J. Connell talks to Stephen Jewell about her hilarious novel which has been optioned for a film.

Despite her carefully cultivated "woman of the people" image, Oprah Winfrey takes a dim view of any outsider impertinent enough to wonder what makes her tick.

Natasha Solomons skilfully weaves refugee tales into a novel about adjusting to life in a new land.

A book about Samoan tattooing - tatau - records a story that has been 30 years in the making.

Being green doesn't have to mean deprivation and sacrifice. Eco-journalist Francesca Price shows us how.

A children's bookshop is working with security staff of a nearby tavern and casino over the growing problem of parents leaving children to read while they gamble.