There's no easy way to find out that an old mate has terminal cancer but reading a book about it has got to be one of the most moving.

Will the Pacific save us? In his biography of an ocean, Simon Winchester finds an optimistic note among all the doom we humans trail in our wake.

The style of the narrative can best be described as a darkly comic fairy tale. All the familiar tropes are there; jilted hero, beautiful damsel, dark castle,mysterious forest and a collection of untrustworthy characters who mean our hero no good.

There's only one person who can reduce Kiwi men to starstruck school girls clamouring for a peep of their idol.

You'll go a long way to find a more complex character than French writer Michel Houellebecq. He has attracted (and courted) controversy throughout his literary career.

Bill Manhire's new collection of stories includes a powerful essay on growing up with a father who liked a drink.

Patricia Cornwell's best-selling crime novels are based on obsessive detail and gory research. But the author's own back story is one of the most frightening of all.

Wealth inequality is driving us back to the days of Victorian England, argues a book exposing the rise of the rich kid club.

The Sun may shine once winter falls as Game of Thrones author George RR Martin hints at a bittersweet ending for his famed book series.

Photographer Jane Ussher has captured some of New Zealand's most beautiful church architecture in her new book, Worship. Here are some of those images.

A new book breaks down the surprising ingredients in popular foods.

As Charlie Brown celebrates his 65th birthday, Lucy Davies learns how his creator, Charles M Schulz, reinvented comics for the modern world.

The adult art craze is driving a resurgence in book sales but many bookworms are colouring-in rather than reading.

Bill Bryson famously came from Iowa ("Somebody had to"). So do the farming dynasty of Jane Smiley's now-completed trilogy.

Controversy around youth novel Into the River has stirred rising interest in the book at some libraries.

Publishers have put off printing to include the final result in the final chapter - but the book is supposed to be out by November 14.

J.R.R Tolkien's annotated map of Middle-earth has been discovered inside a copy of The Lord of the Rings.

Rowling reveals two-part play based on her books depicts wizard 19 years after leaving Hogwarts