Mt Roskill Grammar

229,041 pages read and 6,088 team points

Team members

bookbutterfly

3,767 pts

(2,216 pages read)

Promised New Zealand

By Freya Klier

4 stars

While the author is not from New Zealand, the translator is, and the lives of those featured all ended up in New Zealand as a safe haven in the lead up to, during and post World War 2. It's heartbreaking how few Jewish people made it to Aotearoa. I had known one family while growing up which gave a personal touch.
Auckland in the Twentieth Century

By Paul Moon

4 stars

I began reading this book with high hopes of lots of fascinating anecdotes about Auckland but while there were some, I already knew more about Auckland's history than I realised so it was often a case of having to plough through pages to get to the next interesting bit. It certainly gives a good general overview of how Tamaki Makaurau grew during this century. I was very moved by the struggle of Ngati Whatua and in a different sector, the Great Depression, which affected my grandparents hugely: a time of aching poverty and lives changed for the worse. And still Auckland grows.....
Reminiscences

By Lord Kilbracken

2 stars

Having read Charlotte Godley's 'Letters from Early NZ', I was curious to find out more about her young son and how is brief time in NZ helped shape his future. Arthur spent 2 and a half years in NZ, ,mainly as a preschooler. He was so young and had few memories of Aotearoa. He became a very influential civil servant in England overseeing the India Office and although he was proud of having 'been around the world' (by ship), he subsequently travelled little. I found this a very boring book full of famous names of the time i.e. name dropping and no analysis of the society he lived in. I had to force myself to finish it, hoping that there might be a pearl of writing here and there, but sadly there were none.
Letters from Early New Zealand

By Charlotte Godley

4 stars

I enjoyed reading about Charlotte who was a leading figure in the settlement at Lyttleton from 1850 to 1853. She had many adventures and was, I thought, adventurous to leave home comforts (albeit with two servants) to help look after her young son and husband in a faraway land. She certainly held strong opinions about New Zealand at that time. I think she would have hated her journal being published but it is an interesting take on colonial attitudes and makes me wonder how I would have lived my life in that society.
The Last Secret Agent

By Phyllis Latour (Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson)

4 stars

This amazing book opened my eyes to the bravery and courage required to survive war. Pippa was only 21 years old when she became a special operative in Normandy, France reporting on German troop movements. She also tells of what happened to the special operatives and local people under the cruel Nazi rule. The constant fear she lived under was palpable as I turned the pages. Pippa also has a strong, unexpected New Zealand connection which she reveals to readers.
Mophead

By Selina Tusitala Marsh

4 stars

A wonderful read about difference and racism in Aotearoa and the need to be oneself. Engaging artwork and riveting prose.
this Pakeha life: an unsettled memoir

By Alison Jones

3 stars

An absorbing read about being the child of English immigrants and the search for Pakeha identity in Aotearoa New Zealand. I wondered if it would appeal more to older readers? Beautifully written. Recommended:)
The Boy who Followed His Father into Auschwitz

By Jeremy Dronfield

5 stars

If you want to know about the Holocaust on a very personal level, do read this book. It is heart-breaking, tense, very well- written and meticulously researched. A book about family love, tragedy, despair, survival, hope and much more.

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Mt Roskill Grammar

229,041 pages read and 6,088 team points

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