Read NZ

Otago Boys' High School

View schoolsView schools

Top 10 team members

  1. 1

    LibraryKel

    6,623 pts
    View this team member
  2. 2

    Maria Zammit

    3,684 pts
    View this team member
  3. 3

    MattD

    428 pts
    View this team member

LibraryKel

6,623 pts
(4,757 pages read)

  • The Quaker

    By Liam McIlvanney
    4 stars

    One of my reading goals this year is to read local. Liam McIlvanney lives in Dunedin, but his fiction is set in Scotland. This was a beautifully gritty detective novel, with a well-written protagonist and a compelling murder mystery.

  • The Body

    By Stephen King
    5 stars

    Stand By Me is one of my favourite films, so I thought it was about time I read the novella it was based on. An excellent quick read. The trestle scene alone is a good example of pacing and building tension within a scene for those teaching writing.

  • Midnight Riot

    By Ben Aaronovitch
    4 stars

    Peter Grant is a London cop who is thrust into the hidden world of magic following an encounter with a ghost. A fun urban fantasy.

  • Girl, Woman, Other

    By Bernadine Evaristo
    5 stars

    A story told through the point of view of a number of different women whose lives intersect, this book examines the range of experiences of black women in the UK.

  • The Eyre Affair

    By Jasper Fforde
    4 stars

    A really fun read, similar in tone to Hitchhikers Guide and Discworld books. This will be especially loved by readers who have daydreamed about living inside the world of their favourite books.

  • The Future

    By Naomi Alderman
    5 stars

    Set in the not very distant future, this book was a great read and a thought-provoking examination of today's world of social media and mega billionaires.

  • When One of Us Hurts

    By Monica Vuu
    3 stars

    An atmospheric Australian noir story, this book was set in a small insular town in Tasmania. It is a twisty murder mystery but it didn't quite land for me.

  • The Waters

    By Carl Nixon
    4 stars

    A collection of vignettes that reveal the stories of the Waters family. Nixon plays around with narrative voice (including two stories told through second-person narration), and non-linear storytelling from a variety of perspectives. At times the reader is left to fill in the gaps, and questions are left unanswered, which may feel unsatisfying, but it did mean that the characters-and what may have happened to them-lingered in my thoughts. As a content warning, some of the stories in the book touch on suicide, disordered eating, and child sexual abuse.

  • Yellowface

    By Rebecca F. Kuang
    4 stars

    An interesting read about an unsuccessful young writer who shoots to literary stardom after stealing her friend's unpublished manuscript after she dies in a tragic accident. Essentially a book about writing and the cut-throat world of publishing, but also an exploration of race and privilege, loneliness, social media and cancel-culture, and the nature of appearance and reality.

  • When the Wind Calls Your Name

    By Grant Shanks, Tahu Potiki
    4 stars

    This book is the follow up book to Where No Birds Sing. This is a similar collection of personal anecdotes about supernatural or unexplained experiences in Aotearoa. The stories are very short and easy to read, and I think some would work well as read-aloud stories.

  • This Pākehā Life: An Unsettled Memoir

    By Alison Jones
    5 stars

    I really enjoyed and related to this personal narrative about a Pākehā woman finding her own place within the context of Aotearoa, grappling with her own privilege, and essentially becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable. I think this is an essential read in our current times.

  • Where No Birds Sing: Tales of the Supernatural in Aotearoa

    By Grant Shanks, Tahu Potiki
    4 stars

    A collection of stories from people who have had supernatural or unexplained experiences. I love a good ghost story, but reading them in the Aotearoa context - places and people who are familiar to me - was even better!

  • Echo

    By Arlo Kelly
    4 stars

    A sweet story of a visually impaired boy who befriends a whale over his summer break. Eric has to live with impaired sight, but he wants his parents to know he can be independent and out in the world. This book deals with family relationships, grief, discovering the things you love, and following your dreams. It is even more impressive because it was written by a young writer, and I look forward to reading more of Arlo's work!

  • 1915: Wounds of War

    By Diana Menefy
    5 stars

    After reading the first book in this series I dived straight into the second. This book follows two cousins, Mel and Harriet, who work as nurses during WWI on hospital ships and in field hospitals. This book gave an important perspective of the experience of women who served in the conflict, as well as showing the impact on men beyond the battlefield.

  • 1914: Riding Into War

    By Susan Broker
    4 stars

    A realistic depiction of the beginning of WWI, and the story of a young man and his horse as they journeyed into the unknown together.

  • Project Hail Mary

    By Andy Weir
    5 stars

    This book is a gripping tale of one man's quest to save humanity. Even though I know very little about astro-physics and cellular biology, I found this story compelling, emotional, and hard to put down. This is one of the best books I've read this year.

Add pages read