Book Loving Kiwis discussion

Please suggest books for our February/March NZ group read below. Like always, I will receive suggestions up until 15 January. A poll will then be created and will run from 16-20 January. Books will be announced on 21 January.
As decided we are reading books over two months instead of one. We are also alternating our monthly nominations between NZ and Around the World/Young Adult.
Reminder: January/February Challenges are...
Around the World: Going Bovine (USA)
Young Adult: King Matt the First
So please only nominate books with a NZ connection e.g. NZ author, NZ setting...
Thanks, and have fun!

I'd like to nominate As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong

Darkpool wrote: "I'd like to nominate As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong"

I'm glad that you nominated this book. Sounds amazing!

I'd like to nominate Novel About My Wife by NZ author Emily Perkins.

Hello!

I'd like to nominate my own book, Empire State. It's a science fiction noir, and was recently reviewed on BoingBoing by Cory Doctorow, and I also wrote a little piece about it for John Scalzi's The Big Idea.

There is also an extended excerpt up at Criminal Element.

And I'd like to add The Bone People by Keri Hulme because everyone says I should read it and this would give me a good excuse!

If I'm allowed to do two, I'd like to nominate this one as well - Traces of Red- it's a new crime novel by NZ author Paddy Richardson who mentored my book. She's very cool.

Awesome guys. Nominate as many as you like!

Please have your nominations in by end of day Sunday (NZ time). I'll create the poll on Monday.

Hi, I would love to nominate my own book SACRIFICE
I am a New Zealand author living in Dunedin. I would love for you guys to read it and let me know what you think.

Hi Neisha. Thanks for joining our group and nominating your book. I'm also from Otago, so I like that your book is set partly in Dunedin.
There are now over 60 members in this group, many of them authors. As we can see from the nominations above, many of you are nominating your own books, which is great. Obviously only one can be chosen for the group read. So if your book misses out this time, please keep nominating it when the NZ Challenge comes up again. Or if it would fit into the Young Adult category, nominate it for this one too. I for one don't want to miss out on reading your books.

Thanks Angie, it is great to see this group on Goodreads. It is a big world out there for us NZ authors and seeing this group made me happy. Thanks for your advice and I look forward to being a part of this group x

I am from Mexico and glad to join this group in order to read new authors from other countries. There is a book that I love even though its author is spanish Benito Perez Galdos, its novel is called "Marianela". Such a novel is a very interestic and romantic one. The story goes around an ugly girl, called Marianela; and a blind-boy. It resembles what friendship is about as well love.
I will give myself the opportunity to read New Zeland authors someday hopefully I get good titles from this club. Thank you!

Welcome Gaby! I'm sure you'll find some great books by NZ authors discussed within this group. It is fantastic to have so many new members joining our group this January.

Hi Angie, could I nominate my book The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head for the YA challenge? Although it's written for the 9-12 age group, older kids should enjoy it. (I've also been getting some nice feedback from Old Adults - you're never too old for a ghost story!)
For the adult challenge, I'd like to nominate No Brainer, by Dirk van den Berg, who's a South African-born kiwi. It's set in Auckland and the descriptions of the city and its people from a kind of outsider's perspective are - well, don't want to give the game away, interested to see what other readers think.

That is absolutely fine, Sue. I'll be setting up the Young Adult nominations at the beginning of Feb, so nominate your book then. Thanks for your NZ nomination. It sounds intriguing!

Sue wrote: "Hi Angie,... for the adult challenge, I'd like to nominate No Brainer, by Dirk van den Berg, who's a South African-born kiwi. It's set in Auckland and the descriptions of the city and its people from a kind of outsider's perspective ..."

Hey there Sue, thanks for recommending Zirk's novel, No-Brainer! [You can get the ebook either from Amazon or from our website, Say Books.]

Stephen Stratford (author, and chief judge of the 2010 NZ Post Book Awards) really liked it too: “No-Brainer is a terrific crime novel with strong characters, great dialogue and consistently appealing humour throughout. I love it, and am sure that Raymond Chandler would approve.”

And thanks Angie for setting up this group!

Thanks for joining Anna. It gives me a real buzz to see the membership numbers growing (daily at the moment!) and to discover so many wonderful NZ authors and authors who write about NZ.

Angie wrote: "Thanks for joining Anna. It gives me a real buzz to see the membership numbers growing (daily at the moment!) and to discover so many wonderful NZ authors and authors who write about NZ."

And the fact that you reply individually to everyone is fantastic! Kudos!

The poll is open! Happy voting.
Scroll down to the bottom of the group home page to find the poll or click on the polls link to the right.

I've decided to keep the polls open for a whole week from now on. So this one closes next Sunday.

I'll nominate Rangatira by Paula Morris.

Thanks for your nomination Kerry. Unfortunately, the poll is already running and set to close in a couple of days. How about you nominate it for our next NZ Challenge? (April/May)

It was a very close poll this time around! The winner being As the Earth Turns Silver.
If your book missed out, please consider re-nominating your book for our NZ Challenge in the future. Also, take the time to set up a folder about your books in the Author Corner on the main group page.
Thanks for taking part in our most successful nomination and poll so far.