MUSIC - AUGUST
BIOGRAPHICAL INTERLUDE
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| Box One |
I'm one of the judges for the fiction section for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, which means I need to read every novel and short story collection published in 2025 that is submitted for the awards. So far I've received two boxes of books (33 books in total) and there's at least one more box to come later in the year. I'd read three books already (score). So that's going to mean I smash some of the reading targets I set at the start of the year (read 100+ books, read 20+ physical books) but means some of the other targets will be harder to achieve (like read 10 non-fiction books by female authors).
(I could tally the numbers now and see, but I'm going to keep myself in the dark till I do my 2025 reading wrap up post).
Before the first box of books to judge arrived, I got a box of books I'd bought from the THWUP sale, which was mostly just Geoff Cochranes. I started a project to re-read all his poetry collections and come up with my own Best Of list, and compare it to the contents of The Collected Geoff Cochrane (which I bought but haven't read). I didn't quite finish this process before the Ockham judging bow wave hit, so this might be a Jan 2026 project :)
BOOKS
Into India, Aztec Noon*, Acetylene*, 84-484*, Pocket Edition*, Hypnic Jerks*, The Worm in the Tequila*, The Bengal Engine's Mango Afterglow* by Geoff Cochrane (poetry, physical books, NZ) - see above.
Tin Nimbus by Geoff Cochrane (novel, physical book, NZ) - Hadn't read this before. If you've only read Geoff's poetry, this novel is pretty much what you'd imagine his novel would be like. Alcoholism. Attention to life at the level of the sentence, the word, the syllable. And the sex scene - the chutzpah!
The Bookshop Detectives: Tea and Cake and Death by Gareth and Louise Ward (novel, audiobook, NZ) - Book Two in the series. Diminishing marginal returns.
The CIA Book Club by Charlie English (non-fiction, audiobook, UK)
Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir by Craig Mod (non-fiction, audiobook, US)
Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata (novel, audiobook, Japan) - was actually written before Convenience Store Woman (terrific) and Earthlings (even better), but translated into English after those two and published in 2025. Not as strong.
Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld (short stories, audiobook, US) - Kinda hated that a story made me empathise with Jeff Bezos. But: goooood stories.
Audition by Katie Kitamura (novel, audiobook, US) - Flesh by David Szalay is still my favourite book on the Booker Shortlist
A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith (non-fiction, audiobook, US) - both a superserious takedown of space colony hype and also quite funny.
Rusty Brown by Chris Ware (graphic novel, physical book, US) - a real doorstop of a book. Can be thrilling at the level of the page in terms of composition / juxtaposition, but can also feel slow and dense. Would be interested in what someone who reads a lot of graphic novels thinks.
Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami (novel, audiobook, Japan) - think Earthlings x Never Let Me Go.
Electric Spark: the Enigma of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson (non-fiction, audiobook, UK) - overpromised and underdelivered in terms of revelations (though there was certainly a lot of words).
+ 8 NZ works of fiction in my judging capacity, which I will remain cagey about.
FILM & TV
Honestly, the only thing I can remember watching (besides sport), was The Truman Show with my kids (first time for them, not for me). Maybe the odd Taskmaster episode. I tried watching Season 2 of The Night Agent, got bored. Season 2 of Squid Game: ditto. Season 1 of Untamed: samesies.
Books! Give me books! Or podcasts. Or another season of Unreal (please?).
Oh, I watched the Devo documentary, and Beau is Afraid, finished Black Mirror Season 7, and the documentary series Wrestlers about OVW (that was really good).
MUSIC - SEPTEMBER
