The Ginger Series
How to Watch a Bird
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By Steve Braunias
As prize-winning journalist Steve Braunias stands on an apartment balcony on a sultry summer evening, a black-backed gull flies so close he is instantaneously bowled over with happiness: 'I thought: Birds, everywhere. I wanted to know more about them.'
How to Watch a Bird is the latest instalment in the spicy Ginger Series from Awa Press, where acclaimed writers share their passions.
'A great book, original and captivating - compelling to the end'
LLOYD JONES
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How to Catch a Cricket Match
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By Harry Ricketts
* Finalist, Spectrum Print Book Design Awards
Rudyard Kipling called cricketers flannelled fools. Groucho Marx asked halfway through a cricket match when it would begin. Alfred Hitchcock put two cricket fans in a thriller as comic relief. Yet despite its famously odd practices, slow pace, strange language, eccentric umpires and frequent scandals - or perhaps because of them - cricket is today one of the world's most passionately followed and played sports.
In New Zealand, watching a cricket match is the quintessence of summer. So when cricket-obsessed writer Harry Ricketts and his Australian friend Tony take themselves to the second day of a test against the West Indies, things are bound to start happening...
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How to Read a Book
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By Kelly Ana Morey
Kelly Ana Morey, award-winning novelist and winner of the inaugural Janet Frame literary award, tells of the books which have captivated her, and the influence they and their authors have had on her life and her stellar writing career. How to Read a Book is a personal love story of the transforming power of the imagination and the written word.
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How to Look at a Painting
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By Justin Paton
Acclaimed art writer Justin Paton takes us on a journey of exploration through the centuries and across the painted world. Whether you're a keen art collector, a serious student or just visit a gallery occasionally, this brilliant exposition of painting in all its forms will open your eyes to things you've never seen before.
How to Look at a Painting by acclaimed art writer Justin Paton has attracted rave reviews:
Photographer MARTI FRIEDLANDER calls the book 'a masterpiece that will set your imagination alight'
BILL MANHIRE, head of the International Institute of Modern Letters, says, 'Justin Paton is perfect company. Wonderfully intelligent and well-informed, he makes baffling stuff accessible, and shows us how great paintings can make the familiar world astonishing and new'
Artist MICHAEL SMITHER says, 'In this absorbing book, painting is revealed as food for the soul, a harbour of memories that sustain us'
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How to Drink a Glass of Wine
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By John Saker
New Zealand has become one of the world's great wine-drinking and producing countries. After six years as a top wine writer, John Saker has blended a thousand impressions, delicious experiences and startled taste buds into an engrossing guide to the world's most loved - and debated - beverage.
'If you read only one book about wine, make it this one'
SIMON WILSON, Cuisine |
How to Catch a Fish
 | by Kevin Ireland
For award-winning writer and poet Kevin Ireland, fishing - especially for the elusive trout - is not an idle pastime but a passionate love affair with the natural world.
This fine, funny, beautiful book should be on the shelf of every fisherman - and woman - and their long-suffering friends and family.
'Ireland demystifies fishing. How welcome that is. He's informative but never omniscient, and often very clever and amusing. It's brilliant and I loved it'
BRIAN TURNER |
How to Listen to Pop Music
 | by Nick Bollinger
It's the music that shook the world. 'I don't sound like nobody,' Elvis Presley said in 1954. True. The truck driver from Memphis was about to set off the biggest musical cataclysm since Mozart.
'Good book! Like an Antipodean version of Nick Hornby's 31 Songs but more expansive and generous ... This other Nick experiences the primeval wonder at first exposure to pure pop, the wild enthusiasm for songs and records that leave others bemused and cold, the insane need to track this music to its roots'
CHRIS KNOX |
How to Gaze at the Southern Stars
 | by Richard Hall
There is no more beautiful or intriguing sight than the night sky. From the beginning of human civilisation people have wondered about the twinkling lights, and the strange objects that occasionally fall to Earth. Come along with astronomer extraordinaire Richard Hall on a tour of the heavens as seen from the Southern Hemisphere.
'A legend brings the night sky to life.'
STEPHEN JAMES O'MEARA |
How to Pick a Winner
 | by Mary Mountier
An astute, irreverent, insider's view of the so-called sport of kings - the betting systems, personalities, scandals, oddities, joys of ownership, social divisions, how it all began (blame King Charles II!) and advice to newcomers.
'No one knows racing better than Mary Mountier. Even if you've never been near a racecourse you'll find this book hugely entertaining'
KEITH QUINN |
How to Watch a Game of Rugby
 | by Spiro Zavos
How to Watch a Game of Rugby will delight both fans and those keen to learn more about New Zealand's national passion. Spiro Zavos shares his love of the sport with wit and humour - and passes on some illuminating pointers.
'Thoughtful, passionate & entertaining'
GREG McGEE
'One for all rugby lovers ... Spiro Zavos's best book yet'
BRYCE COURTENAY |
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