Two books I’ve very much enjoyed recently are:

Heartland by Michelle Leggott (Auckland University Press, 2014)

I am a fan of Michelle Leggott’s poetry and I think Heartland is “even better” than its predecessor Mirabile Dictu, which I also enjoyed. I love the continuing theme of family heritage and intergenerational stories, an exuberant ‘who we are’ as much as ‘who are we?’ explored in poetry. I also love the richness of Michelle Leggott’s use of language and her command of the poetic form. A must-read poetry collection, imho.
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Mortal Fire by Elizabeth Knox (Gecko Press, NZ; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, US; 2013)

From the outset, I was intrigued by and drawn into this story. I love the character of Canny (the central protagonist) and the world building. I particularly admire the way Elizabeth Knox takes the recognizably ‘real’ –and recognizably NZ real, at that — and weaves it into a “1-step-removed” alternate world. There were also some great secondary characters, such as Sholto, Susan, and Cyrus. I also really liked that Canny’s heritage is “Pasifika” (the quote marks are because this is an alternate world, but still I think Pasifika is a fair term in the context of the story), as although very much part of NZ’s contemporary cultural make up, the Pacific influence is not as prevalent in our storytelling.