I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne

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Depending on your age and demographic, your familiarity with Ozzy Osbourne will stem either from his music career, as frontman of Black Sabbath, or from his later foray into reality TV, as the doddery, drugged-up patriarch in The Osbournes, which he filmed for several years with his wife Sharon and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack. 
 
In I Am Ozzy he recounts all of the above, and while the memoir features sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll from start to nearly finish, and the bones of the story are familiar, it is far from cliché. Born in 1948 to a working-class Birmingham family, young Ozzy (he is known by his given name, John, only to his family and his first wife) did poorly at school and was unable to hold down a job. He was, he says fortunately, dissuaded from a life of petty crime by a short stint in jail. (He notes that his poor literacy and inability to concentrate at school were explained in mid-life, when he was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention-deficit disorder.)
 
What Ozzy developed an early talent and affinity for was going down the pub. He says he has an addictive personality; even in the final part of the book, when he describes the past five years of full sobriety, he swaps his copious consumption of alcohol and drugs for tea, drinking eight or 10 enormous mugs a day. In a bid to cut down on smoking he gave up cigarettes for cigars, and was quickly inhaling up to 30 Cohibas each day.

Cleo: How an uppity cat helped heal a family by Helen Brown

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In the early 1980s, Helen Brown was a 20-something journalist mum of two adored boys: Sam (almost 9) and Rob (6). Helen and the boys’ father, Steve, had married very young and were having some problems, but their Wellington home was largely happy and the boys were thriving. In anticipation of his upcoming birthday, the family had visited the home of a friend whose cat had just given birth, and Sam picked out a vivacious black kitten. He named her after the Egyptian queen in recognition of her regal bearing and glossy coat. She would be ready to leave her mother in a few weeks, and Sam couldn’t wait; he loved all animals.

Sam was killed a week later when, having found an injured bird, he stepped out in front of a car near the Brown home as he carried it to the vet. His little brother was with him. Brown writes with exquisite pathos of the initial weeks following his death, and their punctuation by the arrival of Cleo, now of age, at her new home. The devastated family had forgotten all about her, and Brown’s first instinct was to send her back; it wasn’t the time for a new pet. But Rob loved her, and she wasted no time creeping into her new mistress’ heart.

What follows is the life story of both a cat and a family; it is no spoiler to say that the Browns’ marriage broke up, that Brown met someone new and that Rob didn’t remain an only child for long. Brown recounts the ups and downs that accompanied Cleo’s nearly 25-year lifespan, including, in one of the funniest and warmest passages, a ‘gap’ year in the UK and Europe by Brown and her new partner, Philip.

Cleo was left behind with a trusted friend; the couple decided, in a fit of romantic devotion, to marry in Switzerland. It swiftly became apparent that the Swiss authorities were determined to deny their wish, demanding that all personal documents dating back to high school be produced and witnessed in triplicate. When that criterion was met, they imposed a rule that the marriage would be legal only if performed by an English-speaking Swiss minister, and such a creature proved nearly impossible to find.

Sensitive readers should be warned; this is at times a very saddening book, not only due to Sam’s death but because it cover’s Cleo’s life from birth to death, and the ‘high priestess’ of the Brown family is as real as any human Brown describes. I was struck by how well, and cogently, Brown wrote about the loss of her son; she has addressed the subject in some of her many columns in the former Dominion and in Next magazine, and her talent for concise, direct and affecting writing is on full display here.

Anyone who has loved a pet, laughed at their antics and taken solace in their company will relish this book, which Brown dedicates to “anyone who says they’re not a cat person, but secretly is.” For a special treat, visit www.helenbrown.com and read Cleo’s blog. She’s reporting from cat heaven, and in one of the recent entries bemoans the surfeit of farmed salmon. A personality as strong as this one doesn’t go away.

3.5/5 Stars:  Funny, touching, and one of the loveliest stories of a family I have read in a long while.

Open: By Andre Agassi

Preceding Open’s publication was a classic media frenzy, stemming from the revelation that the text contained an admission by Agassi, one of tennis’ most beloved practitioners, that he used pure methamphetamine for a period during his career. Everyone from Roger Federer to Boris Becker to Martina Navratilova weighed in with personal opinion, most of it harsh.

Click here to read my complete review of Open as a Personal Choice.

Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters by Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger

Until January 15, 2009, Chesley Sullenberger, known to all as Sully, was just one of around 5,000 commercial pilots employed by US Airways. He had five years of military training and service, and nearly 30 years’ commercial piloting (close to 20,000 hours of flight time), under his belt. He rose to international celebrity on that chilly day when he safely landed Flight 1549 in New York’s Hudson River after it was struck by a flock of Canada geese and lost all engine power. Sully saved the lives of all 155 people on board.

Highest Duty features a detailed account of what happened that day, but above all it’s a story of an American life lived with true goodness. What happened to Sully’s plane that day is a once-in-a-decade occurrence anywhere in the world; as he says, most commercial airline pilots will serve an entire career without losing even one engine. His calmness in handling such an unlikely and profoundly hazardous situation is explained by his account of his history of piloting. He fell in love with flying at the age of 19, when a local flight instructor in Sully’s hometown of Denison, Texas, began giving him lessons.

Despite his family’s shortage of money, Sully’s father, recognizing his son’s passion and talent and wanting to support his goals, found the money to fund most of the cost of the weekly lessons; Sully paid for the rest through after-school jobs.

Sully went on to train at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado, and then served in the US Air Force, attaining the rank of captain. Crucially for his ill-fated flight many years later, he was a member of the official aircraft accident investigation board while in the Air Force, and then, as a civilian pilot, he served as an accident investigator. The many things he learned about aircraft incidents, including his study of a number of cases involving planes landing unexpectedly in water, contributed to the wealth of knowledge that allowed him keep the aircraft in one piece when he hit the Hudson.

Sully writes movingly about his wife, Lorrie, and their two daughters Kate and Kelly, and confesses that the very qualities that have made him an outstanding pilot – perfectionism, attention to detail, ability to control emotion, being extremely organized – have made him hard to live with. He says his wife has told him more than once: “Sully, life is not a checklist.”

But the real reason to read this book – and you should – is Sully’s detailed account of what happened that cold January day. His remarkable recall is aided by the cockpit recording (a full transcript and flight path illustration are included at the back of the book) of the words exchanged with his co-pilot Jeff Skiles and with the air traffic controller on the ground, Patrick Harten.

And just as Agassi’s book is not really about tennis, Sully’s is about much more than flying. I loved reading about the tens of thousands of people who sent him letters and emails in the wake of the landing: some were relatives of those whose lives he saved; others were people who had themselves survived plane crashes and wanted to share their memories; most were simply moved by the powerful story of catastrophe so skillfully averted. Few people have ever been yanked from anonymity as deservedly as Sully.

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Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid

Ms McDermid is one of my great discoveries of 2009 (apologies to crime-thriller devotees who have been much quicker off the bat than I). The Scottish writer has produced several series of thrillers with different protagonists, and the stars of her latest, Fever of the Bone, are Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan and clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill, who have appeared together (but achingly apart) in five previous novels. McDermid is getting such mileage out of the two in part through her clever use of a classic dramatic device – unrealized yearning. They both have serious emotional baggage, Hill from the abandonment of his father (much more of which is revealed in a terrific sub-plot in this book) and Jordan from causes unspecified but manifesting in booze consumption that far exceeds Ministry of Health guidelines for responsible drinking. They live on two different floors of the same house, which doesn’t help with the yearning factor.

The story kicks off with an unwelcome development for Jordan – the new head of her division takes a dislike to the closeness of the relationship between Jordan and Hill, and instructs Jordan to stop using Hill’s services, on the pretext that he is costly, and take on an unhelpful new graduate instead. Hill gets embroiled in the investigation of a murder which turns out to be linked to two other murders Jordan’s team is investigating – all are teenagers who are connected through their membership of RigMarole, a MySpace-style social networking website.

Someone is targeting the teens and tricking them into meeting in person, then inflicting gruesome injuries on them before dispatching them altogether. (Val McDermid has said that, as a female crime writer, she tends to see things from the victim’s point of view and thus avoids unnecessary or gratuitous descriptions of violence – but if you find an average episode of CSI a bit hard to stomach, this book, which features some sexual mutilation, might be a bit steep for you. But you’d be missing out. Just saying.)

We’re off and running, then, in search of the killer (or killers) and the answer to the question of why these teens (all only children, there’s a hint) are being picked off. Meanwhile, the Hill father-son storyline unfolds and inflicts its seismic effect on Hill’s psyche, and there’s the supremely satisfying wrap-up of a cold case.

Like all McDermid novels, Fever of the Bone is carefully constructed to deliver a massive twist right at the end. I defy even the most seasoned crime-thriller readers to see it coming.

Day After Night by Anita Diamant

Anita Diamant made her name as an historical novelist with The Red Tent, a retelling of the biblical story of Dinah, and with Day After Night, she gives voice to women of more recent times – specifically, the inhabitants of Atlit, a detention centre run by the British in Palestine as part of the resettlement programme for European Jews after World War II. Set in the summer of 1945, the novel focuses on four young women who are interned at Atlit and turn to each for support and succour as they plan their escape (the breaking-out from Atlit recounted in the book is based on real historical events).

I must confess to a woeful lack of knowledge about this specific period in history – reading this book proved very edifying, largely because it had never occurred to me to wonder what happened to Europe’s surviving Jews (and non-Jewish refugees who simply wanted shot of that continent forever) between the liberation of the Nazi camps in 1945 and the formal establishment of the state of Israel in 1947. I learned that people fled to Eretz Israel, the biblical name for the ancestral homeland of the Jews, and those who were ‘paperless’, without identification, were held at Atlit, in British-controlled Palestine, until they could be processed and released to live in a kibbutz. Given that the British refused permission for anyone to immigrate in the first place, the process tended to take a while.

It is into this morass that our four traumatized heroines descend: Zorah, an Auschwitz survivor, Tedi, a Dutch Jew who was hidden by a family in the countryside, Shayndel, a Polish Zionist who fought with the partisans, and Leonie, a beauty who was forced into prostitution in Paris. All are young – there was no one over the age of 21 in Atlit at the time in which this story takes place – and all have lost their families. They are dealing with grief, survivor’s guilt, and varying degrees of rage at what has become of their lives.

Diamant isn’t the greatest wordsmith – her talents lie in embellishing real stories, making them readable and capturing the remarkable and unique relationships that women forge with each other. She’s been accused of being one-dimensional in her approach to women’s voices, but for me, the special setting of this book, which has been overlooked by novelists, outweighs any such quibbles.

Kerre and I did agree that the novel ends too abruptly – there is a resolution, but you’re left wanting more. The upside is that it may inspire you, as it did me, to reading more about Atlit, Eretz Yisrael and the British Mandate in Palestine. For anyone partial to a moving and well-researched historical novel with strong characterization, Day After Night will make for satisfying reading.

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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest by Stieg Larsson

Kerre warned me at the outset of our chat not to give away too much about The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, the final in the trilogy by Swedish journalist/novelist/crusader Stieg Larsson, who died prematurely, in 2004 at age 50, shortly after handing the complete series to his publisher. I wouldn’t dare; to do so would destroy the amazing treat in store for whoever picks up this 600-page delight of a political crime thriller. In fact, to some extent the three books, known as the Millennium trilogy, defy genre categorization. They involve complex family dramas, serial killers and sexual psychosadists, political conspiracies, journalistic crusades, international computer hackery, espionage, criminal industrialists, Russian defectors, sex crimes, corrupt psychiatrists and the Swedish secret police. And a love triangle or two.

If any of that appeals to you, I urge you to get to work on this little collection – it’s a trilogy that you can completely immerse yourself in for the duration. You could read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest as a stand-alone book, though I wouldn’t advise it – you’d be cheating yourself. The first two books (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire) have many characters in common (including the primary one, The Girl of the titles, the remarkable Lisbeth Salander) and great plots of their own, and set up the complex stories that Larsson brings to fruition in the final instalment.

Part of my enjoyment of the series has come from learning about Larsson, an extraordinary character who quite literally worked himself into an early grave. He wrote the Millennium trilogy (which has to date sold 12 million copies worldwide) as a hobby, a distraction, from his day job as the chief editor of the left-wing, anti-fascist magazine Expo. His lifelong campaigning against right-wing extremism in Sweden took a toll on his day-to-day life; for the last 15 years, of his life, Larsson and his partner, Eva Gabrielsson, lived under constant threat from right-wing violence, particularly after a labour-union leader was murdered in his home by neo-Nazis in 1999.

According to the website stieglarsson.com, he fit the classic definition of a workaholic, working on the magazine and related political activity by day, and writing the books by night, while smoking 60 hand-rolled cigarettes and skipping most meals.

The aftermath of the books’ success is a story in itself; despite being with Eva for decades, because they never married, under Swedish law she is not entitled to any of the proceeds from the books, and Larsson’s father and brother, from whom he was estranged, are raking in the profits. Meanwhile, a film of the first book (the Swedish title is Men Who Hate Women) is in the works. Hopefully a subtitled version will show up in our neck of the woods.

Do check out stieglarsson.com for a full biography – his death was a loss to more than just lovers of good fiction.

Just in Time to be Too Late by Peta Mathias

On a more cheerful note, one of New Zealand’s true grande dames, Peta Mathias, has published a book about men, Just in Time to be Too Late: Why Men are Like Buses. It’s a companion of sorts to her 2008 book about women, Can We Help it if We’re Fabulous? and, as much as I liked that, I think this new tome is even better. For starters, I learned more. She retains the successful formula of assigning chapters by topic, including Work, Family, Relationships, Sex & Love, Food & Health, Sports (in which Peta goes off on an hilarious tangent about the sadistic battiness that is the Spanish devotion to bullfighting) Fashion, Gay Men (my personal favourite), and the delicious, save-the-best-till-last final chapter, entitled Why Men Lie, in which Peta (who is single at 60 but a great believer in taking lovers) tells the story of the scoundrel who broke her heart.

Peta is best-known to most Kiwis for her association with food and cooking; she has produced many cookbooks, is a newspaper columnist on the topic and has been the longtime host of TVNZ’s Taste New Zealand. She’s a tremendous self-actualizer, having returned to New Zealand in the early 1990s after 10 years in France with a plan to make a living working for herself writing about food. She has also established successful cooking schools in the south of France and Morocco.

A woman who has lived so well has a fair few stories to tell, and this is what makes her non-food books such thoroughly engaging reading. Peta is a great writer and does her research; Just in Time to be Too Late features Q&As with several men she knows, friends and acquaintances, who candidly offer their thoughts on everything from monogamy and children to food and footwear.

My favourite parts are Peta’s story of The Best Gay Man She Ever Knew, and her description of her wedding in France, at which all the guests wore black. One of the best New Zealand books of the year, for my money. Maybe we can make her a real Dame?

Four of New Zealand’s top chefs and food writers are being brought together by Paper Plus for a VIP evening of entertainment and foodie banter. The canapé-and-bubbles-fuelled evening will be hosted by food-lover and Paper Plus books spokesperson Kerre Woodham, with the panelists discussing everything food-related about their latest books and favourite recipes.

In the lead up to Christmas, this grand foodie gathering will offer a bounty of inspiration for entertaining at home with family, friends and loved ones over the festive season.

Well known family cook Allyson Gofton, beloved by New Zealanders as the former host of TV One’s popular Food in a Minute, will be discussing her book Cook, which features her favourite recipes for entertaining at home.

Wellington’s own Martin Bosley, Listener food columnist and owner-chef of restaurant Martin Bosley’s at the Port Nicholson Yacht Club (2007 winner of Cuisine Restaurant of the Year) will be talking about his book Martin Bosley Cooks. The recipes are designed “for the home chef who doesn’t have hours to spend on making a splash at dinner parties or even a work night. I want others to enjoy that feeling of comfort and generosity that comes from preparing good food for others.”

Alongside Allyson and Martin will be Sophie Gray, made famous by her Destitute Gourmet philosophy of serving up tasty, fashionable and healthy home-cooked meals on a modest budget. The 10th anniversary edition of the Destitute Gourmet cookbook, Stunning Food from Small Change (centred around family, friends and good food) has just been published, and at the VIP event Sophie will share how she encourages home cooks to innovate and improvise, and shop smart – what you really need in your pantry, and what you can easily do without.

And the fourth guest, cookbook author and long-time Cuisine food editor Lauraine Jacobs, will be discussing the new book she has edited, A Treasury of New Zealand Baking, to which Allyson and Martin, along with more of the country’s top cooks and food writers, have contributed recipes. The book is being released to coincide with Breast Cancer Action Month, with all royalties going to the Breast Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.

“As we are coming into the Christmas holiday season, with its many opportunities to be with family and friends and enjoy delicious, seasonal homemade food, we thought it was timely to bring these great cooks and food writers together for an entertaining evening of canapés, bubbly and food talk,” Paper Plus Group Marketing Manager Lyle Hastings says.

“They all have great recipes and recommendations for fun, food-filled gatherings with loved ones. Kerre is vocal about her love of good food, so she will bring out the best in our guests.”

Details:
Date: 27 November 2009
PAPER PLUS BOOKS & BUBBLES FAB FOODIES
Date: Friday 27 November, 2009
Time: 6pm arrival for 6.30pm start. Approximate duration: 3 hours.

This is the final metropolitan Paper Plus Books & Bubbles event for the year, and will be hosted in the food capital, Wellington, with a great line-up of authors talking about their latest books and their love of all things food. The speakers are Allyson Gofton, former Food in a Minute host and author of Cook, Wellington’s own Martin Bosley, renowned chef and author of Martin Bosley Cooks, Destitute Gourmet Sophie Gray, whose latest book is Stunning Food from Small Change, and Cuisine food editor Lauraine Jacobs, who is releasing A Treasury of New Zealand Baking. Food-lover and Paper Plus books spokesperson Kerre Woodham will keep the audience entertained and the conversation flowing, and guests will enjoy a complimentary glass of Morton Estate bubbles on arrival with sumptuous canapés from Regal Salmon, with the chance to win a fabulous $500 hamper from L’Oréal Paris. Each guest will also get a goody bag to take home. A fabulous foodie night out not to be missed!

Location: Duxton Hotel, 170 Wakefield Street, Wellington
Tickets: $40 each and available from all Wellington Paper Plus stores or online at www.booksandbubbles.co.nz, with proceeds going to Cure Kids.
More about the panelists:

Allyson Gofton has been cooking for New Zealanders for over 20 years. During her varied career she has assisted Graham Kerr both here and abroad, and became the Chief Executive Officer of the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation. She was also Food Editor for Next magazine for many years and appeared nightly on our screens as presenter for Food In a Minute. Allyson has written 19 cookbooks, including the best-selling Bake and After Work Cookbook. Allyson is a working mum with two young children and a very busy husband who love her home cooking and baking.

Martin Bosley is one of New Zealand’s most highly-regarded chefs, and the owner of the Port Nicholson Yacht Club restaurant on the waterfront at Oriental Bay in Wellington. The restaurant won the coveted Cuisine Restaurant of the Year award in 2007. He writes a weekly column in the Listener and another in the Air New Zealand magazine Kia Ora.

Ladies love an opportunity for a get together and a glass of bubbles. What better way to do it than with the sensational Kerre Woodham for a good old gossip about chick lit, dating tips, marathon running, being a domestic goddess and why the world is your lobster.

The Paper Plus Group is giving Christchurch women the chance to have a Girls Night Out to remember with a special Books & Bubbles at Hotel Grand Chancellor on Friday 2 October. Hosted by Kerre Woodham, guests will enjoy a panel of high profile authors providing an unforgettable evening of entertainment.

The stellar line-up includes internet dating guru Rachel Goodchild, Christchurch based author and columnist Joe Bennett, media veteran and domestic goddess Wendyl Nissen and author of bestsellers Bonkers and Divine Michelle Holman.

“Women these days balance a busy professional career with parenthood and deserve a night out to unwind” said Paper Plus Group Marketing Manager Lyle Hastings. “They can do just that at Books & Bubbles Girls Night Out and bring along their friends for a great night of entertainment as Kerre Woodham speaks to guests about her experiences going from Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner and our panel of authors chat about their books.”

The event will be held at Hotel Grand Chancellor from 6pm and guests will be treated to a complimentary glass of bubbles courtesy of Morton Estate on arrival. Along with sumptuous canapés from Regal Salmon, there will be goody bags for each guest, and a fabulous $500 hamper to be won with thanks to L’Oréal Paris.

Entry to the event costs $45 and tickets can be purchased from all Christchurch Paper Plus stores or online at www.booksandbubbles.co.nz, where you will also find a schedule and details of upcoming Books & Bubbles events. All proceeds from the events go towards Paper Plus’ chosen charity Cure Kids.

More about the panelists:

Rachel Goodchild – After trawling the internet for love and friendship, experiencing the highs and lows of cyber match-making, and meeting other people on the same path, Rachel Goodchild decided to compile these stories in a bid to help readers avoid disasters and head straight for the person of their dreams. Rachel is a full time writer for magazines and newspapers as a columnist on the joys of dating, providing some helpful tips and hints along the way.

Joe Bennett – Brighton born, Cambridge University educated and Lyttleton resident, Joe Bennett is a full-time freelance columnist and author. Three-time Qantas Media Columnist of the Year award winner, Joe is one of the country’s most widely read and popular syndicated columnists, both in newspapers and magazines. Joe Bennett’s erudite and wryly amusing commentaries on the foibles and eccentricities of modern life qualify him as one of our best-loved grouches. Joe’s latest The World’s Your Lobster has bottled the best of 2009’s writings and is set to be another hit with fans.

Michelle Holman – After returning from her ‘Big OE’ to the UK which beckoned at the tender age of seventeen, Michelle returned home to New Zealand in 1989 with her ‘Pom’ husband in tow and started a family. Working as a nurse and managing community health projects, Michelle always had the urge to be a published writer and on New Years 2005 set the goal of being just that! Her first book Bonkers was born in 2007 and paved the way for her second successful novel Divine followed by her latest Knotted to be released on October 1^st this year.

Wendyl Nissen – For more than 25 years, Wendyl has been at the front of the media pack – first as an eager young journalist, then as the influential editor of a string of high-profile women’s magazines, a television producer and writer, and a popular radio commentator and columnist. Wendyl’s bestseller Bitch and Famous details her magazine career. Her latest and another bestseller Domestic Goddess on a Budget released in May this year, is a user-friendly guide to saving time and money without losing your sense of style or humour. This how-to for women includes recipes for tried and true environmentally friendly cleaning products providing great alternatives to the expensive and chemical ridden concoctions on the supermarket shelves, as well as beauty products!

ends

About Paper Plus

The Paper Plus Group began 26 years ago and is f New Zealand’s largest stationery and bookseller. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 106 stores; Take Note with 63 stores; and Office Spot with three stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in every town and city, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.

For more information please contact:

Lyle Hastings
Group Marketing Manager
Paper Plus
+64 (0)9 261 0702
lyle.hastings@paperplus.co.nz

Laura Burns
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5545
+64 (0)27 232 0009
laura@alexandercomms.co.nz

Paper Plus books spokesperson Kerre Woodham is visiting Napier on Friday 11 September to chat about her favourite reads alongside two special guest authors. David and Karen Anderson from Paper Plus Napier invite the community to attend the evening event and enjoy a glass of bubbly while talking with Kerre and other guests about favourite books.

Guests will enjoy special appearances by authors Nicky Pellegrino and Dr Dave Baldwin. Nicky started writing the day she learned that Angela D’Audney, a close acquaintance, had a brain tumour – and she hasn’t stopped since. She started with Angela’s autobiography, A Wonderful Life, and then moved on to her signature Italy-themed novels, Delicious, The Gypsy Tearoom, and her latest, The Italian Wedding. The latter, about discovering who your family members really are, is a feast of food and love.

New Zealand’s first and only Flying Doctor, Dr Dave Baldwin provides an aviation medical service to pilots in remote areas of the country. Dave’s book Healthy Bastards provides the essential prescription for every bloke – laughter! Dr Dave has taken every common health problem affecting the average bloke and summarised the remedies into main points, making for a painless and easy read.

In addition to being a bookworm Kerre is a writer, having published last year’s bestseller Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner, a characteristically witty and candid account of how she worked her way to fitness and completed both the Auckland and New York Marathons – all after inauspiciously turning up to her very first training session with a hangover.

David and Karen say the evening will be a celebration of great reading and a chance for the guests to chat about their favourite books while relaxing with a glass of bubbly.

The event will be held at Paper Plus Napier from 6pm. Entry to the VIP night costs $10, and tickets can be purchased from Paper Plus Napier. Along with sumptuous nibbles courtesy of Regal Salmon and a glass of bubbly, there will be goody bags for each guest and the chance to win a fabulous $500 L’Oréal Paris hamper and $100 Regal Salmon prize. Audience members will be able to make a donation to Cure Kids if they wish.

Kerre is a well-known presence on television, on the Paper Plus website and in stores. Each month she announces and reviews her preferred latest books in Kerre’s Choices, and shares her thoughts in the Paper Plus Book Club online discussion forum. The Paper Plus Book Club gives readers the opportunity to review books they love, add comments to other reviews and receive special book offers.

ends

For more information please contact:

Laura Burns
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5545
+64 (0)27 232 0009
laura@alexandercomms.co.nz

Lyle Hastings
Group Marketing Manager
Paper Plus
+64 (0)9 261 0702
lyle.hastings@paperplus.co.nz

About Paper Plus

The Paper Plus Group began 26 years ago and is New Zealand’s largest stationery and bookseller. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 104 stores; Take Note with 63 stores; and Office Spot with three stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in every town and city, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.