REVIEWED BY CHRIS CHILTON - © Fairfax NZ News

Ruth Carr is gorgeous. As a woman, as the lead singer of New Zealand electronica band Minuit (minwee), as a lyricist, as a writer, as a free thinker, even, it turns out, as an illustrator.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

This massive 624-page beast of a book looks a little daunting at first glance but don't let the size of the thing put you off.

REVIEWED BY NAIDA MULLIGAN - © Fairfax NZ News

This 256-page photographic essay follows the All Blacks during the Steinlager Series in June 2010 against Ireland and Wales.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

If you're stuck for a Christmas gift idea for the music fan in your life, this book will score you some huge brownie points.

REVIEWED BY CHRIS CHILTON - © Fairfax NZ News

This is it. The potted history of great Kiwi pop.

REVIEWED BY HEATHER BONIFACE - © Fairfax NZ News

Kevin Ireland is one of New Zealand's most honoured poets. His writing has drawn accolades, spanning a range of genre. He has been the recipient of many awards, including an OBE for services to literature.

REVIEWED BY STEVE MASON - © Fairfax NZ News

Recognised Kiwi artist Dick Frizzell has long been noted for his refreshing work and that same approach in this autobiography makes it hugely entertaining.

REVIEWED SONIA GERKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

You don't have to be a lover of horses or horse racing to be enthralled by this cleverly titled book that showcases more than 100 works by one of the leading, if not the best, equine artists in Australasia.

REVIEWED BY MAREE FIELD - © Fairfax NZ News

October is New Zealand Book Month, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with a collection of Margaret Mahy's works.

REVIEWED BY STEVE MASON - © Fairfax NZ News

Both interesting and frustrating, New Zealand Portraits is one of the "collection" publications that serve little purpose other than give the buyer a collection of works to flick through.

REVIEWED BY JILLIAN ALLISON-AITKEN - © Fairfax NZ News

Are you a bit of a movie buff? Do you want to show off to your friends and family, displaying a wealth of movie knowledge that will leave them reeling (no pun intended).

REVIEWED BY ROSEMARIE SMITH - © Fairfax NZ News

This collection of 21 short performance pieces for one or two voices was created by an inspired school librarian to give every member of class a meaty part as a medieval village personality be they varmins, vermin, simpletons or saints.

REVIEWED BY MAREE FIELD - © Fairfax NZ News

A lovely book, designed to bring a smile.

REVIEWED BY HELEN BISSLAND - © Fairfax NZ News

An Illustrated Guide to Maori Art is a reprint (enlarged) of a book first published in 1984 and reprinted frequently.

REVIEWED BY JUDY CLEINE - © Fairfax NZ News

The Painted Garden, a beautifully presented book, traces gardens in art in New Zealand from the 1860's through to Peter Hackett's wildly romantic The honeymooners' bed, 2008.

REVIEWED BY JUDY CLEINE - © Fairfax NZ News

If your heart breaks when you see tussock, schist, blue hills and brooding skies captured on a page this is the book for you.

REVIEWED BY JUDY CLEINE - © Fairfax NZ News

I love watercolours. The soft suggestive washes, light leaking through from the page and the clean ink lines.

© Fairfax NZ News

Choosing 70 poems from a collection of more than 300, the result of 15 years writing a weekly topical poem for publication in The Southland Times, might have caused poet Lynley Dear some headaches but that doesn't show in the crisply printed, yellow-covered, spiral-bound collection, published this week.

REVIEWED BY JUDY CLEINE - © Fairfax NZ News

History buffs will love all 232 pages of this beautifully crafted book.