Blog Posts

Excellent advice on mortgages

4/12/2017

Hammer that mortgage (revised, updated)
by David Tillman

David Tillman is a banker turned labourer turned mortgage broker, and he brings his lifetime of dealing with mortgages to this book. He covers every aspect of first obtaining, then reducing a mortgage as quickly as possible.
The book covers all the known techniques of reducing the cost of a mortgage over its term – dealing with interest stress testing, revolving lines of credit, offset mortgages, splitting loans into fixed, revolving and floating portions, combinations of these ideas, and includes guidelines for deciding which is the right method for you. The book uses examples of typical couples to illustrate the various techniques of managing loans.
It covers such ideas as the “Latte mortgage” where the money spent on a daily cup of coffee is added to the monthly payments, showing how savings of tens of thousands of dollars of interest over the term of a loan can be made. If these topics seem too complicated then David advises seeing a mortgage broker to guide you through the options available to you.
This is a second edition of the book, and it now includes a very good section on using Kiwisaver to obtain a deposit and then get a loan. There would be few New Zealanders who are totally familiar with all the assistance available to them from Kiwisaver, and this alone is worth many times the cost of the book.
There are many tables and graphs showing the effects of increasing the monthly or weekly payments, and these make compelling motivation for following his recommendations.
Tillman’s section on stress testing a mortgage should be required reading for the many young people who do not seem to regard a mortgage as a debt, but just as a fact of life as they have no intention of paying it off, even regarding the increasing value of their property as spending money. This book points out the disaster that can follow such an attitude, if interest rates rise and house values fall even a little. He bases his projections on an interest rate of 6%, which seems historically low, so if rates rise above this then all sorts of problems arise.
He includes a section on his own story, telling how he obtained a loan and then paid it off in five years, despite being in a low paid job, but devoting all his energy to clearing the debt.
I think it is an excellent book, I liked the appearance of the text, and the layout of the chapters, but feel that more space could be devoted to the complex business of combo loans, because these can be tailored to an individual’s circumstances and they can offer the most savings, while still offering a reasonable lifestyle. Some of the stories, while making good points are a little simplistic and trite.
Overall, I think everyone thinking about borrowing, or even those with an existing loan should get a copy of this book.

Review by Harold Bernard

Title: Hammer That Mortgage
Author: David Tillman
Publisher: Mortgage Freedom NZ Ltd
ISNB: 978-0-473-37154-8
RRP: $29.99

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Well written stories

3/24/2017

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The Lost of Syros
By Emma Timpany

Emma Timpany is a New Zealand-born writer who currently lives in Cornwall, England, where she has been successful with her entries in several short story competitions.
This collection is slim but all 16 stories are worth reading as their author shows herself to have mastered the genre.
They are well constructed, the situations and observations perceptive, and the writing is well-judged – not verbose or overdone. Word use is well chosen to reveal scenes and evoke thoughts and memories in the reader.

The diagnosis is pleurisy. Outside, a gorgeous spring’s dispensing its own medicine, a string of warm blue days. Katie’s told to rest and eat, and do nothing else. I fill her room with bluebells. She says they smell like honey. An elderly maid, her skin as crumpled and brown as a walnut shell, brings Katie gooseberry jam on thin slices of buttered bread cut into little triangles. Food to lure fairies from their lairs, Katie calls it.

Many are of the stories are set in New Zealand, but there are other locations to provide variety. The title story, for instance, is a memory of a holiday in the Greek Islands, recalled from its narrator’s residence in London.
Lengths vary from under three pages to ten pages – none too long for their subjects. The choice of narration in each case is appropriate. The order in which they are placed, and the interior design could be tweaked, but these are minor quibbles in a collection of well-written stories.

Review by J.M.

Title: The Lost of Syros
Author: Emma Timpany
Publisher: Cultured Llama Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9932119-2-8
RRP: RRP £12.00
Available: Print from www.culturedllama.co.uk, Amazon, The Book Depository, Waterstone's and other online retailers.
https://emmatimpany.wordpress.com @CornishShorts

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Different fascinating story

3/14/2017

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Te Tini o Toi, Book 1
By Narena Olliver

A great amount of thought and preparation has gone into the writing of this book. Narena Olliver has worked to fuse fact with fantasy and the result is a different and fascinating story set in this country about one thousand years ago.
     Despite the title, it is not the new arrivals from Polynesia, the Tauhou under the leadership of Toi, who are at the forefront of the story, but the original race of Kaiwaiata, human-like light-skinned creatures reminiscent of the patupaiarehe of Maori tradition. Humans, they say, are closely related to them, though a mutation that occurred long ago – “like ourselves but not like ourselves”.
The matrilineal society of the Kaiwaiata is egalitarian. Though human-shaped, they nest in trees and some fly, either on the backs of huge eagles or they glide with the help of feathered suits. They are aligned with other living creatures, with which they cooperate and do not exploit. Moreover, through telepathy they communicate with other such peoples elsewhere, and precognition serves as protection from most danger.
     With the new arrivals come kuri and kiore, all of which they find “breed so fast”. And there’s the Tauhou’s practice of setting fire to the forest. Together, the result is an immediate detrimental effect on the inhabitants – birds, particularly moa and other ground-dwellers, as well as on the Kaiwaiata.
     It is not just the issues between the Kaiwaiata and the Touhou that keep the novel moving, but an added factor in the settling of old scores between the first set of canoes and the next.
     The book ends quite abruptly without a real conclusion – no doubt because there is another one to follow – Te Tini o Toi, Book 2.
     Though particularly accessible to New Zealand readers with prior knowledge of the history and traditions of this country, there are ample explanations throughout the text to guide someone new to the subject, plus a full glossary of perhaps less familiar words and terms used.
The disappointing aspect is that the author’s care taken with the preparation has been let down in the later stages of publishing. When the book has undergone more rigorous proofing to eliminate the many errors it will be a worthy addition to the fiction-folk-history of this country.

Te Tini o Toi, Book 2

Book 2 in the series carries on the story of the alternative people the Kaiwaiata, and the new arrivals from Polynesia, the Tauhou.
     It is necessary to read Book 1 first, as this second work lacks sufficient explanation for a new reader to understand the situation and characters. In fact, it is not clear why this is separate – it would be better for the two to be made into a single book.
     The sequel is shorter than Book 1, and though there is some development in the matter of relations between the two peoples, it does not add a lot.
     There is an attempt at a liaison between the races, but the result is as the Kaiwaiata feared. The Tauhou proliferate and the natural environment suffers, particularly the birdlife with the moa at the top.
Again, this book ends abruptly, with a short, prosaic epilogue stating what happened to the various characters.

Review by Alderaan Hoth

Title: Te Tini o Toi, Books 1 & 2
Author: Narena Olliver
Publisher: Icon Press
Available for Kindle from Amazon
Book 1: ASIN B00FIHCNVE
RRP: 3.49
Book 2: ASIN B0IF325KRC
RRP: 3.31

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Novel deals with social issues

3/2/2017

3 Comments

I Too
by T E Stazyk

This book relates the experiences of three young men, school buddies, and their progress through their postgraduate lives in New York City.
There is Ridge, a very right wing businessman intent on carving out a career in a major consulting firm. He has a girlfriend, Julia, from a mega-rich family who moves in all the ‘right’ circles and to whom money has no meaning, because her father provides more than she could ever spend. Ridge’s view of anyone who is poor or unemployed is that they are lazy and useless. Taxation is theft by the government in order to transfer wealth to the poor.
Then there is Paul, also a corporate climber, but who is much more moderate, and has a partner, Michelle, who is an HR consultant also for a major company. Paul’s company has some policies that are more enlightened that those proclaimed by Ridge’s firm.
The final member of the trio is Ben, a history teacher at a community college, teaching civics and history to people trying to break out of the vicious cycle of unskilled jobs provided by companies that see the only way to make more money is to grind down their workers by cutting hours and removing benefits. Ben is idealistic and loves to debate with Paul and Ridge the ethics and morals of their consulting projects which often involve making people redundant. Ben has a friend Asha who is a lawyer working for a social agency dealing with women’s refuges.
Ridge progresses well in his job by agreeing with everything his bosses say, until he is given responsibility for overseeing a project that attempts to factor in the real environmental impact of doing business. How he copes and changes when the bean-counters interfere with the project, and how the conspicuous consumption of Julia affects his outlook on life, are the drivers of his story.
Paul is required to undertake an aid project in Laos and comes back from that experience a changed man. He questions the effect that aid has on the local population and sees no need for capital intensive intervention in the Laotian state. He worries that his views may make him unpopular with his firm.
Ben has had to live with the insecurity of having a non-tenured position in a college facing funding cuts because his subjects do not fit the model of producing workers for industry. However, he persists in giving what he can to his pupils, and is very popular with them.
How these three resolve all the issues facing them makes a satisfying story, and there are twists in the story line.
The characters may seem a little too stereotyped, and some of the attitudes of the firms employing them are a little too forced, but this may be because there is not space in a small book to delve deeper into their characters, and they do illustrate the story.
The book jumps between narratives from each of the men and although this could become disjointed, in this case it works well. It is a very topical book, citing the Brexit event in the UK and the rise to power of big business in the United States. It raises some interesting topics regarding the environment and also such issues such as a universal minimum wage and the social responsibilities of big business.
This is a book that makes the reader examine how one regards social issues and attitudes to the environment, and as such makes a good read. I recommend it.

Review by Harold Bernard

Editor’s note: All proceeds from the sale of I Too go to support CUE Haven, a project to restore an old Kaipara dairy farm back to a native New Zealand forest for the community.

Title: I Too
By: T. E. Stazyk
Publisher: Createspace
ISBN: 978-1535581233
RRP: Paperback NZ$ 25.00, ebook NZ$ 8.00
Available as a paperback or ebook from Amazon and Amazon Kindle and as a paperback from The Book Depository; also via Auckland Library.

3 Comments

The power of a hidden truth

2/20/2017

5 Comments

Lewisville
by Alexandra Tidswell

Lewisville is a story that spans three countries and fifty-six years. Pretty impressive considering that the novel fitted comfortably within my hands as I devoured it from cover to cover.
     It begins in 1815 when a young, dirt-poor English girl, Martha Grimm, despite desperately wanting to, is told she will never be allowed to learn to read and write and must stay and look after her mother as all eldest daughters are expected to do. But Martha Grimm is ambitious, and despite this dismal prospect, sets out to change her fortune in the world, no matter what the cost might be to herself and those around her.
     We follow her journey, from rags to potential riches, that takes her and daughter Mary Ann from motherland England to a fledgling 1840s Wellington, New Zealand.
     As a reader of many genres, I’ve never been a fan of historical fiction – often weighty tomes of historical fact ladled over fictitious characters and mixed in with the repetitive nitty-gritty of their everyday lives. Lewisville however, is a wonderful, can’t-put-it-down page-turning read.
     The story is based on a family’s hidden truth revealed, explored and embellished by a descendant, the author herself. I can tell that this is a debut novel. Why? Because you can feel that a whole life has been invested into this work. The story is imbued with a passionate desire to bring an obsession to light, a need to free the characters in one’s head out into the world for all to see.
What would you do if you discovered that one of your ancestors had hidden a momentous truth by laying a shroud of mystery over it, a mystery that would have a false rumour-effect for the generations to come? This novel is what Alexandra Tidswell did with that discovery.
    Lewisville is a fantastic read, whether you’re a Kiwi looking at how it was in early Wellington settlement, an Australian observing the early convict-colony to goldrush settlement days, or English knowing what life used to be like within and without service in the 1800s. What would you do to better your lot in life? Read Lewisville and discover how Martha Grimm bettered hers.

Review by Penny M Geddis

Title: Lewisville
Author: Alexandra Tidswell
Publisher: Mākaro Press
ISBN: 978-0-9941379-0-6
RRP: $35.00
Available: Paper only

5 Comments

Understanding achievement-oriented personality

2/9/2017

1 Comment

All or Nothing: Bringing balance to the achievement-oriented personality
by Mike McKinney

Do you describe yourself as ‘goal-directed’? Or ‘extremely competitive’? Do you have a strong desire to achieve? To win, at all costs? Do you push yourself to your very limits? Or maybe this describes your partner. Maybe you’re a manager and think this type of personality is all positive. If so, this book is a must-read.
     In spite of being useful for others, the book is addressed primarily to the person who sees him- or herself as an All or Nothing person. Unusually, some of it is written in the second person (e.g. “You will be pleased to hear that the goal of shifting this behaviour is not to turn yourself into an ‘average’ or ‘lazy’ person.”)
     The key to the underlying theme in the book is the word ‘balance’ in the sub-title. Although career (or sports) uber-motivated people are often highly successful, there are costs. McKinney’s aim is to present the evidence for the achievement of balance, which is not only helpful for the All or Nothing person’s sense of contentment and that of the family but, in the long run, is conducive to achieving long-term goals.
     The All or Nothing person wants perfection. Unfortunately, the world being as it is, perfection is only sometimes achievable. Mood-related problems like depression and anxiety can result when things don’t go according to plan (even the most well-developed and beautifully devised designs) and can proceed to the dreaded ‘burn-out’. When things go wrong and working to the nth degree is no longer fun, A/N people can suffer from a sudden and devastating loss of self-confidence, and a drain of their energy reserves and maybe even crash – give up altogether – meaning not only the task, but the job and everything else as well. Change (such a frightening word when the A/N person knows that hard work and lots of it has always been the secret to success) is key. As McKinney says:
You will have noticed by now [p 119] that this book is not about eliminating or ‘curing’ problems. Rather, it presents an approach of understanding what factors are operating within the individual at a given time and then considers how to modulate these.”
     Some niggles: why did the publisher choose to print the book in a wafer-thin grey font, and, worse, put the case histories in boxes using the same typeface but now on a grey background which reduces contrast even further? Easy reading is restricted to perfect lighting conditions. Second, somehow the editing allowed McKinney’s propensity to split his infinitives remain uncorrected and every one of them jars. Third, someone should have told him that exclamation points are better restricted to emails. Little niggles, but each one takes the reader away from the message. And that message is important.
     The world needs a dose of All or Nothing, but never to the extent that people hurt themselves. The A/N person is his/her own worst enemy, of course. McKinney never tries to sell his points, merely pointing out that being a successful person is possible with a smidgeon of flexibility, a healthy regard for important people in your life and the introduction of pleasurable activities that provide their own rewards. Balance.

Review by ‘Kiw1’

Title: All or Nothing: bringing balance to the achievement-oriented personality
Author: Mike McKinney
Publisher: Exisle Publishing
ISBN: 9781925335262
RRP: $34.99
Available: bookshops

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From judicial murder to fanatical terrorism

2/4/2017

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Look Away, Dixieland
by M J Burr

From the opening pages of Look Away, Dixieland, with a rigged court martial and judicial murder in America’s war torn southern states in 1865, to the book’s fast-paced final chapters in 2009-10, MJ Burr takes his readers far beyond the mere facts of events in the American Civil War and deep into the destructive, obsessive mind of a man who is still fighting that war in our times.
     Look Away, Dixieland portrays the final months of the Civil War from the Confederate point of view, as described in an account written by Jim Shields, a Virginian cavalryman who survived the war and founded a family tradition which is still respected four generations later in the 21st century.
     Through Shield’s story, Burr breathes life into the Southerners, both military and civilian, who inhabited the states of America which became known as Dixie.
     As Shields’ story unfolds, we learn of the brave and tragic events leading up to the fabricated charges of desertion and treason, and resulting execution of his friend and fellow cavalryman, Billy Brodie. Jim Shields and Billy Brodie are the heroes of their cavalry unit, while cowardice, bullying brutality, over-zealous patriotism and non-acceptance of the South’s defeat are embodied in the family of Abner Quealey and his equally obnoxious son, Amos.
     When Jim Shields’ journal is discovered in 2010 and found to contain a mystery, who better to solve it than the brilliant duo of his History lecturer great-great grandson, Brodie Shields and criminologist Ellen Newstrom! However, in setting out to unravel the journal’s riddle, Brodie and Ellen put themselves on a deadly collision course with the latest incarnation of the wicked Abner and Amos Quealey. Hartford Quealey is in fact masterminding a series of terrorist acts aimed at forcing the American government to grant long-awaited self-government to the southern Dixie states.
     History enthusiast Burr has combined his passion for, and knowledge of, events with his strong belief that those events are more memorable when seen through the eyes of the fleshed-out ordinary people who participated in them: an approach which, in Look Away, Dixieland, very effectively takes the dryness out of the bare bones of the facts. His Confederate characters are convincing and likable and blend fluidly with his present-day Quealey and cohorts who are chillingly hateful. I found the relationship between Brodie IV and Ellen rather soppy and self-congratulatory but this is a minor irritation in a cleverly told story.
     In the final pages of the book, Burr builds tension with a series of short, snappy chapters. Brodie and Ellen survive Look Away, Dixieland by an almost comical chain of events, and just when our guard is down, thinking Ha, ha! They were lucky to get out of that alive, Burr takes us by surprise and winds the suspense up again to the final dramatic scenes.
     Look Away, Dixieland is a great read in the genre of faction or fictionalised fact – a gripping historical-contemporary thriller combined with a sweet and tragic 19th century romance. It will have curious readers reaching for their encyclopaedias/search engines to refresh the lyrics of Dixie and confirm the exact position of the Mason-Dixon line. At the same time, Look Away, Dixieland is thought-provoking: to paraphrase Burr’s quote from Marie-Jeanne Phlippon Roland, What crimes will still be committed in your name, oh Liberty?
     It’s good to know that Burr has other historical novels in the pipeline, including one set in New Zealand’s not so distant past.

Review by Review by Carolyn McKenzie
Carolyn McKenzie, freelance proofreader, copy editor, translator from Italian to English.
She offers accommodation at reasonable rates for FlaxFlower writers
in Thames (Waikato) and Ventimiglia Alta (Liguria, Italy ). carolynmckenzie@libero.it

Title: Look Away, Dixieland
Author: M J Burr
Publisher: Cliowrite Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 9780-473-35196-0
RRP: Print US $11.99; Kindle US $4.59
Available: ebook or print from Amazon, or print copy from author at mjb2@paradise.net.nz

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Wide-ranging articles

1/27/2017

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Tell You What: Great New Zealand Nonfiction 2017
Susanna Andrew and Jolisa Gracewood, editors

When I first flicked through Tell You What I was very keen to read it in depth because it promised to give me an in depth scan of New Zealand’s cultural, political and social landscape.
I was not disappointed.
The Editor’s Note tells us they were looking for ‘fresh voices’ when they selected the articles and they definitely delivered on that undertaking. The result was compelling reading.
Each writer brought a fresh perspective to his or her article and every article rewarded the time I took to read it by delivering a new understanding or perspective on the topic discussed.
These were wide ranging, from depression, poverty, the effect of natural disasters such as the Christchurch earthquake, environmental catastrophes and cultural issues.
The editors selected courageous voices that never shied away from tackling challenging topics. On many occasions they shone a light on some dark corners by taking us deeper into the stories behind the five second sound bites we get on popular media.
The writers put themselves in their stories and that made them accessible and enjoyable. It was like living vicariously through other people…feeling their joy and experiencing their struggles. And this book deals with most issues that concern us today, from historical misunderstanding to those events that will continue to occupy our thinking for a long time into the future. For example, what physical and emotional legacy will Christchurch earthquakes have, and will the environment recover from the MV Rena’s grounding on the Astrolabe Reef? How do we deal with historical land alienation and if we set up a Givealittle campaign to save one piece of land what does that say about how the land came up for sale in the first place?
Some articles were brutally honest and I really liked the Cost of Living article with the line, "...obesity is being presented as the latest sin of the poor". The article seemed to naturally flow on to Amber Essau’s article, On Having My Card Declined at Countdown.
Now all of this might make this book sound gloomy. Far from it. It is honest and a word I keep hearing these days…authentic.
     It uncovers the veneer that we all like to think of as ‘normal’ and takes a look at real lives with all their triumphs, challenges, and passion (Hudson and Halls, Histories Intertwined) and complexity.
     There are no easy answers to any of the issues raised by these articles but that is why they should be discussed. The answers we agree on will shape the future of Aotearoa/New Zealand.
     I'm not saying that all articles were deeply serious. They were not. Many were funny and joyful like Nic Low's Te Matatini and Selina's Tusitala Marsh’s, Fast Talking PI Goes to London to Visit the Queen.
     Yes, every issue this book covers is complicated but that is why collections like this should come out every year. To make us look behind the headlines.

Review by Suraya Dewing

Title: Tell You What: Great New Zealand Non Fiction 2017
Editors: Susanna Andrew and Jolisa Gracewood
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 978 1 86940 860 2
RRP: $29.99
Available: bookshops

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Book every New Zealander should own

1/22/2017

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Māori Place Names: Their meanings and origins. Fourth Edition
by A.W.Reed. Revised by Peter Dowling

This guide was initially published in 1950 by Reed Books under the title Maori Place Names and their Meanings. It has had 19 reprints across four editions, each one attempting to provide a more comprehensive guide to Maori place names and pronunciation, and to migrate the use of macrons into the written language to denote long vowel sounds. Revising editor Peter Dowling of Oratia Press includes a short foreword that acknowledges the growth and evolution of the written language over the past 20 years.
With over 2300 entries, this digest examines the basic translations and also provides a guide to commonly used words within the place names, such as maunga, puke, roto and wai.
This is a book which every New Zealander should own. Since some of the locales’ names have evolved over time to include coastal and marine names – for example Te Tai-o-Marokura – the book’s Fourth Edition is designed to keep readers abreast of the correct references to these places.
There is a wealth of information in this edition. For example, what is New Plymouth’s Māori name? How should we pronounce and spell what was formerly Wanganui? The guide explains that preference should prevail, but that the regional pronunciation of ‘wh’ was originally ‘w’, and was subsequently written that way on the historical record. Either spelling or pronunciation can be used officially for the city, but the reader at least has the knowledge as to the difference. What is also interesting about this guide is how deeply entrenched in our language some places names are, and how, in other cases, the transition to their use has been slower to uptake.
Some entries are accompanied by short anecdotes or historical facts. To round out the guide, illustrations by James Berry are found throughout, as featured in the 1950 edition. Berry was a notable coin and stamp designer, and his excellence in graphic design is evident in this guide.

Review by Katherine Stewart

Title: Māori Place Names: Their Meaning And Origins. Fourth Edition
Author: A.W. Reed. Revised by Peter Dowling
Publisher: Oratia Books
ISBN: 978-0-947506-08-7
RRP: $29.99
Available: bookshops

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Engaging in every way

1/13/2017

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Tiny Owl on the Ramshackle Farm
by Lotte Wotherspoon (author & illustrator)

In Tiny Owl On The Ramshackle Farm – written and illustrated by Lotte Wotherspoon – the story of an owl afraid of the dark gets a modern, original makeover with everything you could want in a picture book.
     As Tiny Owl imagines what each night-time noise could be (and is repeatedly reassured) there are familiar farmyard characters drawn with witty nods – like cowboy boots for the bull, and a cast of wonderfully imaginative monsters introduced with fun, descriptive humour:
"There's a snuffle-snouted knicker-kicker creeping out there!"
     The word play is just marvellous in this story and of course there is a nice moral in facing your fears and flying free, with a happy ending for our adorable new friend Tiny Owl.
The lovely, indie design with patterned, ink and pencil-coloured illustrations gives you more to see with each reading. Familiar pohutukawa trees, old Ford trucks and traditional Kiwi farm tractors set a New Zealand tone and each page is spread in a beautiful, interesting way. This would be a really special gift book to send overseas!
Children will love the sing-song, near-perfect rhyme and the repetition of
"But all is still on the ramshackle farm,
Just the babble of the brook in the midnight calm"
and there is so much scope for including little ones in the book with sound effects like
"Scritch, scratch, mewl and yowl,"
not to mention giggles over descriptions like the
"...farty-pants guts gobbler grunting out there!"
     All in all I have to say I love this book. It is engaging in every way and I'm sure will give sweet dreams to tiny owls everywhere!

Review by Jenny Palmer

Title: Tiny Owl on the Ramshackle Farm
Author: Lotte Wotherspoon
Publisher: Clay Press
ISBN: 978-0-473363292
RRP: $29.95 hardback, $19.95 paperback
Available: bookshops

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Excellent advice on mortgages

Well written stories

Different fascinating story

Novel deals with social issues

The power of a hidden truth

Understanding achievement-oriented personality

From judicial murder to fanatical terrorism

Wide-ranging articles

Book every New Zealander should own

Engaging in every way

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