I have subscribed to the NZ Listener for most of my adult life and I still get a buzz when I find it in my post office box on Friday morning. I immediately scoot off to one of my favourite coffee haunts and over the next couple of hours consume two double trim flat whites and read the Listener from cover to cover.This latest issue (dated July 20-26) proved to be of special interest with an excellent suggestion in the editorial on fluoridation, the usual bunch of interesting letters to the editor, a thoughtful and useful six page cover story on retirement by Nicky Pellegrino with excellent photographs (as always) by David White, a thoughtful piece by Karl de Fresne on our immigration policy, Jennifer Curtin has her say on a parliamentary gender quota system while Rebecca Priestley writes on markets tending to ignore adverse effects on the environment, along with regular columns by Toby Manhire, Fiona Rae and Jane Clifton.
And all of that is before I even get to what for me is the main part of the magazine - Books & Culture edited by Guy Somerset.
this week we have enthusiastic reviews for three novels - Unspeakable Secrets of the Aro Valley by Danyl McLauchlan, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthny Marra, and The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner - which are followed by a two page review of Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956, and then Ann Packer's monthly roundup of books for children and young adults.
At this stage one is only half way through the magazine with loads more great stuff to follow including food writer Lauraine Jacob's always marvellous food pages, this week she writes about Indian food, the radio and tv listings for the week ahead, and of course on the very last page is Bill Ralston's funny and thoughtful commentary on what is happening in his life.
Yes the New Zealand Listener is a great magazine, my life would be much poorer without it.
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