{"title":"Gift Books","description":"\u003cp\u003eA carefully chosen book can make a perfect, meaningful gift. Sure they'll know it's a book through the wrapping paper, but they won't know which book. And that's the important point - you choose the meaning. Perhaps it's set in a place the recipient lived, or it touches on a particular interest they have in lighthouses (for example), or it's an author you know they love, or it's full of insights on something that matters to them. Whatever the reason - a well chosen book is one gift that won't end up in landfill or at the op shop by mid January. \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"a-room-of-ones-own","title":"A Room of One's Own","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Virginia Woolf\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the age of 46, Virginia Woolf was invited to give a series of lectures at Cambridge University, entitled Women and Fiction. That was in 1928 and the lectures were then pulled together into a readable version, the essay -  A Room of One's Own. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is beautifully written and well thought out and whilst in many ways times have changed, Woolf's thoughts and insights on women and creativity feel timeless. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a hardback edition, with gilded page edges and gilded title on front cover. A beautiful edition to keep on the bookshelf. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52369252483372,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/roomofone_sown.jpg?v=1764038663"},{"product_id":"station-life-in-new-zealand","title":"Station Life in New Zealand","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Lady Barker\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehardback with dustjacket, this edition publ 1950. In very good condition. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA classic of NZ writing from the late 1800s. This is in the form of a series of letters sent by Lady Barker back to friends in England from a Canterbury sheep farm in the Malvern Hills. It is easy to read, interesting and, at times, funny. Floods, storms, picnics, the routine of the sheep run, pig-hunting and other aspects of her life at the time. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a real classic of the time (it first appeared in 1870) and there have been many editions of it. This is a lovely book that has stood the test of the time. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52410437009708,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/staionfc.jpg?v=1765258388"},{"product_id":"crooked-cross-new","title":"Crooked Cross","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Sally Carson\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a book to keep. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten in the early 1930s it opens with the Kluger family, mother, father and their three adult children, coming home from church on Christmas Eve. It's an idyllic scene as they chat to friends and catch up with neighbours.  Daughter, Lexa, is engaged to be married to Moritz, who is treated as one of the family. But, beneath the happiness is a frustration at the economic situation and the lack of employment. Adult sons Helmy and Erich struggle to find permanent work until they are employed with the 'party' and meanwhile Lexa realises that her fiance is no longer so popular with the family because of the changing attitudes to Jewish people. Stormtroopers start to march the streets, Jewish people are dragged from their homes and people just get on with their lives as awful things unfold around them. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConsidering this novel was written before WWII, it's incredibly prescient, and for us as readers, knowing how events played out - it's a tense read. But Carson was a superb writer, although little has been heard about her and she shows perfectly how politics is personal and the personal is political. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1934, this is a beautiful soft cover version republished in 2025. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52662889742636,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/crookedcross.jpg?v=1771145025"},{"product_id":"two-mountains-and-a-river","title":"Two Mountains and a River","description":"\u003cp\u003eby H W Tilman\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMt Rakaposhi in the mountains of Pakistan is apparently the 27th highest mountain the world. Tilman sets off to climb it with two fellow mountaineers and a fairly loose plan. When things don't go right, he just comes up with a new plan and sets off to discover more of the region. With a warm humour and a wonderful enthusiasm for adventure, Tilman was a serious adventurer with a lovely writing style. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a hard back edition with dust jacket, plenty of black and white images and in very good condition.  Published in 1949. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52852760183084,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/twomountains.jpg?v=1776072979"},{"product_id":"hostages-to-fortune","title":"Hostages To Fortune","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Elizabeth Cambridge\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1933, this autobiographical novel is the story of a woman, Catherine. It follows her life as she has her first baby, her husband is invalided out of the army and buys a doctor's practice in a small village. The couple bring up their children and become immersed in life in the village.  There are no big plot twists, no page turning incidents. It's just a regular life, the human experience - and it's a fantastic book. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Everybody's life looks a little dull to outsiders...But it's interesting when you are living it...\" says Catherine when her daughter questions her. Quite. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53163694555436,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_56a37fa9-f467-438a-9b5d-836e48ecb967.jpg?v=1777884999"},{"product_id":"a-spring-in-the-canterbury-settlement","title":"A Spring in the Canterbury Settlement","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy C Warren Adams\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA remarkable piece of New Zealand colonial history. First published in 1853, this is C Warren Adams's firsthand account of his arrival at Lyttelton and his three months travelling through the Canterbury Settlement — taking in Heathcote, Christchurch, Kaiapoi, and Rangiora in the earliest days of European settlement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIllustrated with wonderful fold-out pencil sketches that bring the landscape and era to life, this is a beautiful and rare edition of one of Canterbury's earliest travel accounts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardback with dust jacket in great condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53394440356140,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_5e205611-7338-4322-89cf-3685f12678f2.jpg?v=1782984497"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.retroreads.co.nz\/collections\/gift-books.oembed","provider":"Retro Reads","version":"1.0","type":"link"}