The Book Collector: Reading and Living with Literature

Mary Egan Publishing. Publication date 20 September 2023

The Book Collector is a fascinating bibliomemoir of the writer’s lifetime joy of reading, the books and authors that have touched him, and how they have shaped his passion for book collecting.

Step into his library, where the book is ‘a tangible object of sentiment and delight’ and experience his fondness for New Zealand literature as well as a great many of the world’s most celebrated writers. Then follow this wandering bibliophile as he takes you on a personal journey of search and discovery to second-hand bookshops around Aotearoa New Zealand and further afield, to the community book fairs and charity shops, and into the online world of books.

The Book Collector is an enjoyable and thoroughly engaging read, packed full of stories, personal observations, useful information and splashes of humour, inviting the reader to further explore what our often neglected New Zealand literature has to offer.