Welcome to Rona Gallery, 

Not only are our books competitively priced, but we're a real destination. If you can't come on out and see us, take a virtual tour. And visit our website at http://www.ronagallery.co.nz

 

Green Spot Specials

30% off all books marked with a Green Spot, 

this offer is limited until the end of January. So get in quick!

You could pick up a new favourite

Rona Gallery Christmas Party today 19 Dec 2015

Come one and all, sit down with a coffee at Giselle's and enjoy giveaways and readings by some great local authors!!

Looking forward to seeing you there, and if you can't make it, we'd like to wish you all a Merry Holiday season,

from everyone at Rona Gallery
:)

 

the after party...

Thank you to everyone who came to our Christmas party, and made this such a fun occasion, we had a lovely time, and a special thank you to our readers, Pete Carter, Maggie Rainey-Smith, Gail Mcjorrow, David McDougall, Tony Martin, Keith Westwater, Janis Freegard, and Manny Garcia, not only for reading his own work, which is amazing, but also A.J. Ponder's Kev's Christmas letters.
Most especially thanks to MC Mary McCallum...we were having such a good time, we forgot to take photos of all our prizewinners...

Artist Spotlight: Gino Acevedo

Gino Acevedo's work is darker and more dynamic than the work of some of the other artists regularly featured at Rona Gallery. His work is very finely detailed. and has a strong use of negative and positive space, which gives the work movement. Gino's work is also different because he prefers to use a computer to help create his artwork than more traditional tools and mediums. His subject matter is usually that of monstrous looking creatures, like zombies and ethereal looking reapers.

We are very lucky to have some of his work on display at Rona Gallery.

His print "The Vampire" is for sale here on Rona Gallery's New Website 
www.ronagallery.co.nz
http://www.ronagallery.co.nz/modules/SP_Webshop/shop.php?product_details&product=97

Christmas Party December 6th with Crafts, Stories and Santa at Rona Gallery

Get into the Christmas spirit with a Twisty Christmas party at Rona Gallery celebrating The Best of Twisty Christmas Tales with crafts, design a Christmas card competition, stories, Christmas treats and a visit from Santa.

Make your own gorgeous Christmas Tree decorations from Joanna’s favourite Christmas Craft book, snowflakes with Elsa, there's a Christmas Card Drawing Competition, and readings from The Best of Twisty Christmas Tales including a great story by David Hill, so come along and enjoy the fun!

From 11am to 12:30 Sat 6th December. Judging for the Twisty Christmas Design a Card Competition at 12:15.

• RSVP Rona Gallery on 04 562 8062 or ronagallery(at)paradise.net.nz
• 151 Muritai Rd Eastbourne, Lower Hutt

 Yes, it may be St Nicholas’ Day on the 6th of December but Santa has promised he’ll find time between going to the beach and organising Christmas presents to drop in on Rona Gallery. 

$10 Picture Books

$10 Picture Books 

Stock up for Christmas with these adorable picture books! 

These books make great gifts for young children, and include many old favourites as well as new titles. Including the Winnie the Witch series, the Lighthouse Keeper series. Maisy, Meg and Mog, Elmer the Elephant, Ten play Hide and Seek, and Duck on a Bike.

It's good to be back and gearing up for Christmas! We look forward to seeing you all soon, if it's picking out Birthday or Christmas gifts, or just your next Summer holiday read, Rona Gallery has an excellent selection of books for adults as well as kids!

Rona Gallery's Opening Night...

Come and see the New Rona Gallery, we're up, we're open and looking good.
Here are a few photos of the opening night - more to come soon

ReOpening Soon! Watch out for Mrs Mo's Monster and Paul Beavis.

There's so much happening - and we will update very soon with all the events, but in the meantime, mark Sunday 19th of October into your little monster's calendar! A great book event for young and old to enjoy together.
 
Our website is in the process of being changed, and might be a bit tricky to find for a while, so here's a link, so you can easily keep up to date with all the news.
http://www.richardponder.com/

We're Rebuilding

Out with most of the old and in with the new, the demolition stage is almost over and we'll be rebuilding soon. 

We hope to keep you in touch with what's happening during the rebuilding process, and are looking forward to the final product, including a cafe, a perfect accompaniment for books and art.

Rebuild Sale on Now - 30% off all Rona Gallery Stock

Yes, we're going to be rebuilding the gallery - but in the meantime why don't you save heaps - and just before Christmas, too.

30% off means you can either get 30% more presents OR use the money to go on a longer festive holiday - you choose. 

Love to see you soon.  Hopefully we'll keep you updated of the build as we go.

Gallery will close over Christmas and Boxing Day
Afternoon Hours only 12-4 until the 31st December

Thank you so much for visiting - see you back real soon with a cafe and a beautiful new front inspired by Huderwasser.

White Cloud Worlds: Opening and Events 2013

We're really excited, there's so much on during this upcoming exhibition.  Looking forward to the White Cloud Worlds Opening, it's going to be crazy busy setting up and we're expecting lots of the artists, including Paul Tobin, Weta artist and founder of White Cloud Worlds and Gino Avecedo who will be speaking on the night about his art and his roles in Weta - so if you want an invite now's the time to ask (Rona Gallery 562 8062) and of course the life drawing demonstration with a costumed model will be fun (Sun 17th).  Gino's also threatened to break out the movie makeup on Sun 10th during the signing which will be seriously awesome.

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

Loved the idea of this book, but somehow it never delivered on its amazing second promise (not first promise because I thought the first few pages were dreadful) The plot had some interesting twists and turns, but it never really seemed to tie tightly together, the characters were shallow, and they did do stuff, but often for motivationally weak purposes. But most jarring was the changeable style - all the way from fairytale, to political angst, to where can we throw in some totally jarring sexual references, yeah - that'll sell the book.

The sad thing is he was probably right.

Even so I'm glad I read it - which is why it I gave it two stars on goodreads, hell I made it to the end, and there are alot of books where that never happens.  Besides there was something about it - an almost there.  Patches where I just had to know what was going to happen next, and was totally carried away by the story.  For example, I thought, some of the romance between the not quite witch yet, and her lover, was quite well done.

But still, by the end, I was driven totally insane - and am very happy to be moving on to Ian M Banks and the Hydrogen Sonata - and find myself really enjoying his quirky, well written style - (so happy because after this and totally failing to finish the last Wheel of Time book, was beginning to think my love of reading had died.)

Anyway, appologies for the crappy review, perhaps almost as disjointed as the book ;)

Never mind, I've heard the musical is awesome :)

A.J. Ponder

Our New Vlog

The video where Becks is thoroughly nervous, and Alicia is reading a chapter from her book "Wizard's Guide to Wellington,"   Stand by for the next exciting instalment - who will read or perform a book review, will Joanna or Richard be in shot?  will we be able to get the light so the video isn't quite so fuzzy? 

Calling all Artists in the Greater Welllington Area

Young and old, professional or amateur, why not take part in Rona Gallery's The Magic of Wellington Art Competition?  We're looking for pieces of all types that in some way show  Wellington in its true light - by in some way encompassing the theme, "The Magic of Wellington."art


 We're really looking forward to this event - and are expecting some fantastic artwork to arrive - but that's going to rely on YOU - all you artists - sculptors, painters, drawers, computer and photographic geniuses - we're hoping you are going to show us all just how beautiful, fascinating and magical Wellington really is.

See A.J's and local author's latest books at Rona Gallery Books  http://www.ronagallery.co.nz/shop/books

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Been a bit slack with the book reviews of late - but every so often a book comes on the radar and it's so startling  that it's worth mentioning.

Prince of Thorns is one of those books.

 Now don't believe the "Excellent - on a par with George RR Martin" on the front cover.  Couldn't be further from the truth.  This is an easy read.  Quite deep in content but the language is plain and simple - sometimes to an extent where I found it lost it's mark just because of a lack of a certain richness I crave in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure.  Startling.  I'm going with startlingly good, a gripping read that will keep you turning the pages and finally when it is done - cursing the end of the book


The Plot

Young prince Jorg, determined to be king,  is a ravening fiend out on a blood and revenge fuelled rampage across the countryside - deter.  Yes I know, rather awful, and normally I wouldn't be endorsing a book with a character so unlikeable and downright evil.  But against all my better value judgements - this one somehow hits the mark and this is because the young prince and his motivations are somewhat humanised by the back story and a wayward contrariness that seems to fuel his every action.  Of course at some point Jorg needs to go back home and confront his father - and while it is obvious that is not going to be a happy meeting the sheer scale of the disaster is great, and played with the same very subtle black humour that threads it way through the story like a piano-cord - as if waiting to tighten the noose.

Well that's it I'm afraid folks - if you like dark fantasy this book is unmissable.  so read it!!!!  And if you write I suspect copying this simple and dramatic style will be far easier than the more accomplished, but sometimes cumbersome storytelling of the inestimable George RR


Another slightly more comprehensive review - http://www.afantasticallibrarian.com/2011/06/mark-lawrence-prince-of-thorns.html

Until next time (probably the King of Thorns) but I'll try to finish NaNo Wri Mo first.  I think can hold of reading it - possibly - until the end of the month!

Halloween is coming early to Rona Gallery 2012

Yes, Halloween came early to Rona Gallery this year, Mary and Joanna came down with witch's disease - seriously cool - but they both could have done with hats to complete their ensemble - and we all had a wonderful evening with the creepy heart of Mansfield's stories turned into something more - more evil, more wicked, and more exciting - but still containing the beating heart of the originals.  Enough to keep not only the teens in the audience fascinated - but also the Mansfield purists. 

So thanks to everyone who came, you were a great audience, and thanks also to Matt and Debbie Cowens for unearthing the macabre in these New Zealand masterpieces and then sharing the process with us.



ORIGINAL POST
Be prepared to get scared - and maybe learn a little bit too with Matt and Debbie Cowens and Rona Gallery, Friday 26 October - 6.30 - and yes there will be a couple of spot prizes for the best dressed.
The book is awesome - some great twists make the atmospheric Katherine Mansfield stories into something - just a little scarier.  Don't believe us? Why not read the New Zealand Herald Review here.

"The authors leave much of her sentences intact but they fill her gaps with blood and gore, bloodsuckers, aliens, otherworld creatures, zombies; and they twist the detail here and there to summon the shocking."

Grandma McGarvey's Christmas - Book launch and fun!

So much fun thanks to Jenny Hessel and Grandma McGarvey.

We hope everyone who came all enjoyed the occasion - we did - and mostly because we had such a  fantastic and well behaved crowd - so thanks everybody!

  We had a great time at this event - and here's the proud winner of the Grandma McGarvey Book Collection worth over $200!   - here's the fantastic flier - so all that's left to say now - is why not find out just how cool this book is too. 

 

RONA SALON: Peasant Society in the Peruvian Andes with Ray Watters

Don't miss one of our last Rona Salons for 2012.  We're particualrly looking forward to this one, Ray Watters is extremely well regarded in his feild of Geography and has undergone many projects both in the pacific and the wider world to improve the living standards of the local people. So don't forget to put this date in your calendar August 31 6:30 And come, travel up the Amazon with Ray Watters...

Margaret Mahy Day in Eastbourne Sat 11 Aug

Don't miss Jenny Hessell, Jill Harris, Maggie Rainey-Smith and Mary McCallum reading their favourite Mahy books at Eastbourne Library, then a short trip down the road to Rona Gallery at 11.45 where Joanna will read "Down the Back of the Chair" - and then onto the serious making of TREASURE BOXES

A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

When you open a Frances Hardinger book there is this sense of anticipation, the pages beckon - something noteworthy is about to happen - and as you sink into the especially designed prose - for each world has it's unique style - the world enfolds you in its own bizarre and haunting way until you feel you could never have lived in a world without having read that adventure, explored that place, known those people.

Now this one took a little while to really get the feel of - but I happily took that in my stride after all the bizarre world Neverfell lives in is inhabited by people who are truly different from surface dwellers.  They have no expressions apart from the ones they are taught - making them expert liars and manipulators.  Neverfell is warned by the curmudgeony cheese maker who took her in and raised her never to take off her mask.  She is also warned not to get involved with the court - but of course she does - and of course she runs into so much trouble, and so many fascinating characters every bit as flawed - if not more so - than she is - slightly mad and skittering from trouble to deeper trouble in a desperate effort to make things better.


The Guardian review, 'Inventive, gripping and well imagined, this is a brilliant and suspenseful tale. It is exceptionally well written and a must read for all fantasy lovers'  

 What else can I say - Frances is a talent the likes of which we haven't seen since Ursula le Guin - if ever - and her followers are every bit as rabid - maybe more so.  And deservedly so, who else could create such a crazy fantastic world and reveal it through exciting character driven plot and all with prose that is not just flawless but perfectly apt.  Maybe I preferred "Verdigris Deep" because that was a modern day fairy tale - and by far the best I have ever read - but this - this is completely crazy, completely amazing and totally fun.

I would recommend it for extremely good readers - so you are probably looking at adults who like children's stories - or children who read adult books for the challenge.