[caffiend]

Whoa. Just finished Michael King's The Penguin History of New Zealand. Took me a long time, as it's not exactly the sort of book you can't put down. Some sections were pretty easy just because I was specifically interested in them (like prehuman NZ, pre-European settlement, Maori Land Wars, our World War contributions and their aftermath etc), but the sections on the finer points of NZ political party evolution and some of the (to me) fairly heavy-handed doses of colonial guilt-tripping were slow going.

I was surprised by the level of subjective commentary King seems to inject, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Thoroughly recommended for someone wanting a good general overview of NZ's history. It's sparked my interest in a number of areas that I plan to expand on.

Next up is either Elton's Chart Throb, the 2nd book in Iggulden's Emperor trilogy or Conrad's Heart of Darkness.