Welcome to Blokes vs Books, a campaign that promotes Kiwi men as readers.

Today, meet Pete and Ian Gillespie, the brothers behind Garage Project beer.

You can watch their interview here on YouTube.

As kids, the GP brothers loved The Hobbit and still have their treasured illustrated version.

Speaking of books that can change your life The Taste of Beer by Roger Protz was that book for Pete. While he had been doing some home brew at home with his grandfather this was the book that really kick-started Garage Project, and he still refers to it now.

Ian has a deep fondness for The Impractical Cabinetmaker by James Krenov. He loves it for its part philosophical /part practical approach. The brothers say that there is a book for every passion - motorbikes, hunting - whatever it is, there’ll be books on it.

Pete has written his own book now called The Art of Beer. It celebrates the Garage Project label artists and the story of the brewery. He feels grateful to the legends who have gone before him and inspired him with their craft.

A book that Ian feels deeply attached to is Michael King’s A Penguin History of New Zealand. This book was first published in 2003 and has become a treasured classic of New Zealand hstory. Ian says this book is a great book to dip in and out of and despite its heft is easily accessible.

For Pete, the New Zealand book that really captured him was Keri Hulme’s Booker Prize winning The Bone People, published in 1984. He also loved Australian author Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet, an intergenerational classic, gritty in detail, a powerful read.

We think Pete likes big books that make him feel something. We think he would also like The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, recently published Aue by Becky Manawatu and Breathe also by Tim Winton.

Ian is currently reading A Time of Gifts (1977), a travel book by British author Patrick Leigh Fermor. Published by John Murray when the author was 62, it is a memoir of the first part of Fermor's journey on foot across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in 1933/34.

Books such as these are having a resurgence at the moment. Ian also enjoyed Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Morning. A more recent book to read would be The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.

This is an honest and inspiring true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world. Ultimately, it is a portrayal of home, and how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.

Kia ora, Pete and Ian for sharing your books with us!