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BooksNovember 25, 2016

Unity Books best-seller chart for the week ending November 25

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The weekly Unity Books best-seller chart at their stores in Wellington and Auckland.

WELLINGTON STORE 

1 Wellington In Your Pocket (Fitzbeck Creative, $25) by Nigel Beckford & Michael Fitzsimons, illustrated by Karolina Slovakova

Handy and handsome guide to cool places to go in Wellington.

2 Havana Coffee Works (Phantom House, $50) by Geoff Marsland & Tom Scott

Espresso slophouse chronicles. “And then we served a latte”, etc.

3 The Sellout (Oneworld, $28) by Paul Beatty

The winner of the 2016 Man Booker prize is not, repeat NOT, wrote Spinoff reviewer Charlotte Graham, satire – it’s scarily real in post-Trump America.

4 Swing Time (Hamish Hamilton, $37) by Zadie Smith

“Two childhood friends from London follow diverging paths in Smith’s finest novel yet”: The Guardian.

5 Annual (Gecko Press, $40) by Kate de Goldi & Susan Paris

Puzzles, games, drawings, stories and various assorted fun japes for kids.

6 Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press, $25) by Hera Lindsay Bird

Longlisted this week for the poetry category in the 2017 Ockham national book awards due to poems as good as or actually better than that one she wrote about bending over for Keats.

7 Hanging Tree #6 Rivers of London (Gollancz, $35) by Ben Aaronovitch

Fantasy lit, 4.25 on Good Reads.

8 Mansfield & Me (Victoria University Press, $25) by Sarah Laing

We have received Melinda Johnston’s review of this “graphic memoir”, longlisted in the illustrated non-fiction category of the 2017 Ockham national book awards, and will post it anon. Spoiler alert: she liked it.

9 Wish Child (Victoria University Press, $30) by Catherine Chidgey

The long-awaited return by the one-time leading novelist of her generation; already ranked in the top 100 books of the year by the Listener.

10 The Shops (Luncheon Sausage Books, $40) by Steve Braunias and Peter Black

Beautifully designed coffee table book featuring the well-matched talents of the Auckland author and the Wellington photographer. A personal essay combines with 44 colour photographs of shops in small towns to create a work of art; a Xmas gift idea that’s sure to satisfy and astonish!

AUCKLAND STORE

1 Tell You What: Great New Zealand Nonfiction 2017 (Auckland University Press, $30) edited by Susanna Andrew & Jolisa Gracewood

Hack work.

2 Swing Time (Hamish Hamilton, $37) by Zadie Smith

3 The Sellout (Oneworld, $28) by Paul Beatty

4 Autumn (Hamish Hamilton, $34) by Ali Smith

“One of the most inventive novelists writing in Britain today, Ali Smith also proves herself to be one of the country’s foremost chroniclers, her finger firmly on the social and political pulse”: The Independent.

5 The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800-2000 (Bridget Williams Books, $80) by Vincent O’Malley

Longlisted in the general non-fiction category for the 2017 Ockham national book awards.

6 Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand: The Maori Portraits (Auckland University Press, $75) Edited by Ngahiaka Mason & Zara Stanhope

Sumptuous, culturally significant taonga which, scandalously, failed to impress the three nobodies who judged the illustrated non-fiction category at the 2017 Ockham national book awards.

7 My Father’s Island: A Memoir (Victoria University Press, $35) by Adam Dudding 

“The first print run has already sold out, and it won’t be a surprise if a third run is whistled up before Christmas”: from this week’s Spinoff revolutionary live email interview with the author.

8 Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany (Allen Lane, $55) by Norman Ohler

Jesus, what a title! Publisher’s excited blurbology: “The sensational German bestseller on the overwhelming role of drug-taking in the Third Reich, from Hitler to housewives…The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. But the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth…The promiscuous use of drugs at the very highest levels also impaired and confused decision-making, with Hitler and his entourage taking refuge in potentially lethal cocktails of stimulants as the war turned against Germany.” Wow!

9 The Big Smoke: New Zealand Cities, 1840-1920 (Bridget Williams Books, $60) by Ben Schrader

New Zealand cities, 1840-1920.

10 Commonwealth (Bloomsbury, $33) by Ann Patchett

We have received Holly Walker’s review of this very popular novel and we will post it anon. Spoiler alert: she loved it.

Keep going!