The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.

AUCKLAND

1 Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan (Penguin, $30)

Good Readers are ecstatic: “Brotherless Night is an absolute triumph. It is a masterpiece, giving us one woman’s perspective of the Sri Lankan Civil War, and simultaneously showing us how in that one perspective lies everything. It is the story of coming of age into a world that becomes increasingly fragmented and horrific, where every lesson comes at a painful cost, and every lovely memory seems to exact an exorbitant price. And yet despite the pain, there is so much beauty in this book, at a fundamental, granular level. Every sentence is stunning, bringing a complicated world and unforgettable characters to life.”

2 Bad Archive by Flora Feltham (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)

A hit new essay collection being hooned by readers up and down the motu. On The Spinoff, Maddie Ballard said that the essays in Bad Archive are “fiercely multivalent pieces, unafraid of uncertainty or complication. Bad Archive touches on everything from tapestry weaving to a bender in Croatia to historical baby photography – but perhaps the question humming beneath every essay is really “what does it mean to change your perspective?”

3 All That We Own Know by Shilo Kino (Moa Press, $38)

A sneak preview of Natasha Lampard’s luminous review coming out in The Spinoff this weekend: “There’s a lot going on fo’ sure but it’s far from too much: the story is sometimes fraught, but it’s not totally didactic, it’s no drag. The author has given us people and situations in whom and in which we can see parts of ourselves: complex, contradictory, messy – depictions we surely should be afforded and afford ourselves, for we are no monolith. The book is funny, and refreshing, and a courageous contribution to the wider kōrero that will open up spaces for other untold stories.” 

4 All Fours by Miranda July (Canongate, $37)

Somebody once said that while they don’t love love July’s books, they are so glad that this artist in the world and making art because there’s nobody else like her. Which is just about perfect.

5 The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Canongate $55)

Canongate is having an excellent time of late.

6 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25)

The book of the year! Perkins’ midlife novel is a ripper: funny, sharp, smart. Here’s a snippet from books editor Claire Mabey’s review on The Spinoff: “Set in New Zealand in the years directly preceding the Covid-19 pandemic, Lioness hones in on the well-padded domestic life of Therese Thorn and steadily upsets it. We first meet Therese in bed having sex with her big-shot property developer husband, Trevor. It’s a terrific opening, to be so immediately plunged into the whirlwind of intimacy and the signposts of a complex struggle that mark the story from here on in.”

7 The Way Forward by Yung Pueblo (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $35)

Whoa. It’s poetry! Love to see poetry on this esteemed chart. Pueblo is a NYT bestseller and this is his third collection and apparently it’s about using your intuition.

8 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38)

The Booker Prize longlist has just been announced and this spectacular Huck Finn retelling is on it. For the full list, go to the Booker Prize website and play the games of How Many Have You Read? And Let’s Put Money Down on the Shortlist.

9 Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors (Fourth Estate, $25)

This 2023 smash hit is likely back on the list because of Mellors’ 2024 release, Blue Sisters.

10 The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Penguin, $26)

The huge Irish novel that did not win the Booker Prize but acts like it.

WELLINGTON

1 All That We Own Know by Shilo Kino (Moa Press, $38)

2 The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone by Gareth & Louise Ward (Penguin, $38)

Beloved booksellers Gareth and Louise Ward of Wardini Books in Napier have released a banger book of their own. For fans of both books about bookshops, and Black Books, as well as crime readers, this is delectable reading. Here’s the compelling blurb: 

“When a mystery parcel arrives at Sherlock Tomes bookshop in small-town Havelock North, New Zealand, husband-and-wife owners Garth and Eloise (and their petrified pooch, Stevie) are drawn into the baffling case of a decades-old missing schoolgirl.

Intrigued by the puzzling, bookish clues the two ex-cops are soon tangled in a web of crime, drugs, and floral decapitations, while endeavouring to pull off the international celebrity book launch of the century.

With their beloved shop on the chopping block and the sinister suspect who forced them to run away from Blighty reemerging from the shadows, have Garth and Eloise Sherlock finally met their Moriarty?

For once, the cover copy is no exaggeration: Diary of a Bookseller really does meet Thursday Murder Club meets Bookseller at the End of the World in this witty debut novel, full of literary clues, comedic insights and the kinds of Kiwis you only ever meet in bookshops.”

3 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25)

4 Bad Archive by Flora Feltham (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)

5 Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (Granta, $28)

Winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize. Here’s the blurb: “Berlin. 11 July 1986. They meet by chance on a bus. She is a young student, he is older and married. Theirs is an intense and sudden attraction, fuelled by a shared passion for music and art, and heightened by the secrecy they must maintain. But when she strays for a single night he cannot forgive her and a dangerous crack forms between them, opening up a space for cruelty, punishment and the exertion of power. And the world around them is changing too: as the GDR begins to crumble, so too do all the old certainties and the old loyalties, ushering in a new era whose great gains also involve profound loss.”

6 Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East by Robert Fisk (4th Estate, $50)

“An extraordinary chronicle of Fisk’s trademark rigorous journalism, historical analysis and eyewitness reporting. Fully immersed in the Middle East and critical of the West’s ongoing interference, Fisk was committed to uncovering complex and uncomfortable truths that rarely featured on the traditional news agenda.”

7 Imagining Decolonisation by Rebecca Kiddle, Bianca Elkington, Moana Jackson, Ocean Ripeka Mercier, Mike Ross, Jennie Smeaton and Amanda Thomas (Bridget Williams Books, $18)

It’s been a while but the little book that could is back! And not a moment too soon given the political climate. As a reminder, here’s the blurb for this small but mighty pukapuka: “Decolonisation is a term that alarms some, and gives hope to others. It is an uncomfortable and often bewildering concept for many New Zealanders. This book seeks to demystify decolonisation using illuminating, real-life examples. By exploring the impact of colonisation on Māori and non-Māori alike, Imagining Decolonisation presents a transformative vision of a country that is fairer for all.”

Buy, read, share!

8 Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors (4th Estate, $38)

Goes with number 9 above.

9 Tarot by Jake Arthur (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $25)

WHOA it’s more poetry! This time by local writer Jake Arthur whose superb idea to structure a collection around the Rider-Waite tarot deck has enchanted readers. Read all about why Arthur created this mystical collection on The Spinoff, here.

10 The Mires by Tina Makereti (Ultimo Press, $40)

If you need a great novel then buy this book. H-J Kilkelly reviewed Makereti’s latest triumph on The Spinoff and said: “The Mires is truly magic from beginning to end.”