1 White Male Stand-Up by Alan Davies (Monoray, $30)

The white male stand-up himself performed in Auckland this week, which probably explains this.

2 The Odyssey by Homer, Emily Wilson translation (W W Norton, $36)

Ezra Klein’s analysis of just what tricksy old Nolan was up to with his own filmic translation is pretty interesting.

3 Against the Tide: Aotearoa New Zealand in World Affairs Volume V 2006-2025 by Hamish McDougall & Serena Kelly (Te Herenga Waak University Press, $35)

“Against the Tide questions the narrative that we live in a uniquely troubled world, and sets the mid-2020s against the longer arc of New Zealand’s engagement in world affairs. Through thematic essays spanning two decades, the contributors illuminate what is new and what is long running, and what choices Aotearoa now has as it faces rapid geopolitical, economic, technological and climate shifts.”

4 London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, $40)

A book about power and greed.

5 The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City by Asher Emanuel (Bridget Williams Books, $40)

As well as writing the book of the year Asher Emanuel will surely also win the award for most amount of author appearances in 2026.

6 Facing Up to Our Future edited by Peter Davis (Dunmore Press, $35)

All the ways different governments are failing.

7 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Fourth Estate, $37)

Wake me up when the hype over this novel is over.

8 Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin, $38) 

Fiction that is worth the hype.

9 Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump by Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan (Simon & Schuster, $43)

“Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader inside the Situation Room and into the secret Oval Office deliberations that have launched a new war in the Middle East and seen Trump seal the border, surge National Guard troops into cities, and send immigration agents into deadly clashes with protestors.”

10 Transcription by Ben Lerner (Granta, $33)

If you’re a Lerner-nerd then you will really love this hour-long conversation between Lerner and the New Yorker’s Alexandra Schwartz.

WELLINGTON

1 Go Hard or Go Home by Kiri Allan (Penguin, $40)

“Kiri Allan’s autobiography opens, quite literally, with a bang,” writes The Spinoff’s Veronica Schmidt at the start of her review of Allan’s memoir. “That’s the sound of the minister of justice, alcohol in her system and tears running down her cheeks, losing control of her car and careening into a parked ute. It was a brave decision to begin Go Hard or Go Home on a dark night of the soul, on a dark street in Wellington, handcuffs around her wrists, a police officer pushing her body onto the bonnet. It was also the only sensible choice, given that her crash that July 2023 evening turned a deeply personal crisis into a political and public one.” Read the rest, right here.

2 The Odyssey by Homer, Emily Wilson translation (W W Norton, $36)