The only published and available best-selling 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 Unreliable People by Rosetta Allan (Penguin Random House, $38)
First novel: murders in Ōtāhuhu. Slight segue to second novel: the purge of Korean immigrants from Soviet Russia on the path to World War II.
2 Home Fire: A Novel by Kamil Shamsie (Bloomsbury, UK $22)
Kaboom.
3 Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (Penguin Random House, $37)
Mean-spirited, perhaps, but we’re a teensy bit glad he’s been knocked off his perch.
4 Wordy by Simon Schama (Simon & Schuster, $40)
Essay topics include, but are by no means limited to: Paul Beatty, Mid-Term Trump, Rhubarb, and War and Peace.
5 Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Windmill Books, $26)
House arrest. Fancy hotel. Thirty years. Please.
6 The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson (MacMillan, $35)
His next one is called Everything is F*cked and it’s about optimism.
7 A Mistake by Carl Shuker (Victoria University Press, $30)
Continues to carve it up.
8 Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat (Canongate UK, $55)
Also, watch the Netflix series: it’s a cockle-warmer.
9 Becoming by Michelle Obama (Viking Penguin, $55)
Imagine Melania’s version.
10 Identity Crisis by Ben Elton (Penguin Berkley, $37)
Wait wait wait. No Sally Rooney, Auckland?
WELLINGTON
1 Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth (Random House Business, $28)
Apparently it is revolutionary to take the planet into account in economics?
2 The Braided River: Migration and the Personal Essay by Diane Comer (Otago University Press, $35)
“I want to believe New Zealand is a safe, compassionate and inclusive country, and so did the 37 migrants who live in Christchurch and wrote about their migration experience”: the author, via newsroom.co.nz
3 From Strategy to Action: A Guide to Getting Shit Done in the Public Sector by Alicia McKay (Alicia McKay, $35)
Oh, Wellington.
4 Billion Dollar Bonfire by Chris Lee (Bateman, $40)
On Allan Hubbard and South Canterbury Finance.
5 Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape, $37)
6 A Mistake by Carl Shuker (Victoria University Press, $30)
7 Living with Earthquakes and their Aftermath by Rosie Belton (Renaissance Publishers, $35)
Oh, Wellington.
8 Normal People Sally Rooney (Faber, $38)
There she is!
9 Finding Frances Hodgkins by Mary Kisler (Massey University Press, $45)
“It is an enchanting if slightly obsessive travel story, journeying with friends and colleagues across England, Wales, France, Spain, Italy and Morocco”: the Listener
10 Upheaval: How Nations Cope With Crises (Or Don’t) by Jared Diamond (Allen Lane, $40)
“Shot through with reflections on the fragility of democracy”: the Guardian