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Senior couple reading on adjacent garden chairs (Photo: Jacobs Stock Photography / Getty)

BooksJune 14, 2019

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending June 14

Wonderful old couple reading on lawn chais, a wee table in between them, on a lawn
Senior couple reading on adjacent garden chairs (Photo: Jacobs Stock Photography / Getty)

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 Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (Sandstone, $27)

Looks like winning the Man Booker Prize CAN get your apparently amazing saga of love and loss in Oman to the top of the charts. In Auckland! Hooray!

2 Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis (or Don’t) by Jared Diamond (Penguin, $40)

3 The New Zealand Wars: Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa by Vincent O’Malley (Bridget Williams Books, $40)

O’Malley continues his reign, and in case you haven’t already bought it, can we tempt you with an extract?

4 The Overstory by Richard Powers (Vintage, $26)

5 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23)

A whole host of people clearly boosting to get the book now they’ve announced and cast the film, just so they can smugly compare the two.

6 Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson (HarperCollins, $37)

7 Orchid & the Wasp by Caoilinn Hughes (Oneworld Publications, $23)

Not the much anticipated spinoff to Marvel’s The Ant-Man and The Wasp, unfortunately. Fortunately, you can read about author Caolinn Hughes mistaking a period for a head-cold.

8 Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23)\

Rooney Rooney Rooney Rooney.

9 The Meaning of Trees by Robert Vennell (HarperCollins, $55)

Did you know five stinging nettle spines are enough to kill a guinea pig?

10 The Political Years by Marilyn Waring (Bridget Williams Books, $40)

Waring was the Swarbrick of her time, if her interview with the Green MP is anything to go by, and you can read an extract where she describes how she crossed the floor from Labour to National right here.

WELLINGTON

1 The New Zealand Wars: Nga Pakanga o Aotearoa by Vincent O’Malley (Bridget Williams Books, $40)

2 This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman (Vinatge, $38)

Fresh off an Ockham Award, Kidman’s book sits pretty near the top of the charts.

3 Whale Oil by Margie Thomson (Potton & Burton, $40)

This is a stonking good read, much more than just the ten shocking revelations we pulled out for your clicking enjoyment.

4 Loving Sylvie by Elizabeth Smither (Allen & Unwin, $37)

“It’s a book that could only have been written by someone whose life has been filled to every crevice with books and beautiful things – paintings, objects, lasting images, glimpses and influences.” says broadcasting legend on Elizabeth Alley on this week’s number four.

5 Marilyn Waring: The Political Years by Marilyn Waring (Bateman, $40)

6 Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy by Serhii Plokhy (Penguin, $28)

It’s almost as though there’s a much-buzzed about HBO show that could boost this show halfway up through the charts.

7 Dead People I Have Known by Shayne Carter (Victoria University Press, $40)

People still want to hear about what dead people Shayne Carter has made acquaintance with. Good on them!

8 Upheaval: How Nations Cope With Crisis (Or Don’t) by Jared Diamond (Allen Lane, $40)

9 Doughnut Economics by Mary Kisler (Massey University Press, $45)

10 Poukahangatus by Tayi Tibble (Victoria University Press, $20)

Tens! Tens across the charts!

 

Keep going!