The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the galaxy.
WELLINGTON UNITY
1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38)
“A hotchpotch rather than a patchwork, a jigsaw with many missing pieces…It teems with anecdote but there is very little dialogue. Instead, Roy builds this story of contemporary India with slabs of summary, with too much polemic and not enough poetry”: Marion McLeod at the Spinoff Review of Books.
2 The Whole Intimate Mess: Motherhood, Politics & Women’s Writing by Holly Walker (Bridget Williams Texts, $15)
“My point is you actually can have everything; but maybe not at the same time”: Deborah Coddington at the Spinoff Review of Books.
3 Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo (Particular Books, $40)
As loved and recommended by cute kid.
4 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (Vintage, $30)
Oh man look at those cavemen go.
5 Black Marks on the White Page edited by Witi Ihimaera and Tina Makereti (Vintage, $40)
We look forward to the forthcoming review by Paula Morris.
6 Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris (Hachette, $38)
We look forward to the forthcoming review by Neil Young.
7 Can you Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young (Victoria University Press, $30)
Essays by the writer better known to many as Neil Young’s sister.
8 Hera Lindsay Bird by Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press, $24)
We will take great pleasure in posting one of her previously unpublished poems next Friday.
9 No Is Not Enough: Defeating the New Shock Politics by Naomi Klein (Allen Lane, $35)
Fuck Trump.
10 Home: New Writing edited by Thom Conroy (Massey University Press, $40)
ZZZZZZ, mostly.
AUCKLAND UNITY
1 A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman (Vintage, $26)
“A Horse Walks Into a Bar unfolds over the course of one final show by stand-up comedian, Dovaleh Gee. Charming, erratic and repellent – Dovaleh exposes a wound he has been living with for years: a fateful and gruesome choice he had to make between the two people who were dearest to him. With themes that encompass betrayal between lovers, the treachery of friends, guilt and redress, A Horse Walks into a Bar is a shocking and breathtaking read”: judges comments, announcing Grossman’s novel as winner of the 2017 Man Booker prize for international fiction.
2 No Is Not Enough: Defeating the New Shock Politics by Naomi Klein (Allen Lane, $35)
3 Iceland by Dominic Hoey ((Steele Roberts, $35)
Grey Lynn noir.
4 The Power by Naomi Alderman (Penguin, $26)
We look forward to the forthcoming review by Andra Jenkin.
5 The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38)
6 Hunger: A Memoir of My Body by Roxane Gay (Corsair, $35)
We were looking forward to the forthcoming review by Charlotte Graham but she’s hived off to Hong Kong on a New York Times scholarship or something, so.
7 Men Without Women: Stories by Haruki Murakami (Harville Secker, $45)
“Each of Men Without Women’s seven stories ends on a note of existential ambiguity, when characters are forced to decide if they will confront their true nature, or spend the rest of their lives trying to outrun their shadows”: from last week’s outstanding essay on Murakami by Thom Shackleford in the Spinoff Review of Books.
8 Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris (Little Brown, $38)
9 Old Asian, New Asian by K Emma Ng (Bridget Williams Books, $15)
The latest thoughtful essay published by the awesome BWB.
10 The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press, $30)
Winner of the 2017 Ockham New Zealand national book awards prize for best novel published by Victoria University Press.
The Spinoff Review of Books is brought to you by Unity Books.