The best-selling books at Unity Books in Auckland and Wellington.
AUCKLAND UNITY
1 Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)
Ugh.
2 La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman (David Fickling Books, $35)
Please refer to the best books of the year at the Spinoff Review of Books.
3 Eat Up New Zealand by Al Brown (Allen & Unwin, $65)
Food.
4 Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (Little Brown, $38)
Fiction.
5 The Power by Naomi Alderman (Penguin, $26)
Please refer to the best books of the year at the Spinoff Review of Books.
6 Drawn Out: A Seriously Funny Memoir by Tom Scott (Allen & Unwin, $45)
Ian Cross was the Listener editor who appointed Scott as political diarist in 1973; in his book The Unlikely Bureaucrat, he writes, “Scott’s early writing was untidy and regularly needed cosmetic surgery, but beneath that superficial limitation – ‘what are subs for?’ I would mutter at the poor devils who had to deal with it – was a native talent almost beyond price for the Listener.” Scott takes up the story in his popular memoir.
7 A Long Way From Home by Peter Carey (Hamish Hamilton, $37)
Fiction.
8 Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo (Particular Books, $40)
We are publishing something fucking spectacular about this book next week at the Spinoff Review of Books.
9 Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Ama Press, $45)
Please refer to the best books of the year at the Spinoff Review of Books.
10 Women and Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard (Profile Books, $23)
Please refer to the best books of the year at the Spinoff Review of Books.
WELLINGTON UNITY
1 Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)
2 Drawn Out: A Seriously Funny Memoir by Tom Scott (Allen & Unwin, $45)
3 La Belle Sauvage: Book of Dust Trilogy by Philip Pullman (David Fickling Books, $35)
4 Women & Power : A Manifesto by Mary Beard (Profile Books, $23)
5 Nikau Café Cookbook by Kelda Hains & Paul Schrader (Nikau Café, $60)
Please refer to the best books of the year at the Spinoff Review of Books.
6 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Bloomsbury, $33)
Please refer to the best books of the year at the Spinoff Review of Books.
7 Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House by Nick Harding (Allen & Unwin, $33)
“Harding’s book is invaluable in collating the overwhelming evidence of a web of relationships between the Kremlin, Trump and members of Trump’s circle. He suggests, convincingly, that Russia may have been cultivating Trump since the 1980s. At that time, Harding writes, the K.G.B. was working to draw ‘prominent figures in the West’ — as the K.G.B. described them — into collaboration. According to Harding, a form for evaluating targets asked, ‘Are pride, arrogance, egoism, ambition or vanity among subject’s natural characteristics?’”: The New York Times.
8 Driving to Treblinka by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press, $45)
9 Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young (Faber, $23)
We look forward to the forthcoming review by Rachel Stewart.
10 Camera in the Crowd: Filming NZ in Peace & War, 1895–1920 by Christopher Pugsley (Oratia Books, $80)
Photography.
The Spinoff Review of Books is brought to you by Unity Books.