The week’s best-selling books at the Unity stores in High St, Auckland and Willis St, Wellington.
AUCKLAND UNITY
1 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (Pan MacMillian, $35)
Number one! How come?
2 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson (Allan Lane, $40)
Famous people called Jordan:
1 Jordan B Peterson
2 Jordan Luck
3 Jordan Knight (New Kids on the Block)
4 Jordan
3 Island Time by Damon Salesa (Bridget Williams Books, $15)
From Auckland newspaper New Zealand Herald: “Polynesian players are the ‘labourers’ of professional rugby and league — but have virtually no control over the sport, the author of a new book looking at the Pasifika impact in New Zealand says. Auckland academic and author Damon Salesa likened the boards of the Blues, Chiefs and Warriors as being as ‘ethnically diverse as a 1980s Remuera Rotary club’. Salesa makes the comments in his new book, Island Time.”
From Oslo newspaper Aftenposten: “Boken starter der den mannlige forfatteren Neil Adam Armond sender inn bokmanuset sitt til nestoren Naomi Alderman.”
5 The Sun & Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur (Simon & Schuster, $30)
turtles have shells
so do eggs
as for seashells
they’re slightly different
6 Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell (Profile Books UK, $33)
Bythell, writing about a typical day in the life at his second-hand bookstore in Scotland: “At 4.50pm, a woman came into the shop, marched up to the counter and said ‘On the Road‘, so I asked her if she was looking for a copy of Kerouac’s book of the same title, or just making a comment on her life. When I told her that we’d sold our only copy of it last week, she marched straight for the door and barked ‘Disgraceful. I’m going to buy it on Amazon’ and left.”
7 Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Random House, $26)
Over one million copies sold.
8 Poetry Magazine Aotearoa by Poetry Foundation (Poetry Foundation, $16)
Some of the best New Zealand poets – in age, from Bird to Stead – in one excellent collection.
9 Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (Transworld Publishers, $30)
“An enormous success in the author’s native Japan, the novel is narrated by Nana, a stray cat who, after being hit by a car, allows himself to be taken in by a young man named Satoru while he recuperates… Arikawa has a lightness of touch in her writing that elevates it to a tale about loyalty and friendship”: Irish Times.
10 Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton (Penguin Random House, $45)
Return of the Australian genius. “Jaxie is a teenager at risk. He has grown up in a world of knives and guns, hunters and drinkers. His father, Sid, whom he calls Captain Wankbag, is a violent alcoholic, the butcher in a small town in Western Australia, where the local IGA has closed down, leaving little more than the roadhouse, pub and silo….The Shepherd’s Hut is a landmark book in Winton’s career: austere, beautiful and compelling”: Sydney Morning Herald.
WELLINGTON UNITY
1 Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat (Canongate, $55)
“At nearly 500 pages Salt Fat Acid Heat is solid; but it’s just so interesting. I’m curious to know how often I’ll refer to it over the coming months: I think, often. Whenever I want to feel celebratory”: Linda Burgess, the Spinoff Review of Books.
2 He’s so MASC by Chris Tse (Auckland University Press,$30)
The latest sparkling collection of verse by the best-dressed man in New Zealand letters (with apologies to Peter Wells and Matt Nippert).
3 Draw Your Weapons by Sarah Sentilles (Text, $38)
Publisher’s blurbology: “Through a dazzling combination of memoir, history, reporting, visual culture, literature and theology, Sentilles tells the true stories of a conscientious objector during World War II and a former prison guard at Abu Ghraib.”
4 Democracy & Its Crisis by AC Grayling (Oneworld, $37)
A tweet by @AnneCarol2, reporting from Grayling’s session chaired by Chris Finlayson at the New Zealand Festival in Wellington last weekend: “AC: [Jeremy] Corban’s office is like 60s student union. Chris: Just like our present Cabinet. Very large audience: Boooooooo!!! Chris to AC: This is a Wgtn audience, they HATE my party.”
5 All This by Chance by Vincent O’Sullivan (Victoria University Press, $35)
The best New Zealand novel of 2018 by a long stretch, a family saga which includes stories of the Holocaust but is not a Holocaust novel – it also tells stories of ordinary lives over several generations. Elizabeth Alley’s very warm review will run at the Spinoff Review of Books next week.
6 Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood (Allen lane, $45)
Lockwood was one of the stars at the New Zealand Festival’s writers and readers programme at Wellington last weekend; this is her celebrated memoir.
7 Letting Go: How to Plan for a Good Death by Charlie Corke (Scribe, $37)
Publisher’s blurbology: “Drawing on many years of experience as an intensive-care specialist, and writing with great insight and compassion, Dr Corke shows us all the ways in which people can make a mess of dying — and, more importantly, in doing so, he teaches us how we can do it better.”
8 History of Bees by Maja Lunde (Simon & Schuster, $38)
Lunde was one of the stars at the New Zealand Festival’s writers and readers programme at Wellington last weekend; this is her critically acclaimed futurist novel.
9 All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (Titan Books $22)
Anders was one of the stars at the New Zealand Festival’s writers and readers programme at Wellington last weekend; this is her award-winning fantasy novel.
10 The Cage by Lloyd Jones (Penguin Books NZ, $38)
“Two men wander into a small town in New Zealand. They’re obviously strangers to the town; outsiders who have been through troubled times…The Cage could be described as a disturbing commentary on the treatment of refugees, not only in our own country, but around the world. A dark, gripping, and ultimately thoughtful read”: Surf Coast Times, Australia.
The Spinoff Review of Books is proudly brought to you by Unity Books.