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 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann (Simon & Schuster, $40)
The totally thrilling, completely captivating history of a shipwreck and naval mutiny in 1741. If you’re feeling like some adventure but would prefer not to leave the comfort of your living room, The Wager will do the trick. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio have already acquired the film rights.
2 Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury, $35)
It’s 2020, and Lara’s three daughters are home during the pandemic, demanding to know about the love affair she had as a young actress, before she met their father. By all accounts this is a comfortable novel to sink into, the New York Times calling it “a resolutely folksy, cozy [novel], a thing of pies and quilts and nettlesome goats and a middle child named Maisie after a great-aunt”. It’s also a delight for audiobook lovers, being narrated by Meryl Streep.
3 The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Canongate, $50)
Creativity on tap. Or at least, available in a beautifully covered hardback.
4 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Faber, $28)
David Copperfield in the modern day. Think trailer parks, foster care, drug addiction and child labour. So, a cheery read!
5 Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (Blue Door, $35)
“I know what you’re thinking. Thief. Plagiarizer. And perhaps, because all bad things must be racially motivated, Racist.
Hear me out.
It’s not so awful as it sounds.”
You’ve got to keep reading now, right?
6 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)
A small and very wonderful thing, and a well-deserved star of the bestsellers for nearly a year.
7 Fungi of Aotearoa: A Curious Forager’s Field Guide by Liv Sisson (Penguin, $45)
Wondering if you should eat that wild mushroom? Before you start cooking up a shroomy ragu, pop open Liv Sisson’s new book.
8 On The Record by Steven Joyce (Allen & Unwin, $38)
“On the Record reveals what it takes to win and keep office, and the secrets behind the strategy and campaigning that led to National being in power for almost a decade. This is an essential read for anyone interested in the business of governing: packed full of insider knowledge, honest appraisals of the main players, entertaining anecdotes and the reality of how politics works.” Thanks, publisher’s blurb!
9 One of Them by Shaneel Lal (Allen & Unwin, $37)
At 23, Shaneel Lal is already a successful activist, social media icon, model – and now, memoirist. Sam Brooks gives his two cents.
10 The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Grove Press, $38)
Fourteen years after publishing the bestselling debut Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese has a new novel on the shelves – and it’s already an Oprah’s Book Club favourite. This snapshot from the Guardian’s so-so review: “The year is 1900, and a 12-year-old girl takes a boat to get married to a 40-year-old widower. She goes on to become Big Ammachi, the matriarch of the estate of Parambil. Over the course of seven decades, she will be the unwavering centre of this land and its community. She will discover that there is a curse, a ‘Condition’ that runs in the family – a drowning in every generation – that no one can explain and everyone prays a doctor will find a cure for.”
WELLINGTON
1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $37)
The lion might be king of the jungle, but Emily’s Perkins’ Lioness is queen of Wellington. Read books editor Claire Mabey’s frothy review over this way.
2 Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (Blue Door, $35)
3 American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (Atlantic, $33)
Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer has stoked new interest in this 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner. Which is lovely and ironic, as it was this 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner that inspired Nolan to make Oppenheimer.
4 Fungi of Aotearoa: A Curious Forager’s Field Guide by Liv Sisson (Penguin, $45)
5 Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury, $35)
6 Our Land in Colour: A History of Aotearoa New Zealand 1860 – 1960 by Brendan Graham and Jock Phillips (HarperCollins, $55)
A stunning new coffee table book to pore over. This from the publisher’s blurb: “Our Land in Colour celebrates the rich story of Aotearoa through the restoration of images never before seen in colour. Two hundred images have been meticulously colourised, opening a window back in time with remarkable detail.
“From how the people adapted to the environment and the way they had to feed, clothe, house and transport themselves across an at times inhospitable land, to how they banded together with a spirit that would become famously Kiwi – each image in this 400-page book is a reminder of who we were and where we’ve come from.”
7 The Financial Colonisation of Aotearoa by Catherine Comyn (Economic and Social Research Aotearoa, $30)
Researcher Catherine Comyn’s new book explores how finance was used in the colonisation of Aotearoa. In a recent interview with The Spinoff’s Charlotte Luru-Manning, Comyn explained, “The story we’re largely told in school paints a picture of a government overseeing these processes and making decisions. But it … became really clear that there’s a different side to the story, where colonisation was being pursued by a private company. Even though what they were doing was very chaotic in practice, they had planned it consciously and were doing it without any government approval. By the time the Treaty was signed, the New Zealand Company had already sent thousands of colonists to Aotearoa. It seems quite clear that the Crown’s decision to make a treaty with Māori was primarily influenced by the New Zealand Company.”
8 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Faber, $28)
9 Wager by David Grann (Simon & Schuster, $40)
10 Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder (Hamish Hamilton, $40)
Anna Funder’s new book about George Orwell’s wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, puts a spotlight on a woman who has largely been forgotten and set aside. Radio Times said, “An extraordinary blend of forensic historical detective work and evocative fiction, as well as snatches of memoir … To read about O’Shaughnessy is to fall in love with her.”
