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 Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (Canongate, $37)
Sumptuous language, a cracking pace, loveable rogues. This gorgeous, bubbling love story set in the wild west will get under your skin.
2 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25)
This novel is like a dream vision: it offers the chance to deeply consider the life one lives and why one lives it. It’s funny and loving and sharp and honest. Read books editor Claire Mabey’s glowing review on The Spinoff here.
3 Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors (4th Estate, $38)
“One does come to agree with the characters that the most likeable of the group has been killed off.” More at Kirkus Reviews.
4 Bird Child and Other Stories by Patricia Grace (Penguin, $37)
The latest book from one of our greatest writers who has carved a path for indigenous storytelling on the page in Aotearoa. Rangimarie Sophie Jolley talked to Grace as part of her close read of the book for The Spinoff, here.
5 Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan (Penguin, $30)
Winner of the Women’s Prize 2024, this is a spectacular and heartbreaking book about the Sri Lankan Civil War.
6 The Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Oneworld Publications, $25)
The bleak yet beautiful Booker Prize winner.
7 Terra Nova by Harrison Christian (Hardie Grant Books, $43)
A fascinating new book by Auckland writer Harrison Christian, which investigates Scott’s death in Antarctica. Here’s the blurb: “Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910 attempt to reach the South Pole is placed in jeopardy when Edward Evans joins as his second-in-command. A clash of personalities between the two men almost prevents the Terra Nova from sailing, but they forge ahead, conscious of competing expeditions racing to the pole.
On the treacherous journey across the Antarctic ice, the differences between the scientific-minded Scott and the ambitious Evans become insurmountable. Scott sends Evans back early, making the final push without him, only to find they have been beaten by the Norwegians.
When Scott and his remaining men make their desperate return to base, they’re met with an inexplicable shortage of supplies, leading to the tragic deaths of the entire party.”
8 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38)
A very funny, very clever retelling of Huck Finn.
9 Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Hamish Hamilton, $37)
A very big, very good novel to get you through the winter fog.
10 Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (Granta, $28)
“Jenny Erpenbeck’s Kairos is one of the bleakest and most beautiful novels I have ever read. On one level, it is a love story, or rather a story about the loss of love. It begins with a woman, Katharina, hearing about the death of her former lover. Boxes of his papers are delivered to her apartment, and when she finally sits down to open them the past rises before her like a pack of playing cards thrown into the air.” Read more on The Guardian.
WELLINGTON
1 The Fight for Freshwater: A Memoir by Mike Joy (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
The long-time activist and academic’s account of his fight for our environment. Read an excerpt from the book on The Spinoff, here.
2 Power to Win by Lyndy McIntyre (Otago University Press, $45)
A potent reminder of the power of the people. Read Oliver Clifton’s colourful, personal review of the book on The Spinoff, here.
3 Slim Volume by James Brown (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $25)
The eighth collection from the Wellington poet and cyclist. “James Brown makes the process of reading feel effortless, but always rewards active attention. Like Stevie Smith, he can sometimes seem to be waving and drowning at the same time,” said Bill Manhire in North & South.
4 Sight Lines: Women & Art in Aotearoa edited by Kirsty Baker (Auckland University Press, $70)
A breathtaking, game-changing, cloth-bound doorstopper bursting with beautiful images and photographs of artists and art. Kirsty Baker has gifted us a book that lifts Aotearoa’s art appreciation to the next level. A must-have for all libraries, and anyone remotely interested in the great creatives of this country and the world. Here’s the blurb:
“From ancient whatu kākahu to contemporary installation art, Frances Hodgkins to Merata Mita, Fiona Clark to Mataaho Collective, Sight Lines tells the story of art made by women in Aotearoa.
Gathered here are painters, photographers, performers, sculptors, weavers, textile artists, poets and activists. They have worked individually, collaboratively and in collectives. They have defied restrictive definitions of what art should be and what it can do. Their stories and their work enable us to ask new questions of art history in Aotearoa. How have tangata whenua and tangata tiriti artists negotiated their relationships to each other, and to this place? How have women used their art-making to explore their relationships to land and water, family and community, politics and the nation?
With more than 150 striking images and essays by Chloe Cull, Ngarino Ellis, Ioana Gordon-Smith, Rangimarie Sophie Jolley, Lana Lopesi, Hanahiva Rose, Huhana Smith and Megan Tamati-Quennell alongside the author, Sight Lines is a bold new account of art-making in Aotearoa through 35 extraordinary women artists.”
5 Bad Archive by Flora Feltham (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
An excellent new essay collection by the talented Flora Feltham is taking off. Look out for a review of the collection on The Spinoff, soon. In the meantime, here’s the blurb:
“In this deftly woven work Flora Feltham explores the corners where her memories are stashed: the archive vault, her mother’s house, a marriage counsellor’s office, the tip and New World. She takes us on a frenzied bender in Croatia, learns tapestry and meets romance novelists, all while wondering how families and relationships absorb the past, given everything we don’t say about grief, mental illness or even love. Most importantly, she asks, how do you write about a life honestly – when there are so many flaws in the way we record history and, more confrontingly, in the way we remember?”
6 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25)
7 Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors (4th Estate, $38)
8 Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East by Robert Fisk (4th estate, $50)
The final book from Fisk is a follow on from The Great War of Civilisation and is acclaimed worldwide for its depth, understanding and empathy.
9 The Raven’s Eye Runaways by Claire Mabey (Allen & Unwin, $25)
Of this debut novel by The Spinoff’s books editor, Hera Lindsay Bird says: “The world she has created, and the characters that reside there, feel authentic and inevitable as if they have lived with her for a long time. The story is translated onto the page with wit, restraint and confidence. It’s a talented rendering of a beautiful world and I instantly capitulated to the reality of it.” Read the rest of her glowing review on The Spinoff, here.
10 The Mires by Tina Makereti (Ultimo Press, $40)
Master writer Tina Makereti’s latest novel is receiving rave reviews both here and in Australia, like this one on Artshub. Here’s a snippet: “This is a very internal book. Its beautifully drawn characters are all quiet people, swamped by trauma and trying to keep their heads above water. Within this interiority we sense that each one of them longs for understanding and connection – and the overarching message of the book is that when we seek community, we grow stronger. This is a book for and about the little people who struggle. It is a beautiful respite from the arrogance and ego of Western capitalism, the patriarchy and modern politics. It is a book that cares and a book that matters.”