1 How to Save Democracy in Aotearoa New Zealand by Sir Geoffrey Palmer (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $30)

An urgent book for urgent times. Here’s a chunk of the blurb: “At a time when authoritarianism rises globally and the rule of law faces unprecedented threats, Palmer’s message is clear: ordinary citizens hold the key to democratic revitalisation through civic engagement and vigilance. This collection of thoughtful essays challenges readers to reclaim their role in governance. Palmer argues that regardless of which parties hold power, without public awareness and participation, democratic institutions will continue to weaken.”

2 Edges of Empire: The Politics of Immigration in Aotearoa 1980–2020 by Francis L. Collins, Alan Gamlen and Neil Vallelly (Auckland Uni Press, $50)

“How and why immigration has evolved in Aotearoa New Zealand over the last forty years.”

3 What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape, $38)

Utterly intrigued by this premise:

“2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found.

2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost.

Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain’s remaining island archipelagos, pores over the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the lost poem, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a crime that destroys his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well.”

4 Matauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia Publishers, $45) 

The culmination of a life’s work and a guide to how knowledge finds expression in language, ceremony and the rituals of daily life.

5 Clown Town: Slough House #9 by Mick Herron (Baskerville, $38)

More books means more TV, hopefully.

6 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) 

She’s baaaccck!

7 Mother Mary Comes To Me by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $40)

“An intimate, stirring chronicle,” summarises Kirkus Reviews. Read the full review, here.

8 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $26) 

One of the best historical novels of the past decade.

9 Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (Viking Penguin, $40)

Thomas lives a fairly ordinary life until Hollywood comes knocking.

10 River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (Simon & Schuster, $40)

Fatherhood, addiction, prison, the enduring faith of the mother.

WELLINGTON

1 Hardship and Hope by Rebecca Macfie (Bridget Williams Books, $20)

Macfie has a double-whammy this week with both BWB texts finding readers in Wellington at least. This is a deliberate double-release to try and maximise the impact of these two, very important and timely, books about poverty in Aotearoa showing how grassroots movements respond to poverty, and how systemic change could alleviate the growing wealth divide.

Here’s a snippet from the blurb: “In papakāinga, schools, marae and communities from Te Hauke to Porirua, Papakura to Aranui, award-winning journalist Rebecca Macfie discovers powerful local responses to poverty.”

2 Pakukore: Poverty by Design edited by Rebecca Macfie, Graeme Whimp and Brigette Bönisch-Brednich (Bridget Williams Books, $20)

A terrific collection of essays tackling the ways in which systems entrap populations in cycles of poverty.

3 How to Save Democracy in Aotearoa New Zealand by Sir Geoffrey Palmer (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $30)

4 Kings of this World by Elizabeth Knox (Allen and Unwin, $30)

One of Aotearoa’s greatest novelists is back with a superb young adult novel. Shanti Mathias wrote a stunning review for The Spinoff, right here.

5 If We Knew How To We Would by Emma Barnes (Auckland University Press, $25)

“Through breakups and a pandemic, health issues and deaths, Emma Barnes’s second collection is a riveting, overflowing and grief-stricken reckoning with the ordinary: a skinful of spit; insides scooped out with a melon baller; cracked like an egg and nothing inside. ‘It is too much to say nothing about. It is nothing to say too much about.’”

6 Everything But the Medicine by Lucy O’Hagan (Massey University Press, $40)

A very moving memoir from GP, Dr Lucy O’Hagan. A review is coming to The Spinoff very soon.

7 Anything Could Happen by Grant Robertson (Allen and Unwin, $40)

Henry Cooke’s appraisal, here!

8 Mother Mary Comes To Me by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $40)

9 Zest: Climbing from Depression to Philosophy by Daniel Kalderimis (Ugly Hill Press, $40)

Heidi Thomson wrote a stunning tribute to this book, and to Middlemarch, here on The Spinoff.

10 Ara: A Māori Guidebook of the Mind by Dr Hinemoa Elder (Penguin, $30)

Taking the example of Hinengaro, goddess of the mind, Elder offers ways to confront and navigate the complexities of human thought.