1 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60) 

Also winner of best nonfiction (New Zealand) book of the year according to The Spinoff’s readers.

2 The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $38)

The self-help book with the help in the title! Well played, Mel Robbins. For further reading, please see Joshua Drummond’s excellent reflection on the self-help genre at large.

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

The food-rich crime novel inspired by real-life events was rarely out of the charts in 2025.

4 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $28)

The 2024 Booker Prize winner: slim, lyrical, bittersweet.

5 Invisible Intelligence: Why Your Child Might Not Be Failing by Welby Ings (Otago University Press, $45)

Ings’ exploration of how narrow definitions of success can affect how some children are perceived clearly hit a mark.

6 Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Pan MacMillan, $40)

Wynn-Williams’ tell-all about the time she worked for Meta was one of the most explosive books of the year. If you’re yet to get to it, here’s a snippet from Julie Hill’s review on The Spinoff: “While Wynn-Williams paints a younger Zuckerberg with a vague pong, his chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg is very much his foil. Where he is disheveled, informal, pale to the point of transparent, she is charismatic, shiny, poised. Her 2013 book Lean In, a New York Times bestseller, expounds her view that, with just a few tweaks of our schedules and attitudes, women can be winners both at home and at work. It’s bullshit of course, and the emptiness of her philosophy is soon laid bare.”

7 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Books, $25)

Going strong since 2024 when the story of an anonymous donor purchasing copies for schools across Aotearoa broke.

8 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka Press, $38)

Winner of The Spinoff’s best fiction (New Zealand) by miles. The Spinoff’s books editor, Claire Mabey, found the alt-historical novel eerily resonant with our times: read her review here.

9 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $28)

An exquisite example of historical fiction that transports the reader wholly. Perfection.

10 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28)

One of the greatest novels of all time, simply. Kang’s International Booker Prize winner is an unsettling exploration of violence and resistance.

WELLINGTON

1 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60)

2 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $28)

3 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) 

4 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)

Winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, which was one of the most exciting ceremonies ever. Relive it, here. A beautiful novel of grief, change and transformation, this is Wilkins at his best.

5 Sunrise on the Reaping by Susanne Collins (Scholastics, $30)

Long live The Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour.

6 The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $38)

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

8  Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press, $90)

A beautifully produced, meticulously researched treasure: Cox unearths stories of Victorian Wellington as mapped out over 88 pages by Mr Ward. Get a glimpse right here on The Spinoff.

9 Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams (MacMillan, $40)

10 I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Penguin, $33)

First published in 1995, this dystopian masterpiece by Belgian novelist Jacqueline Harpman was nearly forgotten. When BookTok discovered it, it blew up. IWHNKM is a haunting novel about incarceration and control with echoes of The Handmaid’s Tale.