1 Mana by Tāme Iti (Allen & Unwin, $50)

“I had many attempts to [write this book], it took me a long time. Lucky, my boys, my whānau, they were the ones … [who] captured these moments, put them together, and made me see there’s a future to it,” Iti told The Spinoff. “We didn’t just go through it: we felt it, saw it, smelt it, ate it, slept it, all of that.” Read the rest of Lyric Waiwiri-Smith’s interview with Iti, right here.

2 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38)

The perfect holiday and also non-holiday read. Tuck me up with a hot cross bun and this book, stat.

3 Be Brave: Life of a Pacific Correspondent by Barbara Dreaver (Awa Press, $45)

“My first series investigating illegal drug trafficking in the Pacific was in 2012. I was given some documents that allegedly linked powerful people in Tonga to a Colombian drug cartel…” Read the rest of an excerpt from Dreaver’s compelling memoir, right here on The Spinoff.

4 Heart the Lover by Lily King (Canongate, $37)

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for fiction! And heading to Auckland Writers Festival in May.

5 Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin, $38)

Also heading to Auckland in a couple of short months!

6 World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan (Allen Lane, $45)

What is consciousness? Pollan explores this question through science, philosophy and more.

7 Strangers: A Memoir of a Marriage by Belle Burden (Ebury Press, $40)

“A beautifully written eulogy for the loss of a relationship.” – Joyce Carol Oates

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

What about Hooked though? Yuzuki’s latest novel to be translated into English.

9 Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (Harper Collins, $23)

The book that launched a TV phenomenon.

10 Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Āporo Press, $35)

Shortlisted for this year’s big fiction prize at the Ocks!

WELLINGTON

1 My Bourgeois Apocalypse by Helen Rickerby (Auckland University Press, $25) 

Absolutely brilliant new book that is part notebook, part memoir, infused with Rickerby’s singular poetics.

2 Be Brave: Life of a Pacific Correspondent by Barbara Dreaver (Awa Press, $45)

3 Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape, $38)

Also coming to Auckland in May!

4 The Black Monk by Charlotte Grimshaw (Penguin, $38)

Grimshaw’s intriguing new novel, part of a trilogy of texts exploring similar themes through different literary devices.

5 Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $40)

An un-put-downable mother memoir.

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

Shortlisted for this year’s illustrated nonfiction award at the Ocks! (We reckon is has a great chance of winning, too.)

7 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Penguin, $28)

Will the RyGos film live up to the book?

8 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38)

9 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $28)

Shortlisted for the big fiction award at the Ocks and our money is on this spooky, thrilling, provocative novel to win.

10 Ngā Kakahu Māori o Mua by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia Publishers. $65)

“Starting with identifying the range of garments present during the Classical Period of Māori traditional clothing (1769–1800),” says the publisher’s blurb, “their function and the ways they were made, this book then explores how clothing of Māori has changed in style, function and construction. Hirini Moko Mead makes a detailed analysis of the materials used, construction techniques, patterns, garments produced and the ways they have changed over time. The text is accompanied by photographs and illustrations of feather cloaks, dogskin cloaks, piupiu, rain capes and many other garments as well as details of the decoration and methods of making.”