A black and white photo of Max Harris who is a young man with glasses and dark hair. He is smiling. Behind him is a collage of book covers.
Max Harris is the Labour candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau, a writer and barrister.

Booksabout 11 hours ago

‘It’s dated quite badly, but…’: Max Harris’s life in books

A black and white photo of Max Harris who is a young man with glasses and dark hair. He is smiling. Behind him is a collage of book covers.
Max Harris is the Labour candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau, a writer and barrister.

Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers, and guests. This week: Max Harris – barrister, writer and Labour candidate for Tāmaki.

The book I wish I’d written

Asher Emanuel’s The Valley. It’s a brilliant documentary-style book, based on years of work, which follows people through the criminal justice system. I couldn’t have written it but it’s amazing – read it if you can!

The book everyone should read

Andrew Dean’s Ruth, Roger, and Me. It’s about the generations who have grown up in the shadow of the economic and political changes of the 1980s and 1990s – the “Ruth” in the title is Ruth Richardson, who’s interviewed in the book, and the “Roger” is Roger Douglas. We’re lonelier and more disconnected than we should be, and Andrew’s short, beautifully written book joins the dots between those changes in the 80s and 90s and our society today.

The book I want to be buried with

The Undying by Anne Boyer. Probably my favourite book – about illness and disadvantage and living. It’d also be good to be buried with a book about undying (that’s probably my fear of death talking).

Three book covers ascending.
From left to right: the book Max Harris wishes he’d written; the book he’d be buried with; and one of the books he’d choose if he could only have three for the rest of his life.

The first book I remember reading by myself

Ursula Le Guin’s The Wizard of Earthsea or John Marsden’s Tomorrow, When the War Began series? At least those are the ones that come to mind.

If I could only read three books for the rest of my life they would be

Hmmm, books that would keep me inspired and uplifted I think! The Power in our Truth, the Truth of Our Power is an amazing collection on Moana Jackson, someone who I looked up to and whose work I loved. Hera Lindsay Bird’s self-titled collection to keep me smiling. And maybe something by Owen Jones (possibly his book Chavs or The Establishment) or Naomi Klein (This Changes Everything, or Doppelgänger), since they are both writers and doers, whose work is a reminder of the need not just to have big ideas but to work with others to make them real in the world.

Fiction or non-fiction

Probably non-fiction! But I am always open to good fiction recommendations (so if you have any chill, relaxing novels to recommend I am all ears!).

The book that made me laugh

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly. It’s also a great book to read aloud with someone else.

Three book covers descending.
From left to right: one of the books Max Harris first remembers reading by himself; the book he wishes would be adapted for the screen; and the book he thinks is underrated.

The book I wish would be adapted for film or TV

It’s dated quite badly, but I’ll say The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler, because when I was a kid I wanted to be a screenwriter, and I read that book (murder mystery with a memorable detective, Philip Marlowe) and worked on a script for years that I never finished. Don’t think it’s ever been made into a movie and I would love to see that made some day!

Most underrated book

Iceland by Dominic Hoey. I’m a big fan of Dom’s other books as well but I reckon Iceland is especially good. Special mention (for non-fiction lovers) for recent books by Catherine Comyn, Matt Scobie and Anna Sturman, which deserve to be widely read by anyone trying to understand Aotearoa New Zealand today.

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