The top 10 sales lists recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.
AUCKLAND
1 Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape, $38)
“In Flesh, Szalay has written a novel about the Big Question: about the numbing strangeness of being alive; about what, if anything, it means to amble through time in a machine made of meat.” So writes Keiran Goddard in this review of Flesh on The Guardian.
2 This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong (And Why It Matters) by Mark Cooper-Jones and Jay Foreman (HarperCollins, $40)
“Whether you’re an avid map junkie or simply ‘map-curious’, each chapter uncovers a unique tale of adventure, error and unexpected humour – as they attempt to answer the question: ‘What on earth happened here?'”
3 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38)
Sounds like one for fans of Olive Kitteridge.
4 Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press, $28)
The perfect novel upon which the perfectly good film is based.
5 Shattered Lands: Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia by Sam Dalrymple (HarperCollins, $45)
“Shattered Lands, for the first time, presents the whole story of how the Indian Empire was unmade,” says the publisher’s blurb. “How a single, sprawling dominion became twelve modern nations. How maps were redrawn in boardrooms and on battlefields, by politicians in London and revolutionaries in Delhi, by kings in remote palaces and soldiers in trenches.”
6 Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt (Penguin, $40)
Move over Shakespeare, it’s ye olde frenemy Christopher Marlowe’s time to shine.
7 Become Unstoppable by Gilbert Enoka (Penguin, $40)
The guy who made the All Blacks win games tells all (about how he did that).
8 Strange Houses by Uketsu (Pushkin Press, $37)
What is the terrible truth hidden in the nooks and crannies of the strange house? Crime-horror-suspense-bestseller.
9 Wedding People by Alison Espach (Phoenix House, $28)
When you just want to go to an island and contemplate the end of things and you wind up in the midst of a wedding party and they ruin everything.
10 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35)
This book needs a medal or something by now. Potentially one of the longest stayers on this here chart.
WELLINGTON
1 Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape, $38)
2 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Michael Joseph, $38)
I read the blurb for this about five times and still can’t quite get my head around it. But maybe you can:
“You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic, intergalactic game show. That’s what.
And now Coast Guard veteranarian Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, must try to survive the end of the world – or just get to the next level – in a video game-like, trap-filled, fantasy dungeon.
A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality TV show with countless viewers across the galaxy. So not only do they have to stay alive, but they also need to earn ratings based on their performance.
Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.”
3 Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press, $90)
A giant runaway hit of a book: the map lovers, the “map curious” and the history buffs of Wellington are into it.
4 Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press, $28)
5 What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape, $38)
“I’m hesitant to call What We Can Know a masterpiece,” says Dwight Garner in the NY Times. “But at its best it’s gorgeous and awful, the way the lurid sunsets must have seemed after Krakatau, while also being funny and alive. It’s the best thing McEwan has written in ages. It’s a sophisticated entertainment of a high order.”
6 Good Economy by Craig Renney (Bridget Williams Books, $20)
A timely new BWB Text for this election year. Here’s the publisher’s blurb: “Craig Renney asks what kind of economy we want – and who it should serve. Through sharp analysis and the voices of New Zealanders – from workers and business owners to young people and community leaders – they explore the values shaping our current system, how we got here, and what it would take to build something fairer and more resilient.”
7 This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong (And Why It Matters) by Mark Cooper-Jones and Jay Foreman (HarperCollins, $40)
8 I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Vintage, $33)
Thirty-nine women are kept in a cage … What a hook.
9 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
We fully expect this fantastic, gripping, spooky and thought-provoking novel to make the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist next week. Read Spinoff books editor Claire Mabey’s review of the novel, right here.
10 Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez (Vintage, $30)
Every woman who has tried to navigate the health system has long suspected that it was not made with them or their bodies in mind. This book talks about that and a whole lot more.
