Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Maiko Lenting-Lu, product manager at Hachette NZ.
Weirdest question you’ve ever been asked at work
My two favourite phone calls to the office have both been about maps. The first was someone who was lost in the South Island who called us (the publisher of the map) to complain that there were roads that weren’t in the book. I asked for the ISBN, looked it up and discovered the book was rather old, and then found myself trying to help direct this man without having a clue where he was. He found his way … eventually. The second was a query about ordering a road map of the UK, not for a physical trip to the UK, but as a guide to the streets that were mentioned in this couple’s favourite crime TV series.
Funniest thing you’ve overheard in the office
Every one of us has a story where you’ve told someone that you work in publishing and immediately (and I mean immediately) the person you are talking to pitches you a book. My most memorable was someone pitching a guide to grieving a pet. It came with a rather long story of how their own pet had just passed away.
Best thing about being a publisher
The genuinely endless supply of books. I’ve been in publishing for 10 years and have never been without something to read. I also still feel a burst of joy whenever I open a box containing new books. You know you’re in the right place when you can’t help but run your hand over foil and cover finishes in a reverent fashion.
Worst thing about being a publisher
Telling friends that I’m reading a book that is SO good, but they can’t read it for another six months. OK, sorry, that’s a real humble brag. But, it is also a problem because you’re always reading into the future and it’s hard to get to all the books that are out now as well as read ahead.
What you’d recommend to someone seeking escapism
I’ve gone on a real romance journey recently, so if you’re looking for saucy escapism then pick up a Christina Lauren (preferably Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating), or the less saucy option is David Nicholls’ You Are Here, which is about two content-but-lost souls talking to one another as they walk across the Lake District in England. Nicholls is one of the best at dialogue and this one is just beautiful.
What you’d recommend to someone looking for comedy
Look no further than the hilarious and super fun Miles and Jones: Anaconda Attack by Sam Smith. It’s a graphic novel for upper primary school kids (and anyone who is still a kid at heart). I would also recommend Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe which is an absolutely mad book about a single mum starting an OnlyFans to make money to raise her kid. It’s brilliant, whip-smart and utterly hilarious.
What you’d recommend to someone looking for an Aotearoa read
Definitely pick up Airana Ngarewa’s The Bone Tree or Pātea Boys. I would also recommend Shilo Kino’s All That We Know. I’d also say they’re in luck because New Zealand’s writers are an incredibly talented bunch!
What you’d recommend to someone who hardly ever reads
I would suggest getting into audiobooks: you can read as you walk or vacuum or do the dishes! If you find podcasts a bit too overwhelming because there are hundreds of episodes out already, then go for an audiobook. If regular paperbacks are more your thing, then try Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and escape into a world of danger and dragons. It’ll capture you on the first page!
The book I wish I’d written
Ooof, I am in awe of anyone who can write a book – not an easy feat! Much easier to read all that person’s hard work (and heart and soul). I wish I could write something as effortlessly brilliant as Emily St John Mandel’s The Sea of Tranquility.
Everyone should read
The Beach by Alex Garland. It’s a really, really good book. I feel it’s been forgotten as a book due to the Leonardo DiCaprio movie which feels wrong! Go find it! Go read it! The audiobook is read by Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy) and is super compelling.
The book I want to be buried with
Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet. I re-read it every year and now I see it is having a resurgence. It will be the book I buy for all my friends’ kids when they hit nine or 10.
The first book I remember reading by myself
I don’t remember the first one I read by myself, but I very clearly remember choosing to read Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights (only because it had a polar bear on it). It became one of my favourites (still is), and I remember arguing with my siblings who said it was boring. They’re boring. The book is brilliant.
The book I wish I’d never read
The Neverending Story was recommended to me by a family friend and though I finished it, it was the book that taught me that it’s OK not to finish things you aren’t enjoying. One third is brilliant, the other two thirds are … there.
Dystopia or utopia
Dystopia. Though I have found a new love of romance books, my heart remains with the darker, more messed-up books.
Fiction or nonfiction
Fiction. I find my mind wandering with nonfiction, though listening to audiobooks has helped immensely with this. There’s nothing quite like listening to a memoir voiced by the author themselves.
The book I never admit I’ve read
Oh, I don’t stand for this – never feel guilty about what you read! I was once reading at the pub waiting for a friend and the waiter saw me reading. He told me he was reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace whilst I was reading book one in one of Nora Roberts’ magical trilogies with a witch, mermaid, werewolf and time traveller taking on an evil goddess in the Greek Islands. We may not have had much to say to one another after this … Nora writes a great book though so – his loss!
What are you reading right now
I’m reading into 2025 with an utterly amazing book called The Names by Florence Knapp. It’s told in three arcs, with each arc following the same family, centring on the son and the name that his mother has given him: Bear, Julian or Gordon, depending on the arc. It is a book about choices and consequences and is an absolute stunner.