The top 10 sales lists recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.
AUCKLAND
1 London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, $40)
Radden Keefe takes us deep inside a beguiling true crime story.
2 Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Headline Press, $38)
“The novel’s reassertion of Gaelic language and culture in opposition to the culture of the British colonisers relies on simplistic characterisations of both the Irish and the British…” Read more of this fascinating critique of O’Farrell’s latest over in The Conversation.
3 The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City by Asher Emanuel (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
“Part of what makes The Valley so engaging is that it resists at once being overburdened by an academic approach as well as any saviour mode. Instead, these are the real lives of endearing, infuriating, fallible people, told without condescension to them or the reader.” Read/listen to more of Toby Manhire’s thoughts on the book of the year right here on The Spinoff.
4 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Fourth Estate, $37)
Trad wife yeeted back to ye olden days and gets shock of her life.
5 The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (W W Norton, $36)
People are clearly doing some reading before they see the film which is heartening and correct.
6 Among Kinabuhi Sa Aotearoa: Filipino Lives in Aotearoa by Vivien Beduya (Bateman, $32)
One of the authors of this new collection, Vivien Beduya, joined RNZ’s Jesse Mulligan for an insightful chat that you can listen to here.
7 He Told Us: How An Australian Committed Far-Right Terrorism In Christchurch, New Zealand by Chris Wilson and Michal Dziwulski (Allen & Unwin, $38)
Authors Wilson and Dziwulski, who both specialise in white supremacist-related terrorism, meticulously outline the terrorist’s path to radicalisation.
8 Whistler by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury UK, $39)
A novel in which the people are really nice to each other.
9 No Pit Stops by Grant Baker (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)
A memoir from one of the brains behind such iconic brands as 42 Below, Trilogy and Ecoya.
10 The Land and its People by David Sedaris (Abacus, $40)
The funniest yet?
WELLINGTON
1 Insuring the Future: Reimagining Home Insurance in Aotearoa by Jonathan Boston (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
“Jonathan Boston tackles one of the defining policy challenges of climate change: how can residential property insurance remain accessible and affordable as climate-intensified risks escalate?”
2 The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City by Asher Emanuel (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
3 Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Headline Press, $38)
4 Among Kinabuhi Sa Aotearoa: Filipino Lives in Aotearoa by Vivien Beduya (Bateman, $32)
5 Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin, $38)
Another undeniable banger.
6 London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, $40)
7 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Fourth Estate, $37)
8 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38)
The ideal novel for wintry weather.
9 Portrait by Jackson McCarthy (Auckland University Press, $25)
Playing with the possibilities of portrait.
10 The Land and its People by David Sedaris (Abacus, $40)
