The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.

AUCKLAND

1  The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48)

“… part of the engine of The Testaments is a challenging invitation to have compassion, and if not compassion, understanding” – Pip Adam, right here. 

2  Talking to Strangers: what we should know about the people we don’t know by Malcolm Gladwell (Allen Lane, $40)

From the New York Times: 

“I ended the book thinking that we are all doomed to misunderstand one another forever.

Yeah, Mr. Gladwell said. “It’s a little bit like that.””

3  The Truants by Kate Weinberg (Bloomsbury, $33)

Young aristocrats and pharmaceuticals and Agatha Christie and Sicily and one of those creepy-smart lecturers. 

4  The Overstory by Richard Powers (Vintage, $26)

A book about trees. It will haunt you; it haunts the author. He said to the Chicago Review of Books: “I just want to walk, look, listen, breathe, and write this same book again and again, from different aspects and elevations, with characters as old and large as I am able to imagine.”

5  Perform Under Pressure by Ceri Evans (HarperCollins, $40)

“Imagine someone is holding a stopwatch next to your shoulder, and as soon as you’ve chosen your task, they press the button. You have five minutes.”

6  Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and Piripi Walker (Lift Education, $20)

Toby rulz!

7  Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber, $23)

Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney

8  The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press, $35)

“It deals in delight, humour, linguistic ticklishness, eros, profundity, fun. So much fun.” – launch speech by Anna Smaill. 

9  Wolfe Island by Lucy Treloar (Picador, $35)

A woman and her island home, which is slowly going under. 

10  Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi (Ebury Press, $65)

Reviewed here by Linda Burgess, whose memoir is one of our favourite books of the year. 

 

WELLINGTON

1 Lost and Somewhere Else by Jenny Bornholdt (Victoria University Press, $25)

A book of poems just pipped Margaret Atwood a fortnight after release. And so did Elizabeth Knox!

2   The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press, $35)

3  The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48)

4  Always Song in the Water: an oceanic sketchbook by Gregory O’Brien (Auckland University Press, $45)

Read our extract, feat. the actual Marilyn Monroe. 

5  Mountains to Sea: Solving New Zealand’s Freshwater Crisis by Mike Joy (Bridget Williams Books, $15)

“ … we are totally dependent on fossil fuels for our food … the first step to being able to support anything like the population we have without the [fossil-fuel derived] energy coming in is that we are going to have to reduce animals in our diets in a really big way.” – the author, to 95bFM’s The Wire. 

6 No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference by Greta Thunberg (Penguin, $8)

A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.

7  Talking to Strangers: what we should know about the people we don’t know by Malcolm Gladwell (Allen Lane, $40)

8  The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury, $33)

“As always, Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature” – the Guardian. 

9  Anarchy: The Rise & Fall of the East India Company by William Dalrymple (Bloomsbury, $33)

“Told with rigour and great writerly craft” – the Guardian, again. 

10  Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica by Rebecca Priestley (Victoria University Press, $40)

Got a painting from Ruth Priestley’s Antarctic Dream series? Rebecca would love to hear from you, please.