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 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37)
Zero surprises here in this week (month? year?) of Rooneymania. Read Mad Chapman’s account of attending Time Out’s midnight release party, and Rebecca K Reilly’s review of this fourth Rooney novel, here.
2 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38)
Bookermania! This marvellous Huck Finn retelling is on this year’s shortlist, and …
3 Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Jonathan Cape, $38)
… so is this latest from the genius Rachel Kushner.
4 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26)
Can’t wait to read this one (also on the Booker shortlist): “A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction.
The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?”
5 Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday, $38)
The latest in Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie detective novels is a cosy thriller.
6 We Solve Murders by Richard Osman (Viking Penguin, $38)
More cosy moider.
7 Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (Granta, $28)
Welcome back, Booker International prize winner 2024!
8 Radical Respect: How to Work Together Better by Kim Malone Scott (MacMillan, $35)
“We can create cultures where everyone does the best work of their lives and enjoys working together. Scott offers a simple framework that helps us identify what gets in the way – and practical, tangible tips for how to get back on track.” Sounds like someone should give this to Nicola Willis.
9 Becoming Tangata Tiriti: Working with Maori, Honouring the Treaty by Avril Bell (Auckland Uni Press, $30)
Here’s the publisher’s blurb: “Twelve non-Māori New Zealanders navigate through our changing Aotearoa. Becoming Tangata Tiriti brings together twelve non-Māori voices – dedicated professionals, activists and everyday individuals – who have engaged with te ao Māori and have attempted to bring te Tiriti to life in their work. In stories of missteps, hard-earned victories and journeys through the complexities of cross-cultural relationships, Becoming Tangata Tiriti is a book of lessons learned.
Sociologist Avril Bell analyses the complicated journey of today’s partners of te Tiriti o Waitangi, and asks: Who are we as tangata tiriti? How do we identify in relation to Māori? What are our responsibilities to te Tiriti? What do we do when we inevitably stumble along the way?”
10 Playground by Richard Powers (Hutchinson, $38)
The latest novel from Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Overstory.
WELLINGTON
1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37)
2 Make It Make Sense by Lucy Blakiston & Bel Hawkins (Moa Press, $37)
The women behind Shit You Should Care About have written a guide to life, work, travel and the Internet.
3 We Solve Murders by Richard Osman (Viking Penguin, $38)
4 Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Press, $38)
Glorious. Good Readers are also loving it, like Antoinette who says: “Lucy and Olive connect in this book through the power of stories. The stories they tell each other are of people who would be forgotten but are brought to life again by these remembrances. The last story that Lucy tells Olive and only Olive, left me feeling moved to my core!”
5 Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World by William Dalrymple (Bloomsbury, $45)
A snippet from a review on The Guardian: “Dalrymple doesn’t mention the unprecedented ways in which the current regime has marginalised India’s 200 million Muslims by characterising them as “infiltrators”, omitting references to Mughal rule in history textbooks, even renaming towns and cities that reflect the country’s long Islamic heritage. The struggle of ideas in modern India is not so much between right- and left-leaning historians, but between those who write about the past and those who aspire to rewrite the past.”
6 Well Woman: A Prescription for Lifelong Health by Frances Pitsilis (Upstart Press, $40)
A women’s guide to ageing healthily. Here’s the publisher’s blurb: “Women’s health issues are very different to those of men. Our hormones, our experience of pain (mental and physical), and the likely chronic health conditions we are likely to suffer are all different.
Dr Frances focusses on women in this book, to help them find their way back to optimal physical health and wellbeing.
Her advice goes beyond what you’ve heard in a regular doctor’s office. Well Woman explores holistic solutions to help you make changes that improve your well-being in both the short and long term.
If you are looking to maintain your health, vitality and age gracefully, this book is for you.”
7 Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Jonathan Cape, $38)
8 There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (Viking Press, $37)
For the author’s insights into this novel, this RNZ interview with Shafak is worth a listen.
9 Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson (Penguin, $38)
Jacqueline Wilson’s first adult novel is a continuation of her hugely popular YA series, Girls. For more, see this ranking of Jacqueline Wilson books.