The essential best-selling book chart in New Zealand, recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.
AUCKLAND
1 The New Zealand Wars: Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa by Vincent O’Malley (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
Please read this breathtaking extract from some of O’Malley’s finest work.
2 The Meaning of Trees by Robert Vennell (HarperCollins, $55)
We’ve nabbed the bits on supplejack and ongaonga for you.
3 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23)
The last people in New Zealand not to own Normal People now own Normal People.
4 Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crises (Or Don’t) by Jared Diamond (Penguin, $40)
Troubled people.
5 Less by Andrew Sean Greer (Little Brown, $25)
Funny people.
6 Ordinary People by Diana Evans (Random House, $26)
People who already own Normal People flock to Ordinary People.
7 The Overstory by Richard Powers (Vintage, $26)
Tree people.
8 Sincerity/Irony by Hera Lindsay Bird (KLIM Foundry, $47)
HLB limited edition, get in!
9 Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (Sandstone, $27)
Non-people-based bodies.
10 Attraction by Ruby Porter (Text Publishing, $37)
Road people.
WELLINGTON
1 The New Zealand Wars: Nga Pakanga o Aotearoa by Vincent O’Malley (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
Did we mention you can read an extract here?
2 A Mistake by Carl Shuker (Victoria University Press, $30)
If you missed it, this piece co-written by the excellent Mr Shuker is outstandingly good and important.
3 Marilyn Waring: The Political Years by Marilyn Waring (Bridget William Books, $40)
We’ve got an extract here and an upcoming interview with Chlöe Swarbrick soon – stay tuned!
4 Jobs, Robots & Us by Kinley Salmon (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
Non-human people.
5 Attraction by Ruby Porter (Text Publishing, $37)
Still road people.
6 Dead People I Have Known by Shayne Carter (Victoria University Press, $40)
Dead people.
7 Upheaval: How Nations Cope With Crisis (Or Don’t) by Jared Diamond (Allen Lane, $40)
Terrified people.
8 Finding France Hodgkins by Mary Kisler (Massey University Press, $45)
“The difficulty is to be yourself, assimilate all that is helpful, but keep your own individuality, as your most precious possession – it is one’s only chance”: the artist, in a 1903 letter to her mother, quoted in Canvas.
9 Children of Harvey Milk by Andrew Reynolds (Oxford University Press, $45)
Courageous people.
10 Shirley Smith: An Examined Life by Sarah Gaitanos (Victoria University Press, $40)
Courageous person.