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Detail: cover of Vincent O’Malley’s The New Zealand Wars
Detail: cover of Vincent O’Malley’s The New Zealand Wars

BooksMay 31, 2019

Unity Books bestseller chart for week ending May 31

Detail: cover of Vincent O’Malley’s The New Zealand Wars
Detail: cover of Vincent O’Malley’s The New Zealand Wars

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.

Keep going!