Books Archive
Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 8
The only published and available best-selling 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.
Book of the week: Carl Shuker’s masterful novel about a medical emergency
Richard von Sturmer reviews the new novel by Wellington author Carl Shuker - a tense, razor-sharp story of a surgeon who makes a fatal mistake.
Announcing who made it onto the 2019 Ockham NZ Book Awards shortlist!
The clock has struck 5:00am – meaning the embargo on the 2019 Ockham New Zealand national book awards has been lifted, and the dear old Spinoff Review of Books is first in with the full list of who has made it.
Hera Lindsay Bird’s unholy love for Mark Leidner
The poet Hera Lindsay Bird interviews the brilliant American writer Mark Leidner, and does her best to explain why he's her favourite writer of all time.
Some structures in Auckland
The Monday Extract: John Walsh and photographer Patrick Reynolds join forces to present a handsome new book about some structures in Auckland.
The Friday Poem: ‘Into the garden’ by Semira Davis
New poetry by Semira Davis.
Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 1
The only published and available best-selling 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.
Book of the Week: That total asshole Theo Schoon
Anthony Byrt reviews an impeccably researched but somewhat tortured biography of Theo Schoon - only possibly a great New Zealand artist, almost certainly an anti-Semitic, misogynist, pretentious, belly-aching bitch.
Papercuts: Cutting to the chase
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.
Baxter, redux: Second thoughts on Jacquie Sturm and her lousy husband
Two scholars respond to our recent series on James K Baxter, and his wife, Jacquie Sturm.
Peter Northe Wells, 1950-2019
Steve Braunias farewells Peter Wells.
Hallelujah: in the church of Leonard Cohen
An excerpt from David Cohen's Book of Cohen, featuring Steve Braunias and musings on erotic salvation.
Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending February 22
The only published and available best-selling book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 best-seller list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in Willis St, Wellington and High St, Auckland.
The Friday Poem: ‘In loco parentis’ by JC Sturm
Following last week's revelations about James K Baxter, poetry editor Ashleigh Young presents a poem by Baxter's wife, the late Jacquie Sturm.
A white man’s fantasy – and sad reality – of living alone on a Cook Islands atoll
John Summers is inspired by a dreamer who ended up living as a kind of Robinson Crusoe on a Cook Islands atoll 'where there truly was no sound beyond the waves, the birds and whatever noise you made yourself'.
Giving voice: making theatre with actors who have intellectual disabilities
A new book by Tony McCaffrey deals with stage performances by people who have intellectual disabilities.
Hello Darkness, Goodbye Peter
Jeremy Hansen pays tribute to author Peter Wells, who died yesterday – exactly a week after the launch of his final book, Hello Darkness, a memoir of living with his fatal illness.
The subtle art of not giving a fuck about Jordan B Peterson
Danyl Mclauchlan on the 'ersatz enlightenment' of Jordan Peterson, who opens his New Zealand speaking tour with tonight’s sold-out event in Auckland.
Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending February 15
The only published and available best-selling book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 best-seller list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.
The Friday Poem: ‘Toads’ by Fleur Adcock
A poem by the great Fleur Adcock from her book Collected Poems, launched this week.
Baxter Week: My Nana, Jacquie Sturm
An essay by James K Baxter's great-grandson Jack McDonald about his Nana, Baxter's wife, the author and Māori leader Jacqui Sturm.
James K Baxter, rapist
All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books revisits the great poet James K Baxter. Today: John Newton reviews a new book of Baxter's letters, in which he calmly reveals he raped his wife.
Baxter Week: CK Stead remembers shaggy, ridiculous, brilliant James K Baxter
All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books revisits the great poet James K Baxter, on the occasion of a new book of letters. Today: CK Stead remembers Baxter, in this extract taken from his memoir in progress, South-East of Everywhere.
Baxter Week: James K Baxter, 1969
All week this week we revisit the great poet James K Baxter on the occasion of a new book of letters. Today: a selection of the letters written in 1969.
