Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 10

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.

AUCKLAND

1  Unreliable People by Rosetta Allan (Penguin Random House, $38)

First novel: murders in Ōtāhuhu. Slight segue to second novel: the purge of Korean immigrants from Soviet Russia on the path to World War II.

2  Home Fire: A Novel by Kamil Shamsie (Bloomsbury, UK $22)

Kaboom.

3  Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (Penguin Random House, $37)

Mean-spirited, perhaps, but we’re a teensy bit glad he’s been knocked off his perch.

4  Wordy by Simon Schama (Simon & Schuster, $40)

Essay topics include, but are by no means limited to: Paul Beatty, Mid-Term Trump, Rhubarb, and War and Peace.

5  Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Windmill Books, $26)

House arrest. Fancy hotel. Thirty years. Please.

6  The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson (MacMillan, $35)

His next one is called Everything is F*cked and it’s about optimism.

7  A Mistake by Carl Shuker (Victoria University Press, $30)

Continues to carve it up.

8  Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat (Canongate UK, $55)

Also, watch the Netflix series: it’s a cockle-warmer.

9  Becoming by Michelle Obama (Viking Penguin, $55)

Imagine Melania’s version.

10 Identity Crisis by Ben Elton (Penguin Berkley, $37)

Wait wait wait. No Sally Rooney, Auckland?

WELLINGTON

1  Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth (Random House Business, $28)

Apparently it is revolutionary to take the planet into account in economics? 

2  The Braided River: Migration and the Personal Essay by Diane Comer (Otago University Press, $35)

“I want to believe New Zealand is a safe, compassionate and inclusive country, and so did the 37 migrants who live in Christchurch and wrote about their migration experience”: the author, via newsroom.co.nz

3  From Strategy to Action: A Guide to Getting Shit Done in the Public Sector by Alicia McKay (Alicia McKay, $35)

Oh, Wellington.

4  Billion Dollar Bonfire by Chris Lee (Bateman, $40)

On Allan Hubbard and South Canterbury Finance.

5  Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape, $37)

6  A Mistake by Carl Shuker (Victoria University Press, $30)

7  Living with Earthquakes and their Aftermath by Rosie Belton (Renaissance Publishers, $35)

Oh, Wellington.

8  Normal People Sally Rooney (Faber, $38)

There she is!

9  Finding Frances Hodgkins by Mary Kisler (Massey University Press, $45)

“It is an enchanting if slightly obsessive travel story, journeying with friends and colleagues across England, Wales, France, Spain, Italy and Morocco”: the Listener

10 Upheaval: How Nations Cope With Crises (Or Don’t) by Jared Diamond (Allen Lane, $40)

“Shot through with reflections on the fragility of democracy”: the Guardian