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 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25)
No better time to get this easy-to-follow guide to Te Tiriti into your home, workplace, school, garden centre. Goes well with (and is included in) The Spinoff’s reading (and watching and listening) guide to Te Tiriti.
2 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28)
Yes, Auckland gets it. If you haven’t read this short, punchy novel then trust Auckland’s Unity buyers and also us. Brilliant, brilliant, lingering, mind-shifting work.
3 Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher, $38)
Inimitable screen creator David Lynch died on January 15. This 10th anniversary edition of Catching the Big Fish (Lynch on creativity) “now includes interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr”.
4 Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (Piatkus, $38)
The fastest selling adult novel in 20 years according to the NY Times.
5 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber, $45 hardback, $37 paperback)
“Though not perfect, a clear leap forward for Rooney; her grandmaster status remains intact.” Read more on Kirkus Reviews.
6 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (THWUP, $38)
“I loved this book. It arrived in the mail nice and chunky so I didn’t gobble it all up in one go, but read it each night over a week or so. I kept thinking about Mary, Pete, Colin and Will during the day. I’m afraid of putting people off by saying it’s about ageing and approaching DEATH. In truth Wilkins has such a light touch that reading never feels heavy or too sad.” So wrote Gabi Lardies in The Spinoff’s conversational review of this Ockham longlisted novel.
7 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26)
Last year’s Booker Prize winner.
8 Amma by Saraid De Silva (Hachette, $38)
Saraid de Silva’s Ockham-longlisted novel and The Spinoff members’ favourite New Zealand novel of 2024.
9 Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara (Ebury Press, $40)
“Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling New York City two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world. How did Guidara pull off this unprecedented transformation?”
10 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate, $35)
A spillover sensation from 2024 for true crime fans and foodies alike.
WELLINGTON
1 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25)
2 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26)
3 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (THWUP, $38)
4 All Fours by Miranda July (Canongate, $37)
The art+menopause+desire+motherhood book that launched a thousand meet ups.
5 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate, $35)
6 White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Penguin Classics, $26)
How very curious. White Nights is a short story first published in 1848. Once suspects Dostoyevsky may be enjoying some TikTok-fluence. Ah, yes. Here’s an entire article written about how White Nights has, as they say, gone off.
7 Pet by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $28)
Now released in b-format with a stunning new cover. Get all your Chidgey’s read before May when the next one comes out: The Book of Guilt (we can’t talk about it yet but, oh, we will).
8 Imagining Decolonisation by Rebecca Kiddle, Bianca Elkington, Moana Jackson, Ocean Ripeka Mercier, Mike Ross, Jennie Smeaton and Amanda Thomas (Bridget Williams Books, $18)
Welcome back! It’s been a while since this powerful little collection of insightful essays was here but how excellent to see it again. Essential reading for the times. Goes well with item 1.
9 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber, $45 hardback, $37 paperback)
10 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28)