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 Kai Feast by Christall Lowe (Bateman, $60)
This from the publisher’s blurb is enough to get your puku rumbling: “In this beautifully illustrated story of feasting you’ll find a bountiful basket of kai and korero gathered all the way from the mountains to the sea. It’s lip-smackingly good kai – from soul-warming kaimoana hot pot, umu pulled pork and hangi infused with native rongoa, to kumara donuts, sweet korimako cake and burnt sugar steamed pudding.”
2 Mana of the Pacific by Regina Scheyvens & Apisalome Movono (Potton & Burton, $40)
A multi-lingual book with beautiful photographs and knowledge from around the Pacific to guide you into a positive frame of mind at this particularly difficult time.
3 Zest: Climbing From Depression to Philosophy by Daniel Kalderimis (Ugly Hill Press, $40)
A beautifully written series of essays by New Zealand barrister Daniel Kalderimis that explore philosophy and art and how they can help offer pathways into a healthier frame of mind.
4 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37)
The Good Reads community are big fans, with thousands upon thousands of five-star ratings and reviews like this: “An exquisite, fierce, deeply moving story. The last few pages, read with teary eyes, a perfect ending. I think Sally Rooney’s books are best appreciated by those who love dialogue — not just any dialogue, but in-depth conversations uncovering the inner thoughts of her characters.”
5 Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway and John le Carré (Viking, $38)
The new George Smiley spy thriller to stick on your summer reads stack.
6 Well Woman: A Prescription for Lifelong Health by Frances Pitsilis (Upstart Press, $40)
An holistic guide to how to manage sleep, diet, hormones, stress and ageing well, for women.
7 Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Jonathan Cape, $38)
Kushner’s latest novel is on the Booker shortlist and sweepstakes are hotting up with the winner announced on November 11. Our pick is on Percival Everett’s James (see below). But it’s really anyone’s game at this point.
8 Atua Wahine by Hana Tapiata (HarperCollins NZ, $37)
Life lessons wrapped in a beautiful blue and gold cover, just in time for Christmas, and the outcome of the US elections.
9 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
Find out why Delirious is Elizabeth Knox’s favourite New Zealand novel ever, on The Spinoff here.
10 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38)
See number 7, above.
WELLINGTON
1 The Chthonic Cycle by Una Cruickshank (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
Up for best cover of the year is this “eccentric” series of essays (read: intriguing, even page-turning). Here’s the publisher’s blurb: “Written in an effort to ward off existential dread, and to find new understandings and consolations for those similarly afflicted, The Chthonic Cycle is an eccentric and brilliantly curated tour through time, in which fascinating objects glint and spark and the transience of humanity flickers.
At the heart of Una Cruickshank’s debut are Earth’s interlocking cycles of death and reuse. The blood of a billion-year-old tree emerges from the sea as a drop of amber; 4,756,940 pieces of Lego float towards the Cornish Peninsula; a giant squid’s beak passes through a whale’s intestines into bottles of Chanel No. 5. The violence of colonisation underpins some of the transformations illuminated here, as we follow wave after wave of ruin and remaking.”
Bonus points if you know how to say Chthonic.
2 Zest: Climbing From Depression to Philosophy by Daniel Kalderimis (Ugly Hill Press, $40)
3 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37)
4 Kataraina by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $37)
The remarkable sequel to Auē. Read Jenna Todd’s review on The Spinoff, here.
5 Woolsheds by Annette O’Sullivan & Jane Ussher (Massey University Press, $85)
Majestic Jane Ussher photography showcases the majesty of the humble woolshed and their rural context across Aotearoa.
6 Wild Wellington: Nga Taonga Taiao: A Guide to the Wildlife & Wild Places of Te Whanganui-a-tara by Michael Szabo (Te Papa Press, $45)
Delightful! This pocket-sized compendium of all of Wellington’s wild spots is a must-have on the shelf of any Wellingtonian and aspiring Wellingtonians.
7 Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway (Viking, $38)
8 There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (Viking, $37)
“An engaging story is marred by an overblown narrative style.” Read the full review over at Kirkus, here.
9 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
10 Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Viking, $38)
Strout is surely one of the greatest writers of all time. Here’s a snippet from an insightful Guardian review of this latest book: “‘Tell me everything’ is a credo of sorts, a statement of the writer’s voracious need to know, to solve the human case. But that Strout’s oblique approach to matters of the heart works so well is partly due to her judicious use of silence and omission to suggest the complexity of our closest connections. After Bob tries to act as the middleman in repairing Jim’s relationship with his son, Larry writes Jim a letter: “He unfolded the letter that was inside the envelope, and Bob put on his glasses and read ‘Dear Dad,’ and then the page was empty except for at the bottom where it was signed, ‘Love, Larry.’”
Sometimes, in this taciturn but deeply felt and profoundly intelligent novel, a kindly blank page is as good as it gets. Tell me everything. Or tell me nothing.”