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 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28)
Han Kang’s astounding novel was based on an earlier short story she’d written. Here’s what Kang has to say about it:
“After writing ‘The Fruit of My Woman’, I hoped to one day write a variation on that story. It was only after writing two full-length novels that I was able to do so in my third novel, The Vegetarian. In particular, Part One of The Vegetarian retains many formal traces of the original short story. For example, the husband takes on the role of an unreliable narrator, and the voice of the female protagonist appears only partially, in dreams or in monologues addressed to her mother. The difference between these two stories about a woman who becomes – or wants to become – a plant lies in the level of darkness, passion and intensity. The Vegetarian is much darker, more intense and painful; nothing supernatural happens as in ‘The Fruit of My Woman’, and the characters plunge to their doom in the midst of brutal reality. Another difference is that the protagonist of the novel has a sister, which creates a strange sense of self-identification.” Read the full interview on the Booker Prizes website.
2 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25)
The 32-page guide to Te Tiriti that made the news last year after an anonymous donor helped get a copy to every secondary school in Aotearoa.
3 Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $32)
One of those “life changing mindset life hacks” about letting “them” do what they want to do.
4 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26)
The shortest book to win the Booker Prize since the 70s. A plotless musing on life on and away from Earth.
5 The Happiness of Dogs by Mark Rowlands (Granta UK, $40)
Adorable cover! What is life like for a dog? Rowlands explores that very question and what it means for us once we know the answer.
6 Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin, $38)
The latest novel from one of the finest prose stylists of our time.
7 Human Acts by Han Kang, (Granta UK, $28)
A profoundly moving exploration of violence set in Korea of the 1980s.
8 Zest: Climbing From Depression to Philosophy by Daniel Kalderimis (Ugly Hill Press, $40)
Local lawyer’s beautifully written series of essays that draw on literature and philosophy to navigate depression.
9 The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté (Vermillion, $30)
Over a million copies sold in under a year. Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
“In this life-affirming book, Gabor Maté connects the dots between our personal suffering and the relentless pressures of modern life – showing that ill health is a natural reflection of our disconnection from our true selves. Drawing on four decades of clinical experience, and stories of people transforming their bodies and minds, Dr Maté offers a hopeful pathway to reconnection and healing.”
10 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (THWUP, $38)
You will fall deeply for Mary and Pete as they navigate the long tails of grief, ageing, and how, and when, to communicate to the people closest to you.
WELLINGTON
1 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26)
2 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (THWUP, $38)
3 Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $32)
4 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25)
5 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28)
6 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate, $35)
One of the most enduring crime novels of the last 18 months: a testament to the power of true crime, gastronomy and strong female characters.
7 All Fours by Miranda July (Canongate, $37)
Anyone else now obsessed with the idea of Tonka Bean soap? Read the novel to find out what we’re on about.
8 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber, $45 hardback, $37 paperback)
Here’s a snippet from Rebecca K Reilly’s review of Rooney’s fourth novel: “The novel is told from three characters’ perspectives: Ivan, Peter and Margaret. Rooney has not written from just one narrator’s point of view since Conversations with Friends. Ivan’s analytical analyses of the situations he finds himself in are some of the text’s strongest passages – it’s interesting to see how he thinks and perceives things, whether or not the reader regards him to be correct in his summations, and Rooney’s ultra-precise technical style is perfect for this. Passages from Margaret’s perspective also sing more than some of the rest of the novel, and the author is, as always, really in her element when she’s writing about women’s relationships with each other and the world, although it’s difficult to say whether it was the right choice to include a third perspective in a book about two brothers.” Read the full review on The Spinoff.
9 I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Vintage, $33)
The BookTok smash hit described as Gen Z’s Handmaid’s Tale. Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
“Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus?
Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before. But, as the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl – the fortieth prisoner – sits alone and outcast in the corner.
Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others’ escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground. The woman who will never know men.”
10 Geckos & Skinks: The Remarkable Lizards of Aotearoa by Anna Yeoman (Potton & Burton, $60)
A beautiful book about Aotearoa’s lizardfolk, where they live, and the dangers they face thanks to their human neighbours.