The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 2
AUCKLAND
1 Preachers, Pastors, Prophets: The Dominican Friars of Aotearoa by Susannah Grant (Otago University Press, $60)
This sound fascinating. Here is the publisher's full and fulsome blurb:
'Preachers, Pastors, Prophets draws on a rich collection of archival material and oral interviews to tell the story of the Dominican friars of Aotearoa New Zealand. Heirs to a spiritual tradition dating back to the early thirteenth century, the friars' lives are shaped by their commitment to the Order's motto: Veritas (Truth). They have served as university and hospital chaplains, parish priests, liturgists, itinerant retreat leaders and theologians, and in media and justice roles.
Never a large group, they have nevertheless reached deep into Catholic life in Aotearoa, working up and down the length of the country and across denominational boundaries. Although no longer involved in active ministry the New Zealand friars continue to fund and facilitate Aaiotanga – the Peace Place – a community space in downtown Auckland focused on peace and social justice issues.
More than the history of a religious organisation, this is the story of a group of dissimilar – often eccentric – individuals who worked in a range of ministries; of the faith that united them as brothers and gave purpose to their mission as preachers; and of their impact on the communities and churches they served in Aotearoa New Zealand. Alongside the many positive achievements of Dominican ministry, this account also addresses previously silenced stories of abuse of power. Preachers, Pastors, Prophets is not a sacred history. It's a human history.
Like Grant's previous book, a study of the Dominican sisters, Preachers, Pastors, Prophets offers a window into a particular world and the ways that world has transformed over time.'
2 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30)
Hunger Games fans are calling this best book in the series yet.
3 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35)
Hugely popular crime novel enjoying a sales bump due to the fact that the author is appearing at Auckland Writers Festival very soon.
4 When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter (Atlantic Books, $40)
Nostalgic for the golden age of magazines? This is the book for you.
5 Unforgetting by Belinda Robinson (Quentin Wilson Publishing, $40)
The daughter of playwright Bruce Mason shares her memoir of abuse at the hands of a childhood nanny. RNZ's Kathryn Ryan talked to Robinson about her story, here.
6 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26)
Wonder if anyone on the Blue Origin flight read this Booker Prize winner?
7 Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Pan UK, $40)
'The shark brings Wynn-Williams many gifts, if by 'gifts' we mean big shark bite marks on her torso and lifelong trauma. It also seems to ignite her already eldest-sister-of-four levels of ambition and determination into shooting flames. But the shark's greatest gift, as far as the reader is concerned, is a truly unbelievable-seeming yarn and the ability to spin it.' Read more of Julie Hill's review of this book, here on The Spinoff.
8 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako, $25)
Welcome back! The small book that has done big things pairs well with The Spinoff's guide to Te Tiriti.
9 Northbound by Naomi Arnold (Harper Collins, $40)
'The way Arnold has managed to condense nine months and 3028 kilometres into bang-on 300 pages is impressive throughout. From the nature descriptions, to the meal recaps and interactions she has with other walkers – the story includes many small but perfectly formed vignettes – like that chat with Doug – that illuminate more than their page space would suggest.' Wrote The Spinoff's Liv Sisson in her glowing review of Arnold's odyssey.
10 Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (Serpents Tail, $30)
Purchasing for the cover and title typeface alone. Here's the blurb:
'A rambunctious, tragicomic absurd road trip novel about a wealthy Swiss-German mother and son. Realising he and she are the very worst kind of people, our unnamed middle-aged narrator embarks on a highly dubious road trip through Switzerland with his terminally ill and terminally drunken mother.
They try unsuccessfully to give away or squander the fortune she has amassed from investing in armament industry shares. Along the journey they bicker endlessly over the past, throw handfuls of francs into a ravine and exasperate the living daylights out of their long-suffering taxi driver. The crimes of the twentieth century are never far behind, but neither is the need for more vodka.Eurotrash is a bitterly comic, vertiginous mirror-cabinet of familial and historical reckoning.
Kracht's novel is a narrative tour-de-force of the tenderness and spite meted out between two people who cannot escape one another.'
WELLINGTON
1 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30)
2 Covid Response: A scientist's account of New Zealand's pandemic and what comes next by Shaun Hendy (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
Professor Shaun Hendy returns us to the Covid years and how and why government made their decisions about what to do and when. It's a very readable piece of literature: smartly arranged in chapters with subheadings and including chapters outlining what to do in future.
3 Sea Change by Jenny Pattrick (Bateman, $38)
The unstoppable Jenny Pattrick (author of The Denniston Rose) is back with this novel imagining a tsunami has devastated the Paekākāriki community on the Kāpiti Coast. Aptly, the novel has been reviewed over on paekākāriki.nz.
'Four novels for the price of one,' enthuses this reviewer on The Guardian.
6 Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (Viking, $38)
Something about an heiress and two writers battling to tell her story.
7 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26)
8 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber $25)
Welcome back brilliant friend! The slim novella that might well be staging a return to this hallowed chart due to the fact that the movie adaptation staring Cillian Murphy is now out in cinemas around Aotearoa.
9 Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $32)
The latest book that's telling you how to change your life.
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