07-05-2025
‘A medieval Russian fever-dream': Rachael Craw's favourite books
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers, and guests. This week: Rachael Craw, author of The Lost Saint.
The book I wish I'd written
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. I want to stuff the pages in my mouth until the words melt around my teeth. Exquisite, lyrical, deeply embedded in a landscape so exotic to me I could not get enough. It's a medieval Russian fever-dream.
Everyone should read
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen because then you can enjoy the memes.
The book I want to be buried with
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.
The first book I remember reading by myself
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. (At an age where half the words in each sentence were too difficult for me and I just slogged my way through it by inference because I knew there was magic waiting for me in those pages. I was also the kid who checked the back of her wardrobe – just in case.)
The book I pretend I've read
Michael King's The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand because Rachael King is a dear friend and I don't want her to be mad with me.
Fiction or Nonfiction
Fiction, obviously, because reality is blergh.
The book that made me cry
The Lord of the Rings, at every re-read: when (spoiler alert) Gandalf dies.
The book that made me laugh
Jaclyn Moriarty's The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars (I was reading it aloud to my daughter and had to put it down because I was laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes.)
Greatest New Zealand book
Hairy Maclary From Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd.
Greatest New Zealand writer
Elizabeth Knox.
Best food memory from a book
I know we've cancelled Neil Gaiman, and rightly so, but to this day I still think about the little slab of honey drizzled in jam in The Ocean At the End of the Lane that the little boy eats at the good witch's house after his demonic battle. I don't even think it would taste that nice but there's something about that description that's lodged itself in my synaptic highway.
Best place to read
Bed.
What are you reading right now
Physical Book: All Shall Mourn by Ellie Marney. Audio book: The Stand by Stephen King.
The Lost Saint by Rachael Craw ($30, Allen & Unwin) is available to purchase through Unity Books.
The Spinoff Books section is proudly brought to you by Unity Books and Creative New Zealand. Visit Unity Books online today.
