25-04-2025
Bestselling books at Anzac weekend
NONFICTION
1 No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins, $39.99)
2 Everyday Comfort Food by Vanya Insull (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
3 Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
4 Retirement Ready by Martin Hawes (Upstart Press, $39.99)
5 Northbound by Naomi Arnold (HarperCollins, $39.99)
A free copy of the best book of the year so far is up for grabs in this week's giveaway contest. The author tells of her long journey of the soul as she walks the Te Araroa trail; to enter, share a story about a walk, or tramp, or somesuch perambulation, which really took it out of you, which maybe defeated you or delivered you unto bliss, which was a walk among the stars. Send your traveller's tale to stephen11@ with the subject line in screaming caps NAOMI WALKS THE EARTH AND SO DID I, by midnight on Sunday, April 28.
Last week's giveaway was a copy of the year's most beautiful illustrated coffeetable book, Central Otago Couture by Jane Malthus & Claire Regnault & Derek Henderson (Te Papa Press, $70). Photographed by Derek Henderson, Central Otago Couture exhibits the amazing collection of Otago farmer Eden Hore, who in 1975 opened a museum (an old tractor shed) on his farm in the tussocked hills of the Mānaiatoto to display more than 220 high-end fashion garments.
Readers were asked to send in a photo of themselves or someone in their life wearing something absolutely fabulous. It was a very popular contest. I saw things I cannot unsee. But they included visions of loveliness, such as Madeleine wearing one of her mother's many 1970s Kaftans, made from furnishing fabric, completed with a rabbit fur bonnet; Tracey's daughter Devon modelling in Dunedin's Fashion Week in an outfit with floor-length sleeves; and Gloria, uncannily reincarnated as Marilyn Monroe to sing happy birthday to her husband on his 80th birthday.
But the winner is Jessie, who wrote, 'I bought this dress at a jumble sale in the North of England around 1970. It is bias-cut crepe. I used to wear it to concerts at the Manchester Free Trade Hall – King Crimson, Led Zeppelin… My life took a lot of turns, and after cruising on a yacht for a couple of decades, I washed up in the Bay of Islands, and have lived here longer than anywhere else. Sixteen years ago I returned to the UK for my mother's funeral. When my sister & I were cleaning out Mum's attic we discovered the dress – the only item of my clothing not to have been chucked out. After 50+ years it still fits, and I wore it recently to a friend's 80th birthday party.'
Huzzah to Jessie; she wins a free copy of Central Otago Couture by Jane Malthus & Claire Regnault & Derek Henderson. And here she is, a vision of bias-cut crepe loveliness.
6 Rich Enough? (2025 Ed) by Mary Holm (HarperCollins, $39.99)
7 High Heels and Gumboots by Rebecca Hayter (HarperCollins, $39.99)
8 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
9The Good Life by Gillian Swinton (Allen & Unwin, $45)
10 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
FICTION
1 Tea and Cake and Death (The Bookshop Detectives 2) by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $38)
2 Black Silk and Buried Secrets (Tatty Crowe 2) by Deborah Challinor (HarperCollins, $37.99)
3 See How They Fall by Rachel Paris (Hachette, $37.99)
4 Dead Girl Gone (The Bookshop Detectives 1, B-Format) by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $26)
5 Sea Change by Jenny Pattrick (David Bateman, $37.99)
The author will write about recent developments in Denniston – her novel Denniston Rose is among the biggestselling works of fiction ever published in New Zealand – next week in ReadingRoom.
6 Tree of Nourishment (Kāwai 2) by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)
7 The Secrets of Maiden's Cove by Erin Palmisano (Hachette, $37.99)
8 Dead Girl Gone (The Bookshop Detectives 1) by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $38)
9 Kataraina by Becky Manawatu (The Cuba Press, $37)
10 Kāwai: For Such a Time as This (Kāwai 1) by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)
