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The Spinoff
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending August 8
The top 10 sales lists recorded every week at Unity Books' stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Invisible Intelligence: Why Your Child Might Not Be Failing by Welby Ings (Otago University Press, $45) Ings argues for an education system that doesn't pin children into a narrow academic view of intelligence and success. Bravo! 2 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Penguin, $24) One suspects #BookTok has something to do with pinging this 1947 classic near the top of the Unity charts. 3 Aroha: Māori Wisdom for a Contented Life Lived in Harmony With Our Planet by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin, $30) Timeless yet urgent. 4 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $26) Perfect historical fiction. 5 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) A spooky old house, identical triplets, medicines, Margate … don't miss this latest ripping yarn from one of the country's best storytellers. 6 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $27) Another ripping yarn that's rippling all the way to Hollywood. 7 The Unlikely Doctor by Dr Timoti Te Moke (Allen & Unwin, $38) A powerful new memoir. Here's the blurb: 'The extraordinary story of Dr Timoti Te Moke who – having endured a horrific childhood of beatings and abuse, then gang life, stints in prison and an unsupported manslaughter charge – became a doctor at the age of 56 and is a staunch advocate for Māori.' 8 Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (Serpents Tail, $30) The road trip novel about intergenerational trauma. 9 Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Canongate, $28) Stunning memoir of animal-human connection and transformation. 10 Rabbit Heart: A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Story by Kristine S. Ervin (Counterpoint, $44) A couple of curious patters in this here list: two invisibles, one hare and one rabbit. WELLINGTON 1 In the Hollow of the Wave by Nina Mingya Powles (Auckland University Press, $25) The beautiful second collection of poetry by award-winning Powles is a glorious weaving of words about living between shorelines, the qualities of material and domestic life, and making art with them. Also wonderful to see poetry at the top of the charts ahead of National Poetry Day on August 22. 2 Holding the Heavy Stuff: Making Space for Critical Thoughts & Painful Emotions by Ben Sedley (Little Brown, $35) An illustrated guide to coping with worry, low mood and feeling stuck. 3 Welcome of Strangers: A History of Southern Māori by Atholl Anderson (Bridget Williams Books, $70) This is an updated edition of Anderson's 1998 book. Here's the publisher's blurb: 'Professor Anderson traces the origins of early Waitaha and Kāti Māmoe, and the later migrations, conflicts and settlements of the hapū who became Ngāi Tahu. Drawing on tribal knowledge, early written records and archaeological insights, he details the movements, encounters and exchanges that shaped these southern regions. He shows how people lived seasonally from the land and sea, supported by long-distance trade and a deep knowledge of place. These were the communities that the first Europeans in Niu Tīreni encountered, as whalers, sealers and missionaries made their way around the coast.' 4 The Unlikely Doctor by Dr Timoti Te Moke (Allen & Unwin, $38) 5 A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan (Allen & Unwin, $37) 'A Beautiful Family is set on the Kāpiti Coast in the 1980s. We know this because Trevelyan is meticulous with her references to the time period: the child's prized possession is a Walkman through which she plays Split Enz; The Exorcist has aired on TV; there are Seventeen magazines with sealed sections; the child and her sister Vanessa get terrifically sunburned and only after getting blisters does their mother buy some SPF15. There is also casual racism at play in varying degrees of intensity. A Chinese family is talked about in grotesque terms; a Māori character is described as having 'skin the colour of burnt caramel'. It makes you grind your molars until you remember that this is the 80s and such clangers were horrifyingly commonplace.' Read more, right here. 6 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60) Bumped from the charts in Auckland, still going strong in Wellington. 7 Underworld by Jared Savage (Harper Collins, $40) Savage's latest exploration of New Zealand's criminal underbelly. 8 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Vintage, $26) Welcome back old friend! We can now start betting on the next Booker Prize winner as the 2025 longlist has been announced. 9 M ātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia Publishers, $45) 'In Mātauranga Māori, Hirini Moko Mead explores the Māori knowledge system and explains what mātauranga Māori is. He looks at how the knowledge system operates, the branches of knowledge, and the way knowledge is recorded and given expression in te reo Māori and through daily activities and formal ceremonies. Mātuaranga Māori is a companion publication to Hirini Moko Mead's best-selling book Tikanga Māori.' 10 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (Faber & Faber, $28) Another classic! Who can forget Plath's description of eating a shrimp cocktail? A brilliant, unsettling first and only novel. The Spinoff Books section is proudly brought to you by Unity Books and Creative New Zealand. Visit Unity Books online today.
The Spinoff
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending July 4
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 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate, $35) Butter has bumped Ardern's memoir from the top spot. The sales graph for this book must look like the Himalayan mountain range: what an extraordinary ride this brilliant novel has been on. 2 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $26) A stunning debut novel by a writer of rare talent. That sounds like a giant cliché but in this case it's absolutely true. You will not regret reading this lovely, powerful, perfectly formed novel set in the Netherlands of the 1960s. This debut novel also features on The Spinoff's list of books that write sex exceptionally well. 3 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House, $60) Rachel Morris wrote a superb feature on Ardern for The New Yorker, in which she contextualised the memoir for American readers, and said of the book: 'The tale of what it was like for Ardern to go from being adored to being reviled so quickly would have made for an unmissable book. That's not the story she wanted to tell. A Different Kind of Power is her manifesto for a kinder, less cynical form of political leadership, with her own life story as evidence that such a thing is possible.' Highly recommend clicking on the link above and reading the rest of what Morris has to say. 4 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) 'Chidgey's latest novel is uncannily similar to Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (which she has not read),' writes The Spinoff's Claire Mabey. 'It takes similar aim at British identity by puncturing its society with the normalisation of skewed medical ethics. What both novels have in common are questions of nature versus nurture and the eternal thought exercise of what does it mean to possess a soul? The two writers share an interest in the dehumanising potential of such questions. Both Ishiguro (one of the greatest novelists of all time) and Chidgey (fast becoming one of the greats herself) investigate how whole societies, entire countries, can enter a path of gross moral corruption one person, one concession, at a time.' 5 Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall (John Murray, $38) Reese Witherspoon loves this novel. The actress/book club host says: 'Trust me—you are going to LOSE YOUR CHICKEN over it. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is an unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives… but it's also a masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Seriously, that ending?! I did not see it coming.' 6 Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (Serpents Tail, $30) This novel was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and we can see why: there's a lot more under the surface of this novel about a mother and son road-tripping across Europe. It's a reckoning with the past, with the self, and with family. 7 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $38) 'James offers page-turning excitement but also off-kilter philosophical picaresque,' writes Anthony Cummins in The Guardian 'Jim enters into dream dialogue with Enlightenment thinkers Voltaire and John Locke to coolly skewer their narrow view of human rights – before finally shifting gear into gun-toting revenge narrative when Jim's view of white people as his 'enemy' (not 'oppressor', which 'supposes a victim') sharpens with every atrocity witnessed en route. It's American history as real-life dystopia, voiced by its casualties, but as you might guess from The Trees – a novel about lynching that won a prize for comic fiction – solemn it is not: 'White people try to tell us that everything will be just fine when we go to heaven. My question is, Will they be there? If so, I might make other arrangements.'' 8 Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert (John Murray, $40) The subtitle of this book is: 'How pop culture turned a generation of women against themselves.' (Which sounds like a possible tagline for the The Substance – anyone else seen that little movie with Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley?) And here's the blurb: 'Sophie Gilbert identifies an inflection point in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the energy of third-wave and 'riot grrrl' feminism collapsed into a regressive period of hyper-objectification, sexualization, and infantilization. Mining the darker side of nostalgia, Gilbert trains her keen analytic eye on the most revealing cultural objects of the era, across music, film, television, fashion, tabloid journalism, and more. What she recounts is harrowing, from the leering gaze of the paparazzi to the gleeful cruelty of early reality TV and a burgeoning internet culture vicious toward women in the spotlight and damaging for those who weren't. Gilbert tracks many of the period's dominant themes back to the rise of internet porn, which gained widespread influence as it began to pervade our collective consciousness.' 9 Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Vintage, $26) This novel was originally published in 1995 in French. It's now being rediscovered as the dystopia of the premise catches up with the dystopia of the present. 10 T he Let Them Theory by Mel Robins (Hay House, $32) She's baaaaaack! WELLINGTON 1 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House, $60) 2 Ghost Kiwi by Ruth Paul (Scholastic NZ, $20) Ruth Paul has a double-whammy this week as she launches two books! Ghost Kiwi is a middle grade novel about Ruby, who runs away with her dog to the one place she feels safe … her treehouse in the forest. 'Joined by her friend, Te Ariki (aka 'Spider'), the pair soon make a surprising discovery – there's a kiwi living in a burrow nearby, caring for a newborn chick. A white kiwi chick. Accompanied by a strange talking doll, and aided by the ancient wairua of the bush, Ruby and Spider step up to become true forest guardians, risking their lives to stop unscrupulous wildlife smugglers from stealing this rare native treasure.' 3 Anahera: The Mighty Kiwi Māmā by Ruth Paul (Puffin, $21) Paul also launched this lovely picture book – the true story of Anahera, a rescue kiwi who now roams the hills of Wellington. 4 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) 5 Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan (Faber & Faber, $35) The new format release of this novel by O'Hagan is giving the best-selling novel another best-selling life. 6 Mātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia, $45) A major publication by Hirini Moko Mead who explores and explains what mātauranga Māori is. 'He looks at how the knowledge system operates, the branches of knowledge, and the way knowledge is recorded and given expression in te reo Māori and through daily activities and formal ceremonies. Mātuaranga Māori is a companion publication to Hirini Moko Mead's best-selling book Tikanga Māori.' 8 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate, $35) 9 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) The glorious award-winner from Wilkins. 10 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Vintage, $26) Last year's galactic Booker Prize winner returns to this list like a comet in the night.
The Spinoff
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending June 27
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 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House, $60) The Spinoff's own Madeleine Chapman reviewed Ardern's memoir – here's a snippet: 'Whether or not Ardern wrote this book herself (there is an 'editor' profusely thanked in the acknowledgements) is by the by. It is the story that she wanted to tell, or at least the parts of it she wanted to tell. Ardern ends her book by referring to herself as a 'speechwriter'. And her speeches are what have defined her career, whether impromptu or nervously rehearsed. But they're also deliberately limiting in what they offer. As a memoirist, Ardern has taken the same approach – offering just enough while still holding her cards close to her chest. It's an impressive move from someone who will now continue to be able to live a very private life while being extremely famous and a successful memoirist.' 2 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $26) A stunning debut novel set in the Netherlands of the 1960s. Beautifully written, surprising, and hopeful even while it offers insights into traumatic episodes in history. 3 Papatūānuku: A Collection of Writings by Indigenous Wāhine by multiple contributors (Awa Wāhine, $30) The latest, beautiful publication from indie indigenous publisher Awa Wāhine. Here's the blurb: 'A collection of writings by Indigenous wāhine is a powerful anthology of writing by Māori and Pacific women, offering a fresh, raw, and deeply personal tribute to Papatūānuku, the Earth Mother. Through these stories, poems, and reflections, the contributors explore the sacred connections between land, identity, and Atua Wāhine (Māori goddesses), bringing ancient wisdom into the present moment.' 4 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $38) One of the great novels of the decade is this Pulitzer Prize-winning retelling of Huckleberry Finn. Here's the blurb: 'When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and with the electrifying humour and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.' 5 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate, $35) The hugely successful true crime novel that has stayed in the bestseller charts for over a year now. Way back in 2024 Josh Weeks reviewed Butter in The Guardian: 'Based on the real-life case of the 'Konkatsu Killer', in which a con woman and talented home cook called Kanae Kijima was convicted of poisoning three of her male lovers, Butter uses its sordid source material to interrogate the impossible beauty standards to which Japanese women are held.' 6 Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (Serpents Tail, $30) A black comedy about a mother and a son and a roadtrip. 'Eurotrash is a knowing book,' writes Marcel Theroux, 'with excursions into German history and allusions to Shakespeare, myth and pop culture. Part of its charm is the voice of its narrator, a self-aware snob-insider who is anatomising the avarice and insecurity of the privileged class he was born into.' 7 There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (Penguin, $26) A moving novel about the ways water connects people, place and time. 8 Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell (Simon & Schuster, $40) Another 'unforgettable voice in Irish fiction'. Here's the blurb: 'On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change her life. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe. It was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan's relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.' 9 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) A magnificent new novel from one of New Zealand's great fiction writers. Here's a snip from The Spinoff's books editor Claire Mabey's review: 'Fading seaside towns are microcosms for faded histories and dreams – and the UK's coastline is littered with them. The layered architecture of eras gone by affects a kind of haunting; the bright surfaces and ice cream shops pasted on top peddle dreams of beachside holidays often, in reality, rudely spiked by hyper-aggressive, Hitchcockian seagulls. Pastel-coated shopfronts and dusty vintage stores soften the detection of darker underbellies and thinly disguise the failures of capitalism to inject the buoyancy required to keep the nostalgia at bay.' 10 The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (Simon & Schuster, $40) An epic new novel from the superstar that is Wally Lamb. WELLINGTON 1 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House, $60) 2 A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan (Allen and Unwin NZ, $37) Narrated by a 10-year-old girl, this immersive summer holiday novel is awash with a sinister undertow. Read a review of A Beautiful Family on The Spinoff, right here. 3 If I Must Die by Refaat Alareer & Yousef Aljamal (OR Books, $59) Renowned poet and literature professor Refaat Alareer was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City alongside his brother, sister, and nephews in December 2023. He was just forty years old. This book is a collection of his essays and poetry about literature, politics, and family. 4 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) 5 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $26) 6 Bombard the Headquarters! by Linda Jarvin (Black Inc., $32) For anyone interested in China then and China now: 'In 1966, with the words 'Bombard the Headquarters!' Mao Zedong unleashed the full, violent force of a movement that he called the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. By the time he died ten years later, millions had perished, China's cultural heritage was in ruins, its economic state was perilous, its institutions of government were damaged and its society was bitterly divided. The shadow of these terrible years lies heavily over the twenty-first-century nation. The history of this period is so toxic that China's rulers have gone to great lengths to bury it – while a few brave men and women risk their freedom to uncover the truth. For as both they and the Party know, to grasp the history of the Cultural Revolution is to understand much about China today.' The award-winning novel about ageing, loss, and living. The Spinoff's Gabi Lardies and Claire Mabey loved it. A succinct guide to the conflict – essential reading. 9 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $38)
