This week’s best-selling books at Unity Books in Wellington and Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B Peterson (Allen Lane, $40) Danyl Mclauchlan explains Peterson’s theory of everything, in a review at the Spinoff Review of Books: “Life is an endless series of ruthless dominance contests in which the strong triumph and obtain … Read more
The week’s best-selling titles at Unity Books in Auckland and Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Little Brown, $38) “Here it is, the encyclopedia of Trump the Idiot all in one compendium”: Forbes. 2 Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (Hachette, $22) Sci-fi. 400 years from now mankind … Read more
The week’s best-selling books at the Unity stores in Auckland and Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Little Brown, $38) The Wolff who cried, “Oh boy!” 2 The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young (Faber, $23) “The author has deep faith in cows having individual personalities … Read more
The best-selling books of the week at Unity Books in Wellington and Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Fire & Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Little Brown, $38) All-gorilla TV, all the time, and other revelations. 2 The Cage by Lloyd Jones (Penguin, $38) We look forward to Stephanie Johnson’s forthcoming review. 3 … Read more
The best-selling books at Unity Books in Auckland and Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff (Little Brown, $38) 2 Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37) 3 The Power by Naomi Alderman (Penguin, $26) 4 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by … Read more
The week’s best-selling books at the two Unity stores. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Little Brown, $38) Fake news. 2 Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (Picador, $35) The book that got made into the movie. 3 Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Canongate, $23) … Read more
This week’s best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the world. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Women and Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard (Profile Books, $23) Named one of the 20 best books of non-fiction of 2017 at the Spinoff Review of Books. 2 Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Little Brown, $38) … Read more
The top 10 best-sellers of the year at Unity Books in High St, Auckland. 1 Hit and Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan & the Meaning of Honour by Nicky Hager & Jon Stephenson (Potton & Burton, $35) God, really? The bulk of the sales must have been in the opening week, or fortnight, … Read more
The top 10 best-sellers of the year at Unity Books in Willis St, Wellington. 1 Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young (Victoria University Press, $30) Number one: huzzah! In the old days of New Zealand literary awards, any kind of book – fiction, verse, memoir, whatever – was eligible to win the grand prize and pocket … Read more
The best-selling books at Unity Books in Auckland and Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37) Ugh. 2 La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman (David Fickling Books, $35) Please refer to the best books of the year at the Spinoff Review … Read more
Okay so of course that one by George Saunders that won the Booker is among the best 20 novels of 2017 – but what were the others? Funny you should ask! The Power by Naomi Alderman (Penguin, $26) The novel for our times. It’s a sci-fi feminist allegory of a society in which women are in charge, … Read more
A guide to the 20 very best books of non-fiction – essays, memoirs, biographies, even a cookbook and a self-help book for God’s sake! – published in 2017. The Mother of All Questions: Further Feminisms by Rebecca Solnit (Granta, $27) These succinct essays focus on the importance of empathy, the white noise around silence, and the silencing … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores between the devil and the deep blue sea. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 La Belle Sauvage: Book of Dust Trilogy by Philip Pullman (David Fickling Books, $35) Next week the Spinoff Review of Books presents its list of the best books of 2017 and you can bet your ass … Read more
New Zealand literature! What is it, who reads it, and why does it exist? Some or none or all of these questions are about to be answered in the second annual Spinoff Review of Books literary awards!!! Some say 2017 will go down in history as the year between 2016 and 2018, but it’s too early … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the North Island. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Strangers Arrive: Emigres and the Arts in New Zealand by Leonard Bell (Auckland University Press, $75) Once were intellectuals. Publisher’s blurbology: “From the 1930s through the 1950s, a substantial number of forced migrants arrived in New Zealand from Europe. Among them … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best book stores north of the South Pole. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Nikau Café Cookbook by Kelda Hains & Paul Schrader (Nikau Café, $60) Food. 2 Journal of Urgent Writing volume 2 edited by Simon Wilson (Massey University Press, $40) A collection of essays commissioned and put together by The … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the Southern Hemisphere. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Drawn Out: A Seriously Funny Memoir by Tom Scott (Allen & Unwin, $45) Much is anecdotage, a life well-told, by the great cartoonist who reminds readers that he has also excelled as a playwright, film-maker, and TV script writer. 2 … Read more
The best-selling books at the best two bookstores adhering to building codes. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Drawn Out: A Seriously Funny Memoir by Tom Scott (Allen & Unwin, $45) Much is anecdotage, a life well-told, by the great cartoonist who reminds readers that he has also excelled as a playwright, film-maker, and TV script writer. 2 … Read more
Te Papa curators talk about the artworks in the national collection that make them swoon. Curators! What do they do all day? No one knows. Certainly much of it is spent in soul-destroying forensic analysis of catalogue numbers; many turn to drink. But sometimes, in quiet, precious moments, they get to do what they got into the curating racket … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best book stores since Neanderthals became extinct and homo sapiens continued to assert themselves as the dominant species of modern humans. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Lazy Girl’s Guide to Living a Beautiful Life by Matilda Rice (Allen & Unwin, $40) Matilda! 2 Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Canongate, $23) Highly-praised … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores on shore. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Leaders Like You: New Zealand Leaders Share Stories of Courage by Nick Sceats & Andrea Thompson (Catapult Publishing, $40) Inspirational ra-ra PR. 2 La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman (David Fickling Books, $35) Pullman! The master returns with … Read more
The best-selling books at the best two bookstores beneath the Sun. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Goodbye Māoriland: Songs & Sounds of NZ’s Great War by Chris Bourke (Auckland University Press, $60) Fabulous new social and cultural history by the author of Blue Smoke. “An impeccably researched account of the influence of music in World War One – … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Aotearoa. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press, $45) Number one for the second consecutive week; this family memoir is the book to get right now. “Those familiar with Wichtel’s television reviews and features at … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the North Island. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press, $45) “I’m privileged to have known Diana for over 15 years as a colleague and a friend. In the early days, she told me a bit … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best book stores above ground. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Out of the Woods: Journey Through Depression & Anxiety by Brent Williams, illustrated by Öztekin Korkut (Educational Resources, $40) A memoir of surviving family violence by the son of a Wellington philanthropist. 2 Cities In NZ: Preferences Patterns & Possibilities edited … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores for people who like reading books. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster, $50) The record of a woman who lost a political election to a lying sack of shit. 2 Choice by Edith Eger (Rider Books, $35) Eger was 16 when … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in New Zealand’s two most populous residential centres. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Legacy of Spies by John Le Carre (Penguin, $37) Le Carre’s latest makes it to number one in the same week it was revealed a National Party MP used to teach English to spies in China. … Read more
The Spinoff Review of Books salutes the unbylined New Zealand Herald correspondent who filed this fantastically arse-licking report from the election campaign trail on November 7, 1935. During the present election campaign probably no man connected with politics has been busier than the Minister of Finance, Mr Coates, who, after a week of campaigning, is now in … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores on land. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Sleeps Standing: A Story of the Battle of Orakau by Witi Ihimaera and Hemi Kelly (Vintage, $35) Publisher’s blurbology: “During three days in 1864, 300 Maori men, women and children fought an Imperial army and captured the imagination of the world…Instead of following … Read more