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 The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate, $50) Toby Manhire: If someone’s self-isolating, what’s your recommendation, as … Read more
A new poem by Mohamed Hassan. The Guest House In this house we have one rule: bring only what you want to … Read more
Damien Wilkins’ novel Aspiring is out today. It sprang from this very Salinger-y short story, which we remembered reading in Annual and are delighted to publish again here. First, a brief intro from Wilkins: I don’t write for children. Kate de Goldi made me do it. She very kindly asked if I’d write something for … Read more
A little bookshop on High Street just scooped a massive prize. We caught up with Jo McColl to celebrate. A trove of wonderful books and wonderful book people, Unity Books Auckland was overnight recognised on the world stage, winning the 2020 Bookstore of the Year Award. The London Book Fair at which the prize was … Read more
Elon Musk is flinging long, screamingly bright strings of satellites into space – into our sky – with the noble goal of revolutionising internet access. Naomi Arnold, star geek and one of the many superb authors just announced to appear at the Auckland Writers Festival, considers what could be lost. I went down many astronomical … Read more
A new essay by Linda Burgess, author of the collection Somebody’s Wife and a stack of other sublime writing which you can read here. The handbag My mother often said that when Labour was in power there was never anything in the shops. Which goes part way to explaining why, whatever your Dad did for … Read more
Madison Hamill writes with rare precision and bravery. Also she’s hilarious. This piece is extracted from her debut, Specimen, a collection of essays in which she dissects sexuality, childhood, voluntourism, and her own brain. None of us had heard of Ranfurly Draught before we met our flatmate Darren. “Are you sure other people buy this … Read more
A recent, previously unpublished poem by Auckland poet Murray Edmond. I Loan Jeanette Fitzsimons my Pen on the Plane She has important stuff to prepare. I’m just reading Balzac. A silly story about falling in love: a man hides in a woman’s bedroom so he can watch her undress. It’s definitely getting worse … Read more
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 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20) Six weeks at the top of the Auckland chart, now. … Read more
A new poem by Wellington poet Sam Duckor-Jones. Reading time: Approximately 10 minutes. Party Legend Vote for me / I’m from a very distinguished flame / I attended a school for gifted merchandise / Yet this is also an everyman’s story / I have a very relatable familiar regular story / Sure … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Before the Coffee Gets Cold – which Aucklanders, inexplicably, will not stop buying – and finds a book that sits oddly out of its native language and native form. For an extraordinary five weeks straight, a certain slim $20 novel has topped the Unity Auckland charts. That’s after making the Top 10 … Read more
Ladies and gentlemen we have a horse race. Below, books editor Catherine Woulfe offers up odds on the fiction contenders. But first, here’s the complete list of finalists for the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. THE JANN MEDLICOTT ACORN PRIZE FOR FICTION Auē, by Becky Manawatu (Mākaro Press) Pearly Gates, by Owen Marshall (Vintage, … Read more
Dame Fiona Kidman, legend, has a new book out today. All the Way to Summer is a memory lane of beloved stories, ending with a new one that is leaving readers sobbing. Here, in an essay especially for The Spinoff, she looks back on her life of love. During World War Two I lived on … Read more
What’s the best way to get adults reading? Get them reading when they’re children – and there’s no better place to start than the Unity Children’s Bestseller Chart. LITTLE UNITY, AUCKLAND 1 Māui & Other Legends by Peter Gossage (Penguin, $40, all ages) A massive 4.79/5 on Goodreads! 2 Animalphabet by Julia Donaldson & Sharon King-Chai … Read more
Karina Kilmore, author of new crime novel Where the Truth Lies, thought she had her own life story all figured out. Then six years ago she got an email … Families have always been living, breathing messed-up hot spots of dysfunction. Think about your last family get-together. Did that sister of yours cause trouble again? … Read more
I had planned to write an unabashed rave review, and then another book landed in my letterbox – and I just couldn’t read those stories in isolation from my own experience, writes Spinoff books editor Catherine Woulfe. I want to write about two books that I’ve just read, and then I want to tell you … Read more
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 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20) What are you even up to, Auckland. 2 Eleanor Oliphant … Read more
A poem by US National Youth Poet Laureate Kara Jackson. i woke up and the day caught me in its mouth like a strand of yarn i am useful the motivation for a scarf, maybe some stitch started to be finished i will make up someone’s heat i will be a fire … Read more
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 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20) What is going on, Auckland? Is it just the price … Read more
A poem by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. The Fight The rising sun paints the feet of night-crawling enemies. And they scatter into the burning hills. I have fought each of them. I know them by name. From before I could speak. I’ve used every weapon. To make them retreat. Yet they return every night … Read more
Himali McInnes looks past the fact that the first black woman to win the Booker had to bloody share it and focuses on the book – in itself a treasure. Girl, Woman, Other is the smart, urbane eighth novel by Bernadine Evaristo. Born in London of Nigerian, German and Irish descent, Evaristo is the first … Read more
After years of swearword-emblazoned book covers, are readers all out of fucks to give about bad language? Since Adam Mansbuch’s 2011 bestseller, Go the Fuck to Sleep, book titles have been swearing profusely to grab audience attention. The author followed up on the winning formula with You Have to Fucking Eat and Fuck, Now There … Read more
Eamonn Marra’s debut novel makes a study of the mundane: sanding a fence, heating baked beans, three pizzas for $29.99 delivered. Alie Benge reckons it belongs somewhere between Sally Rooney and Elena Ferrante. It was about page three of 2000ft Above Worry Level. A feeling burst inside me: the joy of recognising something so beautiful … Read more
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 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20) Before the Dishes Get Done Before the Marmite Gets Spread … Read more
A new poem by Island Bay poet James Brown. Insulation My barber says that people no longer being able to afford houses is a no-brainer opportunity. He turns on the tele. Cue the leafy suburbs. Cue the dawn chorus. The tent of realty is specially crafted to respond to inequity. Its breathable fabric repels applicants … Read more
Writing about depression is panning out brilliantly for Eamonn Marra – his debut novel, 2000ft Above Worry Level, hit Unity’s top 10 list last week well before today’s official launch. Here, he explains why despite his success, he’s deciding to move on. I wasn’t always a writer. Unlike a lot of my writer friends, I … Read more
Holly Walker shelled out big bucks to see The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood being interviewed by Kim Hill in Wellington on Monday. After a prickly 90 minutes of questioning, she left wondering what Atwood gets out of her seemingly endless live appearances. We filled the lobby of the Michael Fowler Centre. We wore jumpsuits. … Read more
Poet essa may ranapiri says this review is one of the hardest things they’ve written. I spend two months with this book, following Witi Ihimaera’s journey, I see car tyres in country roads I see tears on lover’s faces, I feel the beating of the heart, as it strains against the western paradigm of heteronormativity. … Read more
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. (This week is slightly skewed due to Waitangi Day – both stores totted up their data a day early). AUCKLAND 1 Before … Read more