Summer reissue: Madeleine Chapman wrote a book and was asked to speak about it at a writers festival. The problem was, nobody wanted to listen. First published 17 May, 2019 No one came. Seriously, no one came. The first sign, a red flag drifting through my subconscious, was the modest attendance at the three person … 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. These lists cover the entire year to Christmas Eve. AUCKLAND 1 The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson … Read more
Summer reissue: Lani Wendt Young writes powerful Pasifika women who summon earthquakes and crack whips of pure flame. In a fierce lecture presented by the New Zealand Book Council, she landed hit after hit on the all-white castle of publishing, finishing with this rallying cry for change. First published 28 August, 2019. I read Little … Read more
Summer reissue: Uber became one of the biggest companies in the world in a few short years. Duncan Greive reviews Mike Isaac’s extraordinary Super Pumped, which shows the world just what it sacrificed for cheap rides. First published 29 September, 2019. There are so many stories in Super Pumped, a riveting new account of the … Read more
Eight years after publication, Walter Isaacson’s “iBio” Steve Jobs remains massively influential. Danyl Mclauchlan examines how the deeply flawed genius the book revealed continues to manifest. It’s the end of the decade, and my social media aggregators are filled with lists of the best, most influential books of the last 10 years. For most writers … Read more
Presenting: the fourth and final instalment in our best-of-the-year series, put together by the Spinoff and various benevolent elves. This time it’s poetry, and there was a lot of it this year, so it was extremely difficult to choose just ten titles. These are just a handful of the poetry collections that moved us, that … Read more
A new poem by Whanganui poet Airini Beautrais. Swingball We’ll rent a holiday home at the beach with all of our children, seven to twenty-seven and everyone will feel enthusiastic. We’ll take towels and sunblock, food and other necessities: board games, insect repellent, beer, a pop-up tent, a swingball set. My children … 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 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48) Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. 2 Girl, Woman, Other by … Read more
Right now the country’s booksellers are gasping, frantic, knackered – and still dealing politely with the rest of us at our worst. We at the Spinoff thank them for their service and invite booksellers and book-buyers alike to please enjoy this nostalgic hug of an essay by Catherine Robertson. From late 1985 to early 1987, … Read more
The loss of innocence, the revitalisation of te reo, the rising up of women and of LGBTQ rights – the decade has been a ride. Here are our pick of the books Aotearoa wrote along the way. All Blacks Don’t Cry by John Kirwan, 2010 The book that launched JK’s second career: mental health campaigner … Read more
Presenting: the third installment in our best-of-the-year series, put together by the Spinoff and various benevolent elves. This time it’s fiction. These are the books that moved us, that we walk around with in our heads, and that we are giving for Christmas, smug with the certainty that they’re absolutely kick-ass. See also: The 10 … Read more
We started picking a top 10 ourselves and puttered out at about #3, sick of the sound of our own voice. Bugger it, we thought, and sent for assistance. It’s been like Christmas ever since, an inbox flowing over with gorgeous, sincere little gifts. Here’s the nonfiction selection, in no particular order. Stand by for … Read more
A poem by writer, journalist, and former Manus Island refugee Behrouz Boochani. Forgive me my love Translated by Moones Mansoubi, Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 2018 Forgive me my bird as I am not able to embrace you. But here, in this corner, I know some migrating birds that I smile to at dawn. … 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 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton, $40) Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. 2 The Body: A … Read more
What happens when your work is the victim of attempted sabotage by a group of slow-moving middle-aged men? Author and journalist Michelle Duff reveals all. Initially, it was kind of unclear what I was looking at. The disembodied hand loomed from the shaky first-person footage, flipping the cover of the book around. I’d been sent … Read more
We were in the middle of drawing up this list when Potton & Burton quietly dropped a new book – it is optimistic and surprising and all kinds of wonderful, and here is our wee rave about it. Plus, in no particular order, here are the other nine best children’s books of 2019. 1 New Zealand … Read more
The Absolute Book is one of our picks of the year and you should buy it for someone you love for Christmas. A story that sticks like a biddi-bid, Elizabeth Knox said on Twitter the other day. Here, she writes about the books that stuck in her own psyche – the books she was given … 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 We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa by Chris McDowall & Tim Denee (Massey University Press, $70) Superlative superlative superlative. … Read more
A new poem by Harry Ricketts. The Writing Life You want to write. You want to be published. You want to be read. You want to be a cult figure. You want to be reviewed. You want to write. You want to win prizes. You want to be anthologised. You want … Read more
Yesterday, we published an essay by novelist Lloyd Jones lamenting the change in New Zealand’s book culture. Today, Alie Benge responds with a passionate defence of the modern NZ library. Lloyd Jones is worried. He couldn’t find the New Zealand fiction section in Tūranga library, and now the walls are crumbling. New Zealand’s literary scene … Read more
The reading and writing ecosystem in NZ is broken – and I blame myself and other writers of my generation who have not fought for its patch, writes Lloyd Jones. I was in Christchurch last week when a friend said excitedly, “I have to take you to the new city library. It is magnificent.” Now … Read more
Books editor Catherine Woulfe on the much-anticipated first thriller by New Zealander and New York Times bestseller, Nalini Singh. I finished A Madness of Sunshine five days ago. At first I was furious, then disappointed and deeply sad. It’s still eating me up more than any Christmas-release “compulsive thriller” should. The cultural moment no doubt … Read more
‘Kids’ board games are bad. Pretending to be pirates or whatever is bad. Crafts are bad.’ Emily Writes finds a kindred spirit in the parenting memoir of Slate editor Dan Kois. I knew I wanted to read Dan Kois’ book about family life before it had even been written. I’d met him in Wellington. He’d … 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. These lists of the bestselling children’s books at Unity Wellington and Little Unity in Auckland cover the four weeks to November 29 2019. AUCKLAND 1 The Book … Read more
Lily Richards takes an epic trip to the setting of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – the book that saved her from herself. It takes 23 hours to journey from Auckland to Cephalonia, Greece, island home of the fictional Captain Corelli, Dr Iannis, and his daughter Pelagia. For those 23 hours I was filled with a deep … Read more
A new poem by Kai Tahu writer and musician Ruby Solly. Six Feet For a Single, Eight Feet For a Double My father leaves school to dig graves. The first break is the hardest. The pressure of foot on steel, the smell of earth rising. Koia koia, e tau e koia. The men … 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 Family Instructions Upon Release by Elizabeth Kirby-McLeod (The Cuba Press, $25) “Elizabeth’s father took his own life in 2012. Unable … Read more
On the 40th anniversary of the Erebus disaster, a poem by Bill Manhire. Erebus Voices The Mountain I am here beside my brother, Terror. I am the place of human error. I am beauty and cloud, and I am sorrow; I am tears which you will weep tomorrow. I am the sky and … Read more
This piece by Tracey Slaughter is one of the stand-outs from a new compilation, Strong Words, that showcases the best of the latest Landfall essay competition. Landfall editor Emma Neale wrote of it: ‘I could only read this essay in small bursts; as if I had to rebuild the ability to bear the agony and … Read more