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 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35) “I based my selection of these three women on the relatability of their … Read more
New work by Island Bay poet James Brown. Cruelty to Animals We got you so the children could learn about looking after something more vulnerable than themselves – aged 4 and 6 as they were – learn how to feed you and keep your water topped up, and to let you in and out when … Read more
Laura Southgate’s debut novel is a dive back into flatting and uni and that particular weariness that comes from never having enough money or self-esteem. Also featuring a couple of emotionally absent parents and a gross, abusive boyfriend, the book feels grimy and creepy and hungover a lot of the time – but most of … Read more
Psychiatry always thinks it’s on the verge of understanding and curing mental illness, but its real history is a story of torturers and frauds, a new book shows. Danyl Mclauchlan reviews Mind Fixers by Anne Harrington. If you visit your GP and tell them you have the symptoms of a mental illness – maybe your … Read more
Announcing the winners of the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young People. Right now the loveliest people in the country are gathered at Te Papa celebrating 2018’s most brilliant and amazing books for children and young people. The best of the batch, officially, as of just a few minutes ago: The Bomb. … Read more
Brothers Fred and Kawhena both wore the black jersey 40-odd years ago, and now their achievements have been outdone in some style by the next Woodman generation, writes Jamie Wall in this extract from his new book. “All I heard growing up was: oh, is your dad Kawhena or Fred? Ohhhh, I played alongside your … 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 August 2 2019. AUCKLAND 1 Lizard’s Tale … Read more
A new poem by Motueka writer and performer Donna McLeod. Ihumātao Our first born is holding the blue line. Blessed by mana whenua kaumātua, Kīngitanga, an eviction notice is served. Houses can be built on confiscated land, deals have been struck. Our first born is their visual might. Our first born is still holding the … 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 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35) Long may they reign. 2 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, … Read more
Londoner Dorian Lynskey usually writes about music for big mastheads like the Guardian and GQ. His latest project, The Ministry of Truth, is something completely different – and fascinating, writes Orwell fan Mark Broatch. In the months leading up to the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four in June of 1949, George Orwell talked down his novel. … Read more
Tired of his tropes and infatuations, Michelle Langstone writes about her waning love for the writings of Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I left you behind with a note that said “Free to a good home. No longer wanted.” Blunt, perhaps, but that’s how it is when love runs out. There isn’t room for sensitivity when … 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 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35) “Taddeo writes like it’s all brand new. Like she’s high, perfectly high, punching … Read more
A poem by Primo Levi (1919–1987), translated by New Zealanders Marco Sonzogni and Harry Thomas. Samson Son of a sterile mother, I also was announced By a messenger, a man Of terrible countenance. I was a child of the Sun, And was myself the Sun. I had the Sun’s force … Read more
Jeanette Winterson has based previous fiction on witch trials, her experience of growing up lesbian in a Pentecostal community, and her own affair with her agent. Jean Sergent reviews her latest novel, a reworking of Mary Shelley’s classic – and of Shelley herself. I was so excited to read this book. Jeanette Winterson? Tick. Mary … Read more
Ruby Porter’s debut novel, Attraction, is a lucid, layered story of three young women on a road trip across the North Island. It’s one of the best books we’ve read this year. Here, Ruby writes about her grandmother – who is not like the grandmother in her book – and Levin, and how the two … Read more
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane. Channel Hopping Stupa or Stuka? Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit? Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck? * I’m young in my dreams, still young. * Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades— antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses. * I’m young in my dreams, still young, and I still have some ink … 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 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35) Fucking nailed it. 2 Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (Sandstone, $27) Winner of the … Read more
Sam Brooks, lifelong gamer, lost himself on a virtual battlefield in the days after his mother’s death. Here, he reviews a book by a kindred spirit: Lost in A Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do For Us, by psychologist Pete Etchells. The person who got me into video games … Read more
Eileen Merriman has whipped out three fine novels for young adults since debuting in 2017. Moonlight Sonata is her first crack at writing for adults. In this first chapter Merriman sets up a beatific family holiday – New Year’s, the beach, deckchairs and drinks – and injects a dose of abject wrongness. They see the … Read more
Anna Fifield, Beijing bureau chief for the Washington Post, talks to Toby Manhire about her new book The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un, about working in China, and about reporting from Christchurch after March 15 There are few stories on the world news pages as enthralling, and as … 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 A Careful Revolution by David Hall (Bridget Williams Books, $15) Climate change, proper mitigation of. 2 Conversations with Friends by … Read more
A poem by Wellington writer Laura Vincent. ACTIVITIES You know when you’re not strong enough to articulate your feelings because all of your strength is being used for one thing and that one thing is ACTIVITIES endless ACTIVITIES when that person invites you to paper-mâché a to-scale volcano or to ride a bicycle … Read more
ART-TASTIC is a big heavy beauty of an activity book, written by Sarah Pepperle and produced by the Christchurch Art Gallery. We think it’s marvellous and so do the judges of the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Keen to try it out? Here are four ART-TASTIC spreads guaranteed to keep … Read more
Three Women is a fervent, scrupulous qualitative review of female desire. It’s also a lesson in commitment – and the powerful act of paying attention. Imagine a pole vaulter strolling into the Olympics, eyeing the bar – the women’s world record is 5.06m – and casually hitching it like a metre higher. Then fucking nailing the … 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 July 4 2019. AUCKLAND 1 Te Tiriti … 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 Moonlight Sonata by Eileen Merriman (Penguin Random House, $38) Prolific, terrific writer of YA pivots to adult fiction with a … Read more
A new prose poem by Palmerston North poet Tim Upperton. The riderless horses One evening that summer a riderless horse galloped along our road, empty stirrups slapping. We ran up the driveway screaming to our mother. Quick, inside! she said. She shut and locked the door, closed the windows. The horse tried the door handle, … Read more
Before Rachael King was an author and a puller-together of literary festivals, she was a bass player in a heap of bands. At the start, she was a schoolgirl rocking in the Battling Strings, opening for the Chills and other 1980s Flying Nun bands, including Straitjacket Fits. Reading Shayne Carter’s memoir Dead People I Have … Read more
This month Microsoft’s ebook store closes for good, and with it goes every book ever purchased through a Microsoft account. Don Rowe reports. Ebooks have forever changed the way we read and write, drastically reducing the barriers to entry for authors and publishers, bringing down the cost of books and providing huge variety and accessibility … Read more