The Unity children’s bestseller chart for the month of September

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. AUCKLAND 1  Dog Man #9: Grime & Punishment by Dav Pilkey (Graphix/Scholastic, $19, 6-9) “You’ll howl with laughter!” 2  Lizard’s Tale by Weng Wai Chan (Text Publishing … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the strange week ending August 21

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 First, a word from the team at Unity Auckland: This second week of Lockdown 2.0 has seen us readjust nicely into … Read more

I spent far too much time thinking about Midnight Sun

Books editor Catherine Woulfe emerges from her Twilight reverie just long enough to write a review.  Twilight has me in a lasting swoon. It is a cup of sweet tea, to be dispensed in times of shock and sadness. Big stuff, like miscarriages, and terminal diagnoses, and on the eve of level four. I resent … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the strange week ending August 14

Before we get to the top 10s, a note from the good folk at Unity Auckland:  Wednesday, first thing, we found people knocking on the shop door before we had a chance to flick the lights on. This time around folk were not going to be without their reading materials. There was lovely Judith, who … Read more

‘Writing as Edward stressed me out’: Stephenie Meyer on returning to Twilight

A new Twilight book launches today. Its author told Catherine Woulfe about gender politics, anxiety, and the challenges of writing the Twilight story from Edward Cullen’s perspective. Midnight Sun is the original Twilight story, except instead of Bella Swan narrating it’s her vampire love, Edward Cullen. It’s a book that I and the rest of … Read more

Bad bitch energy: An essay on Eleanor Catton, Edward Cullen and Covid-19

Edward Cullen became a vampire to survive the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Now a new Twilight novel looms and Laura Surynt, a New Zealander living in the UK, wants to live forever too.  As I lay in bed this morning watching Instagram stories, Tayi Tibble told my reluctant little Capricorn heart that  Caps are … Read more

Not entirely chilled to the bone yet? Try Scandi-noir this winter!

Got a thirst for chilling mysteries in even colder places? Tara Ward rounds up the best in Nordic Noir on Lightbox.  To celebrate the arrival of mystery-thriller Jordskott to Lightbox, we’ve gathered together an extensive list of the best Scandi-noir dramas around. Stop drawing sad faces into your window condensation, because what better way to … Read more

Grim and gruesome Midnight Sun is Nordic Noir at its best

Aaron Yap watches the new Scandi-crime drama Midnight Sun and finds it gross yet engrossing. Midnight Sun is as slick, engrossing and assured a cop procedural as I’ve seen since the dawn of the Nordic Noir boom. Its top-flight craft shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the creative force behind the show is the writing/directing duo of … Read more