The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending 5 February

Head and shoulders portrait of Dr Hinemoa Elder alongside the cover of her book, Aroha

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  Aroha: Māori Wisdom for a Contented Life Lived in Harmony with our Planet by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30) “He hono … Read more

Christmas confessions of a jaded NZ bookseller

Our mystery writer returns to explain what the festive season means for the real angels among us – retailers.  The Spinoff published the original behind-the-scenes essay by this bookseller a few months ago. We still can’t tell you who she is. We can tell you she really does work in a New Zealand bookstore, and … Read more

Stack ’em up: the most-borrowed library books of 2020

woman dances on stacks of books in library

What did we check out during the hellfire year of 2020, and what does it say about us? Tara Ward asks nine libraries around the country. Covid-19 marked a new chapter for New Zealand libraries. As the physical buildings closed during the first lockdown, libraries around the country saw a dramatic increase in online memberships … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending October 30

Person lying on their back on grass, we see their bent knees, a hat and paper bag beside them.

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  Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s True Story of the Life-changing Magic of Compassion & Mindfulness by James Doty (Hodder … Read more

The man who looked the apocalypse in the face – and laughed

Kiran Dass interviews Mark O’Connell, whose new book sprang from terror about what climate change meant for his kids.  Dublin writer Mark O’Connell reckons we’re alive in a time of worst-case scenarios, and that we can only really survive in a meaningful sense as part of a community. Following his first book, 2017’s To Be … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending July 17

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  White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin DiAngelo (Penguin Random House, $28) … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending July 10

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 (Penguin Classics, $24) Joint winner of the 2019 Booker prize. That was in October … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending June 19

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 (Penguin Classics, $24) Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. This week it became the … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 15

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  Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35) Newly anointed winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. The judges were … Read more

Review: Sally Rooney’s Normal People makes for thirsty telly

A grey day, tussocky field, a boy and a girl sit close, she resting her head on his shoulder. Both pale and beautiful.

Gentle, moving and a little bit sexy, the BBC and Hulu’s take on Sally Rooney’s book club staple Normal People not only survives adaptation, it thrives, writes Sam Brooks. If the Unity Books charts are anything to go by, everybody in New Zealand owns about two copies of Sally Rooney’s Normal People. The novel by … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending February 28

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

Review: 2000ft Above Worry Level, a sublime novel about humdrum things

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

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending January 31

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) Time travel done incredibly badly, by some accounts, and impeccably … Read more

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending January 17

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  Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23) WTAF Auckland 2  The Truants by Kate Weinberg (Bloomsbury, $33) Agatha Christie + … Read more

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending September 6

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) Here I’ll just open a random page and find a string of … Read more

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending August 30

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) “The children, of course, add purpose, but the house feels like a … Read more

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending August 23

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  Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and Piripi Walker (Lift … Read more

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending August 16

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 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23) Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney 2  An … Read more

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending August 9

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

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending July 12

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

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending June 28

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 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23) Please someone write us an essay about the Roonster and why she … Read more

Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 3

The only published and available best-selling 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  Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (Penguin Random House, $37) “What is the conversation like between the two humans when one … Read more

The return of the Unity Books bestseller chart

The only best-selling books chart published and available in New Zealand is the weekly top 10 chart recorded at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The Fast 800 by Dr Michael Mosley (Simon & Schuster, $35) We look forward to AUT diet researcher George Henderson’s review next week at The Spinoff Review … Read more