Fiction of the little breaches: A review of Monsters in the Garden

The winner of the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Award reviews the sci-fi and fantasy anthology of the moment. Putting together an anthology is a balancing act. You’re making a statement: this is what the genre or scene looks like to me, and I’d like to think it looks that way to you too. Victoria University … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending 5 June

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. The other day, Evaristo tweeted: … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending 20 March

We’ll get to the Top 10s in a minute but first a note on cleaning books, from Dr Siouxsie Wiles: “I’d say wiping covers is a good idea, and just making sure to wash your hands after you’ve been reading a book others have used is the way to go. Infection mainly requires repeated close … Read more

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 13

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

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 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  Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20) Six weeks at the top of the Auckland chart, now. … Read more

The Ockham finalists just got announced, and two very hot books are missing

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