The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the North Island. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Strangers Arrive: Emigres and the Arts in New Zealand by Leonard Bell (Auckland University Press, $75) Once were intellectuals. Publisher’s blurbology: “From the 1930s through the 1950s, a substantial number of forced migrants arrived in New Zealand from Europe. Among them … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best book stores north of the South Pole. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Nikau Café Cookbook by Kelda Hains & Paul Schrader (Nikau Café, $60) Food. 2 Journal of Urgent Writing volume 2 edited by Simon Wilson (Massey University Press, $40) A collection of essays commissioned and put together by The … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the Southern Hemisphere. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Drawn Out: A Seriously Funny Memoir by Tom Scott (Allen & Unwin, $45) Much is anecdotage, a life well-told, by the great cartoonist who reminds readers that he has also excelled as a playwright, film-maker, and TV script writer. 2 … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best book stores since Neanderthals became extinct and homo sapiens continued to assert themselves as the dominant species of modern humans. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Lazy Girl’s Guide to Living a Beautiful Life by Matilda Rice (Allen & Unwin, $40) Matilda! 2 Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Canongate, $23) Highly-praised … Read more
The best-selling books at the best two bookstores beneath the Sun. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Goodbye Māoriland: Songs & Sounds of NZ’s Great War by Chris Bourke (Auckland University Press, $60) Fabulous new social and cultural history by the author of Blue Smoke. “An impeccably researched account of the influence of music in World War One – … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Aotearoa. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press, $45) Number one for the second consecutive week; this family memoir is the book to get right now. “Those familiar with Wichtel’s television reviews and features at … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the North Island. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press, $45) “I’m privileged to have known Diana for over 15 years as a colleague and a friend. In the early days, she told me a bit … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best book stores above ground. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Out of the Woods: Journey Through Depression & Anxiety by Brent Williams, illustrated by Öztekin Korkut (Educational Resources, $40) A memoir of surviving family violence by the son of a Wellington philanthropist. 2 Cities In NZ: Preferences Patterns & Possibilities edited … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores for people who like reading books. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster, $50) The record of a woman who lost a political election to a lying sack of shit. 2 Choice by Edith Eger (Rider Books, $35) Eger was 16 when … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in New Zealand’s two most populous residential centres. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Legacy of Spies by John Le Carre (Penguin, $37) Le Carre’s latest makes it to number one in the same week it was revealed a National Party MP used to teach English to spies in China. … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores known to science. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington 1888-1903 by Redmer Yska (Otago University Press, $40) “Wellington is revealed as grim, filthy, dangerous to health, and yet, in the course of this idiosyncratic mix of biography and memoir, Yska transforms the terrain into … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in creation. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Max! 2 The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Vintage, $26) “Blessed be the fruit”: Atwood’s sci-fi vision of America as the deeply fucked-up republic of Gilead. 3 Swing Time by Zadie … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores known to God. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington 1888-1903 by Redmer Yska (Otago University Press, $40) Brilliant retracing of KM’s footsteps when she lived in Wellington. Charlotte Grimshaw’s review is due to run in The Spinoff Review of Books any day now. 2 A Moral … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores which sell books. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) Tedious, fatuous novel longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker award. 2 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Max! 3 Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the galaxy. NOTE: The Spinoff’s mystery bestseller commentator is off on a hike or something, leaving this week’s list stripped of furniture. But the important details still remain. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman (Vintage, $26) 2 No Is Not … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the galaxy. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) “A hotchpotch rather than a patchwork, a jigsaw with many missing pieces…It teems with anecdote but there is very little dialogue. Instead, Roy builds this story of contemporary India with … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores eva. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) Marion McLeod’s review will feature at the Spinoff Review of Books next week or maybe the week after. The author won’t be in any hurry to read it, put it that way. 2 … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores south of Aberdeen. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 No is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need by Naomi Klein (Allen Lane, $35) From the introduction: “This is one attempt to uncover how we got to this surreal political moment. It is also an … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the Commonwealth. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) We look forward to the forthcoming review by Marion McLeod. 2 Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo (Particular Books, $40) Portraits of 100 inspirational women … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Christendom. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The Man Who Ate Lincoln Road by Steve Braunias (Luncheon Sausage Books, $25) The author wishes to thank the hordes who bought a lot of copies of his book about food, shops, death and West Auckland life at his talk in the … Read more
The latest best-selling books at the world’s two best bookstores. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press $30) Winner of the 2017 Victoria University Press and International Institute of Modern Letters book award (in association with Ockham New Zealand). 2 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Christendom. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Balancing Acts: Reflections of a NZ Diplomat by Gerald McGhie (Dunmore Press, $35) Forty years a diplomat! He was New Zealand’s last ambassador to the Soviet Union, and he was also posted to Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and most dangerously of all, Wellington. … Read more
The best-selling books in the two best bookstores in the Western world. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (Chatto & Windus, $37) We have received Kim Hill’s review of this remarkable, shocking US novel of family life, and will publish it as Book of the Week on Thursday. 2 The Sellout by Paul Beatty … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best book stores in Christendom. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Along for the Ride by Tony Simpson (Blythswood Press, $48) Political memoir by one of the most fascinating back-room figures in New Zealand politics; highly recommended. 2 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40) In some respects … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the Western world. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The Man Who Ate Lincoln Road by Steve Braunias (Luncheon Sausage Books, $25) Book of the year, obv! The editor of the Spinoff Review of Books eats a street and ponders matters of life and death. 2 The New Zealand Project … Read more
The best-selling books at the world’s best two bookstores. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Max! Number one in both Wellington and Auckland. He’s cool. 2 Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo (Particular Books, $40) Inspirational role modelling. 3 Rule of … Read more
The best-selling books at the world’s best two bookstores. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Woah, number one in Auckland and Wellington! We really must approach the publisher and ask for an excerpt from this geek-lit best-seller. 2 Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (Chatto & Windus, $37) We … Read more
The week’s best-selling books at the best bookstores in the known world. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Hit & Run: the New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the Meaning of Honour by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson (Potton & Burton, $35) “The allegations in Hit & Run are shocking on a human level, but the notion of … Read more
The week’s best-sellers at the two best bookstores in the Western World. AUCKLAND STORE 1 Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young (Victoria University Press, $30) Tweet on Monday from Fergus Barrowman, publisher at Victoria University Press: “I’m told the next thousand Can You Tolerate This? have just hit the warehouse and are more than … Read more