Sales from level 3 and Level 2 in bookstores outside of Auckland form the return of the best-seller chart, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias
FICTION
1 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
In these times of lockdown levels 4, 3 and 2, it's reassuring to reach for a modern classic, a novel that anyone can read – the university-educated, the drop-outs, the young and those of uncertain age, Māori, Pākehā, the working-class, Twitter users – and get, and like, and feel.
2 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly (Victoria University Press, $35)
In these times of lockdown levels 4, 3 and 2, it's good to have something that can make you laugh. New Zealand fiction in 2021 has produced deeper books (Loop Tracks by Sue Orr) and more crafted books (The Piano Girls by Elizabeth Smither) but the Auckland writer's debut novel is, by far, the funniest and most dazzling.
3 The Last Guests by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $34.99)
Craig Ranapia is about to file his ReadingRoom review of Pomare's thriller any second. I think he is, anyway. Craig?
4 Crazy Love by Rosetta Allan (Penguin Random House, $36)
"Deeply disturbing yet utterly compelling storytelling – an unflinching account of severe mental illness and associated domestic torment…. powerfully affecting, searingly honest, heartbreaking and hopeful:" from a rave review by Sue Orr in good old Newsroom.
5 The Liminal Space by Jacquie McRae (Huia Publisher, $25)
Publisher's blurbology: "In a small village, there are whispers in the market square that William is not who he says he is. They say he skinny-dips and talks to trees. He was once a doctor, but now he only prescribes books – for Emily, Marco and James, whose lives have become entangled with his…They have all been thrown into a liminal space and can no longer stay as they are."
6 The Piano Girls by Elizabeth Smither (Quentin Wilson Publishing, $35)
New collection of stories by the New Plymouth writer who is a master of the form. A review by Kiran Dass has been filed, and will appear any second now in ReadingRoom.
7 The Leaning Man by Anne Harre (The Cuba Press, $37)
Crime fiction set in Wellington, with the best publisher's blurbology of all times: "An ex-cop. Her dead friend. A missing phone. The race is on …"
8 The Author's Cut by Owen Marshall (Penguin Random House, $36)
"From human kindness to powerful nastiness, from beauty to dreariness, there’s a whole lot packed into this collection": from a review by Charlotte Grimshaw of a kind of greatest-hits collection of stories by a master of the form.
9 Spellbound by Catherine Robertson (Penguin Random House, $36)
Third novel in the bestselling Gabriel’s Bay series.
10 Loop Tracks by Sue Orr (Victoria University Press, $35)
"A remarkable novel, beautifully and sensitively written, which demonstrates how the secrecy of the past may so unfairly encroach on the present": from a rave review by Paddy Richardson, at New Zealand's best literary section.
NON-FICTION
1 After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
The author was one of 433 refugees rescued by the Norwegian cargo ship in 2001 after leaving Indonesia in an unseaworthy boat with his Afghan family. Twenty years on, he recalls the fear and uncertainty on the Tampa voyage.
2 Steve Hansen: The Legacy by Gregor Paul (HarperCollins, $49.99)
"Hansen is pitched as 'a deeply considerate, empathetic and compassionate human being' which he was entirely capable of being. He could also be a bully - a fact noted by the author but largely dismissed, and more than once, as just one of those things": from less than a rave review by good old Scotty Stevenson.
3 Imposter by Matt Chisholm (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
"Seventeen years ago, Chisholm woke up lying next to a Vietnamese sex worker demanding cash. He'd been on a huge bender and blacked out": from an Otago Daily Times profile of the former TV host who has written a memoir of drinking too much and getting help.
4 National Identity by Simon Bridges (HarperCollins, $37.99)
"There’s an odd whiff of contempt in all this…[and] an echo here of the political tin ear that led him so disastrously astray when Covid hit, and which panicked his caucus into dumping him. Throughout these often-engaging pages there is a nagging sense of a nicer – and better – politician jostling for a turn at the keyboard": from a considered review by Finlay Macdonald of the National MP's collection of essays.
5 Labour Saving by Michael Cullen (Allen & Unwin, $49.99)
Author and literary critic Simon Bridges, reviewing Cullen's memoir, published weeks before his death: "A man who led with wit and acuity, made history, has then written about it, fairly and accurately, if not with enough personal insight for my liking."
6 Prison Break by Arthur Taylor (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
Author and literary critic Simon Bridges, reviewing the so-called jailhouse lawyer's memoir: "His book betrays a rank hypocrisy".
7 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
Māori Language Week is next week.
8 She is Not Your Rehab by Matt Brown (Penguin Random House, $35)
The self-help author raised money to buy 9000 copies of his book, so that every man behind bars in New Zealand will receive a free copy.
9 Māori Made Easy by Scotty Morrison (Penguin Random House, $38)
Māori Language Week is next week.
10 A Māori Phrase a Day by Hemi Kelly (Penguin Random House, $30)
Māori Language Week is next week.
