This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias
NON-FICTION
1 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
2 Her Say by Jackie Clark & The Aunties (Penguin Random House, $35)
3 Supergood by Chelsea Winter (Penguin Random House, $50)
4 Missing Persons by Steve Braunias (HarperCollins, $35)
Oho! My book, at number 4 with a bullet on its first week in stores. It's a collection of 12 studies of death and disappearance. It's not all doom and gloom; there are the spaces between doom and gloom. It's got stories about the Grace Millane killing, the Lundy killings, the Anna Browne murder (she stabbed a woman in the head with a knife at an afternoon pamper party in Te Atatu South, and pleaded not guilty by claiming the rare defence of automatism), the endless Colin Craig defamation trials, and other cases. I will be talking about the book at forthcoming events at the Auckland Writers Festival, the Dunedin Writers Festival, the Taranaki Arts Festival, an evening in Arrowtown, and, this Wednesday afternoon, at my favourite school in Auckland – King's College.
5 A Richer You by Mary Holm (HarperCollins, $36.99)
And at number 5 with a bullet on its first week in stores is the latest collection of financial advice from my Herald colleague, the indefatigable Mary Holm, whose regular Q & A column in the Weekend Herald is a must-read for anyone concerned about their personal finances. Subjects in A Richer You include retirement, KiwiSaver, index funds, and shares vs property. Holm is always to the point, easy to read, and sensible.
6 Impossible: My Story by Stan Walker (HarperCollins, $39.99)
7 Māori Made Easy by Scotty Morrison (Penguin Random House, $38)
8 Farm for Life: Mahi, Mana and Life on the Land by Tangaroa Walker (Penguin Random House, $38)
9 The Book of Angst by Gwendoline Smith (Allen & Unwin, $24.99)
10 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55)
FICTION
1 Cousins by Patricia Grace (Penguin Random House, $26)
"If you weren’t a writer," Grace was once asked in a Christchurch City library questionnaire, "What would you like to be?" Her reply: "A saxophone player."
2 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
3 Quiet in Her Bones by Nalini Singh (Hachette, $34.99)
Effective thriller. Sample sentence: "A box of bones was all that remained of a human being who'd once laughed and danced in the rain and kissed her son good night."
4 Everything Changes by Stephanie Johnson (Penguin Random House, $36)
The distinguished author will give an assessment of the current state of New Zealand literature at a free event on May 13 at the Auckland Writers Festival.
5 On We Go by Catherine Bagnall & L. Jane Sayle (Massey University Press, $35)
Poetry and watercolours in another gorgeously produced book from Massey University Press, named by ReadingRoom as the best publisher of 2020.
6 The Nine Lives of Kitty K. by Margaret Mills (Mary Egan Publishing, $34.99)
From a very entertaining piece of memoir writing by the 91-year-old author, at ReadingRoom this week: "The thing that had the most enduring effect on me was my parents' break-up in 1939. It meant that I had to change schools and had to endure three years of being bullied. I left there swearing that I would never be bullied again. This made me into a most obnoxious teenager, but I never let anyone bully me again. I was a scrawny child, but I also learned that I had a valuable weapon - my tongue. If I could make people laugh at the bully it took away their power. It also made me a very fast runner."
7 Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press, $35)
From a review by Sally Blundell, at the Academy of New Zealand Literature: "In its deft melding of fact and fiction, its skilful examination of human sympathy and faith, its dramatic tension and quiet lyricism, Remote Sympathy takes us bravely, compellingly, into the uncertain heart of human complicity."
8 Bluffworld by Patrick Evans & Chris Slane (Victoria University Press, $35)
Evans launched his latest novel in Christchurch last week; an Interested Observer was there, and reports, " It's a book about impostors and bullshit artists and other inhabitants of the English department of a university that may have a superficial resemblance to Canterbury, where Evans taught for many years. He couldn't possibly comment. It's also about the seductive quality of management-speak, the beautiful emptiness of it. It's an outrageous, unruly satire and as Evans talked about the book and read from it, the audience was in stitches. As it was his birthday, there was also a cake, thoughtfully provided by Pene from the University Bookshop."
9 Addressed to Greta by Fiona Sussman (David Bateman, $34.99)
10 Nothing to See by Pip Adam (Victoria University Press, $30)
Shortlisted for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand national book award for fiction, along with Sprigs by Brannavan Gnanalingham, Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey, and Bug Week by Airini Beautrais. They're all fine works but Nothing to See is the one I hope wins it: Adam is next-level genius, at the height of her considerable powers in this story about split personalities and the redeeming powers of tom yum soup.
