This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias
FICTION
1 To Italy, With Love by Nicky Pellegrino (Hachette, $34.99)
News from Italy, apposite to Pellgerino's latest best-seller about love and food in Italia: the so-called "father of the tiramisu" died this week. Aldo Campeol and his wife Alba owned the restaurant Alle Beccherie in Treviso, in the Veneto region. Their son told media, "When Alba was breastfeeding me, she had turned to mascarpone mixed with sugar and biscuits soaked in coffee to keep her energy up, which is traditional in Treviso. She turned those elements into a pudding.” So really she was the mother of the tiramisu.
2 She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall (Victoria University Press, $30)
Kiran Dass talks to the She's a Killer author, and Loop Tracks author Sue Orr, at Verb in Wellington on Saturday night.
3 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
News that Narrative Muse are advertising for a Senior Full Stack Developer – whatever that is – might mean they will finally drill down and conduct intensive research to learn the surname of Becky what's her name.
4 The Last Guests by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $34.99)
His father owns a horse.
5 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly (Victoria University Press, $35)
6 Double Helix by Eileen Merriman (Penguin Random House, $36.00)
The author owns a chicken.
7 Bug Week by Airini Beautrais (Victoria University Press, $30)
8 The Nine Lives of Kitty K. by Margaret Mills (Mary Egan Publishing, $34.99)
Good to see the return of one of the year's most entertaining novels back in the top 10. Below, a 1952 portrait of the author, from her entertaining memoir at ReadingRoom.
9 Loop Tracks by Sue Orr (Victoria University Press, $35)
Kiran Dass talks to the Loop Tracks author, and She's a Killer author Kirsten McDougall, at Verb in Wellington on Saturday night.
10 Goddess Muscle by Karlo Mila (Huia, $35)
NON-FICTION
1 Lost and Found by Toni Street (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
2 Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Flanagan (Allen & Unwin, $45)
3 Sonny Bill Williams by Sonny Bill Williams & Alan Duff (Hachette, $49.99)
Most sports books are celebratory – look at the gloating of numbers in the book at number 8 on this week's chart, and the how-great-thou-art bio at number 9 – and the Sonny Bill Williams book mainly functions as a record of the great sportsman's achievements. But there is something else going on in the SBW bio, something real.
"It is strange," Williams says in the book's single most compelling moment. "When we started working together on this book, Alan [Duff, the co-author] asked me to recall my childhood. At first I couldn’t think of anything significant – not until my wife reminded me of an event so significant it helped define my life. After I told her about it, I must have blanked it out, again parking the memory in some dark corner of my mind."
The next four pages describe the trauma and agony he experienced when he was four years old. He was playing in the back yard of a house. "Two teenagers were in the kitchen cooking chips when the fat erupted into flames. One of them ran outside with the pot and, depending on who you ask, either threw it without watching where it was going or it exploded." The fat struck the backs of his legs. "I guess one reason I've blanked it out all this time is the pain. It's a kind of pain only someone who's been severely burnt can understand."
He spent about six months in the burns unit at Auckland Hospital. He had skin grafts. "I do have memories of incredible pain. The healing process took several more months, during which time Mum had to unbandage me and rub a special cream on my legs." He thinks the accident had a "huge psycholgical effect" – hard to see that it wouldn't. "When I talked about it with Alan Duff for this book, he suggested that the experience took me to the edge of the pain barrier…He may have a point; even if the memory is buried, the knowledge is there." Nothing else published this year carries the same kind of raw power as these four pages.
4 Dish by Sarah Tuck (McKenzie Publishing, $45)
5 After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
6 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
7 Tikanga by Keri Opai (Upstart Press, $39.99)
8 Dan Carter 1598 by Dan Carter (Upstart Press, $69.99)
Numbers.
9 Steve Hansen: The Legacy by Gregor Paul (HarperCollins, $49.99)
How great thou art.
10 Note to Self Journal by Rebekah Ballagh (Allen & Unwin, $29.99)
