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 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly (Victoria University Press, $35)
Number one for the sixth consecutive week.
2 The Fish by Lloyd Jones (Penguin Random House, $36)
Jones routinely receives more glowing and appreciative reviews in the Australian press. From a review at the Sydney Morning Herald: "The New Zealand writer has written a fairytale of pure invention: a family story about a young woman who gives birth to a fish… The Fish is sheer pleasure, with its absurdist premise, sentimental narrative and picaresque structure. Take the moment of comic glee when a barber circles the fish in a chair with a comb and a pair of scissors and shakes his head before moussing its spare hairs with Brylcreem…. In the last section there’s an unlikely romantic surprise, followed by a comic set piece with a ship that seems perfectly apt for a novel about a fish in a family. A disappearance brings suspense to the novel’s denouement, while an unexpected dream sequence lets romance go like a fish in the sea. We end, as we began, with a caravan. It’s a long, tumultuous journey. And if you want the taste of the salt, this is a novel for you."
3 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
A fascinating review by Tina Makereti has appeared in the Guardian Australia to mark the novel's publication across the Tasman. She writes, "The first time I encountered Auē by Becky Manawatu, it wasn’t quite a book yet. As part of a program at the New Zealand Society of Authors, my job was to read an early draft and give some feedback. Manawatu’s manuscript was beyond doubt the most compelling early draft of a novel I had ever seen, and I could see a big future for it…
"Much has been made of the violence in this novel, particularly gang violence; it is there right from the first chapter, in the unflinching cruelty of weka eating a live rabbit. I wonder about comparisons that have been made with other New Zealand literary successes, Once Were Warriors and the bone people: the gentleness of Ari, and the power of love, are both central to Auē, and rival the darker elements of the story. Every character carries guilt, pain and whakamā – a Māori expression of shame – that underlie their decision making, even many of the characters who seem irredeemable. The role of friendship, exemplified by Ari’s friend Beth and her father, Tom Aitken, provides light relief and safety, and a clear antidote to darkness and violence. Finally, music, the sea, birds, words, bees and the importance of stories enter the novel through imagery that appears in evocative waves, linking the various narratives and the passage of time. In so many ways, Auē is quite different from its 1980s literary predecessors, more hopeful and tender."
4 Larry and Viv by Graeme Lay (Renaissance Publishing, $34.99)
Historical fiction, about the 1948 tour of London's Old Vic Company (featuring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh) to New Zealand. Publisher's blurbology: "Events reach a startling climax in Wellington, the last city on the Old Vic Company’s tour…Larry & Viv recreates post-war life vividly and authentically. The tour comes alive again, in a narrative teeming with characters both real and imaginary. Famous New Zealanders – including Ngaio Marsh, Frank Sargeson and Charles Brasch – make appearances, while the great theatres of our cities, mostly named after St James, provide grand settings for the Old Vic Company’s acclaimed performances."
5 Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka (Huia Publishers, $35)
The author has advised on the Twitter machine that she will dress as the character of her book's mythical heroine when she attends the Ockham book awards in May. "I got some leather scraps (not quite enough for a full mask!) so I experimented a bit with the beak. I wanted to make the nostrils a bit more prominent. And apparently I can’t resist a koru." As pictured, below.
6 White Lies by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $37)
A novella from 2013.
7 Entanglement by Bryan Walpert (Makaro Press, $35)
Shortlisted with books at number 1 and 5, and A Good Winter by Gigi Fenster, for the 2022 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham book awards in May. Walpert wrote in ReadingRoom recently, "What is this strange thing we call time? This thing that won’t let me hold on to moments that most matter, that’s greying my hair and blurring my eyesight? That amorphous phenomenon that has replaced those two preschoolers, who used to run to me with excitement when I walked through the front door, with these high schoolers, eyes glued to their phones (when not rolling at my jokes)?
"I got a taste of the answer, or at least got better questions, when I visited the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney to do some research for my novel Entanglement, a book I envisioned less as science fiction than science-in-fiction."
8 Super Model Minority by Chris Tse (Auckland University Press, $24.99)
A new collection of poetry by the Wellington writer. I published his heartbreaking poem "Release" in The Friday Poem (Luncheon Sausage Books, 2018); its closing lines are
I try to sing every syllable
of your name, to fill the room once again
with what was always temporary.
But yours is name
I cannot release. To do so would
fool me into thinking
you're still within reach.
9 Beats of the Pa’u by Maria Samuela (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $30)
New Zealand's poet laureate David Eggleton will review this new collection of short stories for ReadingRoom.
10 Mary’s Boy, Jean Jacques and Other Stories by Vincent O’Sullivan (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
New collection of short fiction by a master of the form. This is a fine observation, from Damien Wilkins: "O’Sullivan’s eye for why people want the wrong things is wincingly good."
NON-FICTION
All week next week ReadingRoom will cover the new memoir by broadcaster Noelle McCarthy. Grand: Becoming my mother's daughter (Penguin, $35) is propelled by her complicated relationship with her Mammy. Like mother, like daughter: they both drank too much, and McCarthy writes intimately of the blurry joylessness of hangovers – the way they feel like death, and speak to the urge to die. Grand is a work of literature and I truly look forward to its inevitable appearance in the top 10 non-fiction chart.
1 Letters to You by Jazz Thornton (Penguin Random House, $30)
The author advises learning the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique, which "uses the five senses to focus on the moment and avoid multiple anxious thoughts".
2 Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Flanagan (Allen & Unwin, $45)
There was a terrific promotion for this cookbook last year: buy a copy, and go into the draw to win a Fisher & Paykel oven and cooktop worth $7000. Did anyone have a better promotion than that?
3 Flavourbomb by Belinda MacDonald (Penguin Random House, $45)
Includes a recipe for lemon, raspberry and rosemary bars, pictured below.
4 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
5 Māori Made Easy by Scotty Morrison (Penguin Random House, $38)
6 Dancing with the Machine by Jo Morgan & John McCrystal (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
7 Tikanga by Keri Opai (Upstart Press, $39.99)
8 The Edible Backyard by Kath Irvine (Penguin Random House, $50)
The author advises, "Leafy greens are the best! They may not be as glamourous as a tomato or trendy as a kohlrabi, but they're the easiest, by far and away the most nutritious and so very generous. Cavalo Nero is the spunkiest of them all. And though it looks hearty and strong, its flavour is really mild. If you keep up with picking the bigger, outside leaves for dinner and removing the old ratty foliage regularly from the bottom, Cavalo will bring you nourishing greens all year long. No fuss plants these, they’ll grow in containers and tricky spots – the less you fuss with them the better they be." A splendid specimen is pictured below.
9 Finding Calm by Sarb Johal (Penguin Random House, $37)
The author advises, "Set a timer for 60 seconds and breathe in and out through your nose, counting each breath. Take good full breaths — not too fast and not too slow. Just breathe at a normal pace, whatever that is for you, inflating and deflating your belly in each breath. Close your eyes or look down at the floor while breathing."
10 Words of Comfort by Rebekah Ballagh (Allen & Unwin, $24.99)
The author advises a list of the right words for someone who is grieving, below:
- I'm sorry.
- I care about you.
- He/she will be dearly missed.
- He/she is in my thoughts and prayers.
- You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
- You are important to me.
- My condolences.
- I hope you find some peace today.
