The latest Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list, described by Steve Braunias
FICTION
1 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
The author is about to arrive in New Zealand for a speaking tour – at the Auckland Writers Festival next Saturday night, May 20, chaired by Noelle McCarthy; on Tuesday, May 23, at Wellington's Embassy Theatre; and the following day, May 24, in Christchurch.
2 The Deck by Fiona Farrell (Penguin Random House, $37)
"A modern masterpiece of invention and curated facts by a writer at the height of her powers, a luminous intelligence and compassion shining forth from every page": it would appear Sue Reidy really, really liked it, in her review at the Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books.
3 The Last Days of Joy by Anne Tiernan (Hachette, $36.99)
4 P.S. Come to Italy by Nicky Pellegrino (Hachette, $36.99)
5 Kāwai by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)
This is your absolutely last chance to win all 16 shortlisted books for this year's Ockham New Zealand book awards (including Kāwai, and the novel at number 10) in the 2023 ReadingRoom Greatest Book Prize of All Times. One reader will win the lot.
To enter, name the one book you regard as the very best book published in New Zealand last year and say why it is that you esteem it so highly. Write a few lines, or a great many lines, up to you. (The book that gets the most nominations, by the way, can be informally regarded as winner of a People's Choice Award.)
Entries have tailed off in the past week or so. Hundreds have piled up. Every nomination counts because at this stage two books are tied in first place. Yes! A very popular novel, and a very popular work of nonfiction…
Email your entry (remember to choose a book and say something about it, FFS; several time wasters haven't bothered) to stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line in screaming caps I REALLY WANT TO WIN THE 2023 READINGROOM GREATEST BOOK PRIZE OF ALL TIMES. Entries close this Sunday, May 14, at midnight. The winner will be announced in ReadingRoom on Wednesday, May 17; the Ockhams will be announced that night.
6 Landed by Sue McCauley (David Bateman, $37.99)
The author will appear on a panel alongside novelists Murdoch Stephens and Fiona Sussman at the Auckland Writers Festival next weekend; I leaped at the offer to chair it. I loved Stephens' novel Down in Upland Road last year. I have just finished reading Landed, and Sussman's The Doctor's Wife, and can report these are three very good books, each quite different from one another (a satire, a thriller, McCauley's mordant saga of family life after a suicide), and yet with shared themes, common obsessions. Let us discuss these matters further at the Aotea Centre.
7 One of Those Mothers by Megan Nicol Reed (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
The author will appear at the Auckland Writers Festival next weekend on a panel alongside novelists Josie Shapiro and Caroline Barron, who wrote a superb self-portrait this week.
8 The Lighthouse by Christopher Parker (Beacon Press, $34.99)
It's that man again! Parker makes a return to the charts with his self-published novel which has sold an astonishing 30,000 copies.
9 How to Get Fired by Evana Belich (Penguin Random House, $37)
Collection of short stories, including "Me and My Girls", which features this direct first sentence by the male narrator: "All I ever think about is beautiful girls and how I’m never going to get them."
10 The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
A very popular novel...
NONFICTION
1 Second Chances by Hayley Holt (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Everyone loves a memoir; everyone certainly loved Grand by Noelle McCarthy, a very popular work of non-fiction…
2 Fungi of Aotearoa by Liv Sisson (Penguin Random House, $45)
Fungi of Aotearoa! Foraging is so hot right now, and the author, raised in Virginia, who first learned how to spot small wonders in the Blue Ridge Mountains, presents over 130 species of fungal growths.
3 Winter Warmers by Philippa Cameron (Allen & Unwin, $49.99)
4 Straight Up by Ruby Tui (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
5 There’s a Cure for This by Emma Espiner (Penguin Random House, $35)
The good doctor and memoirist staged an excellent launch up in the attic at Time Out bookstore in Mt Eden on Wednesday night; I took photos (above, and below) when not scoffing the spread of spicy salami, three kinds of cheese, two types of crackers, avoiding the horrible dip, and hoeing in, happily, to a large number of chocolate fingers.
6 The Everyday Herbalist by Jane Wrigglesworth (Allen & Unwin, $49.99)
Foraging is so hot right now. The author, who is studying a degree in natural medicine at the South Pacific College of Natural Medicine, presents information on 30 herbs, with instructions on how to make remedies for a range of ailments (such as coughs, colds, allergies, low immunity, nausea, digestive disorders, insomnia, lack of energy, stress and mental health issues), as well as recipes for good things you can eat (such as teas, pestos, seasonings and broths), recipes for good things for surfaces of your skin (serums, body butters, lip balms and perfumes) and recipes for good things for your home (sprays, pastes, bar soap, flowing soap, laundry powder and scented sachets).
7 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
8 Wawata by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
9 Whakawhetai: Gratitude by Hira Nathan (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
Whakataukī.
10 Make Love Work by Nic Beets (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
