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 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
Check out the cover of the first international edition of Auē. Nice one!
2 To Italy, With Love by Nicky Pellegrino (Hachette, $34.99)
In which NEW ZEALAND LITERARY HISTORY is very likely made as Nicky Pellegrino probably becomes THE FIRST AUTHOR OF ALL TIMES to have the number-two best-selling novel in the very same week as having the number one best-selling book of non-fiction in the Nielsen chart. As far as I'm able to ascertain the closest precedent to this incredible achievement is when good old Alan Duff had the top-selling novel (Once Were Warriors) as well as the number-three best-selling novel (One Night Out Stealing) in the same week in 1993 when his book Maori: The Crisis and the Challenge (from a pre-macron age) was at about number five on the non-fiction chart. Salut to Duffy, who has been through the mill but is still standing, still smiling; no one can ever take away from the fact of his incredible achievement as a New Zealand writer. Salut, too, to Nicky Pellgrino, who may yet reach new heights if To Italy, With Love takes the number one spot in the same week her menopause guide Don't Sweat It holds onto its place at the top of the non-fiction chart. This calls for a toast. I best make some calls.
3 Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka (Huia Publishers, $35)
Longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for fiction at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand national book awards. From a review by Jackie Lee Morrison, at ReadingRoom: " Whiti Hereaka said at her book launch for Kurangaituku, a re-telling of the Māori folktale 'The Legend of Hatuputu and the Bird-Woman', that it took 10 years to write. It was a story she felt had always been with her, but she wondered more about the bird-woman than Hatuputu. Halfway through her first draft she realised she wasn’t yet the writer she needed to be to tell the story. She stopped to write another book before returning to her words. Great things take time and thank goodness she gave this book all the time it needed to hatch into the gorgeous, hybrid experience that it is.... Though Kurangaituku is a mythical creature, a legend, in Hereaka’s hands she also feels incredibly real, as if you could run into her in the forests of Rotorua, stuck in her endless loop of life, death, love and revenge."
4 Loop Tracks by Sue Orr (Victoria University Press, $35)
5 The Last Guests by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $34.99)
6 The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $26)
7 The Author’s Cut by Owen Marshall (Penguin Random House, $36)
8 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly (Victoria University Press, $35)
9 Inside the Black Horse by Ray Berard (David Bateman, $34.99)
10 The Piano Girls by Elizabeth Smither (Quentin Wilson Publishing, $35)
I remain distressed that the latest collection of short stories by a master of the form didn't make the longlist for this year's Ockham New Zealand national book awards; it's a triumph of craft and wit and sorrow, each story so well told, such as "At the Compassionate Restaurant" which first appeared at ReadingRoom. The book is available in bookstores nationwide, and won high praise from reviewer Kiran Dass: "Smither introduces us to a cast of middle-class, well-meaning characters with prim names like Eloise or Antonia. They drink nice wine and some of them are writers. They read books by literary authors like Karl Ove Knausgård and Anthony Doerr. And she views them with a sympathetic but sometimes hard-edged eye. There’s a sort of itchy anxiety and pathos that runs through these stories. And humour, too…The author looks beyond the good manners and honest intentions of her characters and considers them with kindness and curiosity. She’s a shrewd storyteller, and her care and craft makes The Piano Girls a pleasure to read."
NON-FICTION
1 Don’t Sweat It by Nicky Pellegrino (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
A toast to Nicky Pellegrino – NUMBER ONE ON THE NON-FICTION CHART IN THE SAME WEEK SHE HAS THE NUMBER-TWO BEST-SELLING NOVEL! - is being looked into right this second.
2 Your Money, Your Future by Frances Cook (Penguin Random House, $35)
3 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
4 Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Flanagan (Allen & Unwin, $45)
Salads.
5 Lost and Found by Toni Street (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
6 Gone Bush by Paul Kilgour (HarperCollins, $39.99)
7 The Forager’s Treasury by Johanna Knox (Allen & Unwin, $45)
8 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55)
Vegies.
9 The Edible Backyard by Kath Irvine (Penguin Random House, $50)
Edibles.
10 After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
