The week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias
FICTION
1 A Message for Nasty by Roderick Fry (Awa Press, $39.99)
A new number one! Huzzah to the author - and the publisher, making its first foray into fiction. From a review by Karen McMillan at NZ Booklovers: "Hong Kong 1943. Marie Broom is at home on Hong Kong Island when the Japanese invade. Her New Zealand husband, Vincent, is working in Singapore as a marine engineer, and it is not long before Singapore falls to the Japanese also. A Message for Nasty follows the fate of Marie and Vincent over the next two years, separated from each other and without any means to communicate…. A Message for Nasty is a gripping, page-turning read, a novel that packs an even bigger emotional punch when you learn the story is based on the author’s grandfather and grandmother. It brings vividly to life the chilling occupation of the Japanese in Hong Kong, especially for young women, and the extraordinary story of a husband and father willing to go to any lengths to rescue his family."
Awesome cover.
2 Eddy, Eddy by Kate De Goldi (Allen & Unwin, $29.99)
3 Poor People With Money by Dominic Hoey (Penguin Random House, $37)
"The plot of my new novel is about fighting and drugs and money. But I think it’s really about the things we have to endure for a shot at holding onto our dreams": the author, in a self-portrait published last week in ReadingRoom.
4 The Wrong Woman by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $36.99)
5 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
6 The Wandering Nature of Us Girls by Frankie McMillan (Canterbury University Press, $29.99)
Very short short stories. Publisher's blurbology: "Children wander, adults drift into unexpected relationships, and footholds can never be certain… Girls raised by swans swim towards what they hope is a better future in the West, a grandmother swims naked in an isolated bush lake… In settings as unexpected as a European post-war circus or an inflatable pool in suburban Aotearoa, the enduring bonds of family, real or imagined, take centre stage."
7 Return to Harikoa Bay by Owen Marshall (Penguin Random House, $37)
"Loneliness is a form of pain, but not of the variety that prevents observation and comprehension, that narrows everything to fretful self-absorption. At least that’s what he thought as he sat in the Koru Lounge and waited for his boarding call": so begins the short story "Koru Club", from the master's latest collection.
8 Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka (Huia Publishers, $35)
9 How to Loiter In a Turf War by Coco Solid (Penguin Random House, $28)
10 Harbouring by Jenny Pattrick (Penguin Random House, $36.00)
NON-FICTION
1 Ross Taylor: Black & White by Paul Thomas (Upstart Press, $49.99)
"Taylor emerges most fully formed when the book turns to the workplace machinations, thwarted hopes and structural unfairness that constitute an accompanying narrative to Taylor’s cricket career. 'You’re half a good guy, Ross,' he recalls that a teammate used to tell him, 'but which half is good? You don’t know what I’m referring to.' Taylor - with a Samoan mother and a Pākehā father - was convinced he knew exactly. There were further examples of clunky insensitivity in the Black Caps environment, where Taylor, just the second man of Samoan heritage to play for the national team, often felt himself to be 'a brown face in a vanilla line-up'": from an excellent review by James Borrowdale, who attempts to take this as-told-to sports bio seriously.
2 Sons of a Good Keen Man by The Crump Brothers (Penguin Random House, $38)
3 Yes, Minister by Christopher Finlayson (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
"It’s hard not to like Finlayson’s defence of neoliberalism, and his admiration for the Rogernomic reforms." What? From a pandering review by Nevil Gibson (Finlayson is "the nearly perfect minister") at the dear old National Business Review.
4 Owning It by Brad Smeele (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
5 Grand by Noelle McCarthy (Penguin Random House, $35)
Tara Black was at the WORD Christchurch literary festival to record Noelle live onstage in conversation with Julie Hill. Includes a libellous remark on the nation: "No one here can make a cup of tea."
6 No Excuses by Dave Letele (Penguin Random House, $40)
7 Miss Polly’s Kitchen by Polly Markus (Allen & Unwin, $45)
The author looks at plates of food on the cover.
8 Everyday Favourites by Vanya Insull (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
9 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
10 The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
