The latest Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list, described by Steve Braunias
NON-FICTION
1 Straight Up by Ruby Tui (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
2 Be Your Best Self by Rebekah Ballagh (Allen & Unwin, $32.99)
Self-helper that lays out 10 "life-changing ideas to reach your full potential."
3 Fear: New Zealand's hostile world of extremists by Byron C Clark (HarperCollins, $39.99)
A rare sign of intelligence and scholarship in the nonfiction charts as Fear shoots to number three in its first week in the shops. ReadingRoom has a free copy to give away of Clark's investigation into far-right agitators. To enter the draw, email stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line in screaming caps I WANT TO BE EDUCATED ABOUT THE FAR-RIGHT, and describe an experience you have had with extremists, or crypto-fascist racist shitheads, or alternative thinkers, or whatever you wish to name them. Entries close on Sunday, February 26 at midnight.
4 The Sharesies Guide to Investing by Brooke Roberts & Leighton Roberts & Sonya Williams (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
A company brochure from Sharesies.
5 Wawata by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
6 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
7 Māori Made Easy by Scotty Morrison (Penguin Random House, $38)
A free copy of Morrison's te reo lessons was offered in last week's ReadingRoom giveaway. Readers were asked why it was they want to speak te reo. There were dozens of entries, including Kim ("Having just moved back from the US and working at one of the Te Pukenga institutes it would help me in my job talking and interacting with people from many cultures but especially the Maori people"), Kay ("I’m sick of my 78 years of monolingualism. Te reo is our indigenous language and I want to be able to use and comprehend it"), Melanie ("I want to continue my te reo journey as I fundamentally believe te reo Māori and tikanga Māori are intertwined, and so learning te reo Māori gives valuable insight to te ao Māori and to Māori world views"), and Bradley ("Basically I’m part Māori and have always kept mum as a result of feeling very white.")
The winner is Vicki Anderson. She wrote, "I’d love to win these as I’ve been eyeing them up for a while but I’m a single mum with three kids and the budget says no. The reason I’d love to win is I am Whakatōhea and feel whakama I don’t know my te reo." The senior judge for the giveaway, Tayi Tibble (Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) pointed out that not only would Vicki benefit from Māori Made Easy, so would her three kids.
8 Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Flanagan (Allen & Unwin, $45)
9 The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin, $38.99)
10 Simple Fancy by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Flanagan (Allen & Unwin, $45)
FICTION
1 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
I saw it marked down to $30 at PaperPlus in the WestCity mall in Henderson the other day.
2 Kāwai by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)
From a challenging review by Wiremu Kane: "Kāwai is the first novel in a planned trilogy by Soutar, a respected historian. It's a hugely ambitious and largely successful work of historical fiction. Epic in scope, it spans upward of eight generations and three centuries, while remaining focused and deeply personal through a 1980 set framing device where the young author-surrogate seeks out the understanding of self that can only come from understanding those who came before you…
"The double-edged sword of writing fiction as a respected historian is that audiences will expect and assume historical accuracy throughout. And the burden of the Māori writer is the expectation that your writing will portray every possible facet of Te Ao Māori. And there was an aspect of pre-colonial Māori life that I kept waiting to be addressed in the novel; but as I finished the novel, I couldn’t help feeling let down.
"In almost 400 pages, over 50 named characters, numerous hetero marriages and some intense sex scenes, there wasn’t a single mention of takatāpui characters or relationships."
3 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $50)
The hardback.
4 The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
5 Harbouring by Jenny Pattrick (Penguin Random House, $36)
What a cover! It's like a parody of historical fiction. Bucket, courtesy Hammer Hardware or something.
6 Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka (Huia Publishers, $35)
7 How to Loiter in a Turf War by Coco Solid (Penguin Random House, $28)
8 Eddy, Eddy by Kate de Goldi (Allen & Unwin, $29.99)
9 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
10 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
