The week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias
NON-FICTION
1 Straight Up by Ruby Tui (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
2 Wawata by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
3 Simple Fancy by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Flanagan (Allen & Unwin, $45)
A free copy of the Flanagan sisters' latest awesome cookbook is up for grabs in the latest ReadingRoom giveaway. To enter the draw, email stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line I FANCY THIS YUM COOKBOOK PLEASE in screaming caps, name a New Zealand author living or not living who you would like to cook a meal for, and describe this literary dish. Entries close midnight on Sunday, November 27.
4 Becoming Pākehā by John Bluck (HarperCollins, $39.99)
"This is a book I've long been trying not to write," says the author. "It ought to be easy, but it's not. I began under the cover of a pseudonym, because some of my friends who will read it won't stay friends. Then I decided not to worry about that. And besides, it has to be a personal story, as it is for many other unsettled Pākehā who relish the privilege of living here, and have spent a lifetime trying to belong in this land."
The publisher's blurbology expands on the author's comments: "After more than 200 years of co-existence under the umbrella of a unique treaty, you might think things would be better than ever. In this perceptive and piercing book, John Bluck argues that Pākehā and Māori worlds grow ever more separate: the Aotearoa of today is a landscape of two predominant cultures, overlaid with so many others, fractured and more likely to erupt than Ruapehu. But has it always been this way?
"Becoming Pākehā follows the author's life, growing up as a Pākehā in a Māori village in the 1950s, and illustrates how New Zealand used to be, the history and shared experience that shaped it. The book also discusses the discomfort of being Pākehā today, and how Pākehā might live with their past and get used to the wearing the name, until they find a better one.
"Looking at everything from failed models of bicultural harmony to what's likely to bring the treaty partners together - or push them further apart - Becoming Pākehā is a timely read for anyone who wants to understand Māori-Pākehā relations in Aotearoa New Zealand today."
5 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
6 New Zealand Gardens to Visit by Juliet Nicholas & Rosemary Barraclough (Penguin Random House, $55)
The best garden in Auckland to visit this weekend is at the Albany Village Hall, hosts of the 2022 Cactus and Succulent Society show. Entry fee is $5; there are public sales; and over 40 exhibitors will be competing for best cactus and best succulent. See you there!
7 Learning to be French (and failing) by Anna Bibby (Allen & Unwin, $45)
8 Kai by Christall Lowe (David Bateman, $59.99)
Julie Irving of Devonport was last week's lucky winner of a free copy of Kai in the weekly ReadingRoom book giveaway. Readers were asked to name the best meal they ever ate in their lives. Julie's reply was of something I'd never eat in a million years. She shared a recipe for lamb's tails. "First select a couple of clean woolly tails…not too thin…lay them over a stick and place into the hot embers. Go off and help catch lambs. Return to turn your tail over in the fire. When ready, the tail will be well singed, and black all over and very hot…so handle carefully. With help of a couple of sticks, hold the thicker end, and slide the blackened wool off towards the tip of the tail. It will slide off easily. Enjoy!"
9 Ripe Recipes by Angela Redfern & Sophie Merkens & Amy Melchior (Beatnik Publishing, $59.99)
Cookbook from the owner of Ripe Deli in Grey Lynn; it's very, very Grey Lynn indeed; asked by the Herald in 2013 to name five foods that are beneficial to our health, she replied, "Coconut oil is fantastic for its antibacterial properties. What's even better is that it is good for the skin and hair. Eating just two brazil nuts a day is a great way of getting selenium into your diet. Kale has has abundant levels of magnesium and iron…Small easy things like adding apple-cider vinegar to a little water is a great way of encouraging digestion."
10 Whānaukai by Naomi Toilalo (HarperCollins, $55)
Pauline Douglas of Dunedin won a free copy of the Whānaukai cookbook a fortnight ago in the weekly ReadingRoom book giveaway. Readers were asked to make a comment on something published in ReadingRoom that week. Pauline chose "Previous Selves", a short story by Emma Hislop, about a couple in New Plymouth. She addressed the woman in the story, whose partner Drew had a creepy secret: "Do not cast your pearls before swine (Drew) lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you into pieces. Dear Lady, your vulnerable qualities are captured and manipulated by Drew; cut and run before you too are torn into pieces."
FICTION
1 Kāwai by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)
Number one for 11 weeks, and surely the biggest-selling novel of 2022; full credit to the author, the publisher, and also to the team who made the striking, artful cover. It was designed by TORO Studios and lead illustrator Raukura Riwaka, from a conceptual design by Te Tuhi Soutar, and photographed by Siobhan Houkamau.
2 The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
3 Harbouring by Jenny Pattrick (Penguin Random House, $36)
4 The Doctor's Wife by Fiona Sussman (David Bateman, $37.99)
5 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
6 The Pain Tourist by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press, $37.99)
7 Eddy, Eddy by Kate De Goldi (Allen & Unwin, $29.99)
8 Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka (Huia Publishers, $35)
9 The Wrong Woman by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $36.99)
10 Tarquin the Honest: The Hand of Glodd by Gareth Ward (David Bateman, $34.99)
