This 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 Bella: My Life in Food by Annabel Langbein (Allen & Unwin, $49.99)
Includes her recipe for a Negroni cocktail:
½ cup gin
½ cup Campari
½ cup red vermouth
Ice cubes
4 strips orange zest, cut with a vegetable peeler, to garnish
Combine gin, Campari and vermouth in a jug. Half-fill 4 lowball glasses with ice cubes. Divide cocktail between glasses and garnish each with a twist of orange zest.
2 Supergood by Chelsea Winter (Penguin Random House, $50)
Includes her recipe for plant-based butter:
½ cup raw cashews
1 cup unflavoured coconut oil
½ cup canned chickpea liquid
4 tsp grapeseed or sunflower oil
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp fine salt
Place cashews in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for 20 minutes, then drain. Pace all the ingredients in a high-speed blender for 10 seconds. Pour into a container with a lid, and refrigerate until firm.
3 I’m in a United State by Paul Henry (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
4 Impossible: My Story by Stan Walker (HarperCollins, $39.99)
5 Note to Self: The secrets of calm (Allen & Unwin, $24.99)
6 Searching for Charlie by Tom Scott (Upstart Press, $49.99)
7 New Zealanders: The Field Guide by Tom Sainsbury (HarperCollins, $36.99)
8 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
9 Two Raw Sisters: All Eaters Welcome by Rosa Flanagan & Margo Flanagan (David Bateman, $39.99)
Includes a recipe for raspberry hemp and avo smoothies:
2 cups frozen raspberries
1 cup oat or nut milk
1/2 ripe avo
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tbsp hemp seeds
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp almond butter
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
10 Navigating the Stars by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $45)
FICTION
1 Landmarks by Grahame Sydney, Owen Marshall and Brian Turner (Penguin Random House, $75)
From an essay by Kevin Ireland: “The breathtaking technique of a Grahame Sydney painting seems at first sight to make its subject almost palpably actual. Landscapes, buildings, interiors and portraits appear to have been captured with astonishing physical accuracy – just as the time of day or night never seems in question. You can usually guess the hour from the quality and depth of light and shadow. Yet, at a second and closer viewing, the essence of his art lies in the mystery of its paradoxes…”
2 Addressed to Greta by Fiona Sussman (David Bateman, $34.99)
“A socially awkward woman, living alone with her chicken and her spa pool, receives a phone call telling her that her late friend has bequeathed her an all-expenses paid holiday. Destination and length of trip: unknown. Said woman is flustered. Can she do it? Break free of the routine and structure that she’s sheltered herself with and leave New Zealand for the first time?…Sweet and endearing”: from a review at the ReadClose site.
3 Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press, $35)
4 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
5 Poūkahangatus by Tayi Tibble (Victoria University Press, $20)
Sales were evidently brisk when the author read from her modern classic (published in 2018) at a Semi-Permanent event in Auckland last week; organisers flew her up from Wellington, and gave her very nice accommodation at the newly opened QT Hotel on the Viaduct.
6 Goddess Muscle by Karlo Mila (Huia Publishers, $35)
She used to be a student of Linda Burgess’s.
7 The Tally Stick by Carl Nixon (Penguin Random House, $36)
8 The Jacaranda House by Deborah Challinor (HarperCollins, $36.99)
9 Nouns, Verbs, Etc. by Fiona Farrell (Otago University Press, $35)
10 State Highway One by Sam Coley (Hachette, $34.99)
