FICTION
1 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
“The year,” I wrote this week in my list of the top 10 novels of 2020, “belonged to a novel published to little fanfare in the middle of 2019 – Auē.”
2 Landmarks by Grahame Sydney & Owen Marshall & Brian Turner (Penguin Random House, $75)
Named in ReadingRoom this week as one of the top 10 illustrated books of 2020.
3 Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press, $35)
4 The Tally Stick by Carl Nixon (Penguin Random House, $36)
Named in ReadingRoom this week as one of the top 10 novels of 2020.
5 The Jacaranda House by Deborah Challinor (HarperCollins, $36.99)
Named in ReadingRoom this week as one of the top 10 novels of 2020.
6 Monsters in the Garden by Elizabeth Knox & David Larsen (Victoria University Press, $35)
7 Addressed to Greta by Fiona Sussman (David Bateman, $34.99)
8 Tiny Pieces of Us by Nicky Pellegrino (Hachette, $34.99)
Two novels only narrowly missed out on being named in ReadingRoom this week as one of the top 10 novels of 2020: Pellegrino’s moving page-turner, and The Swimmers, the debut novel by Wellington writer Chloe Lane. Both books are warmly recommended as Xmas gifts.
9 Goddess Muscle by Karlo Mila (Huia, $35)
10 State Highway One by Sam Coley (Hachette, $34.99)
NON-FICTION
1 Supergood by Chelsea Winter (Penguin Random House, $50)
Named in ReadingRoom this week as one of the top 10 books of non-fiction of 2020.
2 Bella: My Life in Food by Annabel Langbein (Allen & Unwin, $49.99)
3 Searching for Charlie by Tom Scott (Upstart Press, $49.99)
4 Impossible: My Story by Stan Walker (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Named in ReadingRoom this week as one of the top 10 books of non-fiction of 2020.
5 Gangland by Jared Savage (HarperCollins, $36.99)
Named in ReadingRoom this week as one of the top 10 books of non-fiction of 2020.
6 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
7 I’m in a United State by Paul Henry (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
Henry begins his boring and vainglorious book thus: “I have no idea why I’m writing this book or even if I am writing the book! What is the point? What is the actual point of it – for me?” He’s a really funny and engaging broadcaster but he can’t write, can’t think, and he plainly can’t be bothered. Burn it.
8 Navigating the Stars by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $45)
9 Hiakai by Monique Fiso (Penguin Random House, $65)
10 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55)
