This week’s biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias
FICTION
1 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)
2 To Italy, With Love by Nicky Pellegrino (Hachette, $34.99)
This may well be THE FIRST TIME IN NEW ZEALAND LITERARY HISTORY that an author has the number two best-selling book of fiction in the VERY SAME WEEK they have the number two best-selling book of non-fiction!!! Who else could possibly have achieved this staggering result? CK Stead, Philip Temple and Vincent O’Sullivan regularly cross the border from fiction to non-fiction; Janet Frame, obviously; Patrica Grace, Paula Morris, Charlotte Grimshaw, also; but perhaps the only authors who have worked both fields and wrote best-sellers are Witi Ihimaera, and the late Maurice Shadbolt. Am I missing someone? This is an open call to literary historians.If both Pellgerino’s books – To Italy, With Love and her menopause guide Don’t Sweat It – go to number one next week IT WILL BLOW MY MIND.
3 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly (Victoria University Press, $35)
4 The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $26)
5 The Last Guests by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $34.99)
6 Loop Tracks by Sue Orr (Victoria University Press, $35)
7 Inside the Black Horse by Ray Berard (David Bateman, $34.99)
8 The Author’s Cut by Owen Marshall (Penguin Random House, $36)
9 Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka (Huia Publishers, $35)
Longlisted this week for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for fiction at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand national book awards. From a review by Jackie Lee Morrison, published this week at ReadingRoom: “A great story leaves you with questions long after the last page, and after I had devoured Kurangaituku in three feverish sittings, I sat for a long time, twisting and turning the book in my hands…Kurangaituku is a story I would happily live through, again and again.”
10 Everything Changes by Stephanie Johnson (Penguin Random House, $36)
NON-FICTION
1 Your Money, Your Future by Frances Cook (Penguin Random House, $35)
The best kind of self-help book, because it’s about something real and true and good – money, and how to help yourself make it work for you to give yourself, and those around you (as well as complete strangers if you’re in possession of a philanthropic decency), a better life.
It contains advice on the following subjects.
Your magic number: Learn how much money you need to design the life you want
Finance 101: Change how you handle your money to gain control of debt and simplify your life
Get paid: Techniques that work to boost your earning power in any industry
You earn it, you keep it: How to save more and invest that extra income
Property investing: Making the right decision for you
Retire early, retire often: Your tailor-made plan to take time out, retire early, or work as much as you like
2 Don’t Sweat It by Nicky Pellegrino (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
This may well be THE FIRST TIME IN NEW ZEALAND LITERARY HISTORY that an author has the number two best-selling book of non-fiction in the VERY SAME WEEK they have the number two best-selling novel.
3 Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Flanagan (Allen & Unwin, $45)
4 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
5 Lost and Found by Toni Street (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
6 After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
7 This Changes Everything by Niki Bezzant (Penguin Random House, $37)
8 The Edible Backyard by Kath Irvine (Penguin Random House, $50)
9 The Forager’s Treasury by Johanna Knox (Allen & Unwin, $45)
10 Māori Made Easy by Scotty Morrison (Penguin Random House, $38)
