FICTION
1 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
She came, we read, it conquered: the much-anticipated return of Eleanor Catton with her first novel in 10 years was a runaway success, as readers snapped up her escapist yarn about a psychopath who outwits a rabble of intellectuals in his desire to inherit the Earth and all its mineral wealth. It was high-spirited (it starred a character based on Sean Plunket, ie a braying jackass who works in talk radio) and fabulously far-fetched and most entertaining. Naturally I found things to dislike about it when I reviewed it this year; a well-known author messaged me, “Lol you’re the only one who’s spoken a word of sense about Birnam Wood but I disagree – the ending was the best thing about it. Kill ’em all. Partying tonight?”
2 The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
One of the craziest things I’ve ever done as literary editor at ReadingRoom was to overlook The Axeman’s Carnival when I named a short story collection by Owen Marshall as the best work of fiction of 2022. Marshall’s book was typically excellent and had a deeper, sadder sense of mortality, but surely I ought to have named Chidgey’s novel: it was a tour de force, it won the fiction prize at this year’s Ockhams, and it grew in stature as a modern classic. I think I had something against the idea of a book being narrated by a magpie.
3 Kāwai by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)
The biggest-selling novel of 2022 continued to sell its socks off this year to readers wanting his story set in Aotearoa before the coming of whitey. Kāwai is the first in his trilogy; the next book will be published next year, and I hereby predict it will be a sales sensation.
4 P.S. Come to Italy by Nicky Pellegrino (Hachette, $36.99)
There is no denying the great Pellegrino and the charms of her series of novels set in Italy. Her characters eat, love, and talk a lot; always, the scenery is swoonsome. The shimmering backdrop of PS Come to Italy was Ostuni, “a dazzling white hilltop town rising up from a plateau of olive trees”.
5 Pet by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
Two novels in two years, both in the bestseller chart for the same year – O great Chidgey, maker of records, breaker of traditions, creator of a startlingly wide range of styles and stories. Pet was a kind of thriller about a psychopath who outwits a rabble of school students to live her best fantasy life. Will it win next year’s fiction prize at the Ockhams, making Chidgey the first author to win in two consecutive years? I say: yes.
6 Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
Huzzah to Allen & Unwin for initiating the commercial fiction prize. Shapiro was its inaugural winner and her novel about a long-distance runner was a hit. This year’s winner was veteran TV writer Gavin Strawhan. His novel will be published in 2024. I have read The Call and can declare it is a violent, exciting, very good thriller.
7 The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa (Hachette, $37.99)
I love his short stories and have published about four or five at ReadingRoom these past few years but I was very, very happily surprised at the success of his debut novel, which was number one for nine weeks. From David Hill’s rave review: “Kauri and Black are pre-teen brothers whose parents fit into that class labelled by one of our beloved political leaders as ‘bottom-feeders’. Except they don’t even feed anymore. In a Gothic opening, Mum has already died agonisingly after a lazy medical misdiagnosis, and Dad follows soonish after, stiff and soiled in the living room. The two kids bury him under the eponymous tree. Their mother? Dad carried her body into the gorse that fills nearby paddocks; they didn’t dare ask what happened then … It’s whole-hearted, passionate, not perfect, very, very memorable.”
8 The Last Days of Joy by Anne Tiernan (Hachette, $36.99)
This week I named Moa Press as publisher of the year: as an imprint of Hachette, it commenced its first year of publishing New Zealand fiction in 2023, and made a spectacular debut with The Bone Tree, The Girl From London, and Anne Tiernan’s The Last Days of Joy, about a family reeling in the wake of a devastating act.
9 The Girl from London by Olivia Spooner (Hachette, $37.99)
More reason why I named Moa Press as publisher of the year. The Girl From London, an epic story of a wartime romance, has held the number one spot on the fiction chart for the past four weeks, and I think it will continue to hold it for weeks to come.
10 One of Those Mothers by Megan Nicol Reed (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
I devoted a whole week at ReadingRoom to this debut novel about an Auckland family whose nice middle-class routines are interrupted, complicated, and kind of traumatised by An Incident; I think it got closer to the New Zealand way of life than most novels published in 2023.
NONFICTION
1 Straight Up by Ruby Tui (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
Number one last year, too. There wasn’t a lot of new exciting quality best-selling nonfiction this year and the bestseller chart illustrates that. Merry Xmas!
2 Whakawhetai: Gratitude by Hira Nathan (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
A compendium of wise sayings.
3 Second Chances by Hayley Holt (HarperCollins, $39.99)
A memoir which, as they say, had it all: “After breaking free from the strict dance schedule of her childhood, in her late teens Hayley found freedom at the bottom of a bottle: she became confident, easygoing, the life of the party. Before long it became a crutch. As her high-profile TV career grew, Hayley spent nights drinking, getting kicked out of clubs, and blacking out. In this vulnerable memoir, she describes the scare that led her to Alcoholics Anonymous, her journey to sobriety, and an ADHD diagnosis that brought everything into focus. Then, single, 40, and at the peak of her career, Hayley embarked on a pregnancy that was cut short by a devastating stillbirth. Yet in the darkest place of her life, she found hope in a blossoming new love.”
4 Fungi of Aotearoa by Liv Sisson (Penguin Random House, $45)
Fungal growths.
5 Untouchable Girls by Jools & Lynda Topp (Allen & Unwin, $49.99)
Topp tales.
6 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
A compendium of wise sayings.
7 Smithy by Wayne Smith & Phil Gifford (Upstart Press, $49.99)
A companion volume to Straight Up.
8 The Art of Winning by Dan Carter (Penguin Random House, $40)
A compendium of bland sayings.
9 Wawata – Moon Dreaming by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
A compendium of wise sayings.
10 Winter Warmers by Philippa Cameron (Allen & Unwin, $49.99)
Hot food.
