FICTION
1 The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa (Hachette, $37,99)
Sales of the author’s 2023 novel went through the roof after he appeared at the Auckland Writers Festival in the weekend. A witness at Ngarewa’s event commented, “It’s the schools and adult combo – not many authors traverse both. Airana speaks the teenager’s language, it was amazing to watch.”
2 Amma by Saraid de Silva (Hachette, $37.99)
3 The Space Between by Lauren Keenan (Penguin Random House, $37)
4 Bird Child and Other Stories by Patricia Grace (Penguin Random House, $37)
5 Big Fat Brown Bitch by Tusiata Avia (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $30)
6 Pet by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
7 The Secrets of the Little Greek Taverna by Erin Palmisano (Hachette, $36.99)
8 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
9 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
10 The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
NONFICTION
1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
The biggest selling book of the year, which told the amazing story of a woman who operated behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France, inspired readers to share their wartime stories of valour and sacrifice. Example: Vivienne Allan wrote about her Mum, Eva Auerbach, a Jewish refugee from Germany. Many of her family were sent to die in the camps. Eva had the good fortune to meet and fall in love with Vernon Poole, a Kiwi serving as a Captain in the 2nd Batallion. Their daughter takes up Eva’s story: “She was met in Wellington by her new father-in-law and taken to a rugby match before crossing Cook Strait and taking the train to Invercargill.” Eva Poole later served as the Mayor of Invercargill (1983-1992).
2 Fungi of Aotearoa by Liv Sisson (Penguin Random House, $45)
Wow! This week’s free book giveaway is, in fact, two books: Fungi of Aotearoa, and Foraging New Zealand by Peter Langlands, number 4 on this week’s bestseller chart. Foraging, and the adjacent subject of edible fungi growing in the wild, are so hot right now. It touches a nerve; it speaks to a new sense of wanting to engage with the natural world as opposed to buying things at New World.
To enter the draw to win the two-book prize pack of Fungi of Aotearoa, and Foraging New Zealand, you have to answer two questions. 1): share a recipe featuring something you have foraged. 2): identify the mushrooms I recently found in my back yard, below, and tell me if they are edible. Email your answers to stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line in screaming caps THE FUTURE IS FORAGING FUNGI. Entries close at midnight on Sunday, May 26.
3 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Books, $25)
4 Foraging New Zealand by Peter Langlands (Penguin Random House, $50)
Love the cover.
5 The Art of Winning by Dan Carter (Penguin Random House, $40)
Inspirational messages from the Chemist Warehouse ambassador.
6 Whakawhetai: Gratitude by Hira Nathan (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
7 Feijoa by Kate Evans (Hachette, $39.99)
This relentlessly interesting study of the humble feijoa is one of the year’s four best books of nonfiction, along with Hine Toa (below), the essay collection Beautiful Afternoon by Airini Beautrais, and Peter Walker’s crazy, rambling, beautifully composed book on the Haast’s eagle, Hard by the Cloud House.
8 Hine Toa by Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Stunning memoir of a Māori lesbian kuia.
9 Evolving by Judy Bailey (HarperCollins, $39.99)
10 Otherhood by Alie Benge & Lil O’Brien & Kathryn van Beek (Massey University Press, $39.99)
Last week’s free book giveaway was a copy of this excellent collection of essays on the various joys and burdens of being childless.
Readers were asked to share their thoughts or experiences about this state of existence. There were stories about adoption (“At 16, I became pregnant. Three months prior I parted with the father, due to his infidelity with my best friend”), about freedom (“I am a childless 63 year old women and I love my life. When the mothers of my generation were wiping bums, feeding babes, cooking endless meals and tidying away toys, I was reading”), and about the happiness of nothingness (“I’ve never really thought about it that much but in my work with the elderly I often get asked by Kuia how many children I have. When I say none, they are really shocked. One said, ‘So you are telling me you have no one and nothing?’ This has become the mantra for my husband and I. ‘We have no one and nothing.'”)
The winning entry – there’s no need for names – responded to Hinemoana Baker’s incredible essay from the book, excerpted in ReadingRoom on Tuesday.
She wrote, “I read the excerpt with a stab of recognition – different situation, same outcome.
“I married again at 40, to a man who already had a son he co-parented, and answered ‘yeah sure’ to the comment that I didn’t want to marry if our having children were ‘off the table’. Then he exercised the subtle but powerful method of simply never mentioning it or responding to children as a topic of discussion, while demonstrating parenting skills that were far less than admirable. I realised that if we were to have a child, I’d be parenting alone. Something I couldn’t face. As an abused child myself, how would I cope – and keep my child safe?
“I found myself at 50, with a busy career, a nearly mortgage free home, overseas travel to adventurous places, and a beloved cat. I’d climbed Mt Cook but the space between myself and my husband was ever wider, and eventually the house and travel were not enough, and trust and respect were gone.
“At 60, I am among the boomer-poor with a mortgage and likely to work into my 70’s, but there is new love, a new home, a new career and the joy and succour of nature and the mountains.
“I worry about the future without family to help me thru my final decades.
“And still there is a child shaped space, glimpsed if I turn my head quickly, or wake in the early morning light.
“I know her name, her red red hair and tomboy grin. Out of sight, just around the corner.”
A free copy of Otherhood is hers.
