The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Christendom.
AUCKLAND UNITY
1 The Man Who Ate Lincoln Road by Steve Braunias (Luncheon Sausage Books, $25)
The author wishes to thank the hordes who bought a lot of copies of his book about food, shops, death and West Auckland life at his talk in the Te Atatu peninsula library this week.
2 House of Names by Colm Toibin (Pan Macmillan, $35)
A retelling of a Greek legend; an even worse conceit than a retelling of Shakespeare. Avoid like any number of plagues.
3 The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey(Victoria University Press, $30)
Her appearance at the writers festival in Nelson later this year is completely sold-out.
4 Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo (Particular Books, $40)
Every home with girls in it should have one.
5 Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family & Culture in Crisis by JD Vance (HarperCollins, $35)
Memoir which also doubles as an examination of the American mind in the age of Trump.
6 A History of NZ Women by Barbara Brookes (Bridget Williams Books, $70)
Winner of the best book of illustrated non-fiction at the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
7 Art, Sex, Music by Cosey Fanni Tutti (Faber, $40)
Incredible memoir from a Throbbing Gristle alumni: “Me and Gen [Genesis P Orridge] living apart didn’t seem to adversely affect Throbbing Gristle. We were on fire with ideas. The band took a trip to visit our friend Monte, who was now living in San Francisco. We all slept on the floor of his living room, which was difficult as Gen kept wanting to sleep with me. I took the opportunity to get an all-over tan. I hated bikini marks – they didn’t look good when I was stripping. I was on my own in the garden, lying on my front in a red G-string, half-asleep. Suddenly there was a great thud. I sprang up to see that a large cement block had landed about six inches from my head. Gen had thrown it from Monte’s balcony and was standing there staring down in silence….”
8 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet (Harvill Press, $35)
“Semiotics meets the whodunnit in a satiric romp through Parisian intellectual life”: The Guardian.
9 First Love by Gwendoline Riley (Granta, $28)
“Plot-light, icily lyrical, it follows Carmel, a 20-year-old Manchester barmaid who writes in her spare time. Her unsentimental accounts of drinking and casual sex are overshadowed by the memory of her manipulative father, now dead, and the fussy attentions of her mother, whose survival of her husband’s abuse earns her little sympathy”: New Statesman.
10 In Every Moment We Are Still Alive by Tom Malmquist (Hodder & Stoughton, $38)
Publisher’s blurbology: “Tom’s heavily pregnant girlfriend Karin is rushed to hospital with severe flu. While the doctors are able to save the baby, they are helpless in the face of what transpires to be acute leukemia, and in a moment as fleeting as it is cruel Tom gains a daughter but loses his soul-mate. In Every Moment is the story of a year that changes everything, as Tom must reconcile the fury of bereavement with the overwhelming responsibility of raising his daughter, Livia, alone.”
WELLINGTON UNITY
1 Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo (Particular Books, $40)
2 Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris (Hachette, $38)
Return of the much-loved American wit.
3 Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press $30)
4 Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young (Victoria University Press, $30)
Brilliant essays from one of the leading authors in the latest golden age of VUP.
5 Mauri Ora: Wisdom from the Maori World by Peter Alsop & Te Raumawhiti Kupenga (Potton Burton, $40)
Published last year, and still going strong.
6 Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38)
We look forward to the forthcoming review by Marion McLeod.
7 Balancing Acts: Reflections of a NZ Diplomat by Gerald McGhie (Dunmore Press, $35)
We look forward to the forthcoming review by Tony Simpson.
8 Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth (Random House, $40)
The eighth way will blow your mind.
9 New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
Max!
10 Progressive Thinking: Ten Perspectives on Tax by Max Rashbrooke, Susan St John, Shamubeel Eaqub, Morgan Godfrey et al (Public Service Association, $10)
Max on tax!
The Spinoff Review of Books is brought to you by Unity Books.