Muirs Bookshop owner Kim Pittar.
A book written by a Gisborne woman with a black sense of humour is the biggest seller of 2025 at local retailer Muirs Bookshop.
If You’ve Got Livestock, Then You’ve Got Dead Stock was written by Amy Renelle after she noticed the number of dead sheep on a Gisborne farm.
Muirs Bookshop owner Kim Pittar said sales took off after Renelle was interviewed by Jamie Mackay on his The Country radio programme.
“After that the book went everywhere,” said Pittar.
“It’s gone all over the country. We’re constantly sending it out.”
Pittar said another popular local book was New Zealand Rustic from publisher Malcolm Rough, who lives at Mahanga.
“It’s a beautiful interior design book for homeowners who love ideas on how to live with things they have collected over the years.”
Paper Plus Gisborne assistant manager Fiona Dixon said their best non-fiction seller was Mana by Tama Iti.
“It is by far our top-seller.”
Mana was followed by Lessons on Living by the recently deceased Nigel Latta and Become Unstoppable by another New Zealander, former All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka.
Another popular seller “not quite matching the above publications” was The Hollow Boys, Peta Carey’s book about the helicopter deer recovery era in Fiordland.
“It would be up there too, if not for the fact we are having to wait for a second reprint,’’ Dixon said.
Pittar said non-fiction was wide-ranging, rather than a single genre.
“We can see that people are more interested in the world around them, particularly in trying to understand the conflicts in the Middle East.
“We’ve sold lots of Douglas Murray’s new book On Democracies and Death Cults and his back list titles.
“We’ve also sold a lot of Tim Marshall’s books Prisoners of Geography, The Power of Geography and The Future of Geography.”
Pittar said her favourite books for the year were Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton, a memoir shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction this year, and A Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing.
Both books were “just beautiful and engaging non-fiction”.
Ben MacIntyre publications were popular “from SAS Rogues to his new book in 2025, The Siege”.
Dixon said their best selling work of fiction was Exit Strategy by Lee Child and Andrew Child, followed by The Last Love Song by Lucinda Riley and Nash Falls by David Baldacci.
Pittar said some of her bestsellers were in the Māori cultural genre - Mahi a Atu by Diane Kopua, Matauranga Māori by Hirihi Moko Mead and the reprinted Nga Moteatea; The Songs - parts 1 to 4 by Sir Apirana Ngata.
Self-help books also featured among their top-sellers of 2025, Pittar said. These included The Let Them Theory and The 5 Second Rule, both by Mel Robbins, Atomic Habits by James Clear and Don’t Believe Everything You Think, by Joseph Nguyen.
Dixon said her favourite publications in children’s literature were Santa & Son by David Walliams, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Party Pooper by Jeff Kinney and Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr Seuss.
Books for young adults were “flying out of the door”, with the bestseller being Lynn Painter’s Fake Skating.
Pittar said there were no amazing standout books for children in 2025 at Muirs.
Books published in previous years, such as those written by Katherine Rundell, were still selling well, as were most books from Donovan Bixley.
Paper Plus Gisborne owner Anita Kingston and Pittar were enjoying the holiday period and helping people who, like them, love books.
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“Books are the perfect gift and we are happy to provide for our community,” Kingston said.
Pittar said books were a popular “add-on gift”.
“Books go with everything else. There’s such a variety available in every genre, so you will find something.”