1. (NEW) A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin)
The former PM’s memoir, the first such account since Jim Bolger, has leapt straight to the top of the bestsellers, and is unlikely to be dislodged for some time.
The book generally found favour among reviewers, including Henry Cooke for the Listener. He thought it intimate and fluent, “compulsively readable, easily consumable in two or three sittings, and often very funny”, even if it barely explained her government’s policy decisions. “Ardernism was always more a sensibility than a full ideology. It was a way of looking at the world and reacting to it, not a theory of change.” Cooke says, “There are some hints, near the end of the book, that perhaps she isn’t so certain quitting was the right idea … There is little attempt to engage with the arguments against the latter half of the Covid period, when MIQ’s usefulness looked shaky and vaccine mandates radicalised thousands of people.”
Tracy Watkins, editor of The Post and Sunday Star-Times, agreed the book let us into some of Ardern’s emotional highs and lows. “We also gain some fresh insight into her own personal mechanisms for coping with such momentous events as the terror attack and Covid. But we don’t learn a lot more about what was going on behind closed doors within her government, which must, at times, have been under enormous strain.”
The Guardian considered it “an emotionally rich and candid read, [but] the downside of skipping the political detail is that it’s hard to get a sense of how exactly her astonishing early popularity ebbed away”.
Tim Stanley of The Telegraph was more acerbic, writing, “The practicalities of the job don’t interest her: this book hinges on how everything felt.” The natural disaster at Whakaari / White Island and the Christchurch mosque killings “brought out Ardern’s best: authoritative and sensitive, she has a fine temperament”. But she subtly vilified her opponents, he says: “I am so kind that anyone who disagrees with me must be nasty; so reasonable that my critics must be nuts.”
2. (1) The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
The PM’s memoir bumps out of the top spot Catherine Chidgey’s latest novel, which tells the mysterious, ominous story of three boys in an alternative 1970s Britain.
“It’s a tense, compelling, genre-fusing book,” said the Listener. “There is the hint of submerged identity; of aspiration and prosperity, rubbing skins with disappointment and neglect; a preoccupation with what is authentic and what is fraudulent; the self and truth only dimly visible … Calling on the deeply rooted psychological power of the storytelling rule of three, the novel is divided into The Book of Dreams, The Book of Knowledge and The Book of Guilt. Three women, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night, care for a set of 13-year-old triplets in an all-boy’s orphanage. There are three main narrative perspectives: Vincent, one of the triplets; the Minister of Loneliness, a government minister in charge of national care institutions known as the Sycamore Homes; and Nancy, a young girl kept in seclusion by fastidious older parents. This attention to pattern also coolly embodies the quest for order and control, the troubling obsession at the core of the fictional investigation.”
You can read Michele Hewitson’s interview with Catherine Chidgey here.
3. (2) Fix Iron First by Dr Libby (Little Green Frog)
“The one thing that changes everything,” reckons the subtitle of the latest book from Libby Weaver.
Iron is essential for our health, and its lack is particularly common among girls and women. Menstruation, pregnancy and hormonal change can lead to iron deficiency, iron absorption can be an issue for some people, and it’s often a trial to eat enough iron-rich foods.
Weaver’s new book, Fix Iron First, aims to address this. As her website, which also sells iron supplements made from organic peas, notes that low iron doesn’t just make you tired: “It can alter your brain chemistry, slow your metabolism, impact your thyroid, disturb your sleep and lower your emotional resilience. It affects how you think, how you feel, how you show up in the world – every single day.”
4. (RETURN) Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin)
Manapōuri bookshop owner Ruth Shaw returns to tell the second half of her fascinating life story.
The Listener noted: “One could be forgiven for looking at the cover of this book, with its gentle peach and grey-blues, the idyllic three buildings lit up like little beacons, and the title (I mean, little bookshops! How appealing can you get?) and expect a book of lovely little tales about finding the perfect book for the perfect reader. These tales are here, but they are interleaved between chapters of Ruth’s adventures. The main thrust of this book is the second half of Ruth’s memoir, begun in The Bookseller at the End of the World.
“In that book she detailed her first 35 years, and now she delves into her life from 35 to 78, admitting wryly but without guile that this ‘period of my life was not as chaotic as my first 35 years’. This has to be a good thing. Surviving another 35 years as eventful as Ruth’s first, which included three marriages, several tragic deaths, and close encounters with pirates, would take more fortitude than one can imagine – perhaps more than even Ruth has. But she still takes on considerable adventures with gusto in this period, advised or non-advised.”
5. (3) Whānau by Donovan Farnham & Rehua Wilson (Moa Press)
This illustrated pocket hardback, ideal as a gift, aims to improve your te reo Māori one special phrase at a time. Donovan Te Ahunui Farnham and Rehua Wilson offer up dozens of expressions, often with metaphorical or proverbial origins, such as “He toka tū moana” (stalwart) and “Kei mate wheke” (never surrender).
6. (4) The Bookshop Detectives: Tea And Cake And Death by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin)
The bestselling Bookshop Detectives, owner of Sherlock Tomes, have another mysterious case to solve.
From the publisher: “In this rollicking new adventure, Garth and Eloise (and Stevie) must sniff out a prolific poisoner ahead of a vital fundraising event, the Battle of the Book Clubs. As time runs out and the body count rises, it seems the bad actors are circling closer to the people and places they care about. Could Pinter, the infamous serial killer from Eloise’s past, somehow be involved? And when anyone could be a suspect, how can Garth and Eloise keep their customers, their small town and their beloved bookshop safe?”
7. End Your Fight with Food by Claire Turnbull (A&U)
From the publisher: “We are bombarded with advice on what we should do to be healthier or lose weight, but making that happen feels overwhelming, if not impossible. This cycle of trying and ‘failing’ then leaves you stuck in frustration, shame and self-blame.
“In this compassionate and practical guide, nutritionist and wellbeing expert Claire Turnbull helps you break free from the struggle. She explains how our eating is influenced by our psychology, why diets often fail to deliver lasting results — and why willpower alone isn’t the answer. Plus, she shows why focusing exclusively on the number on the scales can get in the way of truly looking after our health.
“Learn how to unpack your eating patterns and change your habits for good, so that you’re eating in accordance with your health and wellbeing goals, rather than focusing on your weight.
“Beyond food, Claire shares the latest research on the key pillars of genuine wellbeing: nourishment, sleep, movement, relationships, managing stress and connecting with your purpose.”
8. (RETURN) 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin)
From the Listener’s review: “Young Obi lives in a decrepit villa at the lowest, flood-prone point of Grey Lynn’s Crummer Rd, with his teenage sister, hard-drinking father and chronically ill mother. He’s blessed, or cursed, with a hunger for escape and adventure that video games only partly satisfy – and the arrival of a sinister figure from his dad’s past sets everything on a fateful course.
“A gritty coming-of-age story set against the end of an era, poet and novelist Dominic Hoey’s latest (it follows 2022’s well-received Poor People with Money) is nominally a period novel but far from an exercise in nostalgia. Hoey puts the sensations and smells of Auckland in the 1980s under our fingers and in our nostrils, as facts of life that Obi accepts with the readiness of childhood. The Rainbow Warrior sinking is humorously dismissed on the first page as a non-event, and although the manhunt for the saboteurs provides thematic colour and a moment of fateful idealism later on, the signal is clear: these are people with more immediate concerns on the table.”
9. (9) Full Circle by Jenny-May Clarkson (HarperCollins)
Holding its place in the charts is this memoir from the TV presenter.
From the publisher: “From a childhood in rural Piopio, Jenny-May Coffin grew up to achieve international success as a Silver Fern and then began a stellar career on radio and television as a sports commentator and morning presenter. But outward success can often mask inner uncertainty, and Jenny-May lost her grip on the confidence her 10-year-old self possessed. The ups and downs of a full life, with tragedies as well as triumphs, left her in need of renewal. Here is the story of how she found self-confidence again, reclaiming strength and identity through her connections to te ao Māori, with the support of her husband, Dean Clarkson, and her close ties to her parents and siblings.”
10. (8) No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins)
TV journalist Alison Mau’s new book promises to be an “inspiring, honest and intimate memoir about family, love and rising from the ashes”.
From the publisher: “From the age of 12, Alison Mau wanted to be a journalist like her father. He was a beer-swilling, straight-talking Aussie who was rough around the edges but could quote passages of Hamlet at will. He taught Ali everything – from how to skin a rabbit and throw a punch to how to craft a sharp sentence – and she craved his validation as she navigated the sexist badlands of Australian print and television journalism through the 1980s and ’90s.
“From Melbourne to London and Auckland, Ali built a glittering career and became a media darling – until an unexpected call from her sister brought her professional and personal lives crashing together with devastating force. As an investigative reporter bringing New Zealand’s #MeToo stories to light, she had to survey the wreckage of her family myth and ask herself, ‘Am I strong enough?’ and ‘Are there words for this?’”
Source: NielsenIQ BookScan – week ending June 7.
