1. (NEW) Nourish by Chelsea Winter (Allen & Unwin)
Positively storming to the top of the charts after just a few days on sale is the cookbookery phenom Chelsea Winter with this guide to making “delicious, nutrient-dense recipes to help you and your family thrive”, including the now essential gluten-free and dairy-free options.
From the publisher: “A return to hearty, well-loved classics. A return to meat, eggs, dairy and fish. A joyful return to what made Chelsea’s food a household favourite – now reimagined with balance and a deeper intention to truly nourish … With a huge range of gluten-free and dairy-free options clearly marked throughout, Nourish makes it easy to cater for a variety of dietary needs - without compromising on taste. From delicious, practical dinners to sensational sweets – and even a new chapter on easy, food-based home remedies – Nourish is here to guide and uplift. These honest, sustaining recipes are nutritious, family-friendly, and made to be shared.
“This isn’t just a cookbook. It’s a trusted kitchen companion that will leave you feeling inspired, empowered – and, as always, like a legend in your own kitchen.”
You’ll find recipes from Nourish here.
2. (2) Nadia’s Farm Kitchen by Nadia Lim (Nude Food)
It’s a one-two for cookbooks this week. The publisher (who’s also Nadia Lim) says: “Welcome to my farm kitchen – where food is real, the stories are personal, and every recipe begins with what’s growing around us. Inside Nadia’s Farm Kitchen you’ll find the food I turn to as the seasons shift – meals shaped by the rhythm of the land. From rhubarb pushing through frost-hardened soil, to sun-warmed peaches and tomatoes bursting with ripeness, to the comforting aroma of a slow-roasting lamb shoulder on a snowbound afternoon – this is food that connects us to the seasons and the simple joy of cooking. But this is not just a cookbook – it’s also a glimpse into our life on Royalburn Station, filled with personal stories of farming and living through the seasons. It has been a true labour of love, created over years, with photography captured across the last 5-6 years on the farm. I am so proud of it – and I can honestly say it’s my best book to date.”
3. (1) Lessons on Living by Nigel Latta (HarperCollins)
The recently dead TV psychologist Nigel Latta’s mental toolkit for life’s ups and downs. From the publisher: “What do you do when you’re told you only have months to live? If you’re Nigel Latta, first, you’re going to eat a lot of ice cream. And then you’re going to assemble a mental toolbox to deal with every conceivable conundrum the world could throw at you (the small ones and the big ones). After three decades working as a clinical psychologist, Nigel has found there are just three principles you need to deal with life’s ups and downs. Whether you want to be a better parent, build an empire or get through some tough times, these easy-to-carry principles will help you to do that. Consider this book a guide to how to respond in any situation, drive your own bus, and do it all with resilience, joy and attention to what matters most.”
You can read more about Nigel Latta here.
4. (3) Perspective by Shaun Johnson (Penguin)
Shaun Johnson, who retired at the end of 2024 aged 34, was one of the country’s greatest rugby league players, and one of the best in the game. This is his autobiography, “a half-Laotian kid from the Hibiscus Coast with big dreams”. Written with sports journo Scotty Stevenson, it’s a lively, footy-lingo-ed romp with the halfback – random line, “We were absolutely shit-canned by the Roosters …” – through the highs and lows of a league career, beloved family in tow. He is looking to move into a career in media.
5. (5) The Hollows Boys by Peta Carey (Potton & Burton)
Frequent Listener contributor Carey tells the story of Gary, Mark and Kim, three siblings who grew up on Kawau Island, who all went to Fiordland to hunt venison. It’s a lively, intimate tale of helicopters, planes and jet boats, characters and derring-do, success, joy, risk and loss, catching deer, fish, crays, and full of the voices of the family. With plenty of photos.
6. (NEW) Nee Naw’s Cracker Christmas by Deano Yipadee & Bruce Potter (Scholastic)
Christmas is coming – really soon! The latest in the Nee Naw series is out! From the publisher, “There’s festive chaos at Granny’s place, and Nee Naw is right in the middle of it! The cheeky goats have nabbed a Christmas cracker, and before long the tree has toppled, decorations are flying, and Ploppy the Cow is stuck in the loo! Nee Naw wastes no time; he calls on his trusty friends Dusty, Toot, Ellie and Moto Mike to help save the day. Can they fix the mess in time for the Christmas party?”
7. (7) A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin)
Ardern’s memoir is the first such account since the late Jim Bolger’s 1998 effort, A View From the Top.
Ardern’s book has 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.”
Stuff editor Tracy Watkins 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 that 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 “the practicalities of the job don’t interest her: this book hinges on how everything felt”.
8. (5) Ara by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin)
From the publisher: “Dr Hinemoa Elder introduces us to a profound journey guided by Hinengaro, Māori goddess of the mind, leading us through 23 specific rua, caves, into the unfamiliar depths of Papatūānuku, our earth mother, and back to the surface again.
“Hinengaro offers us a dedicated path to gather insights, face challenges and help us navigate the complexities of our minds. Ara: A Māori Guidebook of the Mind is a resource for anyone seeking some comfort and clarity amid the chaos of our life’s path. Travel through this mind map navigating growth and discovery.”
9. (8) Saving Elli by Doug Gold (A&U)
Doug Gold’s latest based-on-fact tale of bravery and sacrifice.
Said the Listener: “Saving Elli is a compelling, well-told story, even a page turner, despite its harrowing subject matter.”
“Saving Elli … showcases a courageous Dutch couple, Frits and Jo Hakkens, who worked for the resistance in Nazi-occupied Holland. At significant personal risk, Frits and Jo successfully hid Abraham and Gita Szanowski’s daughter Elli from the Nazis for two years despite regular raids on their house.”
Tailor Abraham Szanowski suffered a period of forced labour at Buchenwald, before being transferred to Mauthansen and was later among other prisoners who became an early victim of the Nazi’s first mass gassings. Gita succeeded in reaching Switzerland after a perilous journey through occupied Belgium and France. Gita and her two daughters survived the war. In 1960 Frits and Jo emigrated to New Zealand with their three sons. After they died in the 1970s when only in their fifties, their son Marcel and his wife Gloria picked up the search for Elli, their lost “sister”. It wasn’t until 2011 that the brothers finally tracked her down.
10. (RETURN) Habits of High Performers, by James Laughlin (HarperCollins)
A “roadmap for everyday people to achieve extraordinary things”, from Christchurch-based mental skills coach and podcaster James Laughlin. He has apparently worked with top performers and organisations around the world, including professional athletes, CEOs, billion-dollar companies and high-achieving sports teams.
From the publisher: “This collection of principles is a game-changer for anyone wanting to earn more, be healthier, grow, or the best at what they do. Habits of High Performers will show you that high performance is hormonal and plays a massive role in your ability to perform at your best. Cortisol, dopamine and oxytocin all influence how we handle stress, stay motivated and build connections. This book will also show you that high performers focus on their strengths, take their MEDs, supercharge their belief systems, understand that desire is to a result what fuel is to a fire, and when your why is clear, your how is easy.”
Source: NielsenIQ BookScan – week ending October 11.
