1. (1) Nourish by Chelsea Winter (Allen & Unwin)
Holding confidently to the top of the charts for the second week 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 the second week of a one-two for Kiwi cookbooks. 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 five to six years on the farm. I am so proud of it – and I can honestly say it’s my best book to date.”
3. (4) 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.
4. (NEW) Mana by Tāme Iti (A&U)
Memoir from the Ngāi Tūhoe artist and activist.
From the publisher: “For more than five decades, Tāme Iti has stood at the heart of Aotearoa’s struggle for indigenous rights. From land marches to performance art, police raids to prison cells, his voice has challenged New Zealand to reckon with its colonial legacy. Once branded as a dangerous and extreme activist, now hailed as a national treasure, Tāme has lived the contradictions and realities of standing with mana motuhake in a modern world. After being silenced for speaking te reo Māori as a child, Tāme went on to champion its revitalisation. He discovered the power of protest and what it means to live with mana in a world that often tries to strip it away. This is his kōrero of the road he walked and the people who joined him. The comrades, the supporters, and the ones who tried to take him out.”
5. (3) Lessons on Living by Nigel Latta (HarperCollins)
The late 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 have only 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.
6. (RETURN) Become Unstoppable Gilbert Enoka (Penguin)
If there’s one thing Kiwis love as much as a biography from a veteran All Blacks player or coach, it’s a guide to how the ABs perform as well as they do, as consistently as they do – with the idea that the “winning mindset” lessons might just rub off on the reader.
From the publisher: “In a career spanning almost three decades, visionary psychological coach Gilbert Enoka changed the way the All Blacks played their game. With a 77% winning record in test match rugby, the highest of any professional sports team, they are the only international team to have a winning record against every opponent.
That is only possible because they leave no part of their preparation to chance. Their winning mindset and resilience are as important as the physical training and Gilbert Enoka was their secret weapon. “For the first time, Gilbert distils his essential lessons to building unshakeable staying power – particularly at times of high pressure where others would crumble – creating a winning team mentality – and leaving things better than how you found them so that we can all learn the All Blacks’ way. Discover how to build a winning culture, hone your leadership to inspire your team in times of need and establish iconic rules for performance that will become your competitive advantage for years to come.”
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. (NEW) Māori Ora by Hira Nathan (A&U)
Guided journal based on traditional Māori knowledge, to help you live a “more balanced and intentional life”.
From the publisher: “Engage with key aspects of mātauranga (knowledge) – manaakitanga (hospitality and kindness), kaitiakitanga (care and connection with the land), mauri (life force), rangatiratanga (collective leadership and self-determination), tikanga / kawa (customs and behaviour) and whanaungatanga (relationships). Mātauranga has a past, a present and a future, and throughout this pukapuka you will learn how to apply mātauranga every day to create your own stories of change and growth, with space to record your unique reflections of the journey you wish to go on.”
10. (RETURN) 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?”
