1. (NEW) Route 52: A Big Lump Of Country Unknown by Simon Burt (Ugly Hill Press) Jumping straight to the top of the charts is this account of travelling the back roads around Wairarapa and southern Hawke’s Bay with a caravan in tow, and author Simon Burt nattering to locals along the way. From the first chapter: “[Masterton angler] Nick is around my age and has been fishing for as long as he can remember. He’s been plying the Makuri River for over 40 years. A natural storyteller (he’s a career salesman), Nick entertains me over a long black and a flat white at Masterton’s Trocadero cafe with the history of his relationship with the waterway. He’s pleased I’m writing about the river – he’s not one to keep fishing secrets – and about the area in general. ‘Good on you,’ he says. ‘Fame for Route 52 is long overdue. It’s a big lump of country unknown.’”
2. (1) Tasty by Chelsea Winter (Allen & Unwin)
There must have been plenty of versions of Chelsea Winter’s Noodle Peanut Stir-Fry and Aloo Palak whipped up over the holiday break. The MasterChef NZ winner’s latest cookbook, chock-full of plant-rich comfort food as it is, has held tight to the top of the bestsellers’ charts. It’s been four years since the mega-selling Supergood. As she told the Listener: “Tasty is a plant-based book, but it’s not staunchly plant-based. I’ve designed it to be flexible. If someone wants to use a recipe as fully plant-based – great. If they want to sub in a bit of cheese and cream – perfect. If they want to serve it alongside a cut of meat, or chuck some chicken or fish in one of the curries – perfect. It’s for every kind of eater.” She replaced refined sugar in recipes with the likes of coconut sugar after seeing the effects on her children. “Man, my children don’t need any more energy.” For recipes from Tasty, go here.
3. (2) More Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Power (A&U)
The latest cookbook from sisters Margo Flanagan and Rosa Power, which promises more of the same tasty-looking food that delivered them previous bestsellers. Neither are vegetarian or vegan, they just encourage moderation in all things. Recipes go from raw to pan to oven, as well as desserts. Included are swappable ingredients, tips and timesavers, and pairing suggestions. You’ll find recipes from the book here.
4. (6) The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (A&U)
It’s now more than 80 years since D-Day. Pippa Latour, who died in West Auckland late in 2023 aged 102, helped lay the groundwork for the operation’s success and the end of the war by acting as a secret agent in France for Britain during WWII.
“I was not a James Bond-style spy,” said Latour. “I was a secret agent whose job it was to blend into the background and cause quiet chaos.” It was exhausting work; she was unable to trust anyone, had several code names, and was often hungry. It was desperately perilous, too. Many of the 13,000 SOEs were killed, including 14 women out of 39 in France. The average life expectancy of male wireless operators in France when she served was six weeks. Latour’s was a truly remarkable life all around, and The Last Secret Agent, co-written with Jude Dobson, is a clear and fluent account. Read the review here.
5. (5) Kāwai: Tree of Nourishment by Monty Soutar (David Bateman)
As the Listener’s review notes (you can read it here), Monty Soutar picks up the narrative where Kāwai: For Such a Time as This left off. “The advent of muskets placed the power of fire and death into the hands of any iwi with the cunning, the connections and the economic capacity to possess them. In so doing, the musket undermined the foundations of Māori society, including the mana of the tohunga, upending their command of magic and their bond with the spirit world through its blind disregard for the sacred pageantry of war, death and the interweaving of these things with all that is tapu. This in turn paved the way for European missionaries to bring stories of a different god, a new perspective on faith and the sanctity of life, and irrevocable change. Soutar uses this narrative to explore the power of words, both the writings of men who claimed to be holy and the fractious ink of te tiriti, whose intentions remain contested to this day.”
6. (3) The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone by Gareth Ward & Louise Ward (Penguin)
“When we opened Sherlock Tomes people warned us that we’d made a terrible mistake. People warned us that e-readers were taking over. People warned us that we’d never compete with Amazon. The one thing they didn’t warn us about was the murders.”
And so begins this first joint novel from actual Hawke’s Bay booksellers Gareth and Louise Ward, a cosy murder-mystery that promises bookshop insider titbits and literary puns galore. The plot has Garth and Eloise, with their dog Stevie “are drawn into the baffling case of a decades-old missing schoolgirl. Intrigued by the puzzling, bookish clues, the two ex-cops [who tell the story in alternate chapters], are soon tangled in a web of crime, drugs and floral decapitations, while endeavouring to pull off the international celebrity book launch of the century.”
A follow-up is out later this year. Learn how Gareth and Louise Ward’s previous careers as UK police officers helped them write The Bookshop Detectives.
7. (8) Atua Wāhine by Hana Tapiata (HarperCollins)
Writer Hana Tapiata (Te Arawa, Ngati Awa, Ngati Porou, Waikato, Pākehā) is a mother and writer who lives by Māori philosophies “to explore wellness, self-determination and liberation”.
From the publisher: “Atua wāhine are the Māori goddesses who make up the world around us: earth, fire, water, the moon and more. From the earth mother, Papatuanuku, who sustains and nurtures us to the goddess of peace, Hineputehue, who transformed pain into beauty, and the misunderstood goddess of the underworld, Hinenuitepo, who created purpose and enlightenment from betrayal – this book is a treasure of knowledge and insight.
“Drawing on whakatauki (proverbs) and purakau (traditional stories), discover how the wisdom of 17 atua wahine can help us live with courage and confidence in the modern world. With guided steps, these atua will inspire you to foster creativity, acknowledge cycles of change, and embrace self-determination.”
8. (NEW) Hairy Maclary Treasury by Lynley Dodd (Puffin)
Fancy special edition to celebrate the raggedy rascal’s 40th birthday which brings together ten of his mischievous and mad adventures, along with a link to download the audio book, introduced by Lynley Dodd.
9. (7) Kataraina by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press)
As the Listener’s recent interview with Manawatu notes, a swamp, or kūkūwai, runs under and through Kataraina. “It is a shifting, changing body of water – an expansive wetland, a drained and lifeless bog, a deep lagoon. Like poet Seamus Heaney’s Irish bogs preserving Iron Age bodies in places where “there is no reflection”, it is a repository for memories of ancestral violence and retribution. As Aunty Moira says in the book, “That kūkūwai is all roimata. Tears.”
“Kataraina takes up the story of Kataraina Te Au, Aunty Kat. In Auē, she is a partially drawn character, seen through the eyes of the nephew she looks after, young Ārama, and feisty Beth. They see her spark, her love, her defensiveness, but also her bruises, meted out by Stuart Johnson, Uncle Stu, and never talked about. Never discussed.” You can read the full interview with Becky Manawatu here.
10. (RETURN) Wild Walks Aotearoa by Hannah-Rose Watt (Penguin)
Top-notch guide to the country’s best tramps by someone who has literally done the hard yards. It’s beautifully illustrated, and the amount of detail provided by Hannah-Rose Watt is impressive, from a personal measure of difficulty to a gear guide, first aid, maps and weather. And then there are the 59 walks. Divided into ones that can be done with kids, quick walks, multi-day and two levels of tough, they are mostly in the South Island, and it’s all written in a zippy, knowledgeable style.
Source: Nielsen Bookscan NZ – week ending January 25
