Bestselling books at Waitangi Weekend

2026-02-05 - 09:58

FICTION 1 The American Boys by Olivia Spooner (Hachette, $37.99) 2 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38.00) Last week’s free book giveaway was special, one-of-a-kind, amazing. Readers were offered six- yes, six!-novels by the sage of Cambridge, Catherine Chidgey. As well as a copy of The Book of Guilt, the prize included new editions of five of her previous novels, The Axeman’s Carnival, Wish Child, Remote Sympathy, Pet, and Fishbone Church. To win, readers were asked to share any kind of intelligent, appreciative commentary on her work. It was an immensely popular contest. There were dozens of entries and very many were idolatory. Many were intelligent, too. Caleb wrote, “There’s a deep attentiveness to power, who has it, who submits to it, and how easily harm is normalised when it’s dressed as care. Reading Chidgey always feels like being asked to look more closely, and to take responsibility for what you see.” Libby wrote, “Chidgey’s mastery of the sense of impending doom makes one want to turn the pages compulsively yet reluctantly. Her subtle building of hints at domestic violence, classroom bullying or post war genetic experimentation leave one aghast at the everyday reality of human nature. Watching and enjoying the development of this talent in real time is a rare pleasure.” Bernie went into religious ecstasies: “She should be designated our patron saint of NZ literature – Saint Catherine of Aotearoa.” Pauline went for the long game: “I really, really want these Chidgey Spines for my grandchildren and their descendants. The narratives invite thoughtful reflection of what it means to be a decent human being....qualities I want to bequeath to my grandchildren and their progeny. May these Spines live on to be loved long after my demise.” I liked the immediate game of Liz, who wrote, “I’d love to add those spines to my bookcase. Alphabetically, they would sit on the shelf above my 13 Janet Frame books.” But the winner is Rohini, a work colleague of Catherine Chidgey’s at the University of Waikato, and who has never actually read a single goddamned page of La Chidge but her entry was so charming and so persuasive. She wrote, “I work at the same institution as Catherine, and in the few and brief encounters I’ve had with her in the course of my work I have of course been starstruck, enamoured, and humbled. We once ran a competition for staff to win copies of The Axeman’s Carnival and Catherine (and Tama) kindly signed them all for us before we distributed them to the winners. One of my colleagues completed a Master of Professional Writing supervised by Catherine and is nothing but complimentary. Our wider team works with Catherine on the Sargeson Prize each year and she is always frighteningly organised and totally obliging. “This is the only appreciative commentary I can give on her work, as, shockingly and to my chagrin, I have as yet not read any of it. Why not? I think I’m apprehensive about exposing myself to the genius of it, when its architect is like, right there in a nearby building – I am reader as Icarus, she is the sun, and her novels are waxen wings of wonder? “Whatever the reasons, this secret shame of mine is why this week is finally the time for me to put my head above the parapet, admit my guilt and enter the book giveaway. Coming into possession of such a collection would obviously go a long – the longest – way to remedying an unconscionable reading gap.” Huzzah to Rohani. She wins six-yes, six!-novels by La Chidge. 3 The Last Living Cannibal by Airana Ngarewa (Hachette, $37.99) Longlisted for the fiction prize at the 2026 Ockham NZ national book awards. 4 Julia Eichardt by Lauren Roche (Flying Books Publishing, $36.99) 5 The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin (Hachette, $37.99) 6 See How They Fall by Rachel Paris (Hachette, $27.99) 7 The Shadow Weaver by Ivy Cliffwater (Hachette, $37.99) 8 Sea Change by Jenny Pattrick (David Bateman, $37.99) 9 Good Things Come and Go by Josie Shapiro (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 10 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin Random House, $38.00) Longlisted for the fiction prize at the 2026 Ockham NZ national book awards. NONFICTION 1 Lessons on Living by Nigel Latta (HarperCollins, $39.99) 2 Champions Do Extra by Brad Thorn (HarperCollins, $39.99) A free copy of the new bio by an All Black great is up for grabs in this week’s giveaway contest. To enter, share your thoughts on his rugby career and send to stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line in screaming caps BRAD! by midnight on Sunday, February 8. 3 Become Unstoppable by Gilbert Enoka (Penguin Random House, $40) 4 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House, $59.99) Longlisted for the nonfiction prize at the 2026 Ockham NZ national book awards. 5 Nourish by Chelsea Winter (Allen & Unwin, $49.99) 6 Māori Ora by Hira Nathan (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 7 Ara by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30) 8 The Unlikely Doctor by Timoti Te Moke (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 9 Mana by Tāme Iti (Allen & Unwin, $49.99) Should so totally been longlisted for the nonfiction prize at the 2026 Ockham NZ national book awards.1 0 Habits of High Performers by James Laughlin (HarperCollins, $39.99)