This week’s bestselling books – January 30
2026-01-29 - 16:04
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) Oho! Just as The Book of Guilt storms onto the longlist for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand book awards, announced on Thursday, ReadingRoom returns to its weekly custom of giving away books in the bestseller chart with the first offer of 2026, and it is a very special, one-of-a-kind offer: a copy of The Book of Guilt as well as new editions of five—yes, five!—other novels by the sage of Cambridge, Catherine Chidgey. They are: The Axeman’s Carnival (its new edition sending her 2022 masterpiece back in the charts this week at number 7), Wish Child, Remote Sympathy, Pet, and Fishbone Church. This is an extravagant prize that will turn a whole level of your bookshelf into aesthetic Chidgey spines. To be in the draw, share any kind of intelligent, appreciative commentary on the work of La Chidge and email it to stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line in screaming caps A VISION OF AESTHETIC CHIDGEY SPINES by midnight on Sunday, February 1. A few lines will suffice but replies at length are also welcome. Prose, no poetry, for God’s sake. This offer is open to anyone who can read and that includes, for example, secondary school teachers wanting to illuminate their students. 3 Julia Eichardt by Lauren Roche (Flying Books Publishing, $36.99) 4 The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin (Hachette, $37.99) 5 The Shadow Weaver by Ivy Cliffwater (Hachette, $37.99) 6 Tea and Cake and Death (The Bookshop Detectives 2) by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $38) 7 The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $28) Free to a good home or school. 8 Good Things Come and Go by Josie Shapiro (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 9 Dead Girl Gone (The Bookshop Detectives 1) by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $28) 10 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35) NONFICTION 1 Lessons on Living by Nigel Latta (HarperCollins, $39.99) Advice, such as: “Focus on the things you can control.” See Become Unstoppable, and Perspective, below. 2 Nourish by Chelsea Winter (Allen & Unwin, $49.99) Earlier this week I ordered a set of four cutting knives plus sharpener from the Chelsea Winter shop—$100 at the moment, marked down from $150—and they arrived on Thursday along with two free teatowels. 3 Māori Ora by Hira Nathan (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 4 Become Unstoppable by Gilbert Enoka (Penguin Random House, $40) Advice, such as: “Control the controllables.” See Perspective, below, and Lessons on Living, above. 5 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House, $59.99) 6 Nadia’s Farm Kitchen by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) Earlier this week I was at grocery boutique Farros and saw this rack of lamb produced by Nadia Lim’s Royalbourn farm store, priced at $70.29. I bought some sausages instead. 7 Ara by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30) 8 Mana by Tāme Iti (Allen & Unwin, $49.99) 9 The Unlikely Doctor by Timoti Te Moke (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 10 Perspective by Shaun Jonson (Penguin Random House $40) Advice, such as: “Focus the Controllables.” See Lessons on Living and Become Unstoppable, above.