Top 10 bestselling NZ books: July 19
Holding steady: Top three bestselling books remained unchanged. Photos / Supplied
1. (1) A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin)
The former PM's memoir, the first such account since Jim Bolger, tops the bestsellers for a fifth week.
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.'
Tracy Watkins, editor of The Post and Sunday Star-Times, 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 practicalities of the job don't interest her: this book hinges on how everything felt'. 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 she subtly vilified her opponents, he says: 'I am so kind that anyone who disagrees with me must be nasty; so reasonable that my critics must be nuts.'
A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir, by Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Supplied
2. (2) Leading Under Pressure by Ian Foster & Gregor Paul (HarperCollins)
Demonstrating the rule that rugby memoirs are a sure bet in the NZ books market, Ian Foster's account of his time as All Blacks coach holds on firmly to second place in the bestsellers. I haven't read the book, but I hope it goes into the – in my opinion – unedifying way he was replaced as coach. Only super-retrospective refereeing stopped his team of All Blacks winning the RWC.
From the publisher: 'Appointed as head coach 2019, Ian Foster led the All Blacks through one of the most tumultuous periods of the team's 120-year history. Leading Under Pressure is a fascinating look into the pressure cooker inner-sanctum of the world's most famous rugby team. With revelations about Foster's time in the job, it also delves into the politics of rugby, and the events preceding the dramatic 2023 Rugby World Cup.'
Leading Under Pressure: My Story by Ian Foster. Photo / Supplied
3. (3) No, I Don't Get Danger Money by Lisette Reymer (Allen & Unwin)
Waikato-born Reymer, after covering the Tokyo Olympics, found herself in the UK, where she became Newshub's Europe Correspondent. She burst into tears when she got the job, which the Listener's reviewer found instantly endearing.
'Her next three years were 'London, August 2021 … Przemysl, Poland, March 2022 … Bucha, Ukraine, May 2022 … Kahramanmaras, Turkey, late April 2023 … Tel Aviv, late October 2023 …' So it goes, with other locales in between, ending in Ethiopia, Lucerne, London again, and Barcelona, August 2024.'Her commitment to catastrophes starts with watching the Twin Towers fall on Mum and Dad's TV. It's the first of many, many narratives in a text that's anecdotal rather than analytical. But then, stories are frequently the best way of getting to the guts of an issue, and Reymer tells hers with clarity and competence-plus.'
No, I Don't Get Danger Money by Lisette Reymer. Photo / Supplied
4. (5) Māori Millionaire by Te Kahukura Boynton (Penguin)
The publisher says the book 'offers a beginner's guide to healing your money mindset, building better habits for your money and life, and understanding how you can increase your income. Because no amount of budgeting can compensate for not earning enough.
'Discover how to:
— Introduce small, life-changing habits
— Master your mindset to align with prosperity
— Get out of debt
— See real returns by investing in yourself
— Protect yourself with insurance
— Overcome obstacles to achieve your goals
And so much more!
'The lessons in this book will teach you how to become 1% better every day — not only for you, but for your whānau too.'
Māori Millionaire by Te Kahukura Boynton. Photo / Supplied
You'll find Te Kahukura Boynton on the Listener online's 30 Under 30 – the young New Zealanders shaping our future list
5. (4) The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Holding its own on the list is Catherine Chidgey's much praised latest novel, which tells the mysterious, ominous story of three boys in an alternative 1970s Britain.
It's a 'tense, compelling, genre-fusing book', said Emma Neale in the Listener. 'There is the hint of submerged identity; of aspiration and prosperity, rubbing skins with disappointment and neglect; a preoccupation with what is authentic and what is fraudulent; the self and truth only dimly visible … Calling on the deeply rooted psychological power of the storytelling rule of three, the novel is divided into The Book of Dreams, The Book of Knowledge and The Book of Guilt. Three women, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night, care for a set of thirteen-year-old triplets in an all-boy's orphanage. There are three main narrative perspectives: Vincent, one of the triplets; the Minister of Loneliness, a government minister in charge of national care institutions known as the Sycamore Homes; and Nancy, a young girl kept in seclusion by fastidious older parents. This attention to pattern also coolly embodies the quest for order and control, the troubling obsession at the core of the fictional investigation.'
You can read Michele Hewitson's interview with Catherine Chidgey here.
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey. Photo / Supplied
6. (6) Dr Libby Fix Iron First by Dr Libby (Little Green Frog)
'The one thing that changes everything,' reckons the subtitle of the latest book from Libby Weaver.
Iron is essential for our health, and its lack is particularly common among girls and women. Menstruation, pregnancy and hormonal change can lead to iron deficiency, iron absorption can be an issue for some people, and it's often a trial to eat enough iron-rich foods.
Weaver's new book Fix Iron First aims to address this. As her website, which also sells iron supplements made from organic peas, notes that low iron doesn't just make you tired. 'It can alter your brain chemistry, slow your metabolism, impact your thyroid, disturb your sleep and lower your emotional resilience. It affects how you think, how you feel, how you show up in the world – every single day.'
Fix Iron First: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Dr Libby Weaver. Photo / Supplied
7. (NEW) Moto Mike the Motorbike (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Bruce Potter (Scholastic)
School holidays have ensured the rise of the latest from Mosgiel's finest children's troubadour, Dean O'Brien, aka Deano Yipadee.
From the publisher: 'Singer-songwriter Dean O'Brien has produced yet another toe-tapping, singalong song, this time about Nee Naw's friend, Moto Mike the Motorbike. Farmer Tom and his tractor are leading the annual pumpkin parade. When the tractor wheel jolts off the edge of the bridge, Tom finds himself in a precarious situation. Enter Nee Naw's mate, Moto Mike, who swiftly takes action and saves the day.'
Moto Mike the Motorbike (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Bruce Potter. Photo / Supplied
8. (NEW) Ellie Copter (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Paul Beavis (Scholastic)
And yet another from Dean O'Brien. This time: 'There's a fire in a field where two goats, Plinky and Plonky, are trapped. Nee Naw is on the way, but when a bridge collapses and Nee Naw can't drive any further, Ellie Copter whirs into action and saves the day.'
Ellie Copter (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Paul Beavis. Photo / Supplied
9. (NEW) Mātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia Publishers)
A companion publication to anthropologist and historian Hirini Moko Mead's best-selling book Tikanga Māori.
From the publisher: 'In Mātauranga Māori, Hirini Moko Mead explores the Māori knowledge system and explains what mātauranga Māori is. He looks at how the knowledge system operates, the branches of knowledge, and the way knowledge is recorded and given expression in te reo Māori and through daily activities and formal ceremonies. Mātauranga Māori is integrated into every activity people engage in. It touches the lives of people in whatever they do, in the way they act, in the way they think, in the way they learn and in the way their knowledge is shared with others.'
Mātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead. Photo / Supplied
10. (4) Whānau by Donovan Farnham & Rehua Wilson (Moa Press)
This illustrated pocket hardback, ideal as a gift, aims to improve your te reo Māori one special phrase at a time. Donovan Te Ahunui Farnham and Rehua Wilson offer up dozens of expressions, often with metaphorical or proverbial origins, such as 'He toka tū moana' (stalwart) and 'Kei mate wheke' (never surrender).
Whānau by Donovan Farnham and Rehua Wilson. Photo / Supplied
Source: NielsenIQ BookScan – week ending July 12.
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Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Holding steady: Top three bestselling books remained unchanged. Photos / Supplied 1. (1) A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin) The former PM's memoir, the first such account since Jim Bolger, tops the bestsellers for a fifth week. 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.' 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Only super-retrospective refereeing stopped his team of All Blacks winning the RWC. From the publisher: 'Appointed as head coach 2019, Ian Foster led the All Blacks through one of the most tumultuous periods of the team's 120-year history. Leading Under Pressure is a fascinating look into the pressure cooker inner-sanctum of the world's most famous rugby team. With revelations about Foster's time in the job, it also delves into the politics of rugby, and the events preceding the dramatic 2023 Rugby World Cup.' Leading Under Pressure: My Story by Ian Foster. Photo / Supplied 3. (3) No, I Don't Get Danger Money by Lisette Reymer (Allen & Unwin) Waikato-born Reymer, after covering the Tokyo Olympics, found herself in the UK, where she became Newshub's Europe Correspondent. She burst into tears when she got the job, which the Listener's reviewer found instantly endearing. 'Her next three years were 'London, August 2021 … Przemysl, Poland, March 2022 … Bucha, Ukraine, May 2022 … Kahramanmaras, Turkey, late April 2023 … Tel Aviv, late October 2023 …' So it goes, with other locales in between, ending in Ethiopia, Lucerne, London again, and Barcelona, August 2024.'Her commitment to catastrophes starts with watching the Twin Towers fall on Mum and Dad's TV. It's the first of many, many narratives in a text that's anecdotal rather than analytical. But then, stories are frequently the best way of getting to the guts of an issue, and Reymer tells hers with clarity and competence-plus.' No, I Don't Get Danger Money by Lisette Reymer. Photo / Supplied 4. (5) Māori Millionaire by Te Kahukura Boynton (Penguin) The publisher says the book 'offers a beginner's guide to healing your money mindset, building better habits for your money and life, and understanding how you can increase your income. Because no amount of budgeting can compensate for not earning enough. 'Discover how to: — Introduce small, life-changing habits — Master your mindset to align with prosperity — Get out of debt — See real returns by investing in yourself — Protect yourself with insurance — Overcome obstacles to achieve your goals And so much more! 'The lessons in this book will teach you how to become 1% better every day — not only for you, but for your whānau too.' Māori Millionaire by Te Kahukura Boynton. Photo / Supplied You'll find Te Kahukura Boynton on the Listener online's 30 Under 30 – the young New Zealanders shaping our future list 5. (4) The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press) Holding its own on the list is Catherine Chidgey's much praised latest novel, which tells the mysterious, ominous story of three boys in an alternative 1970s Britain. It's a 'tense, compelling, genre-fusing book', said Emma Neale in the Listener. 'There is the hint of submerged identity; of aspiration and prosperity, rubbing skins with disappointment and neglect; a preoccupation with what is authentic and what is fraudulent; the self and truth only dimly visible … Calling on the deeply rooted psychological power of the storytelling rule of three, the novel is divided into The Book of Dreams, The Book of Knowledge and The Book of Guilt. Three women, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night, care for a set of thirteen-year-old triplets in an all-boy's orphanage. There are three main narrative perspectives: Vincent, one of the triplets; the Minister of Loneliness, a government minister in charge of national care institutions known as the Sycamore Homes; and Nancy, a young girl kept in seclusion by fastidious older parents. This attention to pattern also coolly embodies the quest for order and control, the troubling obsession at the core of the fictional investigation.' You can read Michele Hewitson's interview with Catherine Chidgey here. The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey. Photo / Supplied 6. (6) Dr Libby Fix Iron First by Dr Libby (Little Green Frog) 'The one thing that changes everything,' reckons the subtitle of the latest book from Libby Weaver. Iron is essential for our health, and its lack is particularly common among girls and women. Menstruation, pregnancy and hormonal change can lead to iron deficiency, iron absorption can be an issue for some people, and it's often a trial to eat enough iron-rich foods. Weaver's new book Fix Iron First aims to address this. As her website, which also sells iron supplements made from organic peas, notes that low iron doesn't just make you tired. 'It can alter your brain chemistry, slow your metabolism, impact your thyroid, disturb your sleep and lower your emotional resilience. It affects how you think, how you feel, how you show up in the world – every single day.' Fix Iron First: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Dr Libby Weaver. Photo / Supplied 7. (NEW) Moto Mike the Motorbike (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Bruce Potter (Scholastic) School holidays have ensured the rise of the latest from Mosgiel's finest children's troubadour, Dean O'Brien, aka Deano Yipadee. From the publisher: 'Singer-songwriter Dean O'Brien has produced yet another toe-tapping, singalong song, this time about Nee Naw's friend, Moto Mike the Motorbike. Farmer Tom and his tractor are leading the annual pumpkin parade. When the tractor wheel jolts off the edge of the bridge, Tom finds himself in a precarious situation. Enter Nee Naw's mate, Moto Mike, who swiftly takes action and saves the day.' Moto Mike the Motorbike (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Bruce Potter. Photo / Supplied 8. (NEW) Ellie Copter (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Paul Beavis (Scholastic) And yet another from Dean O'Brien. This time: 'There's a fire in a field where two goats, Plinky and Plonky, are trapped. Nee Naw is on the way, but when a bridge collapses and Nee Naw can't drive any further, Ellie Copter whirs into action and saves the day.' Ellie Copter (Nee Naw and Friends) by Deano Yipadee & Paul Beavis. Photo / Supplied 9. (NEW) Mātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia Publishers) A companion publication to anthropologist and historian Hirini Moko Mead's best-selling book Tikanga Māori. From the publisher: 'In Mātauranga Māori, Hirini Moko Mead explores the Māori knowledge system and explains what mātauranga Māori is. He looks at how the knowledge system operates, the branches of knowledge, and the way knowledge is recorded and given expression in te reo Māori and through daily activities and formal ceremonies. Mātauranga Māori is integrated into every activity people engage in. It touches the lives of people in whatever they do, in the way they act, in the way they think, in the way they learn and in the way their knowledge is shared with others.' Mātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead. Photo / Supplied 10. (4) Whānau by Donovan Farnham & Rehua Wilson (Moa Press) This illustrated pocket hardback, ideal as a gift, aims to improve your te reo Māori one special phrase at a time. Donovan Te Ahunui Farnham and Rehua Wilson offer up dozens of expressions, often with metaphorical or proverbial origins, such as 'He toka tū moana' (stalwart) and 'Kei mate wheke' (never surrender). Whānau by Donovan Farnham and Rehua Wilson. Photo / Supplied Source: NielsenIQ BookScan – week ending July 12.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Government ponders radical power reforms as prices rise
Back then, the person leading the prosecution was none other than Willis herself, and she was ruthless in her disallowance of Grant Robertson's excuses. Pressing Robertson on skyrocketing mortgage costs, Willis asked the following: 'Is it seriously his position that international factors are to blame for this growth in a core component of New Zealanders' cost of living?' The answer then, as it is now, is sadly yes. The international factors that were responsible for a third or more of the post-Covid inflation spike, according to Treasury research, are much the same as the factors weighing on Willis' growth prospects in 2025. These have caused Treasury to revise its forecasts for GDP growth in the coming year from an impressive and possibly election-winning 3.3% to a less impressive 2.9% at the most recent Budget. That follows revisions to its GDP estimates for the year to the end of June, which Treasury tweaked from a gloomy 0.5% growth to a decidedly grim 0.8% contraction. Voters may be slightly more forgiving of first-term Willis than they were of second-term Robertson – but only slightly. Like frustrated parents, voters tend to care less about who made the mess than they do about who will clean it up. National, a party elected on a mandate of getting New Zealand 'back on track', will begin the election year presiding over an economy that's on the same high inflation, slow growth track voters rejected in 2023. There's not a lot of space for the Government to move. Witness the performative outrage over butter prices, which Willis will raise in a meeting with Fonterra boss Miles Hurrell when she meets him next week. These high prices are the result of a good thing: high commodity prices that are buoying rural economies. The problem is that incomes are so low people cannot afford to pay them. The Government knows these prices are a good thing (Willis certainly does, having spent five years at Fonterra) and so does most of the Opposition. As recently as April, it celebrated them, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon then telling the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce the economic recovery was being led by farming. 'What has been exciting to see is dairy prices are hitting an all-time high,' he said. Finance Minister Nicola Willis applauds the regional economic recovery but has to manage the high consumer prices that have followed it. Photo / Mark Mitchell Fonterra may be being naughty, potentially fattening the margins of its consumer products to make that side of the business attractive for sale, but the key driver of those prices is the high value of commodities at the moment – and that's a good thing for the country. You can slightly forgive the Government for not saying this. Celebrating high butter prices does have a Marie Antoinette-ish aspect to it. However, they perhaps did not need to point the finger so vigorously in the other direction. The problem with affordability is only half to do with prices. The other half is wages. While it seems an affront to our identity that people of a dairying nation like ours cannot afford butter, the more serious question is why New Zealand incomes struggle to keep up with those of international consumers who are willing to pay for our products. There's a reason why everyone turns their guns on Fonterra and the farmers for high prices, and that's because it's easier to blame producers than it is to solve the manifold crises that have held back New Zealanders' wages. Act Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour at a rally last weekend. Photo / Alex Burton This browbeating of corporate New Zealand is becoming a coalition issue. Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour had a go at critics of the supermarkets and banks in his rally speech last Sunday. 'It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to give a speech saying they're crooked and need to be punished somehow. They should be taxed somehow, have their businesses broken up, or be watched over by even toothier watchdogs. It's the curse of zero-sum thinking,' he said. The remarks were not just directed at Labour and the Opposition, but at the rest of the coalition, which, since coming into office, has engaged in enthusiastic supermarket bashing. In the backdrop to all of this is a looming cost-of-living decision that will likely be made in the next few months and could have a big influence on the election campaign. In February, Energy Minister Simon Watts and his Associate Minister Shane Jones selected offshore economics consultancy Frontier to be the lead reviewer of the electricity market (the review was announced in November 2024). The terms of reference are bold, saying the firm needed to look at foundational parts of the market such as generation investment incentives, efficiency, and effective wholesale and retail markets. The report came back some weeks ago and is sitting on the desks of ministers. Watts has told media a decision can be expected before the end of September. One idea is to revive Contact Energy's 2021 Thermal Co plans. Frontier has worked with Contact before, writing evidence on the firm's behalf for its proposed acquisition of Manawa. That idea would be for a company, 'Thermal Co', to own, operate and eventually retire the major power companies' thermal generation assets. The price of thermal energy sets the price for the rest of the electricity market. This new entity, potentially with a large Crown stake, would have a large influence over prices and over the incentive for firms to bring forward renewable generation, the only long-term fix to the predicament of high prices. The move would be incredibly interventionist, which is perhaps why NZ First seems so keen on it and why no one in the Act Party seems to know the report is back. National is caught in the middle. It knows something is wrong in the market but wonders whether radical reform is quite what's needed to fix it. After all, six years of radicalism from the oil and gas ban, to the 100% renewable electricity generation target, to Lake Onslow are at least partly responsible for the mess the market's in at the moment. Those decisions were unhelpful. Labour's own appointed working group told the Government in 2019 the 100% target would lead to 'large increases in retail electricity prices from today's levels' and would undermine decarbonisation efforts by putting up prices – advice that turned out to be prescient. Do we really want another few years of radicalism? National may seek to make a virtue out of mild, stable reforms that bring stability to the market and encourage private investment in more generation. The challenge here is that this new generation needs to be in firming and, in the short to medium term, there's a good chance this will involve fossil fuels (Jones floated the idea of a new coal station in the House this week). That's going to be unpopular. Other ideas floating around the coalition include changing ETS settings to reduce the Government-imposed cost of burning coal, a cost that is reflected in the wider electricity price. That might fix one broken market by undermining another. Something needs to happen and not just because high prices are weighing on households. The coalition, or at least the National and Act parts of it, appears ready to campaign on asset sales at the next election. That argument is going to sound a lot less persuasive if the gentailers, part-privatised in the last major asset selloff, are squeezing consumers. Treasury papers gush about the fact that the mixed-ownership companies, Air NZ, Genesis, Mercury, and Meridian, are basically the publicly-owned companies that are performing well. Consumers, feeling fleeced by all of them, probably disagree. And that's the trouble with this economic recovery. It might look okay from the Beehive – even good. The recovery is under way and it's a good one. For once, we are seeing an economic recovery driven by exports and not immigration and house prices, which continue to fall. As Chris Bishop said this week, New Zealand would be a better country were it to 'destroy' the idea that the economy is linked to growing house prices. He's right, the country would be better off if we did. Sadly, the record of the electorate is that house prices, where two-thirds of New Zealand households have stashed the vast bulk of their wealth, seem to be the main indicator they care about. The Key Government, often remembered as a time of relative economic prosperity, presided over years of high unemployment. The unemployment rate didn't fall below 5% until the quarter before that Government was voted out of office. Inflation, however, was almost always below 2% and house prices were rising. House prices made people feel richer. It wasn't good, but it worked – and it wasn't just Key, the Ardern Government turned a blind eye to unsustainable house prices too. Unfortunately for National, this is probably the 'track' many households are keen to get back on – and not the one currently being taken by the coalition. You can hardly blame them for feeling the surest sign of economic recovery is in their own balance sheets. The Government's challenge is to persuade people that its own 'track' is the better one.
