The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending July 17

The top 10 sales lists recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.

AUCKLAND

1 The Odyssey by Homer, Emily Wilson Translation (W W Norton, $36)

In preparation for your trip to the cinema for Nolan’s already acclaimed film, listen to Emily Wilson and Madeline Miller (Circe, The Song of Achilles) discuss what’s so epic about The Odyssey on the NY Times Daily pod.

2 London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, $40)

“London teenager, Zac Brettler, mysteriously fell to his death from a luxury apartment building on the banks of the Thames.” Radden Keefe unravels Brettler’s story: unputdownable.

3 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38) 

An epistolary novel that makes you to revive the penpal tradition of old.

4 Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Headline Press, $38)

O’Farrell fans still going strong.

5 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Del Rey, $28)

Just a truly lovely story about an alien and an astronaut being lovely and clever and selfless.

6 Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-Zi (Scribe Pubs Pty, $38)  

Winner of this year’s International Booker Prize.

7 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Fourth Estate, $37)

A critique of influencer culture.

8 Country People by Daniel Mason (John Murray, $38)

“Daniel Mason’s latest novel sees him return to the verdant New England landscape that so captivated readers of 2023’s acclaimed North Woods. This time, though, he hops the border from Massachusetts into Vermont – and effects a deeper shift in the process. Where North Woods was a foray into history, telling the tale of a house and its inhabitants over three centuries, in Country People Mason turns his attention to literature and mines the rich seams of text, from myths to Milton to Shakespeare to Tolstoy and all points in between, that make up his novel’s foundations. This is, at its core, a story about stories; a tale about the tales we tell each other, and our children, and ourselves.” Read the rest of Sarah Crown’s review on The Guardian, here.

9 The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City by Asher Emanuel (Bridget Williams Books, $40)

Close encounters with the justice system.

10 Whistler by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury, $39)

Nothing much happens. It’s a like having afternoon nap, in a good way.

WELLINGTON

1 Ringside: A Political Memoir by Mike Munro (White Cloud Books, $40)

Ardern’s former chief of staff spoke to Toby Manhire about his new memoir, which you can watch / listen to right here:

2 The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City by Asher Emanuel (Bridget Williams Books, $40)

3 The Bookshop Detectives: Murder and Mojitos by Louise & Gareth Ward (Penguin, $38)

They run a bookshop, they write murders in bookshops, Louise and Gareth Ward are all-round bookshop heroes! Hurrah for this third instalment of their hit cosy crime series. Put the lime in the coconut and settle in for a delectably dangerous time.

4 Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Headline Press, $38)

5 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Fourth Estate, $37)

6 The Odyssey by Homer, Emily Wilson Translation (W W Norton, $36)

7 Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin, $38) 

Fiction at its finest.

8 London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, $40)

9 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, $38) 

10 Whistler by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury, $39) ...