Book shelf
Reads to inform and inspire.
The Sustainable House Handbook
Josh Byrne, Hardie Grant Books, $45. Sustainability expert Josh Byrne gives advice on how to create an eco-friendly home that improves your health and wellbeing in a cost-effective and accessible way while keeping your home aesthetically pleasing.
The Telling Time
P.J. McKay, Polako Press, $35. The winner of the First Pages Prize 2020, McKay’s debut novel tells the story of two young women, a generation apart, who travel from opposite sides of the world (New Zealand and Yugoslavia) on fraught journeys of self-discovery.
The Girl from Revolution Road
Ghazaleh Golbakhsh, Allen & Unwin NZ, $37. A powerful collection of essays on displacement, being different and living between two worlds, told with humour and self-reflection. Golbakhsh writes her experience as an Iranian immigrant growing up in New Zealand.
Egg & Spoon
Alexandra Tylee & Giselle Clarkson, Gecko Press, $40. This delightful illustrated cookbook written by Tylee (owner and chef of Pipi Café) and illustrated by Clarkson, is for children learning to cook independently and families to enjoy cooking together.
Sleeping Better in Pregnancy
Clare Ladyman with Leigh Signal, Massey University Press, $25. Brings together the latest research from Massey University’s Sleep/Wake Research Centre, equipping expectant mothers with the tools they need to better understand and manage their sleep in each trimester.
Not That I’d Kiss a Girl
Lil O’Brien, Allen & Unwin NZ, $37. A “heartbreaking and hilarious” true story, O’Brien tells how she was kicked out of her parents’ home at 19 for being gay. The most common question she has been asked is ‘how did you know you were gay?’ so she’s written a book about it – the one she wished she had as a teenager.
The Nature Activity Book
Rachel Haydon, Te Papa Press, $35. An activity book for kids to create adventures with the natural world around them. With illustrations by Pippa Keel, this book will awaken children’s writing and drawing skills in their hunt to understand their environment.
Ikaria
Meni Valle, Hardie Grant Books, $50. The secrets of Ikaria and their high life expectancies is all revealed in this cookbook. Valle shares the intimate lifestyle of Ikaria and its people and their Mediterranean diet.
Marti Friedlander
Leonard Bell, Auckland University Press, $75. A collection of portraits of New Zealand artists by Marti Friedlander, one of our greatest and most important photographers who chronicled the country’s social and cultural life from the 1960s into the 21st century.
Hare & Ruru
Laura Shallcrass, Beatnik Publishing, $30. This beautifully illustrated children’s book can help children with anxiety. Hare ultimately feels better after doing three things – talking to someone; focusing on breathing; and connecting to nature. Also available in a Te Reo edition.
The Botanical Beauty Hunter
Maddy Dixon, Hardie Grant Books, $27. From ancient Ayurvedic beauty rituals to superfoods, this beautiful recipe book provides sustainable and healthy options for skin, hair and make-up including moisturisers, cleansers and balms. Available in October.
Staying Alive
Dr Kate Gregorevic, MacMillan Publishers, $35. By the time we turn 60 most of us will have one-third of our lives to live. How well we live these years will depend on our health. Staying Alive looks at the science on how to avoid or manage major diseases as well as boosting everyday behaviours.
Wild at Heart
Miriam Lancewood, Allen & Unwin NZ, $37. The sequel to Lancewood’s first book, Woman in the Wilderness, Lancewood explores the dangers and delights of nomadic life. She and her husband have walked 2000km through forests of Europe and along the coast of Turkey but when they move to the Australian desert things go bad.
The Happiest Man on Earth
Eddie Jaku, MacMillan Publishers, $38. Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you. This is an uplifting memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, from a Holocaust survivor. Published as Jaku turns 100!
You Can’t Botox Your Ass
Emma Rivers, New Horizons, $50. This book is based on actual events although the names and physical descriptions of all the characters, companies and institutions, professionals, dates and locations have been changed. This relatable, raw and true story of divorce for the modern-day woman is brave and hilarious.
Opening Little Boxes
Kees Lodder, Cathy Casey, Manuela Bertão, and Alex Casey, Graduate Press, $20. With the foreward written by the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, this delightful book is off to a great start. Opening Little Boxes is a book of this time and filled with beautiful reflections on pandemic lockdown in New Zealand about the things that matter most, and royalties from the book will be donated to charities that help the homeless.