Spending Christmas with Trump one option for book fans

Biographies and political non-fiction are expected to be popular stockingfillers for book lovers this Christmas.

Almost 800 titles have been released in our bookstores — and online book sellers — since September, leading up to the Christmas market.

Whitcoulls’ Joan McKenzie said biography options were “top quality”. Michelle Obama’s Becoming had been a hit.

Books on Donald Trump, including Michael Wolff ’s Fire and Fury, had also generated big sales.

Stacey Collins, sales manager for books at Mighty Ape, said Trumprelated books were popular on the New Zealand online store. Other preChristmas hits for Mighty Ape included fantasy books from the Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Wizarding World franchises for older kids and young adults.

As well, The Wonky Donkey, the Kiwi children’s book which got international exposure after a video of a giggling Scottish granny reading it went viral this year, was flying off the virtual shelves.

The latest from best-selling authors Lee Child, David Walliams and George R.R. Martin had also topped the charts in recent weeks.

On the local side, Rhys Darby’s kids’ book debut, The Top Secret Undercover Notes of Buttons McGinty, has been a hot seller, while MightyApe has had Sh*t Towns of New Zealand, based on the infamous Facebook page, on back order.

Meanwhile, as Kiwis consider books to buy loved ones at Christmas, New Zealand booksellers are urging people to buy local when online.

Booksellers NZ has taken aim at Book Depository in particular, saying the Amazon-owned company is increasingly targeting Kiwi shoppers.

Booksellers NZ communications manager Sarah Forster said Book Depository had the capacity to buy in such volume that bookstores here could not compete on price.

“If Book Depository buys 10,000 copies, but your local bookshop can only afford five, there’s not a lot they can do.”

Instead of sending money overseas, Forster hoped Kiwis would shop at one of the 47 online bookstores in the country — including chains such as Paper Plus, Whitcoulls and Mighty Ape, as well as dedicated independent stores.

Forster said the money would go back into local communities and help prevent bookshops here from closing. Best books of the year Weekend