We cast the net wide with these book recommendations – we didn't ask for New Zealand books or those of a particular genre or even those from 2023. We just wanted to know about books that were fully absorbing when read – and that lingered afterwards.
Claire Murdoch – Head of Publishing, Penguin Random House NZ
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (Doubleday, 2023) does what it says on the tin, like Garage Project’s Beer Beer, but for books. This superbly fun and clever read from the brainbox who brought us Rodham won’t disappoint your least intellectually pretentious friend (or your most). Sittenfeld deserves every laurel and every comparison to Jane Austen she gets. This novel takes us into the world of a Saturday-Night-Live-type writer’s room and I, for one, did not want to leave.
Emily Perkins – author of one of 2023's most acclaimed novels, Lioness
Rebecca Priestley’s End Times (Te Herenga Waka University Press 2023) is my pick for a summer read – in this mix of wry memoir and scientific exploration, Rebecca and her BFF Maz take a road trip down the West Coast, and the book alternates between their meetings with that landscape and its people, the coal industry and climate change, and memories of the teenage years when they rebelled by joining a charismatic Christian church. Rebecca brings her gifts as a science communicator and empathetic listener to this book, and it’s also a deep, funny celebration of friendship.
Simon Day (Ngāti Hikairo) – Head of Re: News
There’s never a bad time to revisit Moana Jackson’s words, but in recent weeks I’ve turned to his chapter in Imagining Decolonisation (Bridget Williams Books, 2020) as a source of strength and inspiration about the role of tangata whenua, te reo and tikanga Māori in the future of Aotearoa. The entire book (five chapters by five writers) is an important reminder of the ongoing impact of colonisation but also a powerful insight into the impact decolonisation could have on everyone who lives in New Zealand.
Claire Mabey – Founder of the Verb Wellington festival and books editor at The Spinoff
I loved The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer (Scribner, 2023). It's historic fiction of the best kind: the story sings, it's gripping, and when you're reading you're totally transported into a darker (maybe?) time of contagious, dangerous beliefs that harmed women and communities. The allure of the witch trials is very present in today's fiction and The Witching Tide is one of the best examples of that.
John Campbell – TVNZ Chief Correspondent
I love Big Fat Brown Bitch, by Tusiata Avia (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2023). I love the way it takes racism, misogyny and hatred and holds it out in front of us and stares it down. Look at that title! And there are such treasures inside. The poem, ‘New Zealand Media Council Complaints Case 3392’, written in response to complaints about her brilliant, infamous, incendiary, celebrated, award-winning and reviled James Cook poem, is an instant classic. This is a writer on top of her game, on top of our game, on top of us. And it’s such a vital declaration of what poetry can do. That it really can provoke. That it can piss people off! That it can make us see the received in new and disquieting ways. That it can make me understand other lives. "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world," Shelley told us. And this is what he meant. Leave it on the lunch table over summer. Everyone who picks it up will have an opinion on it. What a brilliant book!
And there aren’t many books in my life I treasure as much as Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson (Picador 2012). It’s a novella, my edition is only 116 pages, and short reads are best over summer. There is not a single wasted word in it. Achingly sad, heartbreakingly sad, profoundly beautiful. It’s the story of Robert Grainier, a labourer in the American West, beginning at the start of the twentieth century. All those dreams that didn’t come true. Or did, precariously - and couldn’t possibly last. It is the story of how hard it can be to be human - but what else can we be? Truly, a masterpiece.
Michelle Hurley – publisher Allen & Unwin NZ
Not a classic summer read (child sexual abuse, 800-odd pages) but if you still haven't read A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara (Picador, 2022) you won't regret packing it for your holidays. Centred on four gay men and their friendships, I read it two summers ago, and spent a full week thinking about it after I'd finished it.
Miriama Kamo (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mutunga) – Sunday reporter/presenter and children's author
I’m reading The Sweetness of Water, by Nathan Harris (Little, Brown and Company, 2021). What an impressive debut novel. And although it’s set in the wake of the American Civil war, the themes feel as timely as ever. Essentially asking how we heal and move through a legacy of oppression and racism.
Also, jump into our Kotahi Rau Pukapuka collection of translated books into te reo Māori, by our country’s finest kaiwhakamāori (translators). A great way to read and learn on the beach, with choices from Harry Potter (Hare Pota) to Romeo and Juliet (Romeo rāua ko Hurieta) through to Witi Ihimaera’s Pounamu Pounamu. And for some treats, get the kids to bake recipes from Taku Puka Tohutao Tuatahi (Edmonds kids cookbook). Karawhiua, e te whānau! Meri Kirihimete!
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