| Each year New Zealanders celebrate
New Zealand Book Month, a non-profit initiative supported by all
facets of the book industry. The idea behind New Zealand Book
Month is not just to get more people reading but to get people
reading more books by New Zealand authors. This year, AbeBooks
joins you in celebrating New Zealand Book Month with our list
of recommended Kiwi titles for the whole family.
Our Avid Reader Book Club is also
voting on which of three books by New Zealand authors will be
our next pick to read and discuss. Learn
more and cast your vote!
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Ngaio Marsh
Sir Hubert Handesley's lively weekend house-parties are deservedly
famous. To amuse his guests, he has devised a new form of the
fashionable Murder Game. This time, though, there is a real corpse,
with a real dagger in the back and all seven suspects have had
time to concoct skilful alibis. A Man Lay Dead was Marsh's
first novel and introduced the highly popular character, Inspector
Roderick Alleyn.
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this Book |
Lloyd Jones
Set against the stunning beauty of Bougainville in the South
Pacific during the civil war in the early 1990s, Lloyd Jones’s
breathtaking novel shows what magic a child’s imagination
makes possible even in the face of terrible violence and what
power stories have to fuel the imagination.
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this Book |
Barry Crump
With the rugged beauty of the New Zealand backcountry as it backdrop,
this book follows the exploits of A Good Keen Man as
he learns the skills necessary to become a good bushman. The humorous
and vivid story captures the essence of the Kiwi character.
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this Book |
Witi Ihimaera
As her beloved grandfather, chief of the Maori tribe of Whangara,
New Zealand, struggles to lead in difficult times and to find
a male successor, young Kahu is developing a mysterious relationship
with whales, particularly the ancient bull whale whose legendary
rider was their ancestor.
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this Book |
B.A. Lester
A lot has been written about the successes of deerstalkers and
about venison recovery in general, but little has been committed
to paper about things that go bump in the bush! For every deer
shot the average hunter has suffered a series of mishaps, misfires,
clean misses, stuff-ups and other testing events. This book tells
of Al Lester's less successful journeys into the bush. He tells
tales about himself, his mates and, as always, the one that got
away that was 'as big as a house, mate!' The majority of stories
in the book are about deer hunting and are set throughout the
South Island, with several jaunts in the North Island. However,
Big Al also hunts possums, pigs, goats and goes in for a bit of
trout poaching.
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this Book |
Mike Hyde
Twisting Throttle Australia: A Kiwi's Hilarious Trip Around
Aussie on the Seat of His Pants - The witty tale of a real
life mid-life crisis which took an ordinary Kiwi bloke around
Australia on a motorbike, to fulfill his life-long Easy Rider
inspired dreams of his long-lost youth. The result is a very dry
look at the Big Dry Country told with self-deprecating wit by
a first time author. A naturally funny man, Mike pokes fun at
himself and Aussies in an equally merciless way, providing a travel
book with a real heart and a real difference. Definitely a book
for every middle-aged man you know - and their wives!
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this Book |
Jolie Thomson & Andrew Charles Coffey
Starting with a foreword by internationally recognised wine writer
Bob Campbell MW, Celebrating New Zealand Wine goes on to detail
the country's main wine-producing regions, focusing in each case
on its grape varieties both past and present - and some of the
key individuals who have made - or are making - their mark on
the industry. Woven into the text is a discussion of the wine-making
techniques employed and, of course, the source of each region's
inspiration.
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this Book |
Kerry Tyack
This guide is aimed at those seeking to explore the specialist
food regions of New Zealand within the confines of a two-day weekend.
Using enjoyment of - and interest in - good food and its prerequisite
fresh ingredients as its base, the book divides New Zealand into
17 regions and each is explored from the perspective of unusual,
unique, and/or outstanding food products that are available for
the casual weekend buyer. Any culinary-related events that are
worth attending are listed (e.g. cooking schools), and it recommends
a range of accommodation, and good places to eat.
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this Book |
Ron Palenski, Neville McMillan & Rod Chester
It is 28 years since Men in Black was first published
and while a lot has changed in rugby in that time, the purpose
of the book has not: to provide a record, both in narrative and
statistical form, of every test played by the All Blacks. Last
published in 2000, Men in Black is the definitive record
of All Black test rugby since 1903, when New Zealand played its
first full-scale international against Australia in Sydney. Compiled
by three of New Zealand's most respected rugby historians and
writers, this the new edition is by far one of the largest books
ever published in New Zealand.
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this Book |
Joan Druett
In the winter of 1864, five seamen aboard the schooner Grafton
wreck on the remote and icy Auckland Island, 285 miles south of
New Zealand. An isolated speck in the Southern Ocean, it is a
godforsaken place, with winds howling at sixty miles an hour,
rain three hundred days a year, and an almost impenetrable coastal
forest. Award-winning maritime historian Joan Druett tells a gripping
cautionary tale about leadership, endurance, human ingenuity,
and the tenuous line between order and chaos.
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this Book |
Melanie Drewery (author), Fifi Colston (illustrator)
This story is based on real events that took place in New Zealand
during World War II. Somes Island in Wellington Harbour was used
as a prison camp for enemy aliens in both World War I and World
War II. Often these men were arrested with no warning and some
were held unfairly. Their families did not always speak good English
and many were confused about why their husbands and fathers were
being taken. This beautiful story from Melanie Drewery tells the
story of one such family.
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this Book |
Robyn Kahukiwa
A long time ago, Matatuhi, a fabulous weaver and a woman with
special powers, dreamed of making a special cloak, and of meeting
a young girl. Many years later, a girl named Mata is adopted by
Pakeha parents. On a class visit to the museum one day, Mata is
entranced by a beautiful cloak, and a carved female figure with
a chin moko who seems to speak to her. After the visit, Mata discovers
her whakapapa and reclaims her original Maori name — Matatuhi.
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this Book |
Pamela Allen
Here are five little stories of two little men, one called Billy
and other called Ben. Billy and Ben will not share anything, whether
it's a sticky bun, a pair of boots or an apple. But when they
go out in a rowing boat and end up cutting it in half, disaster
strikes for Billy and Ben! This is the perfect read-aloud picture
book about two men who just won't share.
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this Book |
Ben Galbraith
Once upon a time, there lived three mean and greedy brothers
called Gruff. They fish and fish until Poverty Bay is empty, and
so resolve to find somewhere else to catch their fish. But watch
out, Minke Whale, the Guardian of the Ocean isn't happy and the
neither are the townspeople of Poverty Bay! This brilliantly conceived
text is based loosely on The
Three Billy Goats Gruff.
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this Book |
Fleur Beale
(Young Adult) It is 1859 in the raw new township of New Plymouth
where Hannah Carstairs walks between two worlds. To her English
father, she is Hannah; to her Maori step-mother, she is Hana who
speaks Maori, but only when Papa or her beloved Aunt Frances aren't
around. Soon, Hannah finds that both her worlds are changing.
First, there are the disturbing hints about her dead mother's
past. Then, the tensions between the Maori tribes and the settlers
boil over into war. Hannah and her twin brother Jamie flee from
the fighting. They board a sailing ship and make the long trip
to England where they must confront the past.
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this Book |
Bernard Beckett
(Young Adult) 16-year-old Malcolm is a keen scientist and is
determined to win this year's science fair, after placing second
the previous year. But the principal is not at all supportive
of Malcolm's chosen subject - sex. Malcolm interviews and films
his friends and classmates, gaining insight into the reality of
teen sex. Malcolm, himself a virgin, is keen on Juliet who agrees
to an interview. He is more than surprised to discover she too
is a virgin and has a very romantic notion of what her first sexual
experience will be like. New Zealand Post Book Awards for
Children & Young Adults - 2005 Winner, Young Adult Fiction
Category.
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this Book |
David Hill
(Young Adult) 2005 Finalist in the New Zealand Post Book
Awards. Ryan has just got his licence. He's in the car with
his mates. Tara likes to go running. She's on her way back home.
Neither of them is paying much attention...The harrowing accident
that follows impacts many lives.
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this Book |
Brigid Lowry
(Young Adult) Money can't buy you love, but sometimes you find
one when you think you need the other. Georgia's fifteenth year
starts in pursuit of money (for a trip to see her favourite band),
and ends with an unexpected pay-off - first love.
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this Book |
|
Bestselling Fiction
New Zealand
From 'Booksellers New Zealand'
- Playing
for Pizza
John Grisham
- Lord
John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
Diana Gabaldon
- Those
Faraday Girls
Monica McInerney
- Double
Cross
James Patterson
- Faith
- How Far Can You Trust a Friend?
Lesley Pearse
- The
Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold
- Exit
Music
Ian Rankin
- Troy:
Fall of Kings
David & Stella Gemmell
- Bones
to Ashes
Kathy Reichs
- World
Without End
Ken Follett
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