NONFICTION
1 Turn out to be Unstoppable by Gilbert Enoka (Penguin Random Home, $40)
Mindset recommendation.
2 Surviving White Island by Kelsey Waghorn (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Survival and trauma.
3 Champions Do Additional by Brad Thorn (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Mindset recommendation.
4 Be Courageous by Barbara Dreaver (Awa Press, $45)
Journo memoir.
5 Classes on Dwelling by Nigel Latta (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Mindset recommendation.
6 Each Second Counts by Charlotte Glennie (Hachette, $39.99)
Journo memoir.
7 The Hollows Boys by Peta Carey (Potton & Burton, $39.99)
See photograph of the writer clutching it, above; up for grabs within the Best Guide Prize of All Instances.
8 Dream Seller by Greg Newbold (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
Memoir of a drug supplier who received busted and used his jail time to review laborious and after his launch established himself as a criminologist on the College of Canterbury.
9 A Totally different Sort of Energy by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random Home, $59.99)
Shortlisted for the nonfiction prize on the Ockham NZ guide awards—and up for grabs within the Best Guide Prize of All Instances.
The clock is starting to tick just a bit bit louder because the deadline approaches to enter the competition, which is unique to ReadingRoom and now in its fifth week. One reader will win all 16 books shortlisted for the 2026 Ockham NZ guide awards.
To enter the draw, readers must nominate their favorite NZ guide of final yr, and share a couple of strains stating why that’s so.
The guide that receives essentially the most votes shall be named winner of the Folks’s Alternative Award on the morning of the Ockham awards on Could 13.
The competition ends on April 28. About 190 entries have arrived to date, and the guide with essentially the most votes continues to be The Guide of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey, with He Puāwai: A Pure Historical past of New Zealand Flowers by Philip Garnock-Jones in second place, and Jacinda Ardern’s memoir in third place.
Readers can select from the Ockham shortlist or the Ockham longlist. Equally they will decide any NZ guide whether or not it was nominated or not, as long as it was revealed in 2025.
Two entries stood out this week. I preferred this, from Kate: “My favorite guide of 2025 was Catherine Chidgey’s addictive, creepy, compelling The Guide of Guilt. I liked the way it was a sluggish visceral burn, with the disturbing world of Vincent and his brothers progressively being revealed, with so many darkish, moral conundrums swirling because it rocketed in the direction of the tip. I couldn’t cease studying it (like all her novels). I additionally binged The Axeman’s Carnival and Pet final yr, and simply love the worlds and characters she creates – so distinctive and complex; nice tales that stick with you.”
And I used to be very keen on an entry from good previous Esther, who wrote, “I liked Sophie Van Waardenberg’s poetry guide. However I’ve to vote for Polkinghorne: Inside The Trial of The Century by Steve Braunias.
“My husband and I spent two weeks lately obsessive about the guide. Delicate, sort and critical. We despatched every different messages all day about it whereas we took turns studying it, many very amusing moments.
“The meals descriptions linger for me I can hear the paper bag of almonds, the Woolies choccy biscuits that the judges thought have been beneath them. Madison consuming a sizzling chip. I purchased Rose’s Lime Marmalade. Excellent on toast and to marinate pork chops.
“Thanks!”
No, thanks, Esther. Her entry joins the 190 others within the draw that shall be judged by a panel of 9. There may be nonetheless time to compete for the prize. To enter, ship in your vote (with feedback) to your favorite NZ guide of 2025, and e mail it to [email protected] with the topic line I WANT TO WIN ALL 16 BOOKS SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 OCKHAM NZ AWARDS PLEASE. The deadline is midnight on Sunday, April 26.
10 The Useless Communicate by Thomas Coyle (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
Memoir of a police fingerprinter and crime scene investigator who left the drive to turn into a motelier on Stratford however didn’t get pleasure from it a lot (“On one event I discovered that somebody had projectile-vomited all around the rest room partitions and left with out telling us or attempting to scrub up the mess”) and is now a guide “the place I assess civil and prison circumstances for defence legal professionals”.
FICTION
1 Black Velvet and Vengeance (Tatty Crowe 3) by Deborah Challinor (HarperCollins, $37.99)
Business fiction, and third in a trilogy of historic novels set in Sydney’s Victorian funeral enterprise.
2 The Secrets and techniques of the Misplaced Winery by Erin Palmisano (Hachette, $37.99)
Business fiction, set within the vineyards of Argentina the place Victoria strikes to after her fiancé breaks off their engagement.
3 The Black Monk by Charlotte Grimshaw (Penguin Random Home, $38)
Literary fiction, about household dysfunction and a girl’s noble seek for the reality.
4 Seed by Elisabeth Easther (Penguin Random Home, $38)
Business fiction, about 4 girls buddies with numerous talents and inabilities to conceive.
5 The Guide of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka College Press, $28)
Literary fiction, set in a authorities house for genetically conceived kids with psychopathic tendencies. Up for grabs within the Best Guide Prize of All Instances.
6 The American Boys by Olivia Spooner (Hachette, $37.99)
Business fiction, which tells a WWII love story impressed by the arrival of the US troops in Wellington in 1942.
7 Julia Eichardt by Lauren Roche (Flying Books Publishing, $36.99)
Business fiction, written as a historic novel set in Queenstown in the course of the goldrush,
8 Hoods Touchdown by Laura Vincent (Āporo Press, $38)
Literary fiction, set within the rural reaches of Auckland the place the ladies of the eclectic Gordon household collect for Christmas. Up for grabs within the Best Guide Prize of All Instances.
9 Tea and Cake and Demise (The Bookshop Detectives 2) by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random Home, $38)
Business fiction, and second in a sequence of detective novels set in a Hawkes Bay bookshop, that includes novelist Dame Fiona Kidman amongst different real-life New Zealand writers.
10 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin Random Home, $38)
Literary fiction, about poor people who go about their lives in Gray Lynn in 1985.
