First there was Olive Kitteridge, then there was Lucy Barton, now there is Artie Dam.<\/p>\n
2 One Last Question, Prime Minister<\/a> by Barry Soper (HarperCollins, $40)<\/p>\n \u201cThe part-memoir, part-political history retraces the five decades Soper spent working in parliament\u2019s press gallery, chaptered by the 12 prime ministers who ruled the roost throughout his working career. From Robert Muldoon to Christopher Luxon, no one is spared from Soper\u2019s honest thoughts or the insider gossip he\u2019s collected on them \u2013 though one particular Labour leader cops far more flak than most.\u201d Read more of The Spinoff\u2019s Lyric Waiwiri-Smith\u2019s review of Soper\u2019s memoir, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n 3 Empire of AI<\/a> by Karen Hao (Penguin, $35)<\/p>\n Get a copy to Nicola Willis, stat. She might not be so enamoured with AI after reading Hao\u2019s extraordinary insights into the cost of Gen AI. Then again, we\u2019re all just human capital hoping to be replaced, aren\u2019t we?<\/a><\/p>\n 4 The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City<\/a> by Asher Emanuel (Bridget Williams Books, $40)<\/p>\n One of the stand-out books of the year and the revelation of a major literary talent. Read Toby Manhire\u2019s thoughts on The Valley here<\/a>, and listen to special Gone by Lunchtime episode, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n 5 Goliath\u2019s Curse<\/a> by Luke Kemp (Penguin, $30)<\/p>\n \u201cNow we live in a single global Goliath. Growth-obsessed, extractive institutions like the fossil fuel industry, big tech, and military-industrial complexes rule our world and produce new ways of annihilating our species, from climate change to nuclear war. Our systems are now so fast, complex and interconnected that a future collapse will likely be global, swift and irreversible. All of us now faces a choice- we must learn to democratically control Goliath, or the next collapse may be our last.\u201d<\/p>\n Pairs well with item three, above.<\/p>\n 6 All Her Lives: Nine Stories<\/a>\u00a0by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)<\/p>\n Winner of the 2026 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at this year\u2019s Ocks!<\/a> Horrocks won because her writing is deeply thoughtful, deft and engaging. The stories weave women\u2019s lives across time and space with subtle links between them. All hail the short story! You can also read Horrocks\u2019 insightful books confessional, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n 7 Project Hail Mary<\/a> by Andy Weir (Penguin, $28)<\/p>\n Uplifting cli-fi apocalypse featuring sweet alien friends is clinging on.<\/p>\n 8 Yesteryear<\/a>\u00a0by Caro Claire Burke (Fourth Estate, $37)<\/p>\n The one about the tradwife who wakes up in the past and has to suffer what tradwifery really meant.<\/p>\n 9 Good Settler: Essays From Other People\u2019s Lands<\/a>\u00a0by Richard Shaw (Massey University Press, $40)\u00a0<\/p>\n Shaw\u2019s third book examining colonisation.<\/p>\n 10 Famesick<\/a>\u00a0by Lena Dunham (Harper Collins, $40)<\/p>\n \u201cThe book passes through a number of \u2018relationships\u2019 (Adam Driver, stereotypical intense and rather boring actor; Jack Antonoff as cutesy, conflict-averse boyfriend for way too long) but to me, it\u2019s mostly about Dunham\u2019s relationship with Konner, and I think Konner does come off badly in it. Even while reading chapter after chapter of Dunham\u2019s illnesses and Konner\u2019s at times dismissive and unfeeling reactions, I knew how infuriating Dunham must have been as a collaborator. So where Dunham often attempted to paint Konner as the unfeeling, ambitious villain to Dunham\u2019s genius, nervous, unwell heroine, I didn\u2019t buy it. BUT, the key detail is given in passing: \u2018she was 14 years older than me\u2019. Read more from Mad Chapman and Claire Mabey\u2019s conversation about Dunham\u2019s latest memoir, right here on The Spinoff<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n WELLINGTON<\/p>\n 1 All Her Lives: Nine Stories<\/a>\u00a0by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)<\/p>\n 2 The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City<\/a> by Asher Emanuel (Bridget Williams Books, $40)<\/p>\n 3 Things We Never Say<\/a>\u00a0by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin, $38)<\/p>\n 4 London Falling\u00a0<\/a>by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, $40)<\/p>\n A beguiling true story of a mysterious death.<\/p>\n 5 Muckle Flugga<\/a> by Michael Pedersen (Faber & Faber, $38)<\/p>\n Michael \u201clanky streak of piss\u201d<\/a> Pedersen won hearts and minds at Auckland Writers Festival and at one-off events with Verb Wellington last week. Muckle Flugga is a gorgeous novel about love and grief and discovery with unforgettable characters and a setting that\u2019ll make you want to go live in a lighthouse immediately.<\/p>\n 6 Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators\u2019 Revolution<\/a> by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager, $29)<\/p>\n Kuang was another star at Auckland Writers Festival and of a one-off event with Verb Wellington. Babel is utterly brilliant and is a precursor to number seven, below.<\/p>\n 7 Katabasis<\/a> by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager, $38)<\/p>\n Hilarious, smart, rollicking trip through hell, which is a campus.<\/p>\n 8 Mr Ward\u2019s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street<\/a> by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press, $90)<\/p>\n Winner of the BookHub award for illustrated non-fiction at this year\u2019s Ocks!<\/a> Cox\u2019s wonderful book is a trip back in time: a cornucopia of stories from Victorian Wellington that\u2019s keep you entertained until next year\u2019s awards.<\/p>\nIngrid Horrocks (centre) with her publicist Caoihme Mckeogh (left) and editor Jasmine Sargent (right) at the pre-Ockhams drinks before she even knew she\u2019d won.<\/p>\n