The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell $29.99
A love letter to bookshops. Not just any old bookshops but bookshops in buses, on boats, in barns and in abandoned railway stations, weird bookshops,fold-out bookshops, undercover bookshops, remarkable bookshops (the world’s oldest, the world’s smallest), bookshops you can’t wait to visit and bookshops you won’t want to leave.
From the compiler of the Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops books. 

 Teak and Tide: The ebbs and eddies of the Edwin Fox by Nigel Costley       $60.00
The fascinating history of the last surviving 19th century merchantman sailing ship, from construction on the Ganges to preservation in Picton. The Edwin Fox carried troops to the Crimean War, Chinese coolies to Cuba, convicts to Australia, and immigrants to Nelson.
Hardback available next week: $85.00

Hello Girls and Boys: A New Zealand toy story by David Veart       $65.00
A very nicely presented, beautifully illustrated history of toys in New Zealand, from early Maori to modern times. This is a wonderful book, full of social history, information on NZ toy companies such as Fun-Ho and Lincoln, and several lifetimes’ worth of childhood nostalgia!

 Crosson Clarke Carnachan, Architects     $70.00

A very fine survey of the work of this influential New Zealand firm, with excellent photographs, drawings ad text. One of the top architectural books of the year.

Germany: Memories of a nation by Neil MacGregor      $60.00
MacGregor argues that, uniquely for any European country, no coherent, over-arching narrative of Germany's history can be constructed, for in Germany both geography and history have always been unstable. He chooses objects from 500 years of history to demonstrate the contradictions and momentum of a culture.
"His method is memory. His way in is through objects and people, places and buildings. MacGregor knows unerringly which objects to select and which chapters of Germany's 'enrichingly and confusingly fragmented history' to bring to life through them. This book is immaculately researched, timely and important." - Independent

The Daily Journal of an Antarctic Explorer, 1956-1958 by Guyon Warren    $49.99
Guyon Warren was one of a small group of men who spent 15 consecutive months in the Antarctic in the late 1950s. He helped establish Scott Base, right from the construction of the first hut. However, it is with his explorations out on the ice that he made his greatest contribution. Learning about the experiences he had makes for fascinating reading.

 The Kingdom Revealed by Rob Ryan      $45.00

This is a story about a young boy who doesn't want to be King.What he wants, more than anything, is to be normal. One night, he climbs out of his four-poster bed, disappears through a hidden door in the ceiling, creeps down a long-forgotten passageway, opens a small window and leaves behind everything he's ever known... 

A lovely book, beautifully illustrated by the paper-cut artist who brought us The Invisible Kingdom.

The Republic of Imagination: A case for fiction by Azar Nafisi       $37.99

In her memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Nafisi told how literature can provide a place of enrichment and quiet subversion in an authoritarian society. Her new book makes a passionate case for the power and role of fiction in the modern world. 

A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar     $38.00
Deep in the heart of history's most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world - a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London's grimiest streets. An extraordinary story of revenge and redemption.

 Witches: James I and the English Witch Hunts by Tracy Borman    $29.99

A fascinating book, using the story of two sisters hanged for witchcraft to access a milieu of paranoia, misogyny, superstition and hysteria.
"A tantalising history. A panoramic survey of the witch craze that swept through Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries." - Sunday Times

 Auckland Waterfront: The port in Edwardian times by Roger Morris    $59.99
At the beginning of the last century Auckland was a thriving port, and her waterfront was no less vibrant than it is today. This is a collection of paintings illustrating the port in those years, supported with archival photographs and historical comment.

I Refuse by Per Petterson      $34.99
The humane and moving new novel by the prize-winning author of Out Stealing Horses.

Brave Genius: A scientist, a philosopher, and their daring adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize by Sean B. Carroll      $35.00
A remarkably interesting book, examining how war and friendship can catalyse genius. Both aspiring writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod joined the Resistance during WWII, and after they met, their friendship deepened their pursuit of their chosen fields. An insightful double portrait.

 A Woman's Shed: Spaces for women to create, write, make music, think, grow and escape by Gill Heriz      $44.99

"Why should men have all the sheds? Last year I had one built in a garden corner, but I wish I had seen this book first! 80 artists, sculptors, writers, farmers, furniture-makers and gardeners have opened their sheds and it's just magical. A real treasure!" - Jan

The Longest Afternoon: The 400 men who decided the Battle of Waterloo by Brendan Simms      $37.00

A minute-by-minute account of the small group who held off thousands of Napoleon's soldiers and changed the course of history.

 Tell You What: Great New Zealand Non-Fiction edited by Susanna Andrew and Jolisa Gracewood      $29.99

Eleanor Catton, Lara Strongman, Paul Ewen (Francis Plug), Steve Braunias, Elizabeth Knox, Tina Makereti, &c, & c, as well as a piece by P&B's Naomi Arnold about her mother. 

Three Early Stories by J.D. Salinger     $13.00
The first Salinger book for fifty years reaches back to stories written before The Catcher in the Rye.

 

Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines, 2015 by Michael Cooper     $39.99
Updated with new tasting notes and vintage ratings.

p53: The gene that cracked the cancer code by Sue Armstrong      $37.00
All of us have lurking in our DNA a most remarkable gene, which has a crucial job - it protects us from cancer. Known simply as p53, this gene constantly scans our cells to ensure that they grow and divide without mishap, as part of the routine maintenance of our bodies. If a cell makes a mistake in copying its DNA during the process of division, p53 stops it in its tracks, summoning a repair team before allowing the cell to carry on dividing. 

Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The story of Anonymous by Gabriella Coleman       $39.99
Gabriella Coleman's history of Anonymous makes clear that almost all of the hacktivism attributed to this global collective has been devoted to exposing wrongdoing, not wreaking destruction, even as she also carefully shows that Anonymous is not a shadowy organization but a loosely knit collection of activists all over the globe, fighting for government and corporate transparency. 

The Coming Swarm: DDOS actions, hacktivism and civil disobedience on the internet by Molly Sauter       $35.00
This book examines the theory, practice, history, and ethics of civil disobedience on the internet.

The Revolutions by Felix Gilman        $27.00
A fantasy of the occult scene in fin de siecle London, the celestial spheres, and mystical Martian exploration, following two young lovers separated by the schemes and blundering of rival occultists, from the drawing rooms of spiritualist societies, through shady enterprises in Deptford warehouses, and magical war on the Isle of Dogs, and out to a hallucinatory, doomed Mars drawn from the fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the imaginings of Aleister Crowley.
"Vivid and accurate prose, a gripping, imaginative story, a terrifically inventive setting, a hard-bitten, indestructible hero, and an intelligent, fully adult heroine - we haven't had a science-fiction novel like this for a long time." - Ursula K. Le Guin

Word & Image: Art, books and design from the National Art Library by Julius Bryant      $60.00
From a fifteenth-century book of hours to William Morris's specimen pages for Jean Froissart's The Chronicles of Fraunce, Inglande, and Other Places Adjoynynge; from George Cruikshank's studies of Fagin for Oliver Twist to an Yves Saint Laurent design for the House of Dior; and from Bill Brandt's photographs to the Book of Nails by Floating Concrete Octopus.

Our Summer Newsletter (a.k.a. the Christmas catalogue) is now available from the shop, or tucked into the Saturday 22nd November issue of the Nelson Mail. A digital edition will be sent to our What We Are Reading newsletter subscribers.
We've chosen 140 books we think you'll love and we've written why. Use our catalogue to buy your seasonal gifts and to make a stack for your own enjoyment!

Tangata Whenua: An illustrated history by Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney & Aroha Harris         $99.99   

This long-anticipated, much-needed and attractive book achieves the near impossible: a record of the sweep and diversity of Maori history, from the first migrations, through the classical and contact periods, to modern reassertion and transformation.

Saison: A year at the French Cafe by Simon Wright and Creghan Wright        $95.00          
The sumptuous production of this beautiful book matches Simon Wright’s constant search for perfection in his multi-award-winning NZ restaurant. Here is a selection of his finest and most inspiring recipes, epitomising his modern approach to classic French food. 

 Madmen: Inside the weirdest election campaign ever by Steve Braunias         $20.00
Dirty, shocking, weird, sick, toxic, unbelievable, profound, stupid, harrowing, insane in the brain – the 2014 election campaign had it all. It got stranger with every day, and Steve Braunias made it his mission to record the entire black farce in a series of breathless and bizarre campaign diaries. He visited Kim Dotcom’s creepy mansion. He stole a dinghy to track down the lost tribe of the Act Party. He fell on hard times, and asked Whale Oil for a job. And he hung out with John Key on the back seat of the Prime Minister’s campaign bus. 

“A modern classic of political satire…I laughed until I passed out” – Jumbo Trudgeon, parliamentary press gallery

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche     $15.00
From the author of  the equally perceptive and witty Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.

 The Diggers' Story: Accounts of the West Coast gold rushes edited by Julia Bradshaw         $49.99  
A remarkably vivid evocation of life in the gold fields in the words of West Coast pioneers. First published in 1914 and long unavailable, this new edition has been thoughtfully expanded and illustrated. Contains a hundred novels. 

 Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated buy Lorenzo Mattotti      $25.00
Gaiman is the perfect person to retell the Grimms' darkest and most enduring tale, and Mattotti's great black inky forest is perfect too.

 Special Deluxe: A memoir of life and cars by Neil Young     $55.00

Young’s song-writing is but one expression of his off-the-wall originality. Here he spreads the story of his long music career over the framework of the succession of all the cars he has owned, demonstrating how memories are attached to objects and making a stand for environmental politics.
>> Time (eventually) for a song! 

Rail: 150 Years of Rail in New Zealand      Matt Turner        $80.00  


For a century and a half, the country has been hung together on iron sinews, and rail transport has been vital to the economy. This is a lavish tribute to the engines that rode the rails, to feats of construction (e.g. the Rimutaka Incline) and to the people who plied the lines. .

 Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh      $28.00
 'I don't want to know your reasons. I don't care. Think of me as a bullet. Just point.' Spademan used to be a garbage man. That was before the dirty bomb hit Times Square, before his wife was killed, before New York became a burnt-out shell. Now the wealthy spend their days tapped into virtual reality; the rest have to fend for themselves in the streets. Now there's nothing but garbage.
"As fierce and sharp as a paper cut." - Lauren Beukes
  

 Family Secrets: The things we tried to hide by Deborah Cohen      $26.00 
Illegitimate children, mental illness, adultery, adoption, homosexuality, institutionalisation. Pervasive elements of human existence have been regarded as shameful, and hidden from society and suppressed from family histories. This lucid, humane and well-written book delves beneath the surfaces of family life.
"Remarkable and touching." - Sunday Times

 Mexico: The cookbook by Margarita Carrillo Arronte        $65.00  
This book is as full of verve, colour and exciting flavours as Mexico itself. 9000 years of culinary history has been condensed into 700 recipes, all of which can be achieved at home. With guides to ingredients and techniques, and menus from leading chefs, this is the definitive book on a vital cuisine.

 The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife and the Missing Corpse: An Extraordinary Edwardian Case of Deception and Intrigue by Piu Marie Eatwell       $32.99           
The 1897 Druce-Portland case was one of the strangest in legal history. Anna Maria Druce claimed her father-in-law was none other than the Duke of Portland and had faked his own death. Unbelievable!

 The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell     $25.00
A darkly reimagined fairy tale. On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain, towards the sleeping kingdom…

The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Theriault      $25.00
Bilodo lives a solitary daily life, routinely completing his postal rounds every day and returning to his empty Montreal apartment. But he has found a way to break the cycle—Bilodo has taken to stealing people's mail, steaming open the envelopes, and reading the letters inside. And so it is he comes across Ségolène's letters. She is corresponding with Gaston, a master poet, and their letters are each composed of only three lines. They are writing each other haikus. The simplicity and elegance of their poems move Bilado and he begins to fall in love.
"There is a charming playfulness to Thériault's prose in this well-executed story of love found through letters and deception." - Guardian

Funny Girl by Nick Hornby    $37.00
"Nick Hornby’s funny, winningly perceptive novel about a Sixties sitcom is a pleasure to read." - The Telegraph

 Gallipoli by Peter Fitzsimons      $56.99
 The heroic defeat of the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli marked a coming-of-age for the national sensibilities of New Zealand and Australia. Fitzsimons vibrantly recreates the disaster as experienced by its participants.

 Home: A time traveller's tales from Britain's prehistory by Francis Pryor     $55.00
"Under his gaze, the land starts to fill with tribes and clans wandering this way and that, leaving traces that can still be seen today. Pryor feels the land rather than simply knowing it." - Guardian  
"Pryor is that rare combination of a first-rate working archaeologist and a good writer, with the priceless ability of being able to explain complex ideas clearly. This is popular archaeology at its best." - The Times

 The Queen, Her Lover and the Most Notorious Spy in History by Roland Perry      $39.99

Just what was the extent and nature of Princess (later Queen) Victoria’s relationship with Lord Elphinstone? Why was Anthony Blunt detailed to retrieve sensitive letters of hers from Germany in 1945? And how did copies end up in Soviet hands? Gripping.   

Africa 39: New writing from Africa south of the Sahara edited by

Ellah Wakatama Allfrey    $37.00 Discover the best new writing from Africa, by 39 writers under 40 - with an introduction by Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka.

 The Paper Trail: An unexpected history of the world's greatest invention by Alexander Monro     $50.00
This is the story of how paper, a simple Chinese invention, has wrapped itself around our world, with history's most momentous ideas etched upon its surface.
Paper created a world in which free thinking could flourish, and brought disciplines from science to music into a new age: the paper age. Paper still surrounds us in our everyday lives - on our desks, wrapping our food, in our wallets. It has become universal, and also supremely disposable. But is the age of paper coming to an end?

 Imperfect Home by Mark and Sally Bailey    $55.00
These homes have a look that's rough around the edges and sees the beauty in wear and imperfection but is at the same time creative, modern and brave. We think we'd feel very at home!

The Birth of the Pill: How four pioneers reinvented sex and started a revolution by Jonathan Eig    $35.00

 Some Comics by Stephen Collins      $34.99
100 bleakly funny strips from the creator of the wonderful The Gigantic Beard that was Evil. Recommended.

Margot at War: Love and betrayal in Downing Street, 1912-1916 by Anne de Courcy     $37.99
Margot Asquith was perhaps the most daring and unconventional Prime Minister's wife in British history. Known for her wit, style and habit of speaking her mind, she transformed 10 Downing Street into a glittering social and intellectual salon. Yet her last five years at Number 10 were a period of intense emotional and political turmoil in her private and public life.
Another wonderfully readable history from the author of The Fishing Fleet.

The Classics Magpie: A cornucopia of Classical curiosities, fascinating facts and astonishing anecdotes from the Ancient World by Jane Hood      $37.00
Who first thought of atoms? How much can you learn about archaeology from an oil lamp? Who came up with the theory of the 'wandering womb'? What was a Roman dinner party like? Which tragedian was killed when a tortoise fell on his head? 

The Wisdom of Trees: A miscellany by Max Adams     $35.00
Anecdotes, essays, profiles, boughs and twiglets concerning various types of trees, their biology, customary lore and capacity to induce wonder.

Smarter Than You Think: How technology is changing our minds for the better by Clive Thompson      $25.00
The author argues that as we rely more and more for machines to help us think, our thinking itself is becoming richer and more complex. We're able to learn more, retain it longer, to write in curious new forms, and even to think entirely new types of thoughts.

The Grimm Conclusion by Adam Gidwitz      $19.99
 The third sinister story in the Grimm series delves even further into the dark heart of the fairy tales you thought you knew and loved. A brother and sister must venture through kingdoms and forests haunted by demons and ogres, all the while seeking their way home. And they must face the most frightening monster of all: death.
If you haven't come across this series, read A Tale Dark and Grimm, then In a Glass Grimmly, and then this. Lots of nasty fun!
"Gidwitz manages to balance the grisly violence of the original Grimms' fairy tales with a wonderful sense of humour and narrative voice. Check it out!" - Rick Riordan

The Walled City by Ryan Graudin      $22.00
Divergent meets Memoirs of a Geisha in this dark YA thriller set within the walls of a lawless slum city where Jin Ling searches for her lost sister and Dai struggles to complete an impossible mission.

The New World by Andrew Motion    $38.99

 Jim and Natty are shipwrecked on the coast of Texas, blown off course on their way home from Treasure Island. But they have stolen something they should have left well alone, something that will haunt them until what was taken has been returned. On their journey they encounter Native American tribes, a wandering group of European Circus performers, deracinated warriors, eccentric pioneers,  landscapes of serenity and savagery, until, at last, they reach the Mississippi. The New World is an adventure story, a race across America, a Western, a travelogue, a love story and a lament for an indigenous culture in the years before its destruction.

 The Most of Nora Ephron by Nora Ephron     $39.99 

Ephron at her funniest and most acute, writing on journalism, feminism, and being a woman; on the importance of food (with favourite recipes), and on the bittersweet reality of growing old.

 The Mistress's Daughter: A memoir by A.M. Homes      $29.99

 On the day that Homes was born in 1961, she was given up for adoption. Her birth parents were a 22-year-old woman and an older married man with whom she was having an affair. Thirty years later, out of the blue, Homes was contacted by a lawyer on behalf of her birth mother, and they began to correspond; her biological father contacted her soon after. These two individuals and their effect on the adult Homes are strange and unexpected, and the story spirals into something raw and hilarious, heartbreaking and absurd.

"A compelling, devastating and furiously good book." - Zadie Smith

Atlantia by Ally Condie    $26.00
Set within a civilization that lives deep beneath the sea, twin sisters, Rio and Bay, are about to make the most important decision of their lives. Will they choose to stay Below, sacrificing their soul but living in happiness, or to go Above, keeping their soul but living in weakness and misery. No one could have predicted their choice.

How to Write a Story by Simon Cheshire      $14.00
Full of brain-storming ideas, story-writing know-how and tips on getting started, this is great for struggling young authors and for those who don't struggle, too.

 Gandhi Before India by Ramachandra Guha     $30.00
A vivid portrait of the formative years Gandhi spent in England and South Africa, where he developed the techniques that would undermine and ultimately provide liberation from the British Empire.

 Parallel by Jillian Sullivan      $22.00
A thoughtful poetry collection from this former Nelson resident. 
 "A sensitively connected sequence... held me from beginning to end with its tender, understated sophistication." - Selina Tusitala Marsh.
 

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch    $38.00
The fifth in the hugely enjoyable supernatural London detective series that started with Rivers of London. If you haven't read these yet, you will be pleased to being doing so in the coming months.