The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel       $34.99
A brilliant - and rather transgressive - collection of short stories from the double Man Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.
>> Read the title story! 

What Lies Beneath, A memoir by Elspeth Sandys       $35.00
A beautifully written, deeply searching and often astonishing account of Sandys' adoption and search for her birth parents. Born during World War 2 after an encounter between two people who would never meet again, Sandys' subsequent life and difficult relationship with an adoptive mother experiencing mental health issues draws out vital strands of post-war New Zealand social history.

 The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis      $37.00
A vivid, interesting novel exploring identity and compromise among Russian Jews.
"Brilliant, deft depictions of love, of memory, of compassion - and, ultimately, despite its title, of loyalty." - Edith Pearlman, author of (the highly-recommended) Binocular Vision
"A work of high moral seriousness dispatched with a gripping elegance. Bezmozgis's story of fallen saints and redeemed outcasts is, to put it plainly, the work of a great writer." - Joshua Ferris, author of the Booker shortlisted To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

White Ghosts, Yellow Peril: China and New Zealand, 1790-1950 by Stevan Eldred-Grigg and Zeng Dazheng    $55.00
A readable but serious discussion of race relations, government, diplomacy, war, literature and the arts. The Qing Empire and its successor states from 1790 to 1950 were vast, complex and torn by conflict. New Zealand, meanwhile, grew into a small, prosperous, orderly province of Europe. This important book explores both sides of the relationship.

 Dumont d'Urville: Explorer and polymath by Edward Duyker       $70.00
The 'French Captain Cook' (1790-1842) embodied France's colonial impulses in the Pacific, discovered the fate of Laperouse and was a pioneer explorer of the Antarctic. This is an authoritative and accessible biography of a remarkable and little-known figure. How close was New Zealand to becoming a French colony?

Working on My Novel by Cory Arcangel     $22.00
How is it possible to find a space for the demands of writing a novel in a world of instant communication?
This portrait of literary procrastination is compiled from Arcangel's twitter feed, in which he has re-tweeted posts (all containing the phrase "working on my novel") from writers who have been distracted by social media from their writing. And it's got drawings. 

Living on Shaky Ground: The science and history of New Zealand's earthquakes by Matthew Wright       $49.99
A must-have guide for anyone affected by earthquakes in New Zealand, those curious to know what's next in-store, or anyone studying the evolving science behind them.

Coal: The rise and fall of King Coal in New Zealand by Matthew Wright     $39.99
From the discovery of the 'hero fuel', through its demonisation and decline to the Pike River disaster.
An important book.

 The Fateful Year: England, 1914 by Mark Bostridge    $35.00
The last months of inward-looking peace and the first months of dreadful war.
"An absorbing kaleidoscope of events and episodes." - Guardian
 "A moving and myth-confronting account." - Telegraph

Alvaro Siza: The function of beauty by Carlos Castenheira     $79.99
The buildings of Portugal's foremost living architect are notable for their austere lines and their imaginative relationship to their environment.

 Giant Game of Sculpture by Herve Tullet      $50.00
Fold out, alter and recombine this object into your very own sculptures.

 Enon by Paul Harding    $26.99
"Harding writes with superb sensitivity about the mental and physical effects of a broken heart." - Kate Saunders, The Times
 "An extraordinary follow-up to the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Tinkers. His prose is steeped in a visionary, transcendentalist tradition that echoes Blake, Rilke, Emerson, and Thoreau, and makes for a darkly intoxicating read." - New Yorker

 My Secret Life in Hut Six: One woman's experience at Bletchley Park by Mair and Gethin Russell Jones    $25.00
How did Mair Thomas, a musician brought up in the Welsh valleys, find herself in the rarefied atmosphere of Hut Six, surrounded by hundreds of others, all desperately trying to break the German Enigma Code?

 Born Bad: Original Sin and the Making of the Western World by James Boyce      $45.00
From Adam and Eve, St Augustine and Martin Luther to Adam Smith, Sigmund Freud and Richard Dawkins, the idea of there being something inherently wrong with humans has been instrumental in our cultural evolution. 

The Impossible Rescue: The true story of an amazing Arctic adventure by Martin W. Sander        $22.00
The dead of an Arctic winter. Whaling ships full of men, stranded in ice... In 1897, whaling in the Arctic waters off Alaska's coast was as dangerous as it was lucrative. And in that particular year, winter blasted early, bringing storms and ice packs that caught eight American whale ships and three hundred sailors off guard. Their ships locked in ice, with no means of escape, the whalers had limited provisions on board, and little hope of surviving until warmer temperatures arrived many months later.

Awful Auntie by David Walliams and Tony Ross        $24.99
"David Walliams's best book yet. The story of dreadful Aunt Alberta is a perfect marriage of text and pictures." - Guardian

 Calls to Arms: New Zealand society and commitment to the Great War by Steven Loveridge     $40.00

Art and Electronic Media by Edward A. Shanken     $79.99
An excellent survey that addresses the relationship between art and electronic technology, including mechanics, light, graphics, robots, virtual reality and the web.

 Jackson Pollock by Helen Harrison     $37.00
>> Here are some pictures of the floor of Jackson Pollock's studio. 

In a Nutshell: Cooking and baking with nuts and seeds by
Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian    $50.00
The smooth! The crunchy! The savoury! The sweet!

 Richard Estes by Linda Chase     $37.00
A good introduction to Estes' reflective, clean, and inanimate photorealist paintings of city landscapes.

A History of Southeast Asia by Arthur Cotterell      $48.00
The history of the region from earliest recorded times until today, covering present-day Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor.

Gus & Me: The story of my Granddad and my first guitar by Keith Richards, with illustrations by Theodora Richards      $35.00
A nostalgic look back at happy childhood days as the Rolling Stone remembers his grandfather, a former big band player who encouraged his grandson to take up the guitar. Whimsically illustrated by Keith Richards' daughter and including a CD with a reading of the story and additional guitar music from Richards.

 Extreme: Why some people thrive at the limits by Emma Barrett and Paul Martin     $49.00
Why do some people risk their lives regularly by placing themselves in extreme and challenging situations?  This book explores the challenges that people in extreme environments face, including pain, physical hardship, loneliness, and friction between individuals, and the approaches taken to overcome them. Using many examples and personal accounts, it argues that we can all benefit from the insights gained.

 The Enderby Settlement: Britain's Whaling Venture on the Subantarctic Auckland Islands by Conon Fraser      $50.00
Isolation, a stormswept climate, unproductive soil, inexperienced crews, drunkenness and above all an unexpected shortage of whales meant the raw colony (1849-1852) ran into trouble. Two special commissioners were sent to either close the venture down or move it elsewhere, and a bitter struggle developed, with Charles Enderby refusing to admit defeat and Governor Sir George Grey reluctantly becoming involved. A fascinating account of colonial failure.


The Unbakery by Megan May     $59.99
This book encourages food lovers to try more uncooked food by preparing dishes from raw, natural ingredients. All recipes are gluten-, dairy- and cane sugar-free, along with being vegan. Emphasis is placed on the quality of the food and how the recipes can easily be incorporated into the readers’ current lifestyle.

My Story by Julia Gillard      $55.00
"I was prime minister [of Australia] for three years and three days.Three years and three days of resilience.Three years and three days of changing the nation.Three years and three days for you to judge." 

50 Shades of Rust: Barn finds you wish you'd discovered by Tom Cotter    $55.00
From an author at the very front of automotive archaeology, this book will have you peering into every rural shed in search of old cars.

Remembering Jock by Charlie Haddrell       $49.99
An illustrated biography of Jock Hobbs, covering key events such as his crucial role in the Packer-led WRC vs NZRU battle and the birth of professionalism in 1995, the 2003 Rugby World Cup co-hosting debacle, the heroic Rugby World Cup 2011 bid, and his battle with cancer and the brutality of its treatment. 

Children's Book of Magic     $39.99
Traces the history of magic, introduces famous illusions and gives step-by-step instructions for achieving some at home.
Astound your parents (but not by cutting your sister in half).

More Fool Me, A memoir by Stephen Fry      $55.00
A "brilliant man, driven to create and entertain" or "a stupid person's idea of a clever person"? Underneath the hilarious exterior lies a sensitive man riven by bipolar disorder. He reveals much in this autobiography.
>> Hear him speak about this book.

Man and Machine    $130.00
Juxtapositions of the human and the mechanical make this an endlessly impressive survey of industrial photography.

 

Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi        $69.99
Grilled, baked, simmered, cracked, braised or raw, the range of recipe ideas is stunning. With recipes including Alfonso mango and curried chickpea salad, Membrillo and stilton quiche, Buttermilk-crusted okra, Candy beetroot with lentils, Seaweed, ginger and carrot salad, and even desserts such as Roasted rhubarb with sweet labneh and Quince poached in pomegranate juice, this is the cookbook that everyone has been waiting for.
>> Here he is. 

What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund     $35.00
A fascinating exploration of the phenomenology of reading, interweaving text and image and worthy to sit alongside Marshall McLuhan's The Medium is the Message and John Berger's Ways of Seeing. Mendelsund is a creative director at Knopf, and the designer of some of the most wonderful book covers you will ever see.
"You will certainly start reading this book on the way home, if not in the shop. Recommended." - Thomas

Under the Ocean: Explore and discover New Zealand's sea life by Ned Barraud and Gillian Candler       $19.99 (Hardcover $29.99)
Introduces young children to the creatures that live in the seas around New Zealand. The book describes different habitats: underwater reefs, the sea floor, the open ocean and the deep ocean. Animals featured in the fact pages include octopus and squid, sharks and rays, whales, dolphins, penguins and many others. Follows In the Garden and At the Beach. 

 The House of Twenty Thousand Books by Sasha Abramsky      $37.99
Abramsky's grandfather was a bookdealer and amassed a vast number of books in his London home, notably rare Socialist literature, manuscripts and handwritten documents. After rejecting Orthodoxy for Communism, his house became a focal point for left-wing intellectual Jewish life. This book is a fascinating and tender portrayal of lost worlds and the enduring power of books.

 Mervyn Williams by Edward Hanfling     $149.99
An important survey of the work of this unique New Zealand artist who moved from abstraction to experimental op art (earning him the nick-name 'Optic Merv') to textured colour fields to experiments building on Renaissance chiaroscuro techniques. Another stunning production from Ron Sang.

 Puna Wai Korero: An anthology of Maori poetry in English edited by Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan      $49.99
A pioneering and important broad anthology, ranging from established to emerging voices. 

 This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the climate by Naomi Klein       $37.00
Have we given up on any serious effort to prevent catastrophic climate change? Despite mounting scientific evidence, denialism is surging in many wealthy countries, and extreme fossil-fuel extraction gathers pace. Exposing the work of ideologues on the right who know the challenge this poses to the free market all too well, Klein also challenges the failing strategies of environmental groups. She argues that it's time to stop running from the full implications of the crisis and begin to embrace them.
>> Watch this!      >> And this!

The Paper Doll's House of Miss Sarah Elizabeth Birdsall Otis, Aged Twelve by Eric Boman     $39.99
In 1884 Birdie made an exquisite collaged doll's house in the form of a book. This wonderful book reproduces this piece of period charm and provides information about the maker's life. It also includes paper dolls to dress and move through the rooms. A delight for both adults and children!

 The Girl Who Couldn't Read by John Harding     $35.00
A man calling himself Dr John Shepherd arrives at an isolated women's mental hospital in the 1890s to begin work as assistant to the owner Dr Morgan. As Shepherd struggles to conceal his own dark secrets, he finds the asylum has plenty of its own. Who is the woman who wanders the corridors by night with murderous intent? Why does the chief nurse hate him? And why is he not allowed to visit the hospital's top floor?

 The Passionate Puritan by Jane Mander      $29.99
A rather cheerful account of kauri milling, apparently written with an eye on the cinema.  First published in 1921, following the success of The Story of a New Zealand River, Mander’s novel draws directly on her childhood experiences of pioneering life in northern New Zealand. 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr     $35.00
"All the Light We Cannot See is a dazzling, epic work of fiction. Anthony Doerr writes beautifully about the mythic and the intimate, about snails on beaches and armies on the move, about fate and love and history and those breathless, unbearable moments when they all come crashing together." - Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins.

 Native Birds of New Zealand by David Hallett    $55.00
A stunning book by an outstanding wildlife photographer.

 The Underground Girls of Kabul: The hidden lives of Afghan girls disguised as boys by Jenny Nordberg     $39.99
An Afghan woman's life expectancy is just 44 years, and her life cycle often begins and ends in disappointment: being born a girl and finally, having a daughter of her own. For some, disguising themselves as boys is a way to get an education and have the chance to make their lives better.

 Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters: The hidden lives of Piffy, Bird and Bing by Jane Dunn        $29.99
Celebrated novelist Daphne Du Maurier and her sisters, eclipsed by her fame, are revealed in all their surprising complexity in this riveting new biography. Daphne found fame for her perceptive fiction (three of her books were made into films by Alfred Hitchcock), but it was her sisters, writer Angela and artist Jeanne,who found the courage to defy the conventions that hampered Daphne's emotional life.

 Man by Kim Thuy       $25.00
Man has three mothers: the one who gives birth to her in wartime, the nun who plucks her from a vegetable garden, and her beloved Maman, who becomes a spy to survive. Maman finds Man a husband - a lonely Vietnamese restaurateur who lives in Montreal. Thrown into a new world, Man discovers her natural talent as a chef. She creates dishes that are much more than sustenance for the body: they evoke memory and emotion, time and place, and even bring her customers to tears. But when Man encounters a married chef in Paris, everything changes in the instant of a fleeting touch, and Man discovers the obsession and dangers of a love affair.

 Letters to My Future Self: Write now, read later, treasure forever by Lea Redmond      $27.00
Write yourself letters on various topics, seal them and post them through time. Don't you wish you had started doing this years ago? 

Trilobites, And other stories by Breece D'J. Pancake     $29.99
 A lost classic of twentieth century American fiction (first published (posthumously) in 1983. The stories in this collection nearly all take place in and around the mountain hollows of West Virginia: a world of cock-fighting, coal-mining, deer-stalking, sex, depression, drinking and death. 
 "The best, most sincere writer I've ever read." - Kurt Vonnegut
"It would be easy to allow his one collection of stories to be buried under the landslide of books published every year. But it's worth doing a little excavating to dig it up. Get out your pickaxes." - New Yorker

 La Vita e Bella: The elegant art of living in the Italian style by Jill Foulston       $49.99
The perfect gift for all those with a passion for all things Italian and the finer things of life - beautiful architecture, centuries of tradition and fine food and wine. This celebration of the heart and soul of Italy provides a glimpse inside 15 ravishing Italian homes, from castles to farmhouses, as well as the regions in which they are set.

 Rendez-vous With Art by Philippe de Montebello and Martin Gayford     $49.99
How do we experience art? How do we look at it? How to we think about it? 
 

 All in a Day's Cricket: An anthology of outstanding cricket writing compiled by Brian Levison     $39.99
This selection of the very best, and most intriguing, writing on cricket, drawn from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day, adopts a fresh approach. It is arranged around the theme of the many things that must happen simply for a day's play to happen - from creating a clearing in a Malaysian jungle to getting to the ground - so includes, alongside writing by players both great and unknown, the perspectives of spectators, umpires, scorers and other unsung heroes of the game.

 Too Much Information ... Or, Can everyone just shut up for a moment, some of us are trying to think by Dave Gorman   $35.00   
"In the study of modern miscellany Dave Gorman is the equivalent of a professor emeritus." - Independent 
 "Dave Gorman is funny and brilliant in equal measure." - The Times

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar    $29.99
"Umrigar's novel begins as a small domestic drama and develops into a forceful examination of identity, cultural isolation and the power of storytelling. An impressive writer, Umrigar delivers another smart, compulsively readable work." - Kirkus Reviews
Marie liked this so much, she is after everything Umrigar has written!

 Beyond the Free Market: Rebuilding a just society in New Zealand edited by David Cooke et al        $29.99
Looks at the impact on society of market-based economics, and suggests steps that could be taken to restore concern for human wellbeing to political discourse. 

 A Million Ways to Die in the West by Seth MacFarlane    $29.99
 Yes, there are a million ways to die in the wild, wild West, and Albert plans to avoid them all. Some people think that makes him a coward. Albert calls it common sense. But when his girlfriend dumps him, Albert decides to fight back - even though he can't shoot, ride, or throw a punch. Fortunately, he teams up with a beautiful gunslinger who's tough enough for the both of them. Unfortunately, she's married to the biggest, meanest, most jealous badass on the frontier. That's 1000001 ways....
"Packed with raunchy, twisted jokes, the story has all the hallmarks of a classic Western - gunfights, a stagecoach robbery, hostile Indians - but Mr. MacFarlane mocks those tropes at every turn." - Wall Street Journal

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? A Memoir by Roz Chast     $39.99
"The New Yorker cartoonist's account of her parents' final years is sobering stuff. It's also dead funny. A memoir of decrepitude – specifically, the decrepitude of her batty parents – her brilliant new book is honest, plangent and thoroughly ghoulish. But it's also hysterical: I mean wake-up-your-sleeping-husband hysterical. Every time I opened it, I hooted like an owl." - Rachel Cooke, Guardian

 Firecracker by David Iserson       $19.00
Being Astrid Krieger is absolutely all it's cracked up to be. She lives in a rocket ship in the backyard of her parents' estate. She was kicked out of the elite Bristol Academy and she's intent on her own special kind of revenge. She only loves her grandfather, an incredibly rich politician who makes his money building nuclear warheads. Everything is just fine [!] until Astrid's father tells her he is sending her to the public school...

Sympathy for the Devil: The birth of the Rolling Stones and the death of Brian Jones by Paul Trynka    $39.99 
Brian Jones's life was an epic battle between creativity and ambition, between self-sabotage and betrayal.

The Lily-Livered Prince by Christopher William Hill     $22.00 
Meet Eugene, the most portly of princes, and Kalvitas, the most courageous of chocolate makers. Theirs is a tale of cakes and cowardice, bullies and battles, as they set out to defeat a terrifying tyrant. The characters are CURSED. The deserts are DEADLY. And people are NOT always as they appear...

 Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Inridason      $37.00
In this prequel to Inridason's stunning series, the loner Erlendur has recently joined the police force as a young officer. The beat on the streets in Reykjavik is busy: traffic accidents, theft, domestic violence, contraband... And an unexplained death. When a tramp he met regularly on the night shift is found drowned in a ditch no one seems to care. But his fate haunts Erlendur and drags him inexorably into the strange and dark underworld of the city.
  

 The Great and Holy War: How World War I changed religion for ever by Philip Jenkins       $39.99
The first book to consider how religion created and prolonged the Great War, and how the war changed the landscape of religious thinking. 

Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett     $44.99
As the decisions made in the corridors of power bring the world to the brink of oblivion, five families from across the globe are brought together in an unforgettable tale of passion and conflict during the Cold War.
The final instalment of 'The Century Trilogy'.

 World Order: Reflections on the character of nations and the course of history by Henry Kissinger        $65.00
 How can a shared international order be built in a world of divergent historic perspectives, violent conflict, proliferating technology and ideological extremism? One of the twentieth century's most influential political architects has not relinquished his grip on the pulse of the world's destiny.