Try something new this summer
Branch out from your old favourites and try a new genre this summer - immerse yourself in a thriller, get clued up on current events or see the world through someone else's eyes with a memoir. Here are some of our favourites to get you started.
Beach reads:
Perfect for a warm summer's day by the sea or lazing on the couch, these books are page turning, immersive reads.
Taylor Jenkins Reid has written Atmosphere, the space book she's always wanted to write, a queer romance set in the 1980s space programme. Broken country by Clare Leslie Hall has been this year's biggest romantic thriller, an utter page turner, and always reliable, perennial beach read favourite Emily Henry is back with Great big beautiful life. For fans of thrills, Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth, and The god of the woods by Liz Moore offer lies, murders and unreliable narrators for your summer break.
Our stories:
Explore our own backyard with fiction and nonfiction from Te Tau Ihu.
Gerard Hindmarsh explores the history of the Abel Tasman area in Hard-case heroes and Annette Walker the St Arnaud area in Up the lake: the story of Rotoiti both fascinating and entertaining reads covering both natural and social histories. Northbound is local author and journalist Naomi Arnold's diary of walking the Te Araroa, from Bluff to Cape Reinga and is both inspiring and funny. In fiction we're whisked away to a fictional and fantastical Chesapeake Bay in Erin Palmisano's second book, The secrets of Maiden's Cove while The girl from Sarajevo by Stef Harris is a pair of gritty short stories exploring themes of human trafficking, slavery and immigration.
Historical fiction:
These authors bring the past richly to life through thriller, mystery and domestic drama.
Airana Ngarewa brings the people of Taranaki to a richly imagined life in this third book, The last living cannibal, set during WWII, while in Yael van der Wouden's Women's Prize winning The safekeep, siblings in post war Netherlands must face the consequences of choices made. In 1960s rural England, two couples, both expecting first children face a harsh winter in Andrew Miller's beautiful The land in winter and across the sea in Ireland, two sisters and their descendants are separated by time and tragedy in Confessions, a debut novel from Catherine Airey. Back at home, A beautiful family by Jennifer Trevelyan is a slow burn mystery set in the mid 1980s, at a bach on the Kāpiti Coast, where two young children set out to solve the mystery of a missing child.
Current Events:
The news cycle can seem grim and over whelming, so dip into one of these memoirs and essay collections on hot topic issues to get up the speed.
Why social media and those who control it are toxic and dangerous: (Careless people: A story of where I used to work by Sarah Wynn-Williams)
Why the battle over historical narrative, white supremacy and censorship is ongoing (The message by Ta-Nehisi Coates)
What's wrong with our health care system and how we can fix it (A dim prognosis by Ivor Popovich)
What's really going on in the world's battlegrounds (No I don't get danger money by Lisette Reymer)
How we can combat the rise of global authoritarianism (How to save democracy by Geoffrey Palmer)
Thriller:
Thriller writers from Aotearoa New Zealand have had bumper year, with Michael Bennett's Hana Westerman series going from strength to strength, booksellers turned authors Gareth and Louise Ward seeing success with their cosy Bookshop Detectives series and new authors Zoe Rankin (The vanishing place) and Rachel Paris (See how they fall) lighting up social media. Jane Harper, the queen of Australian Outback noir is back after three years with Last one out, a slow burn small town mystery. All the colours of the dark by Chris Whitaker has been a rockstar read this year, a serial killer thriller meets romantic suspense, full of twists and turns, while Oyinkan Braithwaite, author of My sister the serial killer is back with Cursed daughters, one for fans of horror/satire thrills.
Literary fiction:
Readers rejoice! It's the season for hot new literary fiction. Florence Knapp's The names, a sliding door novel set across several decades, and Ordinary saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, a story of a family separated by religion, gender and sexuality are debut novels that have set the literary world alight in 2025. Flashlight by Susan Choi and The emperor of gladness by Ocean Vuong both tackle themes of intergenerational trauma, memory, identity and belonging in immigrant America, while closer to home Josie Shapiro's second novel, Good things come and go is set to electrify the local literary scene after her brilliant debut Everything is beautiful and everything hurts.
Speculative fiction:
Speculative fiction does just that - it asks questions about our future, and sometimes our pasts too. New Zealand's hottest author, Catherine Chidgey has a third novel in as many years - the unsettling and beguiling The book of guilt. While Chidgey's novel is set in England's past, Gliff, by Ali Smith posits an equally disturbing future for the country in Gliff (soon to be followed by Glyph). Megha Majumdar tackles a world torn asunder by climate change in A guardian and a thief, and Laila Lalami dreams of the ultimate surveillance state in Dream hotel, both novels receiving high praise and award nominations in 2025. For a classic of the genre, try Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the sower written 30 years ago but set in 2025 - now available as the original text or as a graphic novel, e-book or audio.
Politics:
If a fascinating political memoir is your idea of festive entertainment, this is your list. New memoirs from three former leaders in A different kind of power by Jacinda Ardern, Frankly by Nicola Sturgeon and Angela Merkel, the former German Chancellor's Freedom are sure to spark discussion around the Christmas table, while new musings from Tāme Iti and Grant Robertson are also guaranteed to stimulate and inspire.
