BookHub September Highlights
Kia ora koutou and welcome to BookHub’s September Highlights,
Download the newsletter here or read below.
Spring is in the air, and so are some truly exciting new releases! Each month, we share the books that Aotearoa’s independent booksellers are buzzing about: the ones sparking conversations and capturing imaginations across the motu.
There’s something for every kind of reader this month—so dig in, discover a new favourite, and support your local bookshops along the way.
Happy reading!
– The BookHub Team
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BookHub was founded by Booksellers Aotearoa NZ to support Aotearoa New Zealand bookshops. Through BookHub you can shop online, browse the collections of NZ’s amazing indie bookshops and find a bookshop near you. When you buy a book through BookHub, 100% of your purchase goes to your chosen store and with millions of books available, there’s sure to be something for everyone.
The illustrations on the banner above are from the book Bird of the Year by Forest and Bird, designed by Cat Taylor and illustrations by Erin Forsyth, Niels Meyer-Westfield and Melissa Broadman, and has been reproduced with the permission of the publisher Penguin Random House NZ.
Bookseller Review
Ara
Dr Hinemoa Elder
Dr Hinemoa Elder’s reputation for her books on health and wellbeing in Aotearoa is so formidable that any publication she releases deserves to be read and embraced wholeheartedly. Her latest book Ara is no exception. Following the Māori goddess of the mind, Hinengaro, the reader travels through a series of caves, each one representing a place, time and thought in our minds. The trail gives us insights into who we are now and who we could be in the future and delving into each cave opens up instinctive and emotional responses based on appearance, feel, and sensory experience.
I love the way her narrative has intrinsically linked the Māori culture with natural elements that connect to our emotions. It’s a book that draws from history and culture but is so relevant for today’s world. “Hinengaro gives us the extraordinary power to construct the caves as we go,” writes Dr Elder. “She has been playing her own special version of Minecraft for a very, very long time. I imagine her renaming the game ‘Mindcraft.’”
It is a very visual journey, and you truly feel you are walking side by side as you enter and exit each cave. You are never left alone but as each cave contains so many messages and questions that need to be thought through, it is best to absorb the book ‘cave by cave.’ Put it down and return when you are ready to enter the next cave.
This book offers a fresh perspective on the concept of mindful awareness and Dr Elder has again delivered us an Aotearoa treasure that will always have a place on our book shelves.
Reviewed by Sharron
Petronella’s Gallery and Bookstore
Non-Fiction
Eat Yourself Healthy
Jamie Oliver
Edible Weeds Handbook
Andrew Crowe
Fires Which Burned Brightly
Sebastian Faulks
Fiction
Children & Young Adult
Goat On A Tractor
Amy Harrop & Ross Hamilton
Nature for Kiwi Babies
Matthew Williamson & Fraser Williamson
Rākau
Ned Barraud
Hooked
Al Brown & Hope McConnell
The Court of the Dead
Rick Riordan & Mark Oshiro
Kings of This World
Elizabeth Knox
