This week’s bestselling books – August 16

NONFICTION
1 View from the Second Row by Samuel Whitelock (HarperCollins, $49.99)
A free copy of the as-told-to memoir by All Black Sam Whitelock was up for grabs in last week’s giveaway contest. Readers were asked to name their favourite sports book. The winner is Jim McCormick, who nominated No Ordinary Joe by Joe Schmidt: “The book drew me into Joe’s family growing up, his work and made me feel I knew him. His honesty and intellect, with an exceptional ability to listen to those around him, pushed him through challenges to become a master coach.  The book made me feel connected and inspired with Joe’s emotions and courage.”
Huzzah to Jim; a free copy of View from the Second Row by Samuel Whitelock is his.
2 Serviceman J by Jamie Pennell (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Memoir of an NZSAS commander serving in Afghanistan. It includes an incredibly exciting chapter about hunting down a “terrorist”, and boxing him in: “The problem we faced was that the terrorist had a firing position inside a fatal funnel, meaning the opening of an entry point where most fatalities occur. But, in this case, he was within depth and we were faced with two rooms meaning two fatal funnels. We therefore had to innovate and do something that we had never trained for. First, we decided to figure out which room he was in by using the door entry as cover  – something we could do because the walls were thick concrete in this building. Then, once we knew where he was, the second part of the plan was to put an entry charge in line with his position and blow it, hopefully killing or incapacitating him enough to advance at speed, and then shoot him.”
It took 14 grenades to kill him.
3 The Road to Chatto Creek by Matt Chisholm (Allen & Unwin, $45)
4 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
5 Unmasking Monsters by Chook Henwood (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
Ex-cop David “Chook” Henwood looks back on 40 years policing; chapters include his hunt to identify, capture and imprison serial rapists Joseph Thompson and Malcolm Rewa. A free copy of Chook’s memoir is available in this week’s free book giveaway.
To enter the draw, share a story – your own, or to do with someone you know – about good police work, in as many words as you wish, either a few or a great many, and  email it to [email protected] with the subject line in screaming caps GOOD COP. Entries close at midnight, Sunday August 18.
6 Waitohu by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $35)
7 Becoming Tangata Tiriti by Avril Bell (Auckland University Press, $29.99)
From a masterful review by Philip Temple: “Avril Bell makes the purpose of her book clear from the outset. She hopes that the ‘voices in this work harmonise with the voices of Māori, adding to the range and volume of the decolonising/indigenising call’ … One of the shibboleths in this book is that Pākehā have to learn and accept our history, including the many injuries inflicted upon Māori, in the 19th century in particular. In agreeing with this view, I suggest that its proponents need to read our history more carefully. British immigrants were coming, ready or not. The first New Zealand Company settlers had arrived in Wellington before the Treaty was signed and more were on their way, Treaty or not. One of the key drivers for the Treaty was the British government’s desire to control this settlement and its consequent demands for freehold land from Māori. The idea that no non-Māori would be here today but for the Treaty ignores the massive worldwide diaspora of European peoples that took place after the Napoleonic Wars. It was unstoppable.”
8 The Life of Dai by Dai Henwood and Jaquie Brown (HarperCollins, $39.99)
9 A Life Less Punishing by Matt Heath (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
10 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
FICTION
1 The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone by Gareth Ward & Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $38)
Right now Hawkes Bay is the capital of New Zealand fiction; The Bookshop Detectives, a crime caper by Hawkes Bay collaborative writers and bookstore owners Gareth Ward & Louise Ward, has held the number one spot for three weeks.
2 Home Truths by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
Just to confirm that Hawkes Bay is right now ruling New Zealand fiction, the latest crime novel by Hawkes Bay writer Charity Norman has held the number two spot for two weeks.
3 All That We Know by Shilo Kino (Moa Press, $37.99)
Right now the hottest publisher of New Zealand fiction is Moa Press. Last year it ruled the Nielsen BookScan bestseller charts with The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa; they were recognised in December when ReadingRoom named Moa the publisher of the year, and only a few weeks ago Moa was named publisher of the year at the Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry Awards. Its successes this year include Shilo Kino’s powerful new novel.
4 The Mess We Made by Megan O’Neill (Moa Press, $37.99)
Just to confirm that Moa Press is right now the hottest publisher of New Zealand fiction, Christchurch writer Megan O’Neill’s debut novel, a love story, has shot to number four in its first week in the shops. I really like the sound of it: “Quin and Henry are high-school sweethearts until one night, one bad decision shatters everything. Years later, Quin’s stuck working at a local takeaway. She’s not spoken to Henry since he left town nine years ago. When Henry suddenly returns – and keeps showing up at work to walk Quin home – she feels herself falling all over again. But his reappearance triggers the secret she’s kept buried for the past nine years….”
I like the cover, too.
5 At the Grand Glacier Hotel by Laurence Fearnley (Penguin Random House, $37)
6 Kāwai by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)
7 The Space Between by Lauren Keenan (Penguin Random House, $37)
8 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $28)
9 Amma by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $37.99)
Yet further confirmation that Moa Press is right now the hottest publisher of New Zealand fiction.
10 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)