Round-ups
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TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Thanks so much to all of our Lit Reads members whose sharp insights, generosity and love for books has made this an especially memorable year of reading! What began as a small group of dedicated members tucked on couches, soon became a sprawling group of familiar and unfamiliar faces perched on benches and folding ladders (the new year will bring new chairs!). Lit Reads began as a way for us to connect readers who yearned for great literary conversation but struggled to find book clubs to call home. Time Out has had the pleasure of serving engaged book lovers for three decades and we are thrilled to be able to expand this community beyond the retail space.
Photo: Inaugural Lit Reads Book Club Frankenstein in Baghdad April 23rd 2018
Photo: Lit Reads Book Club This Mortal Boy October 15th 2018
Reader’s Pick Competition
One of my reading highlights from Lit Reads was Sing, Unburied, Sing - a harrowing Southern literary Gothic exploring the harsh environment of Mississippi and the legacies of trauma woven through DNA. Melancholic and beautiful, Sing, Unburied, Sing firmly cemented itself as one of my favourite books this year. We’d also love to hear about your Book Club favourites! If you have a favourite title from our Lit Reads list or a favourite book club moment that you’d like to share, send through your thoughts to books@timeout.co.nz with ‘Lit Reads Readers Pick’ in the subject line. We will pick one of these to be published in our Time Out Newsletter and our winner will also receive a $100 store voucher. We’ll also be giving out our Time Out Enamel Cat pins to the first ten entrants which can be collected in-store, and will keep all of your wonderful recommendations in a Google Doc which we will send to our mailing list.
2019 Surprises:
Thank you everyone for your feedback from last book club! I’ve taken these all on board and am working away at some changes for next year. I can confirm that starting in January we will have a Google Document for every book club that lists all recommendations from the beginning of our discussion. We will also have a ‘Lit Reads Meets…’ author Q&A every few months, a ‘Dispatches from Lit Reads’ newsletter providing reportage from the night, an Instagram page and are diligently working away on a few other extras to keep our little community growing and dynamic.
2019 Dates:
These are all locked in now:
JANUARY 21ST
Killing Commendatore - Haruki Murakami
FEBRUARY 18TH
TITLE TBC
MARCH 18TH
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APRIL 15th
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MAY 20TH
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JUNE 17TH
TITLE TBC
JULY 22ND
TITLE TBC
AUGUST 19TH
TITLE TBC
SEPTEMBER 23RD
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OCTOBER 28TH
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NOVEMBER 18TH
TITLE TBC
Our next book club pick is the new door-stopping epic by Haruki Murakami, Killing Commendatore. What better way to spend summer than with an immersive, surreal novel by one of our favourite authors at Time Out? I look forward to seeing you all again (and hearing your New Year Book Resolutions!) when we reconvene on January 21st. A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our Lit Reads friends! Thank you for reading with us this year.
Warm bibliographical regards,
Suri
Our mission with Lit Reads is to connect communities of readers and hear new and varied perspectives on fresh, contemporary titles. If this sounds like you, sign up to the Lit Reads Newsletter below.
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Taylor with Laini Taylor in 2014.
I wrote a review recently which listed my top picks for adult fantasy books (you can read it here). Now it’s time to list my top picks for young adult fantasy! I’m going to attempt to write three young adult pick posts, because I can’t separate out my favourite authors from each other unless I do so by separating out their subgenres. My goal is to write one for fantasy (well done me, I’m already a third of the way there), dystopian and contemporary. Now there are plenty of other sub genres, but let’s just say those are my favourite three.
Today we start with fantasy. What I love about YA fantasy at the moment is that it is doing things that other people, other genres, can’t or don’t dare to do. There are so many layers of subtext and cultural critique in YA fantasy right now, and it works because it doesn't offend anyone, because the cultures and the powers -that-be are fictional. So, here are my top five:
Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas
This is a bit of a sprawling epic (weighing in at 8 volumes, including a collection of prequel novellas, with the last book to be released later this year). These were the books that made me fall in love with ready fantasy again. These were the books that inspired me to write my own. The series begins with Celaena - an assassin who has been captured and in serving time in a prison camp. She is enlisted by the prince to compete to become his father’s champion. If she wins the competition she is to serve the king for four years and will then be granted her freedom. The problem is, she hates the king with every fibre of her being.
It’s difficult to do this series justice in a short summary, and to do so without giving major spoilers away is impossible. Let’s just say this series includes badass assassins, magic, Fae, love, heartbreak, grief, friendship, demons and a WHOLE lot of sass.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor
Karou is a blue-hair art student, living in Prague. By day, she goes to school, sketches and hangs out with her best friend Zuanna. By night, she collects teeth for monsters in exchange for wishes. But when devastation comes to those she loves, she is forced to face her past and take up the mantle of her future. This trilogy is about love and discrimination, about forgiveness and revenge. It’s Romeo and Juliet, but with monsters and angels. Laini Taylor is one of my all time favourite linguistic writers, her words and sentences and paragraphs are beautiful perfection - evoking emotions, imagery and drawing you into this exceptional world she has created. She is also releasing the final installment in her duology (Strange the Dreamer) later this year.
Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo
This duology is Ocean’s 11 meets Avatar the Last Airbender. Kaz Brekker is tasked with breaking a man out of a prison no one has ever escaped from. This man is the creator of a drug that could mean the undoing of the world Kaz knows. He puts together a team of 6 individuals, all who bring their own unique talents to the mission. “A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.”
Leigh Bardugo is the queen of plot twists, and this book will keep you twisting and guessing and gasping just like a good heist novel should. There is another trilogy that technically comes before this series, set in the same world just a few decades earlier. It is not necessary to read that series first (I didn’t) but if you love this one you might just want to read Shadow and Bone too.
An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir
What I loved most about this series when I first heard about it, is that it is a fantasy world inspired by ancient Rome rather than medieval britain. It is a quartet and the third book (A Reaper at the Gates) has just been released in July. The story follows two protagonists; Laia and Elias. Laia is a Scholar who has grown up in the slums, witnessing the oppression of her people. Elias is a Martial, training at one of the empire's finest military schools despite detesting the very tyranny he’s being taught to enforce. When a mission for the Scholar Resistance sends Laia uncover into the school, she uncovers that there is more going on than the endless war against the Scholar and the Martials, and her life and Elais’ are changed forever.
Ink and Bone - Rachel Caine
This world revolves around the questions: What if the Great Library of Alexandria had never burnt down? With a little bit of magic thrown in for good measure. In this world, the Library is the ultimate power; higher than law, higher than religion. The Library controls the flow of knowledge to the masses —but it is illegal to own a book. Jess has grown up in a family of book smugglers, but he believes in the values of the Library. When he is sent to train as a scholar of the Library by his father, to work as a double agent and steal books for the family to sell, Jess is confronted with a choice: The Library or his family. What he doesn’t yet know is that the library has been repressing the invention of a device that would make books easy to create and distribute to the masses, the revelation of which sets Jess and his friends on a dangerous path.
The world building in this series is fantastic, it has the perfect mix of real world, what could of been, and fantasy elements. The plot moves slowly, but keeps you hooked in and wanting to know more. This series is also a quartet, and the last in the series was just released last month.
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TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Hello again. It is no small secret that one of my favourite genres is fantasy. Anyone who follows me on Goodreads will easily see that my fantasy shelf is twice the size of any other. It makes me sad that there are lots of people who look down on this genre, but I also know there are plenty of fantasy nerds out there like me. Well, this one’s for you guys.
Here are my favourite adult fantasy series, as opposed to my favourite young adult series which is a whole other blog post:
Nevernight - Jay Kristoff
If you’ve been in the shop in the last six months you might know that this has been my ‘pick’ off and on all year. This is a fantastic series (number two is out - Godsgrave - and number three will be out next year!) about a girl called Mia, who is determined to avenge her family who were murdered in front of her when she was a child. It is dark (like, really dark), full of murder and betrayal and set in an amazing world. Kristoff’s catch phrase for this book on social media is ‘stab, stab, stab. (if you loved this series you might also enjoy Mark Lawrence’s Red Sister.)
A Darker Shade of Magic - V. E. Schwab
From one of my favourite authors of all time, this series is packed full of magic, action and fantastic characters. Imagine there are three Londons: Grey London, the world we know, Red London, a world rich with magic, and White London, a world of savage bloodshed. There are a few who have the power to walk between worlds, the Antari, and Kell is one of them. When he accidentally brings a piece of the long lost Black London into his world he unleashes hell, with deadly consequences. (The whole series is out now and Schwab is also writing a new series set in the same world for any fans of the original books)
Uprooted - Naomi Nivok
t is rare to find a really good fantasy stand alone story. There is a real talent in being able to take a reader through a satisfying story arch in just one book when following the rules of the fantasy genre, and Nivok does this seamlessly. The story follows Agnieszka, a simple girl from a simple village that stands near the border of the corrupted Wood. Her people rely on the protection of a wizard known only as the Dragon, who takes a young woman to serve him every ten years. What I loved most about this story was the incredibly creepy forest and the way in which a place stood in the role of evil antagonist to the story. (Novik has also just released Spinning Silver, another stand alone which is next on my TBR pile!)
The Name of The Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
It surprises me how many fantasy lovers who come into the shop haven’t heard of or read this series. For fans of more traditional ‘epic’ fantasy, like The Lord of the Rings, Robin Hobb or Game of Thrones, Rothfuss presents a very detailed world and scope of story. The series follows the life of Kvothe, a legend known as the Kingkiller. The story is told in two time periods, the first is of Kvothe as a grown man telling his life story to a scribe, and the second is that retelling of his life. Book two is out - The Wise Man’s Fear - and we are all eagerly awaiting book three…
The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker
This is the only urban fantasy on this list, meaning that it is set in our world but with magical elements included. The story is of two creatures, a Golem created by a disgraced rabbi who is relocating to New York, and a Djinni who is awoken from his lamp by an unwitting tinsmith living in Little Syria. The two find each other and become friends, figuring out what it means to be in this new country and in their new lives of freedom, but not freedom. This story draws many parallels to immigration and has great subtextual observations about ‘otherness’.
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TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
THE "Ph.D (PARTICULARLY HIGH BROW)" READ
Similar to Einstein, this floof has a killer 'do, and eyebrows to boot. It's quite possible this doggo stays up all night contemplating the universe - wearing a puppy-sized tinfoil hat - watching old episodes of Cosmos, and/or brushing up on some of the most up-to-date science reads. Join them on their quest for knowledge and dig into our picks below!
NATURE - SCIENCE - PSYCHOLOGY
NON-FICTION
THE "REALITY-IS EXHAUSTING-BUT-I'M-THIRSTY-FOR-MORE" READ
This pup looks beat - aren't we all? The holidays have come and gone, and it seems that the general consensus is a need for rest and relaxation this summer. Well, what better way to relax than to hit the beach, and inform yourself on the current state-of-things and political turmoil? Rosé optional.
POLITICS - CURRENT AFFAIRS - HISTORY
NON-FICTION
THE "CAN'T-STOP-GRINNING-EAR-TO-EAR" READ
Had a RUFF day or feeling melan-collie? If you need a laugh, we've got you covered.
HUMOUR - QUIRKY
FICTION & NON-FICTION
THE "SO-STRANGE-IT'S-WONDERFUL" READ
Meet Clarice, our new intern. Clarice suggests checking out some of the strangest & quirkiest books in our inventory. Fall down the rabbit hole this summer and pick up a WILD CARD!
FICTION & NON-FICTION
THE "ONCE-YOU'RE-IN-MY HANDS-I'M NEVER-GOING-TO-PUT-YOU-DOWN" READ
We're falling pretty hard for this puppy and their soulful, dark brown eyes. If only there were a book that could match the amount of emotion we feel from gazing at this angelic dog . . .
Below are some worthy contenders (that may make you cry, just a little).
EMOTIVE
FICTION
THE "DON'T-GO-DOWN-TO-THE-BASEMENT-OR-TURN-OFF-THE-LIGHTS" READ
"What a sweet looking doggo!" you think. "Look at that cute little tail!" you say. But there may be some darkness behind that sweet face, something shadowed or mysterious we can't quite put our finger on. This list is for those who are ready to dive into a something darker: a new release crime, thriller, or dystopian novel. Just don't turn off the lights . . .
CRIME - THRILLER - DARK
FICTION
THE "TAKE-ME-TO-YOUR-PLANET" READ
There are no words for this fantastical creature and we're quite keen on traveling with them to an alternate reality inhabited by similar mystical doggos. Everyone at the shop would shed more than a few tears if this creature were to go the route à la Poochy.
SCI FI - FANTASY - DYSTOPIAN
FICTION
THE "POLYJUICE" READ
So you want to take a walk in someone else's shoes . . . Sadly, it might take us at least a month to brew up some polyjuice potion (sorry). While our book wizards are whipping that up in the holds cave, take a glug of a new bio or memoir.
BIOGRAPHY - MEMOIR
NON-FICTION
Our top 10 bestselling books of the year.
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TOP 5 BOOKS
KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
TOP 5 KID'S BOOKS
Click on the covers to shop!
TOP 5 BOOKS
TOP 5 KID'S BOOKS
You may see some dogs, you may see some dogs IN COSTUMES! (This is what we're hoping for anyway.) You may also see some dressed up staff...!
If you bring your dog to visit, they will receive a packet of Purina Dentalife treats.
To celebrate the NZ release of Grégoire Solotareff's Wolfy, we will give the best dressed dog this wonderful book prize from our friends Gecko Press.
We have a very limited number of Bookshop Day Tote Bags to give away with your book purchases. Get in early for these.
Thanks to Trigger Marketing, we have a bunch of movie tickets to give away. Choose from one of these 3 films:
Our magical Katie, will be whipping up some of her famous ginger cookies. (Here's a peek at what she created last year.)
We will announce the winners of our book review competition at 5pm. YOU CAN STILL ENTER!
Once the NZ Bookshop Day totes are gone, we've got Lonely Planet totes to give away with your book purchases. These ones might have an extra book or two in them(!)
There are so many new books in stock, we can barely fit them in. You can get signed copies of Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor, check our Lucinda in The New Zealand Cat, put your name down for the incoming Man Booker Winner Lincoln in the Bardo and perhaps start on on Christmas shopping?
This isn't actually very good news, but Saturday will be our wonderful Suri's last day before she travels to distant shores. Come in and say farewell.
