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Hi booklovers!
In case you haven't heard, The Booklover Bookshop officially has a new owner.
"No, I'm not going to change everything!" - Rachel
This is the sentence I've been repeating all week to reassure people that their beloved independent bookshop is not going to change. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! I have been working with Olivia at The Booklover since 2020 and I can't wait to just keep growing this little bookshop of ours to even greater proportions. I look forward to continuing to build the wonderful book-loving community that we have created and sharing our love of great literature with you all.
"You can't get rid of me that easily!" - Olivia
We're both feeling overwhelmed by the amount of love and support you have all shown us during this transition. Olivia will be here at the shop working with me throughout September whilst Laura is overseas visiting friends and family, and then come October we bid her adieu so she can start this new chapter in her life. Have no fret, you'll still see her around the shop from time to time... say at her upcoming book launch? Or perhaps as a special guest at our annual Christmas Showdown? And we will, of course, constantly ask her what she's reading and loving!
"I'm not going anywhere!" - Laura
The lovely Laura will still be here with me and we're so excited for what's to come. There are a lot of events we're working on, ideas we're cooking up and there are some incredible books still to come in 2025 so without further ado, let's get to the stuff you came here for!
Till next time, happy reading,
Rachel, Olivia & Laura xx
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THE BOOK LAUNCH WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!
Olivia's latest novel The American Boys is almost here and we'd love to welcome you into the bookshop on Tuesday the 28th of October to celebrate the release of her third historical fiction novel.
If you loved The Girl from London and The Songbirds of Florence as much as we did then you do NOT want to miss this.
Space is limited so RSVP now to save your spot.
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TAKA TALK
Come join us! We're proud to be the bookseller at Takapuna Library's event with Sarah Ell happening later this month. Sarah will be in conversation with local journalist and writer, Angela Walker, to discuss her new book The Spirit of a Place. We will be selling Sarah's book at a special event price of $50 (regularly $60).
Wednesday September 24th at 6.00-7.30pm
Please RSVP with Takapuna Library here.
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NZ BOOKSHOP DAY IS COMING UP!
Join us for at The Booklover for Bookshop Day 2025. We have lots of fun activities planned including:
- Auckland Bookshop Tour (with 14 participating bookshops)
- Face Painting from 10am-12pm for kiddos when you purchase a children's book. 1 book per child!
- In store giveaways
- Libro FM Golden Ticket
and much more!
Bookshop Day is run by the Booksellers Association of New Zealand to encourage book lovers, like you, to celebrate your local bookshop!
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PREORDER NOW
Gravity Let Me Go $38
OUT SEPT 30
Trent Dalton
Be still my beating heart. Trent Dalton is back with another beautiful, gut-wrenching, astonishing, heart-in-mouth read. Noah Cork has just published the scoop of a lifetime: a true-crime book about the cold-blooded killer who slipped an unfolding murder mystery into his mailbox. But if this is Noah’s moment of triumph, then why are skeletons standing upright in his closet? Why do people want to run him over in the street? And why does his wife keep writing a cryptic message across the bathroom mirror? As a severe storm heads towards Brisbane, Noah is hurtling headfirst into a swirling storm of secrets. He must now cling for dear life to the only story that ever really mattered. He must hold on to the truth. He must hold on to the story. He must hold on to love. Thank you Trent for another unforgettable book.
- Olivia
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The Predicament $38
William Boyd
I was a bit miffed when Gabriel’s Moon ended on such a cliffhanger because I was enjoying it so much. You’d think I’d have known by the number of pages left to read that it was coming to an end but somehow I was caught off guard. I came in to work and complained about having been left hanging with no resolution and Olivia said “It’s alright, it’s bound to be the start of a new series” and so it has proved. The Predicament is the next in the series of Gabriel Dax books.
He’s a travel writer by profession but an MI6 spy by accident. He’s working for the British secret service AND the Russians but then reporting what the Russians say back to his British handler and lover Faith Green. It’s one of those plots where you think you know what’s going on - who’s double crossing who - but actually you don’t. Gabriel Dax is becoming less of an amateur at this sleuthing game and that’s important because US President JFKs’ life is at risk on a day’s visit to Berlin. Immediately upon starting the book the writing is so good that I have forgiven William Boyd for upsetting me last year.
- Laura
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PREORDER NOW
What We Can Know $38
OUT SEPT 16
Ian McEwan
2014 A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found. 2119 The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost.
Tom Metcalfe, a scholar at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain's remaining archipelagos, pores over the archives of the early twenty-first century, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the great lost poem, revelations of entangled love and a brutal crime emerge, destroying his assumptions about a story he thought he knew intimately.
Devastatingly we haven't read this yet! No early copies for us, but they're saying it's a masterpiece that reclaims the present from our sense of looming catastrophe, and imagines a future world where all is not quite lost.
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Buckeye $37
Patrick Ryan
Ann Patchett has been raving about Buckeye and for good reason. This wonderful novel is the definition of a sweeping American saga. The scene is set when in May 1945, Margaret Salt walks into a hardware store in a small Ohio town and asks the man behind the counter, Cal Jenkins, for a radio. What happens next changes both their lives and that of their families for generations to come. Spanning WW2 and the Vietnam war, this novel is full of humour, compassion, tragedy and perfect sentences. I’m pitching it as Ann Patchett mixed with Jonathan Franzen with a touch of Anne Tyler. Run don’t walk to get your copy.
- Olivia
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Life, and Death, and Giants $38
Ron Rindo
Oh my days! This book has it all: tragedy; excitement; disaster; charm and humour. It’s a family drama set in an Amish community in the US Midwest, based on the idea of the tallest man who ever lived, but brought up to date in the 21st Century. What would his life be like now? Well for a start he is a sportsman, known worldwide across social media, but he is also from a religious family who shun modernity and so there are conflicts aplenty. The writing is utterly beautiful, particularly when it comes to nature and the 8ft “giant” Gabriel’s love of animals but also in the description of the way belonging to a community can both harm and protect you. Author Ron Rindo has been compared to John Irving and Elizabeth Strout and Delia Owens and I would agree with that. A book that you could give to absolutely anyone from 20 to 100 year olds.
- Laura
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Artificial Wisdom $38
Thomas R. Weaver
As soon as I heard the premise of this book I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. It is 2050 and the world is facing a climate catastrophe. A global leader is needed to make tough world decisions and the final two candidates are ex-US president Lockwood, and…wait for it….Solomon, the world’s first political artificial intelligence. Described as a genre-defying techno-thriller, Artificial Wisdom makes for some seriously uncomfortable reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I also think I might just go off-grid and offline for the foreseeable future!
- Olivia
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Hooked Up $39
Fiona Sussman
I have a huge amount of admiration for this NZ author - Fiona writes beautifully - and she is back with a fantastic literary whodunnit set in Mangawhai! When Detective Ramesh Bandara is sent to Mangawhai to investigate a homicide, he stumbles onto something far bigger. With the help of his clever colleague Hilary Stark, they start to wonder if there might be connections to a murder from a decade earlier linked to a controversial reality TV show called - you guessed it - Hooked Up. The plotting is deftly handled with brilliant twists and red herrings to keep you guessing right till the end. And I love reading a book set in our own backyard.
- Olivia
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PREORDER NOW
The Impossible Fortune $38
OUT SEPT 23
Richard Osman
It's been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?
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A Particularly Nasty Case $38
Adam Kay
When a noxious hospital consultant dies of a heart attack, fellow doctor Eitan Rose smells foul play. But nobody else does, including some quite crucial players like the police and the coroner.
When another doctor dies in similar circumstances, Eitan becomes convinced there is more to these deaths than meets the eye. Is there really a killer marauding the wards or is Eitan losing the plot?
Deftly told and deathly funny, A Particularly Nasty Case is the unputdownable debut novel from Adam Kay bestselling author of This is Going to Hurt.
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Everything but the Medicine $40
Lucy O'Hagan
Written in tiny, bite sized chapters this is the most perfect read for anyone - like a GP - who is short of time. I found it poignant, funny, interesting and both eye-opening and eye-watering. Doctors find themselves in the most extraordinary situations and it takes its toll on their well being. Lucy, whose wisdom and humanity is compared to that of famous author/physician Atul Gawande, writes about how her experiences - both at home and at work on the South Island - led to a burnout that ultimately made her a better doctor. Being a good GP seems to be about being a good listener and trying to establish why the patient is REALLY there, which is often different to the reason they are presenting. My takeaway from this most human of memoirs was: why are GP appointments so disastrously short? It doesn’t make sense.
- Laura
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PREORDER NOW
Fly, Wild Swans $40
OUT SEPT 16
Jung Chang
Wild Swans was a publishing sensation in the 1990s selling over 15 million copies worldwide. It had that pale watery green cover that you’d recognise all the way across a room, except of course in China where all her books are banned. So I jumped at the chance to read its sequel Fly, Wild Swans when we were given a copy by the publisher. In this book Jung Chang recaps a little of her family history that we know so well from Wild Swans and then goes on to describe her ongoing relationship with the authorities in China and the CCP. You won’t be surprised to hear that it’s been tricky. Now a British citizen living in London, and author of a biography of Mao and one of Empress Dowager Cixi, she still has to jump through hoops to get the visas she needs to visit her mother in Chengdu. There are many jaw dropping moments in this memoir but if I were to describe what this book is about in one word it would be “tenacity”.
- Laura
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All the Way to the River $39
Elizabeth Gilbert
By the author of Eat, Pray, Love comes this new memoir that is not just tell all but tell all the absolute worst - the absolute rock bottom - that life can throw at you. When her best friend of many years, and new partner in love, Rayya Elias is given a fatal cancer diagnosis it is just awful but when trying to control the pain Rayya, a recovered addict, starts taking drugs again their world spirals into chaos. We’re all addicted to something - our phones, sugar, alcohol and in Elizabeth Gilbert’s case love and sex - so I took such a lot away from this brutally honest book. I felt very comforted by it. Being human is so messy and complicated and such a lot can go wrong even to those like a successful author nominally protected by wealth and privilege. The text is interspersed with Elizabeth’s poems which I really loved but I didn’t so much enjoy the doodle style drawings until at the end I realised why they were so important to the book.
- Laura
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Ara $30
Dr. Hinemoa Elder
From the best-selling author of Aroha & Wawata comes a unique exploration of how to think about thinking, rooted in the wisdom of Māori culture.
Dr Hinemoa Elder introduces us to a profound journey guided by Hinengaro, Māori goddess of the mind, leading us through 23 specific rua, caves, into the unfamiliar depths of Papatuanuku, our earth mother, and back to the surface again. Hinengaro offers us a dedicated path to gather insights, face challenges and help us navigate the complexities of our minds.
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Speaking My Language Kōrero i Tōku Reo $40
Mike McRoberts
For much of his life well-known journalist and presenter, Mike McRoberts, felt burdened by not knowing his own language. Growing up at a time when te reo was scarcely spoken in daily conversations, and within a mixed-race family with little connection to Māoritanga, his experience mirrored that of many other New Zealanders of his generation. In later years, as a journalist and presenter of Newshub's six o'clock news, his confident television persona masked the anxiety he felt greeting viewers with the simple phrase, 'Kia ora, good evening'. Not being comfortable speaking his language was a source of shame - a shame that ironically kept him from starting his te reo journey sooner.
In his book Mike shares his story of that journey to speak te reo Māori and reclaim his identity. It is an invitation for all New Zealanders to take the first step to understand why speaking our Māori language and treasuring our culture matters.
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Saving Elli $38
Doug Gold
Someone asked me the other day if I ever jump to the end of a book to read the ending and I said “not usually” but the suspense in Saving Elli about a little Jewish girl being hidden in 1940s Amsterdam was so excruciating that I’m afraid I did. I was half way through the book at that point and so caught up in this true story of a mother and her two daughters and the people that helped her that I needed to know what happened. It was at that point that I realised that there was a New Zealand connection to this book, and not just through the author Doug Gold, who lives in Wellington.
- Laura
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South by South $50
Charles Ferrall
South by South brings to light many letters, newspaper articles, and pieces of official correspondence, much of which has not been published before, during the five expeditions of 1901-1916: the Discovery, Nimrod, Terra Nova, Aurora, and Endurance. In particular, Scott's letters to Kinsey and Shackleton's to Tripp tell of their hope, despair, exhaustion, and deep gratitude for their friendship.
What they and the explorers wrote was influenced by nineteenth-century adventure stories which conveyed the Imperialist ideals of the time. If the impending conflict of 1914-18 was a very 'literary war', this was very literary exploration.
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Fox and the Mystery Letter $19
Alex G. Griffiths
One day Fox gets a mysterious letter. This letter sends him on a quest, an adventure, a treasure hunt perhaps? What will he find when he follows all the clues and solves the puzzles?
I thought the illustrations were really charming in this quaint picture book with many quirky details for children to look at, like the portraits on the wall of Fox's home or the snails in the garden or the whale in the sea. There are lots of adorable woodland characters too who help Fox on his quest and it has a wonderful story of friendship and conflict resolution. Ages 3+
- Rachel
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The Monster in the Lake $30
Leo Timmers
The illustrations in this book are so cool and the story behind the illustrations is even cooler! Watch author Leo Timmers on Youtube talk about the creation of his new picture book using spray paint and acryllic paint.
Eric the duck is nervous to swim in the lake for fear a monster might live there, but he bravely follows his friends and discovers something spectacular indeed lives beneath the surface. There's so much to look at under the water in this large hardback kids picture book. Ages 3+
- Rachel
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Dragonfall: The Fate of Dragons $22
Sarina Clark
This is the book I will be shoving into everyone's hands if they come in asking for a kids book recommendation! There are three dragon tribes: Cliff dragons, Fern dragons and Firefly dragons, long ago they roamed the skies in harmony but the ferocious Blade Wolf has them hiding in fear. Set in Ataraxia, this is the story of Astra, a baby fern dragon who finds himself at the mercy of the Groundlings when his egg rolls out of the nest. Thankfully, Dessa (short for Iridescence), the firefly dragon saves him. But Astra is different from the other dragons, his abilities are developing at rapid speed and the baby dragons are determined to figure out why - perhaps the answer to this can help them defeat the Blade Wolf.
This book has everything, a map in the beginning, a summary of the characters/species before the story even begins, awesome illustrations throughout, an accompanying quiz to see which dragon tribe you belong to (I was a Fern dragon) and SO MUCH HEART. It's also a really great book to read aloud. I think it needs to be in all school libraries. For fans of the Wings of Fire series, ages 9+.
There is so much potential for this new dragon series, I can't wait to see where it goes next.
- Rachel
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The Terrible Trio: The (not so) Superheroes $19
Swapna Haddow & Minky Stapleton
The first Ministry of Superpowers is now open and every animal in the world is invited to receive their superpower! Zeb the Zebra, Barry the Lemur and Margarine the Penguin are at the back of the line stuck behind a buffalo so by the time they make it to the front of the line all the good superhero powers have been taken! You'll never guess what powers they end up with... this is HILARIOUS for Ages 5+
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Dante N. Ferno is NOT a Loser $20
Brian Gordon
Ever since his trousers fell down in front of the whole school, Dante has struggled to shake off his seriously uncool reputation. Luckily, he has a foolproof plan to become the most popular kid at his new school. Purg School is attended by infamous creatures from myths and legends and they're not going to let him shake off his loser status overnight! Dante is going to have his work cut out to beat the bullies and show the world that he is NOT a loser.
Perfect for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Loki. Ages 7+ |
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Gloam $19
Jack Mackay
It always makes me so sad when parents or grandparents say "I couldn't get that book for them, it's too scary". I understand protecting children from fear but growing up some of my favourite books were the ones that scared me most. They're also the books I remember the most to this day. I'm not a parent yet so while I can't understand what it's like to have a child come to your room in the middle of the night complaining of a nightmare, I was that child. I was terrified of monsters under my bed and in my closet but that didn't stop me from reading spooky books and I'm glad my parents didn't stop giving them to me because they shaped who I am today. Generally speaking - they are creative stories where good defeats evil in the end. Author Hana Tooke described Gloam as "thoroughly spine-chilling, yet utterly heartwarming" so I urge you to look past the spookiness and give this charming book a chance. One of the talking trees (yes, the trees talk) says "it is impossible to be brave if you are not already afraid" and I think with that I rest my case. Click on the book cover to find out what Gloam is all about. Ages 9+
- Rachel
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Kings of this World $30
Elizabeth Knox
Vex is used to people being afraid of her power, the ability to persuade others to do what she wants. But when she arrives at a new school, it is packed with people who have the same power, and who might even like her.
Vex is enchanted by her new friends when, five weeks into term one, they are kidnapped. They find themselves chained in the basement of an abandoned factory, trying to figure out how to escape...
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When We Were Monsters $24
Jennifer Niven
I'll read anything Jennifer Niven writes, it could be about the most boring subject in the world and she would somehow find a way to keep my interested with her beautiful prose. If the author of We Were Liars, E. Lockhart says "Niven's signature ingredients: deep sensitivity, romance, poetry, and misunderstood, passionate characters. Now add a gothic mansion, a dangerous cliffside and a charismatic genius- and she's serving up a standout dark academia thriller" I'm all in.
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