Time Out's Bestsellers in 2019 / December 31, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Our top 10 bestselling books of the year.

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Bestsellers for December 2019 / December 23, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

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TOP 5 BOOKS

Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)

KID'S BOOKS

Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)

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95bFM's Loose Reads: Jenna's Christmas Picks / December 16, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Alright, it's the end of the year and wowee, Jenna has a full list of reckons for the last Loose Reads of 2019.

NOVEL OF THE YEAR The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

ADVENTURE STORY OF THE YEAR The Burning River by Lawrence Patchett

EPIC SUMMER READ Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellman

BEST BOOK FOR KIDS The Adventures of Tupaia by Courtney Sina Meredith
BEST BOOK FOR BABIES My First Words In Māori by Stacey Morrison

BEST FANCY BOOK Private Gardens of Aotearoa by Suzanne Turley

BEST CLIMATE SCIENCE BOOK Fifteen MIllion Years in Antarctica by Rebecca Priestley

BEST BOOK FOR A 2020 RESOLUTION Tales from a Hot Financial Mess by Frances Cook.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Great Music Books for Summer! / December 11, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

For Kiran’s final 95bFM’s Loose Reads slot for 2019, she raved about three great new music books for the music nut in your life, or maybe to go on your own Chrimbo wishlist. Acid for the Children by Flea, Face It by Debbie Harry and Bowie’s Books: The Hundred Literary Heroes that Changed His Life by John McConnell.

BOOK OF THE MONTH: December, 2019: Olive, Again by Olive Kitteridge / December 4, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Olive, Again
Elizabeth Strout

Our Book of the Month for December is Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout. Readers will be thrilled by the return of the much-loved character Olive Kitteridge. Olive adjusts to her new life with her second husband, challenges her estranged son, experiences loss and loneliness, witnesses the triumphs and heartbreaks of her friends and neighbours in the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine - and, finally, opens herself to new lessons about life.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Me by Elton John / December 2, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Jenna reviews this bloody excellent memoir by Elton John. Filled with incredible tales of celebrity, drugs and music - you will find yourself repeating these anecdotes around the dinner table.

This is the perfect Christmas present for any music lover in your life. Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Tess below:

Bestsellers for November 2019 / November 28, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

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TOP 5 BOOKS

Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)

KID'S BOOKS

Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)

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RNZ's Nine to Noon: Murmur by Will Eaves / November 26, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed Murmur by Will Eaves. It is a mesmeric novel where science, imagination and literature intersect. It re-imagines the inner world of brilliant mathematician Alan Turing who was a computer science and number theory pioneer and WWII codebreaker. Bringing together deep philosophy, maths and the body, Murmur is also about exclusion, socio-economic stability and human rights - and what happens when these things are threatened. This exquisite novel was the winner of the 2019 Wellcome Book Prize, a prize which celebrates health and medicine in literature.

95bFM's Loose Reads: It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track by Ian Penman / November 25, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

This beautiful collection brings together music criticism, history, social commentary and biography in eight intelligent and elegantly written long-form pieces by music journalist Ian Penman who has contributed to the NME (when it was still a class act!), Guardian and London Review of Books (from which some of these essays originated). Penman eloquently covers the mod revival, James Brown, Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, John Fahey, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley and Prince.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Beautiful Ones by Prince / November 21, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

In early 2016, musical genius Prince announced that he was writing a memoir with editor Dan Piepenbring, however it was only a few months later that he died suddenly.

Piepenbring was given the task by Prince’s estate to put together The Beautiful Ones with what material they’d put together as well as full access to Prince’s Paisley Park.

The result is a lush illustrated hardback in which reading feels like you’re moving through a museum. For what material was available to put this together, it’s pitch perfect for the Prince fan.

Listen to Jenna’s review with Kathryn Ryan below:

95bFM's Loose Reads: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo / November 18, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo is the ‘other’ winner of the 2019 Booker prize, alongside Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments.

Perhaps deserving of being the only winner, Evaristo’s novel takes us into a deep character study of 12 mostly black, mostly women.

Investigating the complexity and variety of gender, class, feminism, politics and sexuality - Girl, Woman, Other explores form with whip smart observation. Listen to Jenna’s review with Rachel and Tess on 95bFM’s Loose Reads below:

95bFM's Loose Reads: Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock & Roll by Nick Tosches / November 13, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Think you know about country music? Think again! To celebrate the wild, gutsy and pioneering music journalist Nick Tosches who just passed away, Kiran reviewed Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock & Roll on 95bFM’s Loose Reads. Looking at the history of country music from honky tonk hell to rockabilly heaven, Tosches goes way beyond Hank Williams and excavates the true dark heart of country music, activating the colourful personalities behind it. A super juicy book, filled with tales of brawling, murder and intrigue, it will appeal to any music lover - whether you like country music or not!

95bFM's Loose Reads: A Sharp Left Turn by Mike Chunn / November 4, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Mike Chunn’s new autobiography is the NZ rock bio that everyone is going to want this Christmas.

A founding member of Split Enz, Chunn suffered from debilitating panic attacks that caused him to quit the band two albums in. This didn’t stop his music career however - he moved on to found Citizen Band, worked for Mushroom and Sony records, APRA and founded Play it Strange.

A beautiful hardback book full of endearing yarns about Otahuhu in the 1960’s, the love of music, the NZ music industry and mental health.

We finished the review by playing Late Last Night from Split Enz’s second album, Second Thoughts.

Listen to Jenna, Rachel & Tess chat below:

Bestsellers for October 2019 / October 31, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

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TOP 5 BOOKS

Bestsellers Gallery Archive (Pre 2022)

KID'S BOOKS

Kids' Bestsellers Archive (Pre 2022)

View previous Bestsellers

95bFM's Loose Reads: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak / October 30, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Kiran reviewed Booker Prize shortlisted novel 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak. The publication of this brave novel has seen Shafak come under investigation by the Turkish government for her unflinching but compassionate look at violence against women in her homeland. This is a profound story of friendship, love and Turkish history, told through the eyes of its marginalised people.

RNZ's Nine to Noon: The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez / October 21, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

You may remember that Jenna reviewed Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Award winning The Friend earlier in the year, which still remains one of her favourite reads for 2019. When a prolific, yet not as well known author wins such a prize, publishers often go to their backlist to republish an older title to give it a second life and this is what has happened with Nunez’s The Last of Her Kind, originally published in 2006.

This is a layered, intelligent and considered tale of female friendship, politics and cultural disruption in the 1960’s, New York City. Scholarship student Georgette George is roomed with the wealthy Ann Drayton at Barnard College. An intense friendship develops but ends as Ann’s journey into activism becomes more hard line and extreme.

However, Ann is brought back into George’s life years later after she is arrested for murder.

Listen to Jenna’s review below:

RNZ's Nine to Noon: Girl by Edna O'Brien / October 16, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

On RNZ’s Nine to Noon, Kiran reviewed our Book of the Month, Girl by Edna O’Brien. O’Brien is an important writer who has long given a voice and created a space for girls and women in crisis. This novel tells the story of Maryam, one of a group of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria. Girl will rip your heart out, but you won’t be able to put the book down. What a writer!

BOOK OF THE MONTH: October, 2019: Girl by Edna O'Brien / October 16, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

Our Book of the Month for October is Edna O’Brien’s Girl. A clear-sighted and gripping novel about Maryam, one of a group of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria. At 88-years-old, O’Brien is as icicle sharp as ever - on a recent trip to Nigeria on research for this book, she smuggled £15,000 in her knickers to give to people there. Girl will rip your heart out, but you won’t be able to put the book down. What a writer!
You can listen to Kiran’s RNZ Nine to Noon review of Girl here.

95bFM's Loose Reads: Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino / October 6, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

On 95bFM’s Loose Reads, Kiran reviewed New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino’s piercing collection of essays Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion. It dives deep into the evolution of the internet, the effects of late capitalism, the definitive scams of the millennial era, and the diminishing gap between personal and political delusion. These perfectly pitched essays also come with an endorsement from Rebecca Solnit so what more could you ask for?

95bFM's Loose Reads: On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein / September 30, 2019 by Time Out Bookstore

On 95bFM’s Loose Reads Suri spoke about On Fire by Naomi Klein where we find essays on varying stages of ecological crisis to current calls for policy reform, in hope of saving our planet. A necessary read.