A feast of new Aotearoa New Zealand fiction

Welcome to our first round up of newly acquired fiction titles for 2024.

To start the year off we have  a veritable feast of daring, diverse and adventurous Aotearoa fiction titles, most of which have only just been released. The breadth, range, genres employed and subjects explored, not to mention different styles, in evidence is stunning and shows what a rich literary community we have in Aotearoa.

The novels range from Booker-nominated Anna Smaill’s second novel Bird Life, to a collection of short stories by Edmond Murray about Auckland called Aucklanders, a book in the same vein as James Joyce’s Dubliners.

Other Aotearoa picks include a historical romance called The Girl from London by Olivia Spooner. There is also Joy Holley’s much anticipated debut collection of short stories, Dream Girl, plus a climate change novel called Dear Tui by M . C Ronen. Also, just in from our own fair shores there is Checkerboard Hill by Jade Kake, Landed by Sue McCauley and, to round things off on the Aotearoa front, Everything I Have by Tammy Robinson.

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Puns galore: New mystery titles


We love a good pun at the library and it appears that many cosy crime writers do too, especially when it comes to the titles of their books. This pun-tastic obsession comes into play even more so when it comes to seasonal releases.

This month’s selection of slightly out of season titles sees several books that fit this bill including, Let it crow! Let it crow! Let it crow! by Donna Andrews, Up on the woof top by Spencer Quinn, and our favourite this month ‘Twas the bite before Christmas by David Rosenfelt; a “seasonally themed canine detective tale.”

Incidentally our all-time favourite title in this field of wordplay is Dachshund through the snow.

There were several other titles that caught our attention, such as the new book by the multi-award-winning Aotearoa crime writer Paul Cleave called His favourite graves. We also have The new detective by Peter Steiner, a novel set in Germany before, during and after World War One.

Let it crow! Let it crow! Let it crow / Andrews, Donna
” Meg has been roped into participating in a blacksmithing competition, a kind of Forged in Fire wannabe organized by a blacksmith friend. Meg originally turned down his invitation to participate, but when Faulk, her blacksmithing mentor, breaks his wrist the night before filming begins, Meg agrees to step in as his replacement to keep the project from failing. She’s not thrilled that the filming will take place during December–Christmas is already a crazy time for her. At least she doesn’t have to abandon Michael and their twin sons during the filming, since that’s taking place on Ragnarsholm, the picturesque estate that her friend Ragnar, the retired heavy metal drummer, is turning into a Goth castle…” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

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New science fiction and fantasy titles

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Welcome to our first round-up of newly acquired science fiction and fantasy titles for 2024.

We start the year with a wonderous mixed bag of titles, which cover an incredible wide range of styles topics and underlying themes. We have a Korean science fiction blockbuster bestseller called DallerGut Dream Department Store: the dream you ordered is sold out by Miye Lee. Also in this month’s selection, we have After world : a novel by Debbie Urbanski, a highly topical work about AI. There’s several fabulous afrofuturist titles, including the new book by one of the most exciting writers around Nnedi Okorafor, called Like thunder. This month also brings an anthology of indigenous dark fiction based around myths and folklore about whistling, called Never whistle at night. If that isn’t a wide enough choice, we also have a Japanese fantasy novel called Kappa by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa based on traditional Japanese folk tales. To round things off, we have a home-grown paranormal fantasy romance fiction novel called Shrine of stars by our very own Melanie Harding-Shaw.

Like thunder / Okorafor, Nnedi
” This book begins with Dikéogu Obidimkpa slowly losing his mind. Yes, that boy who can bring rain just by thinking about it is having some… issues. Years ago, Dikéogu went on an epic journey to save Earth with the shadow speaker girl, Ejii Ubaid, who became his best friend. When it was all over, they went their separate ways, but now he’s learned their quest never really ended at all. So Dikéogu, more powerful than ever, reunites with Ejii. He records this story as an audiofile, hoping it will help him keep his sanity or at least give him something to leave behind. Smart kid, but it won’t work–or will it?” (Adapted from Catalogue)

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Some literary treats for 2024

Consult Betty Boop GIF by Fleischer Studios

Image via Giphy.

A very warm welcome to 2024. As is now our annual custom for this time of year, we are going to peer into the tea leaves of the future at the bottom of the literary teacup. In this blog, we will be selecting just a few of the literary highlights that we at Wellington City Libraries are looking forward to. In the process, we hope to spot just a few of the novels that everyone will be talking about this year.

These are of course just the few of the fiction treats that have already been scheduled and announced for this year, many of the books that will feature in the ‘Best of 2024’ lists aren’t even listed yet. Indeed, one of the great delights of the literary world are the surprise novels that seemingly come out of nowhere to become one of the shining stars of that year, so there will be plenty of surprises in store. Having said that, there are already lots of interesting titles to look forward to. So, let’s start off with our list of what to look out for in the fiction world in 2024.

The first book on our list, due out later in January, is a Bird Child and Other Stories by the legendary Aotearoa author Patricia Grace.  This is Patricia Grace’s first collection of short stories in 17 years, and needless to say it is already hotly anticipated! Further afield in January, My Friends by Hisham Matar is getting a lot of advance interest. The novel starts off in London during a protest at the Libyan embassy and contrasts the civil war in Libya and life in Britain.  Also in January, we have Sigrid Nunez’s The Vulnerables, a lockdown novel beginning in 2020.

In February we have Kitten by Olive Nuttall, a debut Aotearoa novel that’s already causing waves in reviewing circles.

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Best of 2023: Our top fiction picks!

A beach scene. 2023 is written above 2024 in the ocean, and waves are coming into shore to wash away the old year 2023
Waving goodbye to 2023 (literally and literarily)

As we say goodbye to 2023 and hello to 2024, it is now tradition for us to take stock of the literary year and take note of some of the novels we regarded as highlights.

As always, we aim to cover as wide a mix as possible — from fabulous new Aotearoa New Zealand books to big international bestsellers and major prize-nominated books, not to mention the best of this year’s crime and thriller titles and some standout science fiction and fantasy books. We have selected books that got lots of attention as well as others we felt fell undeservedly under the radar — and we’ve also thrown in a few left-field curveballs of books we just absolutely loved and felt we could not ignore. As is always the case with these lists, some of the selections we make are by their nature subjective and we apologise in advance if we missed any of your favourites out. All in all it’s been a fascinating and exciting year for readers — roll on 2024!

So here we go — Wellington City Libraries’ very subjective list of the top 100 novels of 2023!

2023 Fiction Highlights — Browse the full list
Browse the full list with all our picks, or browse just the topic you enjoy!

Doctor Who anniversary: The gothic influence

 

Twelfth Doctor GIF by Doctor Who
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On the 23rd of November 1963, the day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a science fiction legend was born.

After its very low-key start, “the BBC expected Doctor Who to last a couple of years at the most”, the iconic programme has gone on to become the longest running science fiction show of all time, celebrating its sixtieth anniversary this year. It is still hugely popular and we in the library can’t wait to see the major Doctor Who exhibition coming to Tākina, Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre in 2024. In celebration of the anniversary, we are planning a few posts and podcasts about various aspects of this iconic science fiction series.

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