Best books of 2012 – The Press
The Press Your Weekend supplement of Saturday 8 December 2012 included the year’s best adult, teen and children’s reads as selected by writers from The Press.
Adult fiction and poetry
Selected by Philip Matthews.
HHhH Laurent Binet (novel of the year)- The Forrests Emily Perkins
- Soon Charlotte Grimshaw
- Risk C.K. Stead
- Capital John Lanchester
- NW Zadie Smith
- This Is How You Lose Her Junot Diaz
- Stone Arabia Dana Spiotta
- The Testament of Mary Colm Toibin
- The Big Music Kirsty Gunn
- Little Sister Julian Novitz
- The Girl Below Bianca Zander
- Selected poems Bill Manhire
- Elemental: Central Otago Poems Brian Turner
Adult non-fiction
Selected by Philip Matthews.
The Auckland University Press Anthology of New Zealand Literature edited by Jane Stafford and Mark Williams - The Making of New Zealanders Ron Palenski
- Civilisation: Twenty places on the edge of the world Steve Braunias
- Athfield Architects Julia Gatley
- Trapped: Remarkable Stories Of Survival From The 2011 Canterbury Earthquake Martin Van Beynen, foreword by Mayor Bob Parker
- On Song Simon Sweetman
- Double happiness: How bullshit works Joe Bennett
- Mad On Radium: New Zealand In The Atomic Age Rebecca Priestley
- Joseph Anton Salman Rushdie
- The Second World War Antony Beevor
- Hallucinations Oliver Sacks
- Every love story is a ghost story: A Life of David Foster Wallace D.T. Max
- Pulphead: Dispatches From The Other Side Of America John Jeremiah Sullivan
Children
Selected by Trevor Agnew.
Le Quesnoy: The story of the town that New Zealand saved Glyn Harper (best picture book of the year)- Footsteps through the fog Margaret Mahy (illustrated by Gavin Bishop)
- Mr Whistler Margaret Mahy (illustrated by Gavin Bishop)
- I love lemonade Mark and Rowan Sommerset
- Small and tall tales of extinct animals Helene Rajcak and Damian Laverdunt
- The best singer in the world Ulf Nilsson
- Born to fly Andrew Burdan and Julian Arahanga
Young adults
Selected by Bob Docherty.
- No such thing as forever Ali Cronin
Into the river Ted Dawe- Every Day David Levithan
- My brother’s war David Hill
- The boy in the olive grove Fleur Beale
- Gods and warriors Michelle Paver
- Alveridgea and the legend of the lonely dog Ivan Clarke and Stu Duval
- Silver Andrew Motion
- The Hunt Andrew Fukuda
