Recs if you like The Luminaries...

a compiled list of all the "underrated" or otherwise overlooked books from the various cultures of our very own pagebound community, inspired by all of your wonderful recommendations!

i'm always open to further suggestions from your own culture if you have any books you think deserve a further spotlight or you don't see them mentioned here.

Trying to support indie publishers and read more diverse fiction! I’m starting with the Booker Prize and hopefully adding more when I can. Add your recs in the comments!

...and I cannot lie.

Mammoth books over 800 pages!

These are mostly in order by year

Let me share with you some of Aotearoa NZ’s most important and influential works.

You’ll find these books and authors covered in classrooms. They’re classics and represent a portion of Aotearoa's literary taonga (treasure).

Books set in, by, or adapted in NZ

NZ books are underrated! I’d love to share our culture with the world ✨

LOTR and so much more!

5 books of each color, for color themed challenges and games

books with murder mystery intrigue and nefarious plots 

A list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, 10 from each decade of Elizabeth II's reign, was selected by a panel of experts and announced by the BBC and The Reading Agency on 18 April 2022.

Books that have won Canada's most prestigious literary prize for English-language fiction, since 1980

Whether it be the authors, the characters, the setting, or the country itself, these books are some of the essential reads of Aotearoa New Zealand. Fiction to nonfiction, prose to poetry, the stories of our people and our land are here. This list is ever-growing, and I will continue to add to it as I read more pukapuka from our shores.

Thick books generally over 700 pages and sometimes considered "classics," to be savoured over a calendar year.