Nature is never far away in New Zealand. As soon as you leave a city you're in some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, and these are some of the best books to read before travelling to New Zealand which will give you a great introduction for your trip.
1
50 Ways of Saying Fabulous
You'll read all about New Zealand's amazing scenery before you step foot in it. This book follows the life of a local boy called Billy, the child of farmers. We grow up with him, following him in his daydreams, his troubles and struggles with this self-esteem and bullying, and his search for his identity. An offbeat book about the difficulty of becoming an adult.
2
Utu
Caryl Ferey sets the tone from the title : Utu means revenge in Maori. The story is about the chief of police in Auckland allegedly killed a shaman before committing suicide. Yet nobody can find the Maori's corpse.
It provides another way of looking at New Zealand culture, through this powerful crime novel.
'You Westerners may think that primitive peoples are crushed by the dominant culture, yours, but we haven't disappeared: not only do we keep thinking without you, but we also keep thinking about you.'
3
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
It's one of the best books to read before travelling to New Zealand, because that's where the films were shot. The Hobbit Village ? The scene is a bucolic corner near the village of Matamata. The place Frodo recovered from his wound ? The beautiful Kaitoke Regional Park. The Mountain of Destiny; where the precious ring was forged ? Tongariro National Park. A total of 150 locations across the country made this work of fiction real.
