Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sunday Means Bestsellers, and Bestsellers Mean Werewolves Apparently.

Hardcover Fiction
1. The Last Werewolf, by Glen Duncan
2. A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin
3. State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
4. The Devil All the Time, by Donald Ray Pollock
5. A Death in Summer, by Benjamin Black

I could say that Carl and Shane hand-sold more copies of Pollock this week, but I might note that it was helped along by Terry Gross's great interview with Pollock on Fresh Air. And Duncan takes the lead with more enthusiasm led by Greg and Jason.  They ask me, who is this wonderful reviewer named Ron Charles who loves our book so much?  I say, he is the man who makes me want to read anything.  And you?

Hardcover Nonfiction
1. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson
2. Don't Know Much About History, anniversary edition, by Kenneth C. Davis
3. Bossypants, by Tina Fey
4. The President is a Sick Man, by Matthew Algeo
5. Between Parentheses, by Roberto Bolaño

Jason was just saying to me how Larson and Fey just don't slow down.  We bring in a bunch more, you take your eyes off the number, and suddenly we're short of stock again.  But the big surprise was the pop on Bolaño's essays, after a couple of months on the shelf.  Don't worry, I don't believe that it has anything to do with John making me quote him in the blog.

Paperback Fiction
1. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
2. Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
3. Still Alice, by Lisa Genova
4. Little Bee, by Chris Cleave
5. The All of It, by Jeannette Haien

Ann Patchett not only has the literary hit of the summer, but has turned one of her favorite books, The All of It, into a bestseller as well.  I guess that bodes well for her handselling abilities at Parnassus Books. Not that Geraldine Brooks is bad at it either--her rec of The Bread of Angels by Stephanie Saldana has also created sleeper momentum at Boswell--we're consisting selling a copy per week.

Paperback Nonfiction
1. The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin
2. Shut Up and Write, by Judy Bridges
3. Kosher Chinese, by Michael Levy
4. Memoir of a Sunday Brunch, by Julia Pandl
5. Otherwise Known as the Human Condition, by Geoff Dyer

Who knew that the book that would pop onto our bestseller list from my interview with Ben Merens was Michael Levy's Kosher Chinese?  It was the first book I mentioned, has a nice tie in with the Summer of China exhibit going on at the Art Museum, and it also didn't hurt that one of our attendees at the Tea of Ulaanbaatar event with Christopher Howard turned out to collect Peace Corps books. And this is one.

Children's Books
1. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
2. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox
3. On the Night You Were Born, by Nancy Tillman
4. Jamberry, by Bruce Degen
5. Forever, by Maggie Stiefvater

So what is this Forever book? It's a Stephenie Meyers-like trilogy about teen werewolves in love. Yes, werewolves.  The first was Shiver, and the second was Linger.  It's really been under my radar.  But it's a nice way to bookend this blog, which appears to be mostly werewolves, most of the time.

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