What's Selling this Week--Books from Movies and Books that Seem Like They are Movies

It gets a little boring to offer the bestsellers in the same order every week, so I'm switching things up and noting paperback sales first.

Paperback Fiction
1. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
2. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
3. The Hangman's Daughter, by Oliver Pötzsch
4. I Curse the River of Time, by Per Petterson
5. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson

We don't always have a major sales pop when a movie opens, but The Help, which started Tuesday, isn't just any movie or book. Sales for Stockett's novel last week were about triple the rest of the paperback fiction pack. Sarah's Key has been also driving traffic this weekend--It opened at The Downer on Friday. Though it isn't on our bestseller list week, we've seen a steady upsurge and sales, and this should continue, especially since we flipped our film and "Summer of China" tables.

Paperback nonfiction:
1. Amazing Grace, by Kathleen Norris
2. Memoir of a Sunday Brunch, by Julia Pandl
3. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
4. The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin
5. The Believer, Volume 82

I never know where to categorize journals--fiction or nonfiction?  If the journal came from our magazine distributor, I wouldn't even count it.  Norris is a book club pop, while Skloot and Rubin are consistent book club selections. On the Pandl front, congrats to Ms. Pandl on getting an agent. Memoir of a Sunday Brunch is officially being shopped.

Hardcover fiction:
1. Shame the Devil, by Debra Brenegan
2. The Magician King, by Lev Grossman
3. The Last Werewolf, by Glen Duncan
4. A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin
5. Smokin' Seventeen, by Janet Evanovich

Between Grossman and Duncan's sales success at Boswell, and Ernest Cline's Ready Player One coming out Monday (you'll definitely see that book on our list next week), it's a blockbuster summer, filled with books that seem like movies but aren't...yet.  I guess the closest thing to this playing out post-filming is George R.R. Martin, but it will be interesting to see if these books are still bestsellers on the Boswell list when the films are undoubtedly released. Revving up my cliché-mobile, the buzz on Ernie Cline's novel is deafening--read Carole Barrowman's review in today's Journal Sentinel.

I thought I should also mention that unlike most bookstores, Evanovich made her sales pop in our eighth week of sale. Yes, and we sell square yo yos.

Hardcover nonfiction:
1. Nicholas Ray, by Patrick McGilligan
2. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson
3. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, by Charles C. Mann
4. Bossypants, by Tina Fey
5. Cyriol Colnik: Man of Iron, by Alan Strekow

What should show up here next week? Don't be surprised to see Max Gordon: Architect for Art on our list.  David Gordon will be speaking on Wednesday, August 17, 7 pm about his late brother's work as an architect who showcased art in his gallery and home designs. I'll have more on this tomorrow, but you can read Mary Louise Schumacher's profile on the Gordons in today's Journal Sentinel.

Kids' Books
1. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
2. The Big Book of Me, by Alice Wong
3. How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
4. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
5. The Last Shot, by John Feinstein

I'd like to see more pirate books popping here, but I should note that Pirate Mad Libs are further down the list.

As always, all books are available on our website, many as ebooks, and often at the same prices as the big boys.