What Sold While I Was Gone? Well, Part of the Time.

Hardcover fiction:
1. The Marriage Plot, by Jefferey Eugenides (event 10/23)
2. The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach (event 10/20)
3. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern (you missed that event)
4. The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain
5. The Visible Man, by Chuck Klosterman (Hey, he came for his last novel)

Kirkus and Booklist gave Klosterman very strong reviews for his second novel.  We only saw advance hardcovers, so there's no reads yet, though I expect we should have some soon. Needless to say, we're all aflutter over this week's events and it shows in our sales--somebody just asked me for a Middlesex hardcover for the event, but I don't see any at the wholesalers. Whoops!

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Boomerang, by Michael Lewis
2. Arguably, by Christopher Hitchens
3. The Price of Civilization, by Jeffrey Sachs
4. In Other Words, by Margaret Atwood
5. The Better Angels of Our Nature, by Stephen Pinker

Our rep Johanna said that when she was selling Michael Lewis in to bookshops late last spring, several stores wondered whether customers would be interested in these pieces. One in particular wondered about Greece. Like always, Lewis answered that one pretty well. And how does he have the blasted luck to always have such strong movie treatments?

Paperback fiction:
1. The Interrogative Mood, by Padgett Powell
2. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
3. How to Live in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu
4. Squrrel Meets Chipmunk, by David Sedaris
5. The Great Enigma, by Tomas Transtromer

New Directions used Ingram's prind on demand capabilities to get their poetry collection out by their Nobel winner in record time. We've still got three other titles on backorder.  And you might want to check out the Next Chapter website.  Looks like David Sedaris is coming to their store in December, and I wouldn't want you to miss out on that.

I have a nice story about why The Interrogative Mood is #1 this week.  We have to code our textbooks with fake isbns because there is special handling involved for the students.  Normally that means they don't hit our bestseller lists, but I had to make an exception for #1. You see the instructor using this novel in this course used to work with me many years ago and I still recall him talking up Padgett Powell to customers. It's handselling of the fiercest sort--he's not taking no for an answer!

(Note: it's been almost years since my all-questioning blog post on this book.)

Paperback nonfiction:
1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
2. Last Call, by Daniel Okrent
3. The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
4. The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal
5. At Home, by Bill Bryson

I don't think it's an official tie in, but I suspect a lot of people are reading Daniel Okrent's book after watching Ken Burns's latest documentary on prohibition.

Children's hardcover:
1. Liesl & Po, by Lauren Oliver
2. Addie on the Inside, by James Howe
3. Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan
4. Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
5. Delirium, by Lauren Oliver

Guess which authors we hosted this week?. We were thrilled to host both Oliver and Howe, one of whom was at the trade show (see earlier post) and the other's publisher provided a sneak peak at same show to the sequel to Delirium, which of course is Pandemonium.

Oh, and Wonderstuck was #6.  He was also at GLIBA.

The All James Howe Kids' Paperback Bestseller list:
1. The Misfits
2. Totally Joe
3. Bunnicula
4. Celery Stalks at Midnight
5. Howliday Inn

And what's the first non-event book on our list? Why The Hunger Games of course.