1. The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy
2. Racing the Light, by Robert Crais (Register for November 10 in-store event here)
3. The Last Chairlift, by John Irving
4. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
5. The World We Make V2, by NK Jemisin
6. My Government Means to Kill Me, by Rasheed Newsome (Cactus Book Club December selection - more here)
7. Liberation Day, by George Saunders
8. The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O'Farrell
9. Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng
10. Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Our top non-event debut this week is M.K. Jemisin's The World We Make, the sequel to 2020s The City We Became, which was nominated for just about every speculative fiction award out there. The Kirkus review is just one rave: "As in the previous book, this is a fantasy inspired by the very real division between those who embrace difference (and are only intolerant of intolerance) and those who seek a creativity-killing homogeneity, seeing it as a return to a supposedly moral past that never existed. The story also explores how perceptions about a place imposed on it by outsiders - who have only the most distorted views about it from popular culture - can have genuinely damaging effects."
1. Painting Can Save Your Life, by Sara Woster
2. Surrender, by Bono
3. The Philosophy of Modern Song, by Bob Dylan
4. I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy
5. Cinema Speculation, by Quentin Tarantino
6. Dinners with Ruth, by Nina Totenberg
7. Go-To Dinners, by Ina Garten
8. Happy-Go-Lucky, by David Sedaris
9. Dilla Time, by Dan Charnas
10. The Grandest Stage, by Tyler Kepner
My guess is that had we not had a few signed copies of Bono's Surrender: Forty Songs, One Story (we don't have anymore), it might not have outsold Bob Dylan's The Philosophy of Modern Song. Chris Klimek's review in The Washington Post is awfully positive for a "mixed" Book Marks rating: "Nor will they expect, or find, much Hammer of the Gods-style debauchery in the remembrances of a guy who’s been in a band with the same three dudes for 45 years and married to his high school sweetheart for 40; both relationships he reflects upon with candor and humility. Like the memoirs of his pals Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen, Surrender is more introspective than salacious or score-settling, and proof that the tunesmith who wrote it also speaks fluent prose."
1. It Starts with Us, by Colleen Hoover
2. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka
3. The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
4. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
5. The Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas
6. A Line to Kill, by Anthony Horowitz
7. Kiss Her Once for Me, by Alison Cochrun
8. Bewilderment, by Richard Powers
9. Once Upon a December, by Amy E. Reichert (Register for November 30 event here)
10. Still Life, by Sarah Winman (December In-Store Lit Group selection)
Congrats to Jen, whose staff rec for The Shadow of the Wind, outsold all non-Colleen-Hoover, non-Booker-Prize-winning titles last week. She's already beaten calendar year sales of 2021. I vow to read it before the end of the year (Stephen King's been calling it "one gorgeous read" for 18 years), but alas, that will not add to our tally, as I am still sitting on a hardcover from 2004. Interesting detail - unlike the bulk of all Penguin Random House fiction, the hardcover is still available. Should we bring in a copy for the holidays? I await your comments.
1. Milwaukee Scavenger, by Jenna Kashou
2. Owning Grief, by Gael Garbarino Cullen (Register for November 11 in person event here)
3. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda (Register for December 6 offsite event at publicity@wisconsinhistory.org)
4. Heart Speak, by Sherrill Knezel (more copies should arrive this week)
5. Fuzz, by Mary Roach
6. Ejaculate Responsibly, by Gabrielle Blair
7. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
8. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, by Rebecca Donner
9. The Story of Jane, by Laura Kaplan
10. The Need to Be Whole, by Wendell Berry
Several issue-driven books pop up on this week's top 10. The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Abortion Service, was originally published by Pantheon in 1996, and was just rereleased. From the publisher: "Organized in 1969 and active until the opening of the first legal abortion clinics in 1973, Jane initially counseled women and referred them to underground abortionists, as other groups at the time had sprung up to do. But as Jane continued screening abortionists over the years, the group realized that as long as the women who turned to them were dependent on these practitioners, they would remain virtually helpless. The members of Jane determined to take matters into their own hands, and learned to perform the abortions themselves."
1. I Love You as Big as Wisconsin, by Rose Possner, illustrated by Joanne Partiss
2. She Persisted: Sally Ride, by Atia Abawi
3. Our World of Dumplings, by Francie Dekker, illustrated by Sarah Jung
4. The Vermilion Emporium, by Jamie Pacton
5. Blue Bird, Blue Road, by Sofiya Pasternack (Register for November 8 virtual event here)
6. Diper Overlode V17: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
7. The Secret World of Plants, by Ben Hoare
8. The Others V16: Bad Guys, by Aaron Blabey
9. The Crayons' Christmas, by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
10. The First to Die at the End, by Adam Silvera
Fourth quarter sees the rise of those oversized kids reference books. The Secret World of Plants: Tales of More Than 100 Remarkable Flowers, Trees, and Seeds isn't quite big enough to fall into the category, but it's still that picture-heavy reference book that is so much fun to sell. Hoare is also author of the bestselling Anthology of Intriguing Animals.
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