MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
August 31 – September 7, 2006 Edition
The Book Sense National Bestseller List
Published Thursday, August 31, 2006 (for the sales week ended Sunday, August 27, 2006).
Based on reporting from many hundreds of independent bookstores with Book Sense across the United States.
Booksellers: The Book Sense Bestseller List may be downloaded as a color PDF for display in your store.
Go to the bestseller page on BookWeb.org on Wednesday afternoon and choose the format that works best for you,
or click on the bestseller link in Thursday’s Bookselling This Week email.
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Debuts for the week:
Hardcover Fiction
#6 – The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth
#10 – Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
#12 – Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
#14 – The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell
Hardcover Nonfiction
#10 – State of Emergency by Patrick J. Buchanan
#12 – La Bella Figura by Beppe Severgnini
Paperback Fiction
#15 – The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
Paperback Nonfiction
#10 – Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
#13 – Born to Kvetch by Michael Wex
Mass Market
#5 – Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn
Children’s Interest
#7 – Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton
Children’s Illustrated
#15 – Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, Kevin Hawkes (Illus.)
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HARDCOVER FICTION
1. Water for Elephants
Sara Gruen, Algonquin, $23.95, 1565124995
2. Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Marisha Pessl, Viking, $25.95, 067003777X
3. Judge and Jury
James Patterson, Andrew Gross, Little Brown, $27.99, 0316013935
4. Suite Francaise
Irene Nemirovsky, Knopf, $25, 1400044731
5. The Messenger
Daniel Silva, Putnam, $25.95, 0399153357
6. The Afghan – Debut
Frederick Forsyth, Putnam, $26.95, 0399153942
7. The Keep
Jennifer Egan, Knopf, $23.95, 1400043921
8. Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven
Fannie Flagg, Random House, $25.95, 1400061261
9. The Ruins
Scott Smith, Knopf, $24.95, 1400043875
10. Messenger of Truth – Debut
Jacqueline Winspear, Holt, $24, 0805078983
11. Pegasus Descending
James Lee Burke, S&S, $26, 0743277724
12. Hunters of Dune – Debut
Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Tor, $27.95, 0765312921
13. Terrorist
John Updike, Knopf, $24.95, 0307264653
14. The Man Who Smiled – Debut
Henning Mankell, New Press, $24.95, 1565849930
15. Coronado
Dennis Lehane, Morrow, $24.95, 006113967X
ON THE RISE:
16. Spy
Ted Bell, Atria, $25.95, 0743277236
Alex Hawke attempts to prevent a jihad with the odds heavily favoring the terrorists in their plan to devastate North America.
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. I Feel Bad About My Neck
Nora Ephron, Knopf, $19.95, 0307264556
2. Fiasco
Thomas E. Ricks, Penguin Press, $27.95, 159420103X
3. Marley & Me
John Grogan, Morrow, $21.95, 0060817089
4. The World Is Flat (Updated and Expanded)
Thomas L. Friedman, FSG, $30, 0374292795
5. The Looming Tower
Lawrence Wright, Knopf, $27.95, 037541486X
6. Freakonomics
Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, Morrow, $25.95, 006073132X
7. Cesar’s Way
Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier, Harmony, $24.95, 0307337332
8. The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, $26.95, 1594200823
9. Mayflower
Nathaniel Philbrick, Viking, $29.95, 0670037605
10. State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America – Debut
Patrick J. Buchanan, St. Martin’s, $24.95, 0312360037
11. Heat
Bill Buford, Knopf, $25.95, 1400041201
12. La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind – Debut
Beppe Severgnini, Broadway, $23.95, 0767914392
13. Blink
Malcolm Gladwell, Little Brown, $25.95, 0316172324
14. My Life in France
Julia Child, Alex Prud’homme, Knopf, $25.95, 1400043468
15. Conservatives Without Conscience
John Dean, Viking, $25.95, 0670037745
ON THE RISE:
29. Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them
Francine Prose, HarperCollins, $23.95, 0060777044
The nuts and bolts of writing, as well as issues of craft. A Book Sense Notable.
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
1. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
Kim Edwards, Penguin, $14, 0143037145
2. The Sea
John Banville, Vintage, $12.95, 1400097029
3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Lisa See, Random House, $13.95, 0812968069
4. The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini, Riverhead, $14, 1594480001
5. History of Love
Nicole Krauss, Norton, $13.95, 0393328627
6. March
Geraldine Brooks, Penguin, $14, 0143036661
7. My Sister’s Keeper
Jodi Picoult, Washington Square, $14, 0743454537
8. Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro, Vintage, $14, 1400078776
9. The Alchemist (Updated)
Paulo Coelho, HarperSanFrancisco, $13.95, 0061122416
10. The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Penguin, $15, 0143034901
11. The Mermaid Chair
Sue Monk Kidd, Penguin, $14, 0143036696
12. Saturday
Ian McEwan, Anchor, $14.95, 1400076196
13. Gilead
Marilynne Robinson, Picador, $14, 031242440X
14. The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd, Penguin, $14, 0142001740
15. The Constant Princess – Debut
Philippa Gregory, Touchstone, $16, 0743272498
ON THE RISE:
22. The Painted Drum
Louise Erdrich, Harper Perennial, $13.95, 0060515112
The reverberations of human passage backward and forward in time, from the Ojibwe reservation on the northern plains to New Hampshire.
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
1. An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore, Rodale, $21.95, 1594865671
2. The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls, Scribner, $14, 074324754X
3. The Tender Bar
J.R. Moehringer, Hyperion, $14.95, 0786888768
4. The Devil in the White City
Erik Larson, Vintage, $14.95, 0375725601
5. The Places in Between
Rory Stewart, Harvest, $14, 0156031566
6. Running With Scissors
Augusten Burroughs, Picador, $14, 031242227X
7. 1776
David McCullough, S&S, $18, 0743226720
8. The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell, Back Bay, $14.95, 0316346624
9. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
John Perkins, Plume, $15, 0452287081
10. Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously – Debut
Julie Powell, Back Bay, $13.99, 0316013269
11. Mountains Beyond Mountains
Tracy Kidder, Random House, $14.95, 0812973011
12. Night
Elie Wiesel, FSG, $9, 0374500010
13. Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods – Debut
Michael Wex, Harper Perennial, $13.95, 0061132179
14. Collapse
Jared Diamond, Penguin, $17, 0143036556
15. In Cold Blood
Truman Capote, Vintage, $14, 0679745580
ON THE RISE:
33. The Golden Spruce
John Vaillant, Norton, $14.95, 0393328643
The captivating exploration of logger-turned-activist, Grant Hadwin’s destructive love for a unique Sitka tree.
MASS MARKET
1. The Lincoln Lawyer
Michael Connelly, Warner, $7.99, 0446616451
2. Lifeguard
James Patterson, Andrew Gross, Warner, $9.99, 044661761X
3. The Devil Wears Prada
Lauren Weisberger, Anchor, $7.99, 0307275558
4. Angels and Demons
Dan Brown, Pocket, $9.99, 1416524797
5. Consent to Kill – Debut
Vince Flynn, Pocket Star, $9.99, 1416505016
6. Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury, Ballantine, $6.99, 0345342968
7. Crusader’s Cross
James Lee Burke, Pocket, $7.99, 0743277201
8. The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown, Anchor, $7.99, 1400079179
9. To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee, Warner, $6.99, 0446310786
10. Deception Point
Dan Brown, Pocket, $9.99, 1416524800
CHILDREN’S INTEREST
1. How to Eat Fried Worms (Movie Tie-In)
Thomas Rockwell, Yearling, $5.99, 0440421853
2. Hoot
Carl Hiaasen, Yearling, $6.50, 0440421705
3. Peter and the Shadow Thieves
Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Disney, $18.99, 078683787X
4. New Moon
Stephenie Meyer, Megan Tingley, $17.99, 0316160199
5. Peter and the Starcatchers
Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Disney, $7.99, 078684907X
6. The Tale of Despereaux
Kate DiCamillo, Candlewick, $7.99, 0763625299
7. Endymion Spring – Debut
Matthew Skelton, Delacorte, $17.95, 0385733801
8. Twilight
Stephenie Meyer, Megan Tingley, $8.99, 0316015849
9. The Book Thief
Markus Zusak, Knopf, $16.95, 0375831002
10. How to Be Popular
Meg Cabot, HarperTempest, $16.99, 0060880120
11. Chasing Vermeer
Blue Balliett, Brett Helquist (Illus.), Scholastic, $2.99, 0439856221
12. Inkheart
Cornelia Funke, Chicken House, $7.99, 0439709105
13. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Kate DiCamillo, Candlewick, $18.99, 0763625892
14. The Giver
Lois Lowry, Laurel Leaf, $6.50, 0440237688
15. The Outsiders
S.E. Hinton, Puffin, $7.99, 014038572X
CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATED
1. Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People
Dav Pilkey, Scholastic, $4.99, 0439376149
2. Pirateology
Captain William Lubber, Candlewick, $19.99, 0763631434
3. Goodnight Moon
Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), HarperCollins, $7.99, 0694003611
4. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!
Lynne Truss, Bonnie Timmons (Illus.), Putnam, $15.99, 0399244913
5. Bats at the Beach
Brian Lies, Houghton Mifflin, $16, 061855744X
6. Olivia Forms a Band
Ian Falconer, Atheneum, $17.95, 141692454X
7. The Night Before Kindergarten
Natasha Wing, Julie Durrell (Illus.), Grosset & Dunlap, $3.99, 0448425009
8. Pirates
John Matthews, Atheneum, $19.95, 1416927344
9. Owen and Mzee
Isabella Hatkoff, et al., Scholastic, $16.99, 0439829739
10. Pat the Bunny
Dorothy Kunhardt, Golden, $9.99, 0307120007
11. Sabuda & Reinhart Present Castle
Kyle Olmon, Tracy Sabin (Illus.), Orchard, $19.99, 043954324X
12. Tails
Matthew Van Fleet, Red Wagon, $13.95, 0152167730
13. Fancy Nancy
Jane O’Connor, Robin Preiss Glasser (Illus.), HarperCollins, $15.99, 0060542098
14. Dooby Dooby Moo
Doreen Cronin, Betsy Lewin (Illus.), Atheneum, $16.95, 0689845073
15. Library Lion – Debut
Michelle Knudsen, Kevin Hawkes (Illus.), Candlewick, $15.99, 0763622621
CHILDREN’S FICTION SERIES
1. Magic Tree House (hardcover and paperback)
Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illus.), Random House
2. The Clique (paperback)
Lisi Harrison, Little Brown
3. Warriors: The New Prophecy (hardcover and paperback)
Erin W. Hunter, HarperCollins
4. Alex Rider Adventures (hardcover and paperback)
Anthony Horowitz, Puffin
5. Harry Potter (hardcover and paperback)
J.K. Rowling, Scholastic
6. Junie B. Jones (hardcover and paperback)
Barbara Park, Denise Brunkus (Illus.), Random House
7. Gossip Girl (paperback)
Cecily Von Ziegesar, Little Brown
8. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (hardcover and paperback)
Ann Brashares, Delacorte
9. The A-List Novels (paperback)
Zoey Dean, Little Brown
10. Pendragon (hardcover and paperback)
D.J. Machale, S&S
MAY WE RECOMMEND
Hardcover
THE JUDAS FIELD, by Howard Bahr (Holt, $25, 0805067396) "Characters lost on the Civil War battlefield, or lost at home, appear and disappear, shrouded in a fog that holds memories better forgotten, blurring lines between past and present, the living and the dead. Like All Quiet on the Western Front, [this book] bares the souls of soldiers and their loved ones in language so beautiful it makes the reader weep, even as it describes the unspeakable carnage of war."-Kathy Ashton, The King’s English, Salt Lake City, UT
LEAVING MICROSOFT TO CHANGE THE WORLD: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children, by John Wood (Collins, $25.95, 006112107X) "John Wood’s life-changing decision to start up a library and school in Nepal has snowballed into a fantastic organization called Room to Read. To date, the program now supports small villages in building educational centers in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and probably more as I write. An engrossing and inspiring story you can’t put down."-Chris Vietmeier, St. Helens Book Shop, St. Helens, OR
Paperback
SACCO AND VANZETTI MUST DIE!, by Mark Binelli (Dalkey Archive, $14.95, 1564784452) "This is a genre-bending, pop-culture referencing, intellectually challenging, roller coaster alternate history, with slapstick. The Sacco and Vanzetti of the title are not exactly the Italian anarchists executed after a famously xenophobic trial in the 1920s, but rather an early film comedy team in the style of Abbott and Costello, and the story unfolds in movie scenes, interviews, and historical asides. A first-time novelist to watch!"-Jessica Stockton, McNally Robinson Booksellers, New York, NY
Young Adult and Older
ALABAMA MOON, by Watt Key (FSG, $16, 0374301840) "What if your paranoid Pappy died when you were 10 and left you to survive in the woods by yourself-as you’ve been trained to do since you were two? Young Scrappy Moon is determined to walk to Alaska from Alabama, until he runs afoul of a bully sheriff and the foster care system. But Moon is persistent and very resourceful. A great story about finding true family and true friends."-Janet Rhodes, HearthFire Books of Evergreen, Evergreen, CO
