Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, May 11, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2024 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2024, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "The Women: A ...Read more

In a 2021 New York Times essay, Jonathan Lee probed the resurgence of the historical novel untethered from conventions of genre — a vital and groundbreaking form, more than just a dutiful recreation of the past. As he observed: "Perhaps it has its roots in another phenomenon: The present has rarely felt as transitory as it does now."

Here ...Read more

Sipsworth is noble, good-humored and loving. Also, Sipsworth is a mouse.

He — Sipsworth seems to be a "he," but maybe not — is one of two main characters. Simon Van Booy's wry, heartfelt novel has a few subsidiary characters, but it's almost entirely about elderly, lonely Helen Cartwright and a mouse she inadvertently introduces into her ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Willow Camille Reign Smith came home on Friday.

Technically, perhaps, the 23-year-old was born in California, where she lives today. But the writer, singer and activist is the youngest child of Baltimore’s favorite daughter, Jada Pinkett Smith, and she comes from a long line of strong, confident, proud Black Baltimore women ...Read more

SEATTLE -- I remember blushing over my first romance novel, liberated from my mother’s bookshelf. The clinch cover featured legendary Italian model Fabio in a passionate, shirtless embrace with our heroine. It was a neon sign that screamed “EROTICA.” There was no way I could read it in public or even admit I was reading it. Romance novels ...Read more

In a romance novel, what is a "cinnamon roll"? It's a hero who is "sweet and gooey," said Minnesota modern romance writer Abby Jimenez, whose latest book has been topping national bestseller lists for weeks. "And you just love him."

She should know: All her heroes are cinnamon rolls. And her husband, Carlos? Total cinnamon roll.

"These are not...Read more

Midway through life's journey, Dante Alighieri road-tripped through hell, Walter White ditched teaching science to become a meth maestro and the unnamed 45-year-old narrator of Miranda July's "All Fours" tells her husband and child she's driving from L.A. to New York for work appointments. Instead, she pulls off the highway after 20 miles, books...Read more

Stephen King has been clacking away — it's hard to imagine him writing his tales of terror on anything other than a typewriter — for over 50 years. He tried to retire in 2002 (so laughable in hindsight, like the introduction of New Coke, which was discontinued the same year) but fortunately for what he calls his "Constant Readers," it never ...Read more

To a skater, the board is an extension of the body. And like a skateboard, an aging body can show life’s hard knocks.

“Skateboarding is truly rebellious and punk in its ethos,” said author José Vadi. “Nobody should care how old someone is just as much as someone shouldn’t care about their sexual orientation, gender, economic ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- The zine libraries of Philadelphia are overflowing and the zinemakers stay busy.

In the stone basement of what used to be a church in West Philadelphia, the Soapbox has more than 3,000 zines stuffed into subject-area boxes: “Ableism,” “Punk,” “Erotica,” “International society of copier artists.” Temple University...Read more

Haphazard comparisons to Jane Austen are to be immediately regretted, but there's no getting around it with "The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club." If Austen had lived a century later than she did, it feels very much like a book she'd have written.

The third novel from Helen Simonson, who made a smashing debut with "Major Pettigrew...Read more

A building is not, of course, a living thing but buildings can die and a fascinating, indeed haunting, new book offers us a graveyard in black and white.

“Lost in America: Photographing the Last Days of Our Architectural Treasures” is the latest visually striking, marvelously written offering from Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, who ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, May 4, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2024 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2024, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Funny Story" by...Read more

Kathryn Scanlan’s slim novel “Kick the Latch” didn’t arrive with a massive media push when it was published in 2022, but both book and author continue to defy expectations.

Over the course of a single week this year, the Los Angeles-based writer was the recipient of both the £10,000 Gordon Burn Prize and one of this year’s Donald ...Read more

Missing persons are almost inescapable in thrillers, and for good reason. Not knowing what has happened to someone, imagining what could have happened, is compelling reading. That's exactly what you'll find in Emiko Jean's "The Return of Ellie Black."

This is Jean's first foray into suspense. She made the leap (not as big as you might think ...Read more

Rachel Khong's ambitious second novel, "Real Americans," ponders big issues: how to measure the worth of one's life, the implications of contemporary scientific research and what it means to be an American in an era of extreme wealth inequity.

Divided into three sections, the novel moves smoothly back and forth in time and place to tell the ...Read more

"Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied." Who is that talking? "Real Housewife of New Jersey" Teresa Giudice? Or Mrs. Bennet, from "Pride and Prejudice"?

JK. If it were the former, the grammar would not be so impeccable. But the point stands, as Carrie Mullins discusses in the first essay...Read more

This spring's crop of picture books for children focuses on friendship, history and nature. With belly laughs!

Go and Get With Rex, by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka. (Candlewick Press, $17.99)

A perfect book for kids who know the alphabet but aren't yet strong readers — or for any kid who likes to laugh. The Theodor Seuss ...Read more