#ThemToo
As reports of sexual harassment and violence proliferate in mainstream and social media, a pair of books addressing the topics debut in hardcover nonfiction.
In the essay collection We’re Going to Need More Wine, #16, Gabrielle Union opens up about her rape at gunpoint at age 19 and the challenges she’s faced as a black woman in Hollywood. She also covers more lighthearted topics, our review noted, calling the book “amusing and heartbreaking” and praising Union’s “intimate voice.”
In Be Fierce, #17, former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson shares several women’s experiences with workplace harassment, plus resources and advice for handling such incidents. “Carlson’s inclusion of her own stories is courageous,” our review said, “and her commitment to making sexual harassment a nonpartisan issue is admirable.”
(See all of this week's bestselling books.)
Movie Watch
In its second week on sale, the tie-in edition to the new adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie debuts at #14 in trade paper.
Kenneth Branagh directs and plays the role of detective Hercule Poirot; the rest of the cast includes Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Leslie Odom Jr., and Daisy Ridley. Conventional trade paperback and mass market editions, both from 2011, also enjoyed a bump.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Books by and about Navy SEALS are a subgenre spanning diverse categories including combat memoirs, romance novels, and motivational titles. Among the latter, William McRaven’s Make Your Bed is a recent hit, selling 354K print units since its April publication. On our current list, the #9 book in the country overall is Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willinck, whose previous titles include a business leadership book coauthored by a fellow retired SEAL and a middle grade novel about self-reliance.
New & Notable
Leonardo da Vinci
Walter Isaacson
#1 Hardcover Nonfiction, #2 overall
In a work of “impressive” scholarship, our starred review said, the author shows “how da Vinci’s inquisitiveness set him apart from his contemporaries but frequently distracted him from completing commissions or projects.”
Uncommon Type
Tom Hanks
#3 Hardcover Fiction
Stories in the actor’s debut collection “sometimes lead to pat, happy endings, but not always,” our review said, and they “generally charm.”
La Belle Sauvage
Philip Pullman
#4 Children’s Frontlist Fiction
The long-awaited launch title in the Book of Dust, a companion trilogy to Pullman’s acclaimed His Dark Materials books, benefits from new characters who, our starred review said, “are as lively and memorable as their predecessors.”
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Title | Author | Imprint | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Origin | Dan Brown | Doubleday | 58,540 |
| 2 | Leonardo da Vinci | Walter Isaacson | Simon & Schuster | 52,169 |
| 3 | Capital Gaines | Chip Gaines | W | 42,646 |
| 4 | The Sun and Her Flowers | Rupi Kaur | Andrews McMeel | 39,065 |
| 5 | Turtles All the Way Down | John Green | Dutton | 36,216 |
| 6 | The Wisdom of Sundays | Oprah Winfrey | Flatiron | 34,306 |
| 7 | Tales From a Not-So-Secret... (Dork Diaries #12) | Rachel Renée Russell | Aladdin | 32,074 |
| 8 | Deep Freeze | John Sandford | Putnam | 30,985 |
| 9 | Discipline Equals Freedom | Jocko Willink | St. Martin’s | 26,290 |
| 10 | Turtles All the Way Down (signed ed.) | John Green | Dutton | 24,382 |
All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.
