Game of Foes
Stephen King has the #1 book in the country for the second week in a row, and the #1 book in each of BookScan’s eight designated market areas. Nonfiction is slightly more of a mixed bag, with the new Dungeons & Dragons reference guide, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, at #3 in the country, topping six of eight DMAs.
Joanna Gaines’s blockbuster cookbook Magnolia Table, #4 in the country, scooped the other two DMAs—South Atlantic and South Central, which includes Gaines’s home state of Texas. It pubbed April 24 and is the second-bestselling book of the year to date.
(See all of this week's bestselling books.)
Gimme Shelter
A pair of new fiction releases offer different takes on the aftermath of violence.
Debuting at #2 in hardcover fiction and #2 overall, Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts follows the survivors of a mass shooting at a shopping mall who, years later, are targeted by one of the massacre’s conspirators. “Roberts’s characters are serviceable,” our review said, “but the real draw is the story, which has some welcome red herrings and a page-turning brio that elevates it above the average thriller.”
Karen Kingsbury’s To the Moon and Back lands at #4 in hardcover fiction. This latest Baxter Family book centers on the connection between Brady, who was a child when his mother was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, and Jenna, who lost both of her parents in the attack. “Kingsbury skillfully weaves a tale of divine love coming to those in the most need in this romantic tearjerker,” our starred review said.
The Legend Continues
The #5 book in children’s frontlist fiction is Legendary by Stephanie Garber. It follows her 2017 debut, the fantasy Caraval, which our starred review called “magnificent.” The sequel’s release gave a nice boost to the trade paper edition of the first book, which sold twice as many copies as it had the week before the week the sequel pubbed.
New & Notable
Calypso
David Sedaris
#3 Hardcover Nonfiction, #6 overall
A beach read, Sedaris style: upon hitting middle age, the author bought a beach house, which he named Sea Section. It serves as the centerpiece of 21 essays on family and aging in what our starred review called a “hilarious yet tender volume.”
Tailspin
Steven Brill
#13 Hardcover Nonfiction
The journalist and Court TV founder “brings both detailed reporting and wide-ranging perspective to this insightful account of how America reached its current state,” our starred review said. “Despite his stinging indictment of lawyers, money men, and politicians, Brill still finds worthwhile possibilities everywhere, from innovative job training programs to campaign finance crusades.”
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Title | Author | Imprint | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Outsider | Stephen King | Scribner | 51,747 |
| 2 | Shelter in Place | Nora Roberts | St. Martin’s | 41,144 |
| 3 | Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes | – | Wizards of the Coast | 35,534 |
| 4 | Magnolia Table | Joanna Gaines | Morrow | 32,357 |
| 5 | Oh, the Places You’ll Go! | Dr. Seuss | Random House | 31,715 |
| 6 | Calypso | David Sedaris | Little, Brown | 21,110 |
| 7 | Shadow Keeper | Christine Feehan | Berkley | 20,711 |
| 8 | The Gray Ghost | Cussler/Burcell | Putnam | 17,495 |
| 9 | Fairytale | Danielle Steel | Dell | 16,649 |
| 10 | The Restless Wave | McCain/Salter | Simon & Schuster | 15,458 |
All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.
