In Clubland

On February 15, Oprah tapped Susan Cain’s Bittersweet as her latest book club pick. Before the book’s April 2022 publication, our review called it “an eye-opening take on the underestimated virtues of melancholy.” It followed a typical sales trajectory, with sales falling off after its strong debut week. Weekly print unit sales had remained in the hundreds after the December holidays, and now the title returns to our hardcover nonfiction list at #16, with its best sales since its launch week.

You Oughta Be in Pictures

Actor Chrissy Metz, known for her role as Kate Pearson on This Is Us, and her partner, Nashville songwriter Bradley Collins, collaborated on When I Talk to God, I Talk About You, illustrated by Lisa Fields and #11 on our picture book list. “As a kid I always thought, ‘Goodness, how can I talk to God? What if He doesn’t hear me? Will He hear me?’  It feels very overwhelming,” Metz told PW in a prepub interview. “In the book we were able to communicate how important it is, that if a parent can talk to God, that means a child can as well.”

Mirror Image

Sarah J. Maas’s debut, Throne of Glass, pubbed in 2012 as a YA novel; it’s since sold more than 730K print copies and grown into an eight-book series. Now Bloomsbury has repackaged the entire series in hardcover and trade paper for adults; the new edition of Throne of Glass lands at #5 on our trade paperback list. A similar Maas makeover in 2020 has met with success: 2015’s A Court of Thorns and Roses, which kicked off another YA series, has sold 349K copies in hardcover and trade paper; the adult edition has sold 882K print copies.

NEW & NOTABLE

THE LAST ORPHAN
Gregg Hurwitz
#11 Hardcover Fiction
In Hurwitz’s “wild eighth Orphan X novel,” according to our review, “the many plot contrivances demand a lot from readers. Fans of Robert Ludlum’s action-packed novels featuring another skilled killer protagonist looking to do the right thing, Jason Bourne, are most likely to be satisfied.”

THE CLIMATE BOOK
Greta Thunberg
#18 Hardcover Nonfiction
“Humanity must decarbonize or die, according to this impassioned anthology of writings on climate change,” per our review. “Climate activist Thunberg gathers essays from scientists, journalists, and activists,” adding up to “a comprehensive and articulate shock to the system.”