In the Winners' Circle

On May 8, for the first time in Pulitzer history, the fiction award went to two novels: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and Trust by Hernan Diaz. Kingsolver’s contemporary Appalachian David Copperfield has been a mainstay on our hardcover fiction list since it pubbed in October 2022; the trade paperback reprint of Diaz’s kaleidoscopic historical novel pubbed May 2 and, post-Pulitzer, makes its debut on our list.

Demon Copperhead

Last week: #20, Hardcover fiction

This week: #6

Print unit sales increase: 233%

Trust

Last week: n/a

This week: #15, trade paperback

Print unit sales increase: 190%

Not All Heroes Wear Capes

Tom Hanks has the #6 book in the country with the novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece. “Actor Hanks explores the making of a superhero film epic in his entertaining debut novel,” our review said. “Neither slashing satire nor moody melodrama, this sincerely Hanksian paean to the people behind the scenes of a movie production comes to life with great characters.” It follows his 2017 debut fiction collection, Uncommon Type, which has sold 252K print copies since its release.

Pop Culture

A pair of celebrity dads—one with small children, the other the parent of a 19-year-old—land memoirs on our hardcover nonfiction list. At #6, The Daddy Diaries by producer and talk show host Andy Cohen is a “hilarious account of the trials and triumphs of fatherhood,” according to our review. The book offers glimpses of Cohen’s career, but “the best moments,” per the review, “are devoted to his children, toddler Ben and newborn daughter Lucy.” In Walking with Sam, #17, actor and travel writer Andrew McCarthy documents the 500-mile trek across Spain’s Camino de Santiago he undertook with his son.

NEW & NOTABLE

QUEEN CHARLOTTE
Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes
#5 Hardcover Fiction
This novelization of the Netflix Bridgerton series prequel, which began streaming May 4 and which fictionalizes the life of the historical queen, is co-authored by Quinn, author of the Bridgerton novels, and Rhimes, executive producer of the Netflix adaptations.

A DAY WITH NO WORDS
Tiffany Hammond, illus. by Kate Cosgrove
#8 Picture Books
Hammond, an autistic mother of two autistic sons, depicts a day in the life of her older child, Aidan, who is nonspeaking and often uses a tablet to communicate. Hammond told NPR, “I wanted to show the breadth of his humanity.”