His Story
Percival Everett’s James debuts at #3 on our hardcover fiction list. A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the novel is narrated by the character Jim, whose “wrenching odyssey concludes with remarkable revelations, violent showdowns, and insightful meditations on literature and philosophy,” our starred review said. “Everett has outdone himself.” The marketing muscle behind James—the author’s first book with Doubleday—coupled with the recent Oscar attention for American Fiction, adapted from Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, add up to a strong start.
Top Dog
Timed to the release of Dav Pilkey’s The Scarlet Shedder, the #1 book in the country and the 12th Dog Man graphic novel, a partnership among Pilkey, Little Free Library, and Scholastic will get books by a variety of authors into the hands of eager readers. Here’s a by-the-numbers look at the project and (per Circana) the series.
50 states will receive Dog Man–themed Little Free Libraries
50,000 volumes donated by Dav Pilkey will stock the book-sharing boxes, including The Scarlet Shedder and titles from Scholastic’s Power of the Story collection
249,602 first-week print unit sales for The Scarlet Shedder
18 million print copies of the Dog Man series (excluding boxed sets) sold to date
A Spirited Showing
In Ghost Town Living, #3 on our hardcover nonfiction list, Brent Underwood recounts a story he’s shared with 3.1 million TikTok followers—his purchase of the abandoned silver mining town of Cerro Gordo, Calif., where he’s lived since March 2020 (or, as his bio puts it, “Brent currently lives on a mountain above Death Valley with no running water, seven cats, six goats, and at least one ghost”). His commitment to the project extends to how he recorded the audio version of his memoir—in a mine shaft 900 feet underground.
NEW & NOTABLE
Zaytinya
José Andrés
#6 Hardcover Nonfiction
The latest cookbook from the Spanish American chef and founder of the nonprofit World Central Kitchen takes its recipe inspirations from his Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese restaurant of the same name, whose first location opened in Washington, D.C., in 2002.
Rebecca Serle
#10 Hardcover Fiction
“Serle complicates a woman’s lifelong search for love with a hint of the supernatural in this stirring romance,” according to our starred review. The main character’s “sometimes heart-wrenching, often heartwarming search for meaningful relationships, both romantic and platonic, is sure to inspire.”
