Summer Loving
Elin Hilderbrand has the #2 book in the country with Summer of ’69, a “superb novel,” our starred review said, “about the goings-on of a family during the summer of 1969 in Nantucket.” The author typically publishes two books a year, one each in her summer and winter series. Judging by her first-week print unit sales, readers get more excited about the sun than the snow.
(See all of this week's bestselling books.)
Wish Fulfillment
Children’s author/illustrator duo Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson, whose 2015 picture book, Last Stop on Market Street, was a Newbery Medal–winning and Caldecott Honor book, have teamed up again for Carmela Full of Wishes, a “sensitively conceived and exuberantly executed” story, our starred review said, that conveys the title character’s “Spanish-speaking community as a vibrant place of possibility.” The book pubbed in October and has landed on our list for the first time at #15 in children’s picture books, with its best weekly sales to date.
NSFW FTW
The #3 book in the country is The Hidden Power of F*cking Up by the Try Guys, a quartet of YouTubers who got their start with BuzzFeed and now boast six million subscribers to their independent channel. The book’s first chapter spells out the group’s risk-taking philosophy: “Welcome to life. You’re going to fail.” It’s the latest in a recent trend of f-bomb-dropping motivational titles, including Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (1.5 million print copies sold since 2016) and Manson’s follow-up, Everything Is F*cked, currently #14 in hardcover nonfiction.
New & Notable
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
#12 Hardcover Fiction
The journalist, whose New York Times celebrity profiles tend to go viral, makes a “sharp and tender-hearted debut,” our review said, with “a sardonically cheerful novel that readers will adore.”
Megan Miranda
#16 Hardcover Fiction
“This searing small-town thriller from bestseller Miranda (The Perfect Stranger),” our starred review said, “explores the complexities of female friendship and the picturesque fictions that money can buy.”
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Title | Author | Imprint | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens | Putnam | 45,818 |
| 2 | Summer of ’69 | Elin Hilderbrand | Little, Brown | 42,046 |
| 3 | The Hidden Power of F*cking Up | The Try Guys | Dey Street | 21,966 |
| 4 | Unfreedom of the Press | Mark R. Levin | Threshold | 21,056 |
| 5 | The Reckoning | John Grisham | Dell | 20,199 |
| 6 | Educated | Tara Westover | Random House | 19,040 |
| 7 | Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid | Jeff Kinney | Amulet | 18,763 |
| 8 | City of Girls | Elizabeth Gilbert | Riverhead | 18,127 |
| 9 | Before We Were Yours | Lisa Wingate | Ballantine | 16,003 |
| 10 | The Pioneers | David McCullough | Simon & Schuster | 15,703 |
All unit sales per NPD BookScan except where noted.
