Experience Points

Matt Dinniman’s The Gate of the Feral Gods, fourth in his Dungeon Crawler Carl litRPG series, breaks through our hardcover fiction list at #6. Ace began reissuing the self-published series in August; recently, first-week print unit sales have been leveling up.

In Clubland

Newly minted Oprah’s Book Club pick The Tell debuts at #2 on our hardcover nonfiction list. In it, venture capitalist Amy Griffin recounts how, with the help of MDMA-assisted therapy, she uncovered the long-buried childhood trauma that had been stifling her emotionally even as she amassed professional successes and forged powerhouse connections. Her March 11 launch event in New York City attracted not only Winfrey but also fellow book club mavens Reese Witherspoon and Jenna Bush Hager.

Meta's Fiction

Facebook executive-turned-whisteleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams lands at #4 on our hardcover nonfiction list with Careless People, a damning account of her years at the company now known as Meta. Flatiron announced the book just six days before its March 11 publication, and Meta, in turn, pursued arbitration that has temporarily stopped Wynn-Williams from promoting it. Washington Post book critic Ron Charles pointed out the irony in his weekly newsletter, calling out Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg: “This effort to gag an author comes from a company that decided in January to end its fact-checking program in the U.S. because there was ‘too much censorship.’ Where are those radical free-speech principles now, Mark?”

The Body Keeps the Score

Things We Never Got Over author Lucy Score lands at the top of our trade paperback list with Story of My Life, which launches her Story Lake rom-com series. It’s an “endearing tale of second chances,” according to our starred review. “By turns hilarious,
heartwarming, and life-affirming, this lively tale may be Score’s best yet.” Her sold-out tour included stops in Concord, N.H., where 700 readers joined the author at the Capitol Center for the Arts, hosted by Gibson’s Bookstore; St. Peters, Mo., for a 400-person event at the Spencer Road Library in partnership with Main Street Books; and at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Wash., where the author (l.) got cozy with her work.