Mass Market

#2 The House

Danielle Steel, whose real name is Danielle Fernande Dominique Schuelein-Steel, was decorated in 2002 by the French government as a "Chevalier" of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, for her contributions to world culture. Her novels have been translated into 28 languages and can be found in more than 40 countries.

#7 Dirty Blonde

Lisa Scottoline is an Italian-American who identifies strongly with her heritage and draws from it to create her bestselling suspense novels featuring an Italian-American lawyer named Benedetta Rosato and her law firm, Rosato & Associates. Scottoline's books feature many successful, intelligent Italian-American characters, and that's one of the reasons the National Organization of Italian American Women gave her an award back in 2005.

#10 All Night Long

"I'm not sure where or how I developed my passion for both reading and writing [romantic suspense]... but I suspect it started with those Nancy Drew books I read when I was young. While my friends were out there on the playground pursuing wholesome activities like tetherball, I was skulking around the restrooms, allowance money clutched in my sweaty little hand, waiting to meet my supplier. I don't know where Debbie came by that endless supply of Nancy Drew books. I never asked questions. I just handed over my cash, grabbed my fix and ran off to find a place to read."

—From Krentz's blog.

#15 The Last Templar

"I think there's a general yearning out there for myth and legend—science has done a lot, but one side effect is that it's helped take out a lot of the magic and mystery of the world around us, and I think we miss that. Similarly, I think there's also a yearning for something more fulfilling spiritually, and part of that search is manifested through exploring the hidden secrets of our past."

—Raymond Khoury on why ancient secret societies are such a hot topic nowadays.

Trade Paperback Notes

#3 The Glass Castle

"Back in Battle Mountain, we had stopped naming the Walls family cars, because they were all such heaps that Dad said they didn't deserve names. Mom said that when she was growing up on the ranch, they never named the cattle, because they knew they would have to kill them. If we didn't name the car, we didn't feel as sad when we had to abandon it."

—24 printings total 1.2 million copies in print for The Glass Castle.

#4 Eat, Pray, Love

Brad Pitt's Plan B Productions and Paramount Pictures have bought movie rights to Gilbert's bestseller, with Julia Roberts set to star. Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy, who directed another recent book-to-film, Running with Scissors, will be adapting and directing. Penguin reports that the author's 16-city tour was a huge success, with 150—400 people at every event. And last week Gilbert married Felipe, the man she met in Bali at the book's close. Copies in print: 562,000 after eight trips to press.

#9 The Kite Runner

Kite Runner fans have less than three months to wait for Hosseini's next book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which has a May 22 laydown date. PW's starred review states that Hosseini's book is "a powerful, harrowing depiction of the plight of women in Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters."

#12 Labyrinth

"It's great if you're working when a brilliant idea comes into your head but, in the supermarket, you will need a note book to write it down. If you wake in the night with a clever phrase—you won't remember it! However good the idea is, there's no guarantee it will stay in... your mind. So always have a note book to hand. Of course, this doesn't solve the problem of ideas that come to me when I'm swimming...."

—From the "Advice to Writers" section on Mosse's Web site (www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk)