This Week's Bestsellers: June 2, 2014

He’s #1: Carson Tops the Nonfiction List, Hits the Conservative Talk Shows

One Nation by Ben Carson topped our Hardcover Nonfiction list this week. Carson, a neurosurgeon who retired from Johns Hopkins Hospital, became a conservative darling when he gave the keynote speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast and turned what is ordinarily a nonpartisan platform into a political critique as President Obama sat nearby. The response included a Wall Street Journal editorial headlined “Ben Carson for President.” Carson was everywhere on the conservative and mainstream media circuit for the book launch, from Meet the Press to Fox News’ Hannity, with a stop at The View and other programs at various points on the talking head spectrum. Radio and print coverage has come from more conservative outlets, including National Review Online, the Weekly Standard, and the Glenn Beck Radio Program. Following the media whirlwind, Carson hits 29 cities in the South in nine days, beginning in Naples, Fla., on May 31 and ending June 8 in North Houston, Tex. Does moving that fast make him a runner? The question has been floated: Carson for president? The answer to come.—Marcia Z. Nelson

Triple-Threat Michele Shares Her Life Lessons with Fans

Actress and singer Lea Michele has traveled a long road from her Bronx schoolgirl days to her starring role on Broadway in Spring Awakening and her Emmy-, SAG-, and Golden Globe–nominated work on Fox’s hit show Glee. In Michele’s first book, Brunette Ambition—an illustrated memoir, how-to, and style guide, which debuts at #9 on our Hardcover Nonfiction list—she shares tips on beauty, fashion, inner strength, and careers, offering step-by-step exercise routines, makeup instructions, lists of her favorite things (her ideal Sunday, her favorite movie snacks), and plenty of behind-the-scenes photos. In PW’s review, we wrote, “Michele’s warm, easygoing tone and colorful anecdotes will appeal to her devoted fan base.” Devoted indeed. Fans lined up early the day of each launch event at Books and Greetings in New Jersey (with over 700 in attendance) and Barnes & Noble at the Grove in Los Angeles. For her appearance at the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan’s Union Square, best friend and fellow actor Jonathan Groff joined Michele for a lively conversation in front of a standing-room-only crowd. Her promotional appearances for the book have also included Good Morning America, the Late Show with David Letterman, the Dr. Oz Show, The Chew, Chelsea Lately, and Watch What Happens Live, in addition to several radio interviews.—Jessamine Chan

Hunter Hits The Mark Again

Russian female snipers of WWII are the focus of Sniper’s Honor, Stephen Hunter’s ninth Bob Lee Swagger novel, which debuts at #8 on our Hardcover Fiction list.

Swagger, a former marine sniper, teams with Kathy Reilly, a Washington Post journalist, to investigate the disappearance of records concerning Russia’s WWII sniper prodigy, Ludmilla “Mili” Petrova—a woman whose power solicited fear and rage from both Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Swagger and Reilly travel to the Carpathian Mountains hoping to uncover clues that will lead them to understand why Russia would want to conceal the records of a woman who would otherwise be considered a national hero. As they uncover information about Mili’s last mission, it becomes clear that the Russian government is hiding something. When they find that they are being followed by an assassin, Swagger and Reilly realize that they are on the brink of discovering a secret with the power to change history.

In addition to his fiction, Hunter has published two collections of film criticism and a true crime book, American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill President Truman and the Shoot-out That Stopped It, written with John Bainbridge Jr. He is the former chief film critic for the Washington Post, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism.

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