Sitting Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on Jenny Han’s 2009 trilogy-launching YA rom-com, began streaming on Amazon Prime Video June 17. This week, four of the top 10 books in the country are by Han: backlist trade paperbacks for each of the three titles, plus the media tie-in edition of book one. Sales are up significantly compared with the week before the series began streaming, totaling 199K print copies for the four editions.

World Building

An Immense World by Ed Yong is #4 on our hardcover nonfiction list. “Pulitzer-winning journalist Yong reveals in this eye-opening survey animals’ world through their own perceptions,” our starred review said, calling the title “science writing at its best.” In a prepub q&a with PW, Yong discussed his wonder at the subject matter and his hope for readers: “Being able to immerse myself inside the lives of other creatures has been a wonderfully magical and transformative experience at a time when I think a lot of us needed a bit of magic and adventure in our lives,” he said. “I hope that comes through for readers, and gives them a bit of that sense of joy and journey.”

House Proud

Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake lands at #4 on our hardcover fiction list. “The setup of Rear Window serves as the framework for this outstanding novel of suspense,” our starred review said. “Sager brilliantly misdirects readers while playing fair with them.” If first-week print unit sales of Sager’s books are an indication, those readers’ numbers are growing: the new book sold 3,000 more print copies in its first week than its predecessor, 2021’s Survive the Night, did.

NEW & NOTABLE

LAPVONA
Ottessa Moshfegh
#5 Hardcover Fiction
“Moshfegh’s deliriously quirky medieval tale revolves around a disabled shepherd boy’s test of faith,” our starred review said. “Throughout, Moshfegh brings her trademark fascination with the grotesque to depictions of [a] pandemic, inequality, and governmental corruption, making them feel both uncanny and all too familiar.”

TURKEY AND THE WOLF
Mason Hereford
#19 Hardcover Nonfiction
“Southern food gets a kick in the pants in this exuberant and irreverent debut,” per our starred review. Written with frequent cookbook coauthor JJ Goode, it’s “a collection of high/low recipes from Hereford, whose buzzy New Orleans restaurant gives the book its title.”