New to the Bestseller Lists, Oct. 11, 2018 | Book Pulse

Many new titles appear on the bestseller lists this week. The Witch Elm by Tana French and The Library Book by Susan Orlean get reviews in both the NYT and The Washington Post while news breaks that Colson Whitehead's next book will be published in July. Pet Sematary gets a trailer and Samin Nosrat's new Netflix show Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat starts today.

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New to the Bestseller Lists

[Links for the week: NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers | NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers | USA Today Best-Selling Books]

Fiction








A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult (Ballantine: Random; LJ starred review) debuts at No. 1 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list and No. 3 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

AlaskanHoliday by Debbie Macomber (Ballantine: Random) takes the No. 4 spot on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list and No. 11 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat by Anne Rice (Knopf) bites down at No. 5 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Uncompromising Honor by David Weber (Bean: S. & S.) takes flight at No. 9 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

War of the Wolf by Bernard Cornwell (Harper) fightsits way onto the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list at No. 10.

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs (Dutton Books for Young Readers: Penguin) claims the No. 10 spot on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

The Christmas Scorpion: A Jack Reacher Story by Lee Child (Delacorte: Random, ebook) celebrates at No. 13 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Nonfiction








Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution by Tucker Carlson (Free Press: S. & S.) sets sail at No. 1 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list and No. 2 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton) lands at No. 3 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list and No. 6 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister (S. & S.) debuts at No. 5 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World by Scott Harrison, Lisa Sweetingham (Currency: Random) opens at No. 7 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret by Jedidiah Jenkins (Convergent: Random) cycles onto the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list at No. 8.

Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life by Gisele Bündchen (Avery: Penguin) lands at No. 9 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

FullDisclosure by Stormy Daniels (St. Martin's Press: Macmillan) takes No. 11 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told: An Oral History by Nick Offerman & Megan Mullally (Dutton: Penguin) talks its way onto the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list at No. 12.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography by Eric Idle (Crown Archetype: Random House) sings and laughs onto the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list at No. 14.

Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side by Howard Marks (HMH) cashes in at No. 14 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Reviews

Stephen King reviews The Witch Elm by Tana French (Viking: Penguin) for the NYT, writing, "The prose, as fine as it is, as dense as it is, as obsessive as it is, remains in service to the story. This is good work by a good writer. For the reader, what luck." Also in the paper, The Library Book by Susan Orlean (S. & S.): a "sense of possibility animates her new book, which is a loving tribute not just to a place or an institution but to an idea." Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss (Crown: Random): "a sweeping overview of presidents leading the United States through almost two centuries of conflict."

The Washington Post also reviews The Witch Elm (Viking: Penguin; LJ starred review): "It’s very eerie; it’s also quite hefty and static for long stretches. Whether you find the novel satisfying will probably depend on how much you care about action vs. atmosphere." Also, The Library Book by Susan Orlean (S. & S.): "a wide-ranging, deeply personal and terrifically engaging investigation of humanity’s bulwark against oblivion: the library." On Sunset: A Memoir by Kathryn Harrison (Doubleday: Random): "adds up to more than just sepia-tinged nostalgia for a world on which the sun set long ago." Questioning Minds: The Letters of Guy Davenport and Hugh Kenner edited by Edward M. Burns (Counterpoint): "the most intellectually exhilarating work published in 2018."

NPR reviews The Reckonings: Essays by Lacy M. Johnson (Scribner: S. & S.): "The 12 essays in The Reckonings are 12 beginnings. Each one deserves great consideration, while you read it and long after. Each one leaves the work up to you." (Electric Lit has an interview with Johnson).

USA Today reviews Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister (S. & S.), giving it 3 out of 4 stars, and writing it "serves as an 'Amen, sister!' venting session." Also, The Kennedy Debutante: A Novel of Kick Kennedy by Kerri Maher (Berkley: Penguin), giving it 3 out of 4 stars, and writing it is "a well-paced and engaging novel that is gentler to the Kennedys than other recent novelists have been."

Briefly Noted

The NYT reports that Colson Whitehead's next book will be The Nickel Boys (Doubleday: Random; ISBN 9780385537070, July 2019). The paper has a summary and an interview.

The Bookseller reports on Apple's purported new audiobook platform and that "audiobooks took center stage at the Frankfurt Book Fair."

After 25 years, Norwegian police have filed charges in the case of the shooting of William Nygaard, publisher of the Norwegian edition of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. The NYT reports the details.

The New Yorker writes that "One Year of #MeToo: 'He Said, She Said' Is a Literary Problem, Too."

Entertainment Weekly asks 12 of their "favorite thriller writers" to suggest books to "read this season."

The Washington Post suggests the best poetry collections for October.

Bitch media suggest four novels that "Reveal the Magic of Queer Self-Actualization" and suggests "15 Nonfiction Book Feminists Should Read This Fall."

The New Statesmanhighlights William Boyd, Love Is Blind (Knopf).

VoguefeaturesMy Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper (Scribner: S. & S.).

NYLONshowcasesRock n Roll Bride: The ultimate guide for alternative brides by Kat Williams (Ryland Peters & Small: S. & S.).

Entertainment WeeklyexcerptsUnsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper) as well asLet Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson (Katherine Tegen Books: Harper).

The NYTinterviews Haruki Murakami as does The Guardian.

The Guardianinterviews Jacqueline Wilson, author of The Story of Tracy Beaker (Yearling: Random) and the forthcoming My Mum Tracy Beaker.

Authors on Air

Nancy Pearl interviews Margot Kahn, This Is the Place: Women Writing About Home (Seal: Hachette), on her Book Lust TV program.

November Road by Lou Berney (William Morrow: HarperCollins; LJ starred review) is headed to the movies reports Deadline Hollywood. So is Peter Lefcourt’s The Dreyfus Affair: A Love Story. The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith (Grand Central: Hachette) is headed to TV.

The Hollywood Reporter offers a "character guide" for The Haunting of Hill House. Paste has a story on why the show "Proves Novels Belong on Netflix."

Eater writes about Samin Nosrat's new Netflix show Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.

Nicole Chung, All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir (Catapult; LJ starred review), will be on the Daily Show tonight.

Pet Sematary gets a trailer.

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Neal Wyatt

Neal Wyatt is LJ's reader's advisory columnist. She writes The Reader's Shelf, RA Crossroads, Book Pulse, and Wyatt's World columns. She is currently revising The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction, 3d ed. (ALA Editions, 2018). Contact her at nwyatt@mediasourceinc.com.

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