Book Hitlist: Week 5

An alternative way to look at what’s selling

If you didn’t read the explanation of how the hitlist works, TLDR: this is an iterative “what is selling a lot” right now that takes into account hardcover, paperback, and audiobook sales, while removing books that linger on bestseller lists. So less hype and more “what is selling solidly but maybe not getting as much attention.”

OUR STRANGERS: STORIES by Lydia Davis. Davis has been a powerhouse in the literary world for quite some time but “literary fiction powerhouse” doesn’t necessarily translate into sales. So it’s impressive to see a short story collection selling well, as they are notoriously harder to sell than novels. (A lot of people unfamiliar with the machinations of the publishing world—particularly people who just graduated from MFA programs—often have no idea that editors and agents are not exactly exited about short story collections, but will ask if you have a novel in you). Interestingly, this book is only available at independent bookstores and libraries, at Davis’s request. The book is the first to be published by Bookshop Editions—yes of Bookshop.org fame. Apparently Davis approached several publishers including her regular Big 5, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and asked if they were willing to avoid Amazon. They said no, but Bookshop (whose literal ethos is avoiding Amazon) said yes which also means that Bookshop is opening an e-book platform, which they lacked before. Only a powerhouse author could do this, and only at a place like Bookshop, because however you feel about Amazon, not selling through them will hurt sales. I checked to see if the book is on Barnes & Noble—it isn’t. I think Amazon and B&N are apples and oranges. I have a lot of fond memories of wandering around B&N as a teenager, and like a lot of people in smaller towns, there actually wasn’t an independent bookstore option. And I will, for the record, say that B&N really supported me as an author while some local independent bookstores did not even carry me, despite the fact that preliminary data suggested that I was selling almost equally in DC (a city of 700k) as I was in the entire state of New York. shrug emoji.

JUDGEMENT PREY by John Sandford. Davenport and Flowers investigate the murder of a federal judge and his two young sons. This is the 33rd in Sandford’s Prey series and I think a solid example that there are authors who are consistently massive bestsellers but you don’t see much talk of them on book-associated social media, which often skews towards certain types of books.

WILDFIRE by Hannah Grace. Two summer camp counselors who once had a one-night-stand reunite. This is the second in the Maple Hills series that started with Icebreaker, which was featured on last week’s Hitlist.

SECOND ACT by Danielle Steel. A big-time studio exec rents a home in a tiny coastal town where he meets a talented writer. Steel started writing at 19 and has close to 200 books, and still has that fanbase she’s had for years. (Did you grow up watching TV movie adaptations of her books too?) But do you know about how bonkers her personal life has been?

HOUSE OF SKY AND BREATH by Sarah J. Maas. A pair of fae are pulled into the political upheaval of a revolution. This is the second in her Crescent City series, with the third due to be out in January of 2024.

THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER by V E Schwab. Four worlds are magically connected to London. Tes, a girl with an unusual magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds. VE Schwab is the pen name for when Victorial Schwab is writing for adults, as opposed to young adults. I’m not a Schwab reader, but have to say, this cover is stunning. It’s really original and eye catching.

TRUST by Hernan Diaz. Nothing I can say about just how good this book is will do it justice. It won the Pulitzer. It’s only his second novel, and the first was also nominated for the Pulitzer and the PEN/Faulkner. It is so, so good. “Brilliant literary puzzle” is a fair blurb. If I said it was about a business tycoon from the 1920s and a novel written about his family, this grossly undersells how interesting it is. Just read it.

Audio:

YELLOWFACE, by RF Kuang. Fantasy author’s stepping back into the real world to write a satirical novel about a white author who steals the book of her more talented frenemy, spiraling further and further into a lie she starts to believe. The book is very meta, containing a lot of stand-ins for things that happened in real life, and even some criticism of Kuang herself.

WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME by Gillian McAllister. A woman looks out the window at night to see her teenage son stab a complete stranger to death. When she wakes up the next day, she has traveled back in time, and each day she wakes up, she’s traveled back even further.

THE ADVENTURES OF AMINA AL-SIRAFI by Shannon Chakraborty. A pirate agrees to help retrieve the kidnapped daughter of an “obscenely” wealthy woman. (Shannon Chakraborty is SA Chakraborty, the author of the bestselling Daevabad Trilogy beginning with City of Brass.)

Thoughts: I am very interested to see what Bookshop.org does next.