NCIBA Bookstore Bestseller Lists

The unique character of Northern California and the independent bookstores which serve the region (the nation’s second largest book market) help shape a bestseller list different from other lists. While there is overlap with other lists, the NCIBA list reflects the special qualities which help define the West Coast—culturally independent, socially aware, high-tech, and ethnically diverse. (©NCIBA 2008)

Sales Week Ending August 31, 2008

Hardcover Fiction

  1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
    Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows, Dial, $22
  2. The Little Book
    Selden Edwards, Dutton, $25.95
  3. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
    David Wroblewski, Ecco, $25.95
  4. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
    Junot Diaz, Riverhead, $24.95
  5. The 19th Wife
    David Ebershoff, Random House, $26
  6. The Enchantress of Florence
    Salman Rushdie, Random House, $26
  7. The Art of Racing in the Rain
    Garth Stein, Harper, $23.95
  8. Moscow Rules
    Daniel Silva, Putnam, $26.95
  9. Silks
    Dick Francis, Felix Francis, Putnam, $25.95
  10. The Host
    Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown, $25.99
  11. Unaccustomed Earth
    Jhumpa Lahiri, Knopf, $25
  12. City of Thieves
    David Benioff, Viking, $24.95
  13. The Uncommon Reader
    Alan Bennett, FSG, $15
  14. The Gypsy Morph
    Terry Brooks, Del Rey, $27
  15. Snuff
    Chuck Palahniuk, Doubleday, $24.95

Hardcover Nonfiction

  1. The Last Lecture
    Randy Pausch, Hyperion, $21.95
  2. Goodnight Bush
    Erich Origen, Gan Golan, Little Brown, $14.99
  3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames
    David Sedaris, Little Brown, $25.99
  4. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
    Haruki Murakami, Knopf, $21
  5. The Way of the World
    Ron Suskind, Harper, $27.95
  6. Havana Nocturne
    T.J. English, Morrow, $27.95
  7. The Obama Nation
    Jerome R. Corsi, Threshold, $28
  8. My Stroke of Insight
    Jill Bolte Taylor, Viking, $24.95
  9. In Defense of Food
    Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, $21.95
  10. Ghost Train to the Eastern Star
    Paul Theroux, Houghton Mifflin, $28
  11. Traffic
    Tom Vanderbilt, Knopf, $24.95
  12. The Anglo Files
    Sarah Lyall, Norton, $24.95
  13. The Art of Simple Food
    Alice Waters, Clarkson Potter, $35
  14. The Secret
    Rhonda Byrne, Atria/Beyond Words, $23.95
  15. The Night of the Gun
    David Carr, S&S, $26

Trade Paperback Fiction

  1. Bridge of Sighs
    Richard Russo, Vintage, $14.95
  2. Run
    Ann Patchett, Harper Perennial, $14.95
  3. The Shack
    William P. Young, Windblown, $14.99
  4. The Road
    Cormac McCarthy, Vintage, $14.95
  5. Loving Frank
    Nancy Horan, Ballantine, $14
  6. Out Stealing Horses
    Per Petterson, Picador, $14
  7. Water for Elephants
    Sara Gruen, Algonquin, $13.95
  8. In the Woods
    Tana French, Penguin, $14
  9. The Careful Use of Compliments
    Alexander McCall Smith, Anchor, $13.95
  10. Divisadero
    Michael Ondaatje, Vintage, $13.95
  11. Songs Without Words
    Ann Packer, Vintage, $14.95
  12. The Witch of Portobello
    Paulo Coelho, Harper Perennial, $13.95
  13. The Alchemist
    Paulo Coelho, HarperOne, $13.95
  14. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
    Michael Chabon, Harper Perennial, $15.95
  15. What Is the What
    Dave Eggers, Vintage, $15.95

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

  1. Three Cups of Tea
    Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin, Penguin, $15
  2. Eat, Pray, Love
    Elizabeth Gilbert, Penguin, $15
  3. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
    Barbara and Camille Kingsolver, Steven Hopp, Harper Perennial, $14.95
  4. Dreams From My Father
    Barack Obama, Three Rivers, $14.95
  5. The Audacity of Hope
    Barack Obama, Three Rivers, $14.95
  6. The Omnivore’s Dilemma
    Michael Pollan, Penguin, $16
  7. A Long Way Gone
    Ishmael Beah, FSG, $12
  8. The World Without Us
    Alan Weisman, Picador, $15
  9. A New Earth
    Eckhart Tolle, Plume, $14
  10. The Power of Now
    Eckhart Tolle, New World, $14
  11. Mike’s Election Guide
    Michael Moore, Grand Central, $13.99
  12. This Is Your Brain on Music
    Daniel J. Levitin, Plume, $15
  13. Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar
    Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein, Penguin, $12
  14. Stuff White People Like
    Christian Lander, Random House, $14
  15. I Was Told There’d Be Cake
    Sloane Crosley, Riverhead, $14

Mass Market

  1. Playing for Pizza
    John Grisham, Dell, $7.99
  2. Friends in High Places
    Donna Leon, Penguin, $7.99
  3. The Naming of the Dead
    Ian Rankin, Little Brown, $7.99
  4. Protect and Defend
    Vince Flynn, Pocket, $9.99
  5. The Catcher in the Rye
    J.D. Salinger, Warner, $6.99
  6. Compulsion
    Jonathan Kellerman, Ballantine, $9.99
  7. Stone Cold
    David Baldacci, Grand Central, $9.99
  8. Sweet Revenge
    Diane Mott Davidson, Avon, $7.99
  9. The Audacity of Hope
    Barack Obama, Vintage, $7.99
  10. The Secret Servant
    Daniel Silva, Signet, $9.99

Children’s Titles

  1. New Moon (Twilight, Book 2)
    Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown, $10.99
  2. Twilight
    Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown, $10.99
  3. Eclipse (Twilight, Book 3)
    Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown, $19.99
  4. Breaking Dawn (Twilight, Book 4)
    Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown, $22.99
  5. The Book Thief
    Markus Zusak, Knopf, $11.99
  6. Goodnight Moon
    Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper, $8.99
  7. The Mysterious Benedict Society
    Trenton Lee Stewart, Little Brown, $6.99
  8. Gallop!
    Rufus Butler Seder, Workman, $12.95
  9. The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4)
    Rick Riordan, Hyperion, $17.99
  10. Good Night San Francisco
    Adam Gamble, Santiago Cohen (Illus.), Our World of Books, $9.95
  11. Math Doesn’t Suck
    Danica McKellar, Plume, $15
  12. Battle at Teth (Star Wars)
    Kirsten Mayer, Grosset & Dunlap, $3.99
  13. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)
    Rick Riordan, Miramax, $7.99
  14. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
    Jeff Kinney, Amulet, $12.95
  15. Dragon of the Red Dawn
    Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illus.), Random House, $4.99

Based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association and the American Booksellers Association. For information on more titles, please visit IndieBound.org.

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