NCIBA/IndieBound/San Francisco Chronicle
Bestseller List

Top Shelf Picks

From Spectator Books, Oakland

Fiction

• First Rule by Robert Crais. This new thriller features both PIs Joe Pike and Elvis Cole. A family execution, violent robberies, and Eastern European organized crime all lead to a game of intrigue among dangerous LA crooks.
• The Godfather of Kathmandu by John Burdett. The fourth adventure of Sonchai Jitpleecheep has an array of off kilter storylines full of moral ambiguity and cultural richness. The exotic narrative will captivate readers.
• The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent. A engrossing coming of age saga set against the Salem witch trials of 1752, bringing history to life through one family’s travails. New in paper.
• The Women by T C Boyle. This novel features Frank Lloyd Wright and the four significant women in his life. The story is told in reverse chronological order, emphasizing the strength of Boyle’s prose and vivid description.
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. A sweeping novel that follows several characters and their children from India to Africa and finally New York. The narrative combines the practice of medicine with extraordinary storytelling to captivate the reader. New in paper.

Nonfiction

• Charles Darwin’s On The Origin Of The Species by Michael Keller. Don’t have time to read the lengthy original? Try this graphic adaptation that adds images to Darwin’s words and summarizes his ideas in a dramatic way.
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The author spent a year trying to be happier, using techniques both ancient and modern. Her blog of that year has been turned into an entertaining, insightful book.
• Shark’s Fin And Sichuan Pepper – A Sweet-Sour Memoir Of Eating In China by Fuchsia Dunlop. Asian food expert Dunlop recreates her travels in China in this fascinating cultural memoir which maintains that to understand China one must understand its cuisine. Now in paper.
• The Tattooed Lady: A History by Amelia Klem Osterud. Written by a tattooed librarian from Milwaukee, this is a wonderfully illustrated history of a popular art form.
• You Are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier. Berkeley internet pioneer Lanier has issued a passionate manifesto calling for a re-examination of how the structure of the internet influences our daily lives.