Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, May 23, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2026 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2026, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "The Ballad of ...Read more

Do you eat while you read?

Mindfulness gurus suggest meals are best consumed thoughtfully without distraction. However, your hectic life often demands that if you ever hope to find out who killed the guy on pg. 39, you’ll need to read on your lunch break.

But reading while eating (or eating while reading, depending on your priorities in the ...Read more

A man who has spent the last five decades and more as one of the most amusing, irreverent, satirical, pointed, articulate, sensitive, hilarious and provocative voices of a couple of generations has never liked talking to reporters.

That would be Garry Trudeau, whose “Doonesbury” cartoon strip ran in as many as 1,400 newspapers during its ...Read more

Lillian Li is the author of the novel “Bad Asians.” Her previous novel, “Number One Chinese Restaurant,” was an NPR Best Book, and she’s been published in The New York Times, Granta, One Story, Bon Appetit, Travel & Leisure, and The Guardian. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, not far from the independent bookstore where she spent four ...Read more

“Waiting on a Friend” is Natalie Adler’s first novel but, already, I’d argue she can do what greats like Ann Patchett, Patrick Ryan and Celeste Ng do.

Their novels don’t fit in any genre but they are both substantive and a breeze to read, have something to say but also lots of humor and feature compelling characters but are driven by ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, May 16, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2026 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2026, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "A Parade of ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Ten years and four drafts ago, Luke Goebel sat down to channel all the sorrow and anger he felt about the state of the nation, the corruption he believed seeped from every corner of society, and the death of his brother into the novel that became “Kill Dick.”

“What you see at the end, this sunshine noir, this L.A. ...Read more

CHICAGO -- In his new non-fiction book “Fire and Clay: How Bricks Reveal the Hidden History of Chicago,” Will Quam writes that brick in Chicago is “such a ubiquitous material that it is quite easily forgotten or ignored, simple background noise to everything else.” And yet, ever since the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, brick has been a key ...Read more

There are books you read and think might have been created just for you. There are the books you can’t wait to discuss with your book club. And then there are books you read and think, “Just about every reader I know would love this.”

That’s the category I’d put “The Correspondent” in. Clearly, I’m not the only one. Nudged along...Read more

Amid the current political craziness, I decided to step back in time with Shannon McKenna Schmidt’s recently released “You Can’t Catch Us” (Sourcebooks, $27.99) narrative about a historic train ride through the Civil Rights-era South.

Times in 1964 were violent and uncertain, to say the least, when Lady Bird Johnson embarked on her ...Read more

Kathryn Stockett has written a huge book about three 20th century Mississippi women who come together despite their differences. No, I’m not talking about “The Help.”

Coming 17 years after that blockbuster, Stockett’s second novel has a lot in common with her first. “The Calamity Club” also is set in her home state, takes place in ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, May 9, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2026 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2026, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Fury Bound: A ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s no coincidence that all of the protagonists of the 13 stories in Julie Schumacher’s collection, “Patient, Female,” are women.

The St. Paul writer and University of Minnesota professor of creative writing and literature hit bestseller lists with three novels about Jason Fitger, a cranky professor of creative writing...Read more

How entertaining is “City of Iron and Ivy”? I didn’t particularly respond to a key element of the book but I loved it, anyway.

St. Paul writer Thomas Kent West’s debut is set in the latter half of the 19th century, mostly in an alternative version of London (the queen is Viscaria, not Victoria). Elswyth Elderwood is determined to find ...Read more