Bestsellers: Paperback Broker Climbs, Teacher Man Falls

Week of December 4, 2005

According to the New York Times, Mary, Mary by James Patterson is still atop the list for fiction sales this week, while President Carter's Our Endangered Values climbs to number one in non-fiction.

John Grisham's The Broker replaces Crichton at the top of the list of paperback fiction sales, and A Million Little Pieces by James Frey remains at atop of the paperback non-fiction pile (perhaps glued in place by the golden seal of Oprah's Book Club).

This Week	Last Week	Best-selling FICTION from the NYT List
1	1	Mary, Mary, by James Patterson. The F.B.I. agent Alex Cross tracks a Hollywood killer who announces the crimes via e-mail. (2nd week on list)
2	4	At First Sight, by Nicholas Sparks. The young couple from "True Believer," who are now expecting a child, receive a disturbing message. (6th week on list.)
3	3	Light from Heaven, by Jan Karon. Father Tim's bishop asks him to revive a long-closed mountain church; the final novel in the Mitford series. (3rd week on list.)
4	2	Predator, by Patricia Cornwell. On the trail of a possible serial killer, Dr. Kay Scarpetta turns to a jailed psychopath for advice. (6th week on list)
5	N	The Lighthouse, by P.D. James. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve a murder (or two) on a remote Cornish island. (First week on list.)

This Week	Last Week	Best-selling NON-FICTION from the NYT List
1	3	Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter. The former president warns against blurring politics and fundamentalist religion. (4th week on list.)
2	1	Teacher Man, by Frank McCourt. The author of Angela's Ashes remembers his years teaching high school English in New York City. (2nd week on list)
3	2	Team Of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The political genius of Abraham Lincoln is revealed in his relationship with his cabinet. (5th week on list)
4	5	The World is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman. A columnist for The New York Times analyzes 21st-century economics and foreign policy and presents an overview of globalization trends. (34th week on list.)
5	4	The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion. The author attempts to come to terms with the death of her husband and the grave illness of their only daughter. (8th week on list.)

For Christmas purchases that are likely to please a reader, you can't go far wrong with a selection from the NYT lists. To check out the expanded catalog of bestsellers, you'll need to register (free) at The New York Times online.

Be sure to check out the Blogcritics feature Next Week in the Bookstore (New Books) for choices that (while not bestsellers — yet) are unlikely to already be resting on your reader's bookshelf.
031615976X,0399152830,0743243773,0670034533,
0446532428,030726291X,0446577383,0684824906,0743284577,
140004314X,0374292884,0440241588


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