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Southern Indie Bestseller List 04/29/2012

 

Hardcover Fiction

1. Calico Joe
John Grisham, Doubleday, $24.95, 9780385536073
2. The Innocent
David Baldacci, Grand Central, $27.99, 9780446572996
3. The Wind Through the Keyhole
Stephen King, Scribner, $27, 9781451658903
4. The Cove
Ron Rash, Ecco Press, $26.99, 9780061804199
5. The Shoemaker's Wife
Adriana Trigiani, Harper, $26.99, 9780061257094
6. A Land More Kind Than Home
Wiley Cash, Morrow, $24.99, 9780062088147
7. Sacré Bleu
Christopher Moore, Morrow, $26.99, 9780061779749
8. The Beginner's Goodbye
Anne Tyler, Knopf, $24.95, 9780307957276
9. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection
Alexander McCall Smith, Pantheon, $24.95, 9780307378408
10. Defending Jacob
William Landay, Delacorte, $26, 9780385344227
11. Unnatural Acts
Stuart Woods, Putnam, $26.95, 9780399158865
12. Miss Julia to the Rescue
Ann B. Ross, Viking, $25.95, 9780670023387
13. The Paris Wife
Paula McLain, Ballantine, $25, 9780345521309
14. Stay Close
Harlan Coben, Dutton, $27.95, 9780525952275
15. The Witness
Nora Roberts, Putnam Adult, $27.95, 9780399159121

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
Anna Quindlen, Random House, $26, 9781400069347
2. Prague Winter
Madeleine Albright, Harper, $29.99, 9780062030313
3. Wild
Cheryl Strayed, Knopf, $25.95, 9780307592736
4. Imagine
Jonah Lehrer, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26, 9780547386072
5. The Presidents Club
Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy, S&S, $32.5, 9781439127704
6. Drift
Rachel Maddow, Crown, $25, 9780307460981
7. The Big Miss
Hank Haney, Crown Archetype, $26, 9780307985989
8. Killing Lincoln
Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard, Holt, $28, 9780805093070
9. Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson, S&S, $35, 9781451648539
10. Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Jenny Lawson, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, $25.95, 9780399159015
11. What Money Can't Buy
Michael J. Sandel, FSG, $27, 9780374203030
12. In the Garden of Beasts
Erik Larson, Crown, $26, 9780307408846
13. The Power of Habit
Charles Duhigg, Random House, $28, 9781400069286
14. Midnight in Peking
Paul French, Penguin, $26, 9780143121008
15. Jesus Calling
Sarah Young, Integrity, $15.99, 9781591451884

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James, Vintage, $15.95, 9780345803481
2. Fifty Shades Darker
E.L. James, Vintage, $15.95, 9780345803498
3. Fifty Shades Freed
E.L. James, Vintage, $15.95, 9780345803504
4. Caleb's Crossing
Geraldine Brooks, Penguin, $16, 9780143121077
5. The House at Tyneford
Natasha Solomons, Plume, $15, 9780452297647
6. The Weird Sisters
Eleanor Brown, Berkley, $15, 9780425244142
7. The Language of Flowers
Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Ballantine, $15, 9780345525550
8. The Dovekeepers
Alice Hoffman, Scribner, $16, 9781451617481
9. The Art of Fielding
Chad Harbach, Back Bay, $14.99, 9780316126670
10. Swamplandia!
Karen Russell, Vintage, $14.95, 9780307276681
11. The Buddha in the Attic
Julie Otsuka, Anchor, $13.95, 9780307744425
12. The American Heiress
Daisy Goodwin, St. Martin's Griffin, $14.99, 9780312658663
13. The Snowman
Jo Nesbø, Vintage, $14.95, 9780307742995
14. Salvage the Bones
Jesmyn Ward, Bloomsbury, $15, 9781608196265
15. The Tiger's Wife
Téa Obreht, Random House, $15, 9780385343848

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. Heaven Is for Real
Todd Burpo, Thomas Nelson, $16.99, 9780849946158
2. Turn Right at Machu Picchu
Mark Adams, Plume, $16, 9780452297982
3. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot, Broadway, $16, 9781400052189
4. Bossypants
Tina Fey, Reagan Arthur Books, $15.99, 9780316056878
5. Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey
The Countess of Carnarvon, Broadway, $15.99, 9780770435622
6. Unlikely Friendships
Jennifer S. Holland, Workman, $13.95, 9780761159131
7. Lost in Shangri-La
Mitchell Zuckoff, Harper Perennial, $15.99, 9780061988356
8. To Marry an English Lord
Gail MacColl, Carol McD. Wallace, Workman, $15.95, 9780761171959
9. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Steve Harvey, Amistad Press, $13.99, 9780061728983
10. Moonwalking With Einstein
Joshua Foer, Penguin, $16, 9780143120537
11. Born to Run
Christopher McDougall, Vintage, $15.95, 9780307279187
12. Empire of the Summer Moon
S.C. Gwynne, Scribner, $16, 9781416591061
13. The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls, Scribner, $16, 9780743247542
14. F in Exams
Richard Benson, Chronicle, $9.95, 9780811878319
15. The Magic
Rhonda Byrne, Atria, $12.99, 9781451673449

Mass Market

1. A Game of Thrones
George R.R. Martin, Bantam, $8.99, 9780553593716
2. A Feast for Crows
George R.R. Martin, Bantam, $8.99, 9780553582024
3. To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee, Warner, $7.99, 9780446310789
4. A Storm of Swords
George R.R. Martin, Bantam, $8.99, 9780553573428
5. A Clash of Kings
George R.R. Martin, Bantam, $8.99, 9780345535429
6. 1984
George Orwell, Signet, $9.99, 9780451524935
7. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Stieg Larsson, Vintage, $9.99, 9780307742537
8. Ender's Game
Orson Scott Card, Tor, $6.99, 9780812550702
9. The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien, Ballantine, $7.99, 9780345339683
10. The Affair
Lee Child, Dell, $9.99, 9780440246305

Children's Illustrated

1. Goodnight Moon
Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper, $8.99, 9780694003617
2. The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?
Mo Willems, Hyperion, $15.99, 9781423151289
3. Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Dr. Seuss, Random House, $17.99, 9780679805274
4. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes
Eric Litwin, James Dean (Illus.), Harper, $16.99, 9780061906220
5. Harold and the Purple Crayon
Crockett Johnson, HarperFestival, $7.99, 9780062086525
6. On the Night You Were Born
Nancy Tillman, Feiwel & Friends, $7.99, 9780312601553
7. The Lorax
Dr. Seuss, Random House, $14.95, 9780394823379
8. Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes
Eric Litwin, James Dean (Illus.), Harper, $16.99, 9780061910241
9. Llama Llama Wakey-Wake
Anna Dewdney, Viking, $5.99, 9780670013265
10. The Care & Keeping of You
Valorie Lee Schaefer, Norm Bendell (Illus.), Pleasant Company, $9.95, 9781562476663

Children's Interest

1. The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book
Jeff Kinney, Amulet, $12.95, 9780810989955
2. Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth
Jane O'Connor, Robin Preiss Glasser (Illus.), Harper, $9.99, 9780062082930
3. Chomp
Carl Hiaasen, Knopf, $16.99, 9780375868429
4. The Book Thief
Markus Zusak, Knopf, $12.99, 9780375842207
5. Hatchet
Gary Paulsen, Aladdin, $6.99, 9781416936473
6. The Hunger Games Tribute Guide
Emily Seife, Scholastic, $7.99, 9780545457828
7. The Outsiders
S.E. Hinton, Puffin, $9.99, 9780140385724
8. The Fault in Our Stars
John Green, Dutton, $17.99, 9780525478812
9. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie, Ellen Forney (Illus.), Little Brown, $12.99, 9780316013697
10. The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster, Jules Feiffer (Illus.), Yearling, $6.99, 9780394820378

Children's Fiction Series Titles

1. Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)
Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, $17.99, 9780439023498
2. Mockingjay (The Final Book of the Hunger Games)
Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, $17.99, 9780439023511
3. The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, $12.99, 9780545425117
4. The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict (The Mysterious Benedict Society)
Trenton Lee Stewart, Little Brown, $17.99, 9780316176194
5. Ivy and Bean
Annie Barrows, Sophie Blackall, Chronicle, $5.99, 9780811849098
6. The Name of This Book Is Secret (The Secret Series)
Pseudonymous Bosch, Little Brown, $6.99, 9780316113694
7. Big Nate Goes for Broke
Lincoln Peirce, Harper, $12.99, 9780061996610
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
Jeff Kinney, Amulet, $13.95, 9781419702235
9. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)
Rick Riordan, Hyperion, $7.99, 9781423134947
10. The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4)
Rick Riordan, Hyperion, $7.99, 9781423101499

 

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Special to the Southern List 04/29/2012

(Books that appear on the Southern list, but not the national list)  Click on a book to purchase from a great indie bookstore! See the full Southern Indie Bestseller list here.
                          

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Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses

I loved this book. I wasn’t drawn to the cover at all, but the topic she was writing about did draw me (yoga, as well as the subtitle: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga poses), so I jumped in with both feet. An endorsement from Elizabeth Gilbert didn’t hurt either. What kept me reading though was the writing. I love the way Claire writes, the way she morphs words into something new; the way she uses language. . . her, um, languaging. Some examples: effortful, forking, efforting, jollity, constellated…

Also her descriptions: “He poured himself the grimmest bowl of cereal ever poured.” (pg. 127). I loved her description of Rodney Yee (pg 123): “…a very buff, eternally youthful Chinese American man with a long ponytail and a serene gaze…”…Yep, that’s Rod the Bod.

I also, for the first time in quite a while, came across words in my novel reading that were not immediately familiar to me, that I had to stop and ponder. This is good! Exciting! It’s been a while since that happened. Claire’s previous experience as a book editor and critic and free-lance writer prior to her writing this book come through loud and clear.

Her book is part memoir with some history of yoga mashed in. The way she talks about her 20’s as being “spent exploring” reminded me of how Amy Wood talks about modern young adult hood in her book Life Your Way (previously reviewed book #60).

Claire hides from her family by going to yoga. She hides from her emotions by going to yoga, as well, but when she gets into a pose…bam! There they are, just waiting for her to face and embrace them (sometimes this results in tears falling). She escapes through yoga as a young wife and mother the way she escaped through books as a young girl in a complicated family-of-origin situation. “A book was a terrific place for me. I went there as often as I could.” (pg.144). This was me.

Oh, and she vomits. A lot.
Sometimes you need to back away from something to gain a little perspective on it, whether it’s your kids, your marriage, your career, your yoga…or yourself. Finally, probably the best message I got from this book is this (and I’m paraphrasing her quote from pg. 297): Act like the person you want to be, when and if you can.

Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses By Claire Dederer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Review by Karen Creamer of Literary Bookpost Salisbury NC

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Little Boy Blues: A Memoir

Malcolm Jones, Arts Editor at Newsweek, paints a fascinating picture of his childhood growing up in 1950's and 60's Winston-Salem and Greensboro, NC. A child growing up amongst adults, moving through significant times in the history of the South yet still remaining a little boy. No wonder Jones is known for his cultural observations as published in Newsweek... he got an early start. I thoroughly enjoyed his memoir.
Little Boy Blues: A Memoir By Malcolm Jones (Pantheon) Review by Jamie of Flyleaf Books Chapel Hill NC