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Each week, the AmericanBooksellers Association (ABA) compiles a bestseller list based on sales information gathered from hundreds of independent bookstores. In addition, ABA creates eight regional lists that reflect sales from bookstores in those respective regions. And while a majority of the titles, both in hardcover and paperback, appear on all lists, every region also has titles that are exclusive to it. In almost every case, they are books whose subject is connected to the area or whose author lives in that part of the country.
I took a look at the eight regional lists this week and discovered some fascinating titles that may never make national bestseller compilations but are hot books in certain areas of the country. A word of caution - if you're interested in any one of these titles, remember that its "regionality" may mean that some bookstores may not have it on the shelf. BUT bookstores can easily and quickly order it for you, so don't be shy about asking.
Let's begin with the Heartland list, where you'll find Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm by Mardi Jo Link. It's a poignant and irreverent memoir of a mother who, after ending her 19-year marriage, staves off a perpetually empty bank account and, with the help of her three young sons, saves her century-old farmhouse from foreclosure and reclaims her life. Armed with an unfailing sense of humor and three resolute accomplices, Link confronts blizzards and coyotes, learns about Zen divorce and the best way to butcher a hog, dominates a zucchini-growing contest and wins a year's supply of local bread, masters the art of bargain cooking, deals with rampaging poultry, and finds her way to a truly rich existence. One review called it "A moving account of how one woman's willpower saved her home and her family."
Among the bestsellers on the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan. The author presents an astonis hing, compelling oral history of the unsung and largely female World War II workers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, involved
unknowingly in the Manhattan Project. At the height of the war, Oak Ridge was home to 75,000 residents. But to most of the world, the town did not exist. Thousands of civilians, many of them young women from small towns across the South, were recruited to this secret city in the Appalachian Mountains. Kept very much in the dark, few would ever guess what they working on...until the atomic bomb they helped build was dropped on Hiroshima.
It's hardly a surprise to find The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Though the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko as a bestseller for the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. But this sounds like a story that, like Into Thin Air perhaps, could captivate outdoor adventure enthusiasts everywhere. In 1983, a huge El Nino s torm triggered a series of events that, in turn, led to a swollen Colorado River and an opportunity for three fearless (lunatic?) river guides to attempt to ride a wooden boat named the Emerald Mile through the heart of the Grand Canyon at the fastest speed ever recorded. The aim of the trio's leader was to use the flooding river as a hydraulic slingshot that would hurl him and two companions through 277 miles of some of the most ferocious white water in North America. Sound like fun? Author Fedarko brings his experience as a longtime writer for the likes of Outside magazine and his work as a river guide in the Grand Canyon National Park to bear on this amazing (did I mention lunatic?) true story, one that also captures the majesty of the Canyon itself. Up in the Pacific Northwest, Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps, by Kelly Williams Brown, is one of that region's nonfiction paperback bestsellers, no doubt due in part to the Oregon-based au thor's local media appearances and bookstore visits. Also, the book is a hoot. Twenty-something Brown is a journalist and popular blogger (her blog, not surprisingly, is titled ADULTING) who herself has had trouble growing up. She begins with the premise that just because you don't feel like an adult doesn't mean you can't act like one and goes on to offer a wide-ranging series of tips and guidelines on how to be a grown-up. One way to tell if you're a candidate for her advice - if you wear a business suit to job interviews but pajamas to the grocery store. And among her admonishments for wanna-be adults - "Chicken, you gotta cook it," and "Are you tired? Guess what, no one cares!" |
by Rick Yancey. The author made his mark with teens with The Monstrumologist horror series, and he appears to be doing the same for science fiction fans with a new series. Here's what one indie bookseller had to say: