Upon a Midnight Clare
The #1 book in the country is Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare, which launches the Dark Artifices YA urban fantasy trilogy. Like the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series, it’s set within Clare’s Shadowhunters world of humans born with angelic blood who protect “mundanes” (normal humans) from demons. Although the 2013 movie based on her first book, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, was a critical and commercial flop, and accusations of plagiarism have dogged the author (most recently in a lawsuit whose grounds Clare’s lawyer rejects as “baseless”), her fans remain legion. A second page-to-screen effort, the TV show Shadowhunters, premiered in January on Freeform and has already been renewed for a second season.
(See all of this week's bestselling books.)
Movers & Shakers
Joyous Blooms to Color by Eleri Fowler has enjoyed steady print-unit sales growth since its February 9 publication. This week, it’s up 59% over last, to 18K print units, making it #5 in the country. Two other coloring books that saw particularly big jumps in sales this week over last are Tropical World by Millie Marotta, a September 2015 pub that’s up 60% this week, and Animorphia by Kerby Rosanes (October 2015), up 48%.
Keeping Fast Company
A pair of business titles focused on efficiency and productivity debut on our Hardcover Nonfiction list this week. In Sprint (#5), Jake Knapp, with fellow Google Ventures design partners John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz, share their process for moving from idea to prototype in just five days, from mapping a process on Monday to testing the idea with target customers on Friday.
Charles Duhigg, author of 2012’s The Power of Habit (660K units in hardcover and paperback) has the #7 book on our hardcover list this week, with Smarter Faster Better. In it, he details eight key concepts, such as motivation, goal setting, and decision making, that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Though Duhigg has no time for commas, he did make time to blurb Knapp’s book.
New & Notable
Tom Clancy’s The Division: New York Collapse
Alex Irvine
#11 Trade Paperback
Irvine has written numerous licensed titles, including this new one, based on a third-person shooter game. He’s also written several original works of science fiction and fantasy, including A Scattering of Jades, which won the 2003 Locus Award for Best First Novel.
How to Be Here
Rob Bell
#14 Hardcover Nonfiction
Bell, a pastor and the author of several religion titles, including 2011’s Love Wins and 2013’s What We Talk About When We Talk About God delves into self-help with a book on creativity. Elizabeth Gilbert and Aaron Rodgers both provide blurbs.
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
Helen Oyeyemi
#25 Hardcover Fiction
The critically lauded Oyeyemi, whose Boy, Snow, Bird (2014) was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, has her best first-week sales with her first short story collection, loosely linked by themes of keys and doors.
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Title | Author | Imprint | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lady Midnight | Cassandra Clare | S&S/McElderry | 45,508 |
| 2 | The Liar | Nora Roberts | Jove | 28,586 |
| 3 | Green Eggs and Ham | Dr. Seuss | Random House | 25,432 |
| 4 | One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish | Dr. Seuss | Random House | 20,450 |
| 5 | Joyous Blooms to Color | Eleri Fowler | HarperCollins | 18,114 |
| 6 | Memory Man | David Baldacci | Hachette/Vision | 17,887 |
| 7 | The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up | Marie Kondo | Ten Speed | 17,513 |
| 8 | The Cat in the Hat | Dr. Seuss | Random House | 17,117 |
| 9 | Country | Danielle Steel | Dell | 17,040 |
| 10 | Off the Grid | C.J. Box | Putnam | 15,547 |
All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.
