Media Watch

It’s hard to believe there’s anyone left who hasn’t bought a copy of Where the Crawdads Sing, and yet: Delia Owens’s 2018 debut is the #1 book in the country for the second week in a row, with its best sales week to date. Hardcover and trade paperback sales total more than five million copies, and that was before the movie adaptation, which opens July 13, and its related tie-in editions. Those are respectively #1 and #11 on the mass market and trade paperback list.

Feehan Groovy

Christine Feehan is a mainstay on bestseller charts. Her latest book, Red on the River, lands at #18 on our hardcover fiction list; it’s an “expertly wrought romantic suspense novel,” per our starred review. It’s not unusual to see the Feehan name on our mass market list, too, but this week, the book in question was written by Brian, her son. His debut, the paranormal romance series launch Harmony of Fire, is #12 on that list.The pair celebrated their simultaneous releases at their local indie, Mendocino’s Gallery Bookshop.

In Clubland

The Measure by Nikki Erlick, #6 on our hardcover fiction list, is July’s Read with Jenna pick. In this “moving but predictable debut novel from Erlick,” our review said, adults around the world receive notice as to how long they have left to live. “The scenes of grief and love are poignant,” the review continued, and “there’s plenty of drama, but overall, it’s a bit too anodyne.”

The new GMA Book Club selection, The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, is #12 on our trade paperback list. YA author Poston “makes her adult debut with a refreshing rom-com about love, loss, and hope,” our starred review said. “The sparkling dialogue makes the characters come alive—even the dead ones.”

NEW & NOTABLE

WHY WE DID IT
Tim Miller
#5 Hardcover Nonfiction
Former Republican operative Miller contributes an “anguished yet entertaining exposé of the party’s enthrallment to Donald Trump,” our review said. “Witty prose, colorful anecdotes, and copious insider details make this a worthwhile dissection of how Republican ‘Never Trumpers’ got pushed aside.”

ROGUES
Patrick Radden Keefe
#16 Hardcover Nonfiction
The Empire of Pain author returns with a “superlative collection,” per our starred review, of a dozen of his New Yorker articles that delve into what he calls “my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial.” Our review said the “immensely enjoyable writing married with fascinating subjects makes this a must-read.”