PERSONAL BEST

Although superstar author Scott Turow maintains his law career, he said, it's not "to develop new material for my books -- practice has already given me stories enough for a lifetime." Not surprisingly, his latest, Personal Injuries, lands atop our fiction list after just one week on sale (first printing: 625,000). The publicity machine at Farrar, Straus & Giroux has kicked into high gear: the roster of print coverage reads like a "who's who" of magazines and newspapers, and Turow is set for a plethora of TV and radio spots (PBS-TV's Charlie Rose, Rivera Live, CBS This Morning, Politically Incorrect, CNBC's Hardball, etc.). Online coverage includes an Amazon.com interview that went up on October 4 and a live chat on bn.com on the 27th. Turow kicked off a nine-city tour on September 23 with special breakfast and dinner appearances at New York Is Book Country; he'll wind up late next month with a reading at the Miami Book Fair.

GETTING IN DUTCH

Landing at #2 on the nonfiction list is Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan, a work that has come under strong criticism for what publisher Random House is calling "literary projection." It seems that in this much anticipated authorized biography of Ronald Reagan, Pulitzer Prize“winning biographer Edmund Morris (The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt) incorporated several fictional characters -- including a narrator with whom the author shares a name. Even the book's footnotes mix fiction and factual points, giving more citations to the made-up narrator than to the White House insiders to whom Morris had almost unlimited access. Still, controversy makes for media attention, and Morris has done all the national shows, including a 60 Minutes interview that also featured Ronald Reagan Jr. On tour until mid-November, Morris will be making media and bookstore appearances in 14 cities. The book went on sale September 30 and within a week had landed high on the national chart. Total copies in print after four trips to press is 425,000.

ANOTHER HOLIDAY HIT FOR EVANS

Richard Paul Evans boasts figures that few writers can claim -- more than 10 million copies worldwide with translations into 17 languages for five titles (including his first, The Christmas Box). Back in 1992, when he wrote that book for his children, Evans photocopied 20 editions to hand out to friends and family. Strong word of mouth led him to self-publish the book for his local Salt Lake City market; about 8000 copies were sold. Simon & Schuster picked it up in 1995 and for the week before Christmas that year, the Wall Street Journal recorded a sales index of 578, the highest one-week sales, claims the publisher, of any book in the decade. Evans's latest book, The Looking Glass, is being launched by S&S with a 485,000-copy first printing and lands on the national charts after less than one week on sale. Evans will be on tour through December 20, signing in about 35 locations in 11 states.

A MATTER OF PRIDE

While couch potato jocks are fixated on the baseball season's dramatic closing weeks, reading jocks seem to be quickly making When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss a national bestseller just as the football season gets underway. Simon & Schuster has gone back to press three times, bringing the total to 98,000. The author, whose previous bestsellers were political in nature (First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton and The Clinton Enigma), is doing a 13-city promotional tour. The book's first big push was a first serial in Vanity Fair's September issue. The book, about the legendary football coach, is enjoying stellar reviews -- Sports Illustrated called it "quite possibly the best sports biography published." Maraniss has been interviewed on Today, Charlie Rose and more and has benefited by much attention from the sports media.

With reporting by Dick Donahue.