In Clubland

At #14 in hardcover fiction, The Cloisters by Katy Hays is “a moody and suspenseful story of a floundering art history graduate,” per our review. “Readers will be fascinated by the evocative setting as well as the behind-the-scenes glimpses into museum curatorship and the cutthroat games of academia.” The debut novel is November’s Read with Jenna pick and Barnes & Noble book club section.

Reese’s Book Club tapped Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed, a collection of “Dear Sugar” advice columns she wrote for the Rumpus. The 10th anniversary edition, which lands at #19 on our trade paperback list, includes a new preface from the author and six new columns. The original received a starred review from PW and has sold 407K print copies; a Hulu limited series, whose executive producers include Strayed and Reese Witherspoon, is set for 2023.

The One with the Memoirs

A pair of celebrity autobiographies are among the 10 bestselling books in the country. In Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, #1 on our hardcover nonfiction list and #3 overall, Matthew “Chandler Bing” Perry delves into his deep desire for fame, his decade starring on the sitcom Friends, and the longtime addiction to alcohol and painkillers that nearly killed him.

Surrender by U2 lead vocalist and lyricist Bono lands at #2 on our hardcover nonfiction list and #5 overall. The musician “reflects on his creative and personal evolution in this powerful and candid debut memoir,” according to our starred review. “Self-aware (Bono admits that sometimes he feels like he’s ‘a sham of a rock star’) and poignantly reflective (‘I’m discovering surrender doesn’t always have to follow defeat’), this is a must-read.”

Depts. of Speculation

Two critically lauded and commercially successful artists pay homage to the greats in new books. Each of the 66 essays in The Philosophy of Modern Song, Bob Dylan’s first book of new writing since winning the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, contemplates works by other musicians—“London Calling” by the Clash, Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou,” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by Nina Simone, to name three. The collection debuts at #5 on our hardcover nonfiction list.

One notch below, director Quentin Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation “serves up a brilliant and passionate take on the 1960s and ’70s films that shaped him,” per our starred review. “Tarantino’s joy, generosity, and singular point of view bolster his arguments, and even when he’s taking down his heroes, it’s out of love.”

NEW & NOTABLE

THE WORKS OF LIFE
Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin Leung
#9 Hardcover Nonfiction
“The heartfelt debut cookbook from the Leung family,” per our starred review of this blog-to-book, is “inspired by modern convenience and the family’s Chinese heritage. The recipes draw on parents Judy and Bill’s restaurant experience, as well as sisters Sarah and Kaitlin’s ability to devise shortcuts and quick meals.”

SHUNA'S JOURNEY
Hayao Miyazaki, trans. from the Japanese by Alex Dudok de Wit
#18 Hardcover Fiction
“This lush fantasy, available in English for the first time, is cause for celebration,” according to our starred review. Animator and Studio Ghibli cofounder Miyazaki’s artwork “has a timeless beauty, and the theme of small human kindnesses redeeming a cruel and dehumanizing world feels more relevant than ever.”