Total Recall
Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez makes a memorable start at the top of our hardcover fiction list. Her sales trajectory is even more impressive if you know that this is her first novel to get a wide release in hardcover. Previous books had simultaneous hardcover/trade paper editions, with the former earmarked for libraries.
Cooking the Books
Sarah Ahn started the website Ahnest Kitchen in 2018 as a way to preserve her mother’s recipes and, she writes, “capture the little tricks and tips that Korean ummas often use, which are hard to find elsewhere.” She’s since amassed high-six-figure follower counts on TikTok and Instagram, and she and her mother, Nam Soon Ahn, debut at #2 on our hardcover nonfiction list with the cookbook Umma, an exploration into a cuisine Sarah Ahn says “is often described as a labor of love.”
Members Only
Raina Telgemeier’s middle grade graphic novels include the Eisner winner Guts, which pubbed in 2019 and until this week was her most recent release. Comics theorist Scott McCloud is best known for his graphic nonfiction work, including Understanding Comics, also an Eisner winner. The two join forces for The Cartoonists Club, #4 on our children’s fiction list. “The adroitly rendered graphic novel doubles as a manual for aspiring comics makers,” per our starred review. “Creative prompts, tips, instructions, and definitions feature throughout, delivered in a cheeky tone that seamlessly integrates heartfelt narrative with approachable how-to guides.”
Hart & Heartwood
The Sirens by Emilia Hart, #5 on our hardcover fiction list, is “a high-voltage tale of family secrets, fantastical occurrences, and Australian history,” according to our review of the novel, the Good Morning America Book Club Pick for April. Though “the narrative occasionally veers from entertaining to exhausting,” the review continues, “there’s fun to be had with this spooky page-turner.” Elsewhere in clubland, the Read with Jenna pick, Amity Gaige’s liteary thriller Heartwood, is #14 on our hardcover fiction list. “The preposterous, unfocused plot disappoints, but multifaceted characters and poetic prose enhance Gaige’s tender meditations on aging and mother-daughter relationships.”
