High Anxiety

A sense of being under attack pervades two books new to our hardcover nonfiction list. At #1, Eric Trump’s Under Siege includes an introduction by his father, President Donald Trump, who writes, “Eric Trump may be the most subpoenaed human being in the history of our country (besides ME!).” In the introduction to Pagan Threat by pastor Lucas Miles, which debuts at #10 on our hardcover nonfiction list in its fifth week on sale, slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk warns that “the forces of modernity are fanatically fighting to restore the moral order that existed prior to Christianity: In other words, the moral order of Pagans.”

Double Feature

The #1 and #2 books on our hardcover fiction list each feature a first-time heavy hitter pairing. Remain is by Nicholas Sparks, known for his tear-jerker romances, and M. Night Shyamalan, whose trademark as a filmmaker is the twist ending. The novel is “a paranormal love story that makes suspension of disbelief easy through thoughtful characterization,” per our review. Actor and producer Reese Witherspoon skipped making an October book club pick to focus on Gone Before Goodbye, a medical suspense thriller and collaboration with Edgar Award winner Harlan Coben.

In Kind

British artist and illustrator Charlie Mackesy scored big with his 2019 debut, the modern fable The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. It’s sold more than three million print copies and was adapted into an Oscar-winning animated short in 2022. Now the four friends are back in a new outing, Always Remember: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm. It debuts at #3 on our hardcover fiction list with first-week print unit sales double those of its predecessor.

How D'You Do?

Tim Curry makes one of the great entrances in movie history in 1975’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a role he originated on stage. As Curry recalls in Vagabond, #14 on our hardcover nonfiction list, Jim Sharman, who directed the film and stage productions, had the idea: “He wanted it to be like Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly, Last Summer in the elevator... but in fishnet stockings.” The anecdote is one of many in a “charming debut autobiography” that “offers a peek behind the curtain of his prolific screen and stage careers,” according to our review. “Along the way, he weaves in personal reflections on the aftermath of his 2012 stroke and maintains an infectious enthusiasm.”