GRISHAM'S A PERFECT 10
John Grisham's 10th bestseller, The Testament, had a one-day laydown on February 2 and the rest is history, meaning history repeating itself, à la Grisham. The book lands in the lead spot, as did all his books except for The Firm and A Time to Kill. First printing was 2.8 million, the same as for last year's megaseller, The Street Lawyer. Sales and reorder activity was so strong that for the first time Delacorte went back to press right after laydown day for an additional 100,000 copies. Cash register tallies at the three national chains -- Barnes &Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks -- were the author's highest ever, with almost 128,000 combined sales during the first week. The publisher reports that the B&N first-day sales were 40% higher than for last year's for Street Lawyer; Walden's number was 120% higher. While Grisham's numbers are his strongest, they did not break some of the records set in 1998 by other authors. The best opening-week was enjoyed by Robert Jordan for Tor's The Path of Daggers, which racked up sales of more than 132,000 at the three national chains. At the height of the Christmas selling season, Random's The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw had a one-week sales tally of almost 135,000 at the same chains. On the paperback lists, Dell Island's edition of The Street Lawyer has 3.8 million copies in sales but it just lost the #1 spot on the mass-market chart to Nicholas Sparks's Message in a Bottle. Not surprising considering all the hoopla surrounding the movie that just opened on February 12.

3 OTHER FICTION DEBUTS
As good as Testament sales were, some other new novels, too, enjoyed sales strong enough to debut on the top-15 charts. Perennial favorite and one of the topselling names in the romance genre, Julie Garwood, makes it to #8 with her newest book Ransom, in which she returns to medieval Britain to spin her tale. A story in People is scheduled for next week, and Pocket launched the author with a 300,000-copy first printing and a national TV campaign.

Bantam Books is the publisher of the other two novels. The followup to the 1996 bestselling A Game of Thrones, the well-received (rave reviews, including a PW star) first book in A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin is A Clash of Kings (it, too, received a PW star). Bantam has 61,000 copies in print after six trips to press and Martin begins an 11-city book tour in Atlanta this week. Bantam's second hit is its reissue of Sandra Brown's classic Send No Flowers, just in time for Valentine's Day. Total copies in print after four trips to press is 320,000 copies.

ANOTHER REASON TO BE HAPPY
Riverhead's November Dalai Lama book is the #1 religion hardcover bestseller on PW's February list and #10 on the general nonfiction list-a commendable feat considering the number of books by and about His Holiness. In The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by The Dalai Lama and Dr. Howard Cutler, American psychiatrist Cutler explores how the exiled spiritual and secular leader of Tibet remains so upbeat given the sad plight of his people. In this, Cutler finds lessons that others can learn from The Dalai Lama's fortitude. At the end of last year, Cutler toured nine cities in which he did a combination of bookstore and Learning Annex appearances and local media. Post-holiday, he visited another six cities. The book has been sold to 11 foreign publishers, and Riverhead has close to 160,000 copies in print.

JUDGE JUDY PREVAILS
Not only d s Judy Sheindlin rule on court TV-her syndicated show Judge Judy is rated #3 nationally -- but her newest book, Beauty Fades, Dumb Is Forever: The Making of a Happy Woman, lands on the national charts after its first week in the stores. Cliff Street Books launched the book with an 80,000-copy first printing but has returned to press, making the total in-print figure 88,000. The judge has already appeared on The View, 700 Club, Entertainment Tonight and is lined up to be on CBS This AM (Feb. 18), Tonight (Feb. 23) and Larry King (Feb. 24). For the curious, the top-five nationally syndicated shows are: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Judge Judy, Jerry Springer and Oprah.