Sunday, August 19, 2007
| Paperback | ||
| Fiction | ||
| 1 | WATER FOR ELEPHANTS(Algonquin, $13.95) By Sara Gruen. An orphan discovers love when he joins a traveling circus amid the Great Depression. | 15 |
| 2 | THE KITE RUNNER(Riverhead, $14) By Khaled Hosseini. An Afghan returns to his Taliban-ruled country to atone for a past betrayal. | 127 |
| 3 | RICOCHET(Pocket, $9.99). By Sandra Brown A homicide detective determined to take down a drug lord is thwarted by an influential judge. | 3 |
| 4 | THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER (Penguin, $14). By Kim Edwards. A doctor regrets deceiving his wife about their twins' birth. | 57 |
| 5 | CRISIS(Berkley, $9.99). By Robin Cook Medical examiner Jack Stapleton defends his brother-in-law, a physician accused of neglect. | 1 |
| 6 | ECHO PARK(Grand Central, $7.99) By Michael Connelly. Det. Bosch suspects political meddling in a killer's guilty plea in a 1993 case. | 3 |
| 7 | DEAR JOHN(Grand Central, $13.99) By Nicholas Sparks. 9/11 upends a budding romance between a soldier and a college student. | 1 |
| 8 | THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN(Vintage, $14.95) By Claire Messud. A social satire revolving around a vainglorious clique of young Manhattanites. | 5 |
| 9 | MIDDLESEX(Picador USA, $15) By Jeffrey Eugenides. A genetic anomaly causes a teen to become a hermaphrodite. | 18 |
| 10 | THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM(Bantam, $7.99) By Robert Ludlum. A master assassin renews his struggle against an international terrorist. | 7 |
| Nonfiction/General | ||
| 1 | EAT PRAY LOVE: ONE WOMAN'S SEARCH FOR EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA(Penguin, $15). By Elizabeth Gilbert | 27 |
| 2 | THE WORLD IS FLAT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY(Picador USA, $16) By Thomas L. Friedman. A further revised edition. | 4 |
| 3 | THE GLASS CASTLE(Scribner, $14) By Jeannette Walls. A daughter's memoir of her eccentric parents and an unorthodox upbringing. | 76 |
| 4 | BLINK: THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING(Back Bay, $15.99) By Malcolm Gladwell. Behind our snap decisions. | 19 |
| 5 | THE TIPPING POINT: HOW LITTLE THINGS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE(Back Bay, $14.95 ) By Malcolm Gladwell. Fads and their origins. | 84 |
| 6 | FIASCO: THE AMERICAN MILITARY ADVENTURE IN IRAQ(Penguin, $16). By Thomas E. Ricks The choices of U.S. military commanders. | 2 |
| 7 | 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN: A TRUE STORY OF DEATH AND LIFE(Revell, $12.99). By Don Piper. A Baptist minister declared dead returns to life. | 7 |
| 8 | THREE CUPS OF TEA: ONE MAN'S MISSION TO PROMOTE PEACE(Penguin, $15) By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin | 18 |
| 9 | GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL(Norton, $16.95) By Jared Diamond. The impact of geography and the environment on the course of civilization. | 80 |
| 10 | NIGHT(FSG, $9). By Elie Wiesel The terrifying account of his experiences in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. | 61 |
| Hardcover | ||
| Fiction | ||
| 1 | A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS (Riverhead, $25.95). By Khaled Hosseini Two Afghani women cope with a brutish husband. | 12 |
| 2 | DEVIL MAY CRY(St. Martin's, $19.95) By Sherrilyn Kenyon. Deities and mere mortals swoon, squabble and try to avert doomsday. | 1 |
| 3 | THE QUICKIE(Little, Brown, $27.99) By James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge A scorned wife finds revenge isn't so sweet. | 6 |
| 4 | SPOOK COUNTRY(Putnam, $25.95) By William Gibson. The linchpin of this expansive, post-9/11 thriller is a covert cargo container. | 1 |
| 5 | SANDWORMS OF DUNE(Tor, $27.95) By Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. The denouement of Frank Herbert's "Dune" series. | 1 |
| 6 | WAKING WITH ENEMIES(Dutton, $24.95) By Eric Jerome Dickey. Dogged hit man Gideon finds the tables turned as he becomes the hunted. | 1 |
| 7 | THE SECRET SERVANT(Putnam, $25.95) By Daniel Silva. When an Israeli agent's murder exposes a terrorist plot, in steps Gabriel Allon. | 3 |
| 8 | HIGH NOON(Putnam, $26.95). By Nora Roberts Heady emotions from past trauma surface when a top hostage negotiator finds herself a target. | 5 |
| 9 | THE BURNT HOUSE(Morrow, $25.95) By Faye Kellerman. A commuter plane's crash reveals startling errors in its passenger manifest. | 1 |
| 10 | CRITICAL(Putnam, $25.95). By Robin Cook A healthcare group, poised to go public, tries to quash a probe into deaths at its facilities. | 1 |
| Nonfiction/General | ||
| 1 | THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS (Collins, $24.95). By Conn and Hal Iggulden For boys at heart, a paean to simple pastimes. | 15 |
| 2 | LEGACY OF ASHES: THE HISTORY OF THE CIA (Doubleday, $27.95). By Tim Weiner. Exposing the good, the bad and the ugly in covert ops. | 6 |
| 3 | JESUS OF NAZARETH(Doubleday, $24.95) By Pope Benedict XVI. Joseph Ratzinger reflects on the life of Christ, its meaning and significance. | 3 |
| 4 | LONE SURVIVOR: THE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF OPERATION REDWING ...(Little, Brown, $24.99) By Marcus Luttrell. The Navy SEALs' greatest loss. | 9 |
| 5 | A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER (FSG, $22). By Ishmael Beah. Recalling the horrors of the civil war in Sierra Leone. | 23 |
| 6 | THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS: 50 YEARS OF REPORTINGIN WASHINGTON (Crown Forum, $29.95). By Robert D. Novak | 4 |
| 7 | GOD IS NOT GREAT: HOW RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING(Twelve, $24.99) By Christopher Hitchens. Faith and its ill effects | 15 |
| 8 | THE WORLD WITHOUT US (Thomas Dunne, $24.95). By Alan Weisman The fate of the planet if humans ceased to exist. | 2 |
| 9 | QUIET STRENGTH: THE PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES, & PRIORITIES OF A WINNING LIFE(Tyndale, $26.99). By Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker | 5 |
| 10 | FREAKONOMICS(Morrow, $27.95) By Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner. Exploring behavioral economics -- revised and expanded. | 80 |
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended Aug. 12, 2007. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright © 2007 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. Advice, reference and self-help books appear on a separate, monthly list.)
View all comments that have been posted about this article.