You ever want to know what people are buying in bookstores? Well, it so happens that I work at one!
During the last week of February 2018, I pondered about what type of post to make for “Books in Hand.” At first, I planned to discuss all the books customers came in asking for or buying, but that’s a bit too much because everybody came in asking for different books, and I didn’t remember all of them. My boss showed me a way to check our store’s best selling books, and I found out what we sold a lot of!
And that’s what this post is—seeing the top ten selling books of December 2019 (aka the books that people were also getting as gifts).
| FICTION |
|---|
Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle | The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (not pictured b/c I messed up) | The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates | There There by Tommy Orange | Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens | The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood | The Guardians by John Grisham | The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead | Little Women by Louisa May Alcott | The Institute by Stephen King
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood | Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout | Agent Running in the Field by John Le Carré | The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern | Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong | Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang | Dune by Frank Herbert | The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller | The Overstory by Richard Powers
| KIDS + TEENS |
|---|
Dog Man: Fetch-22 by Dav Pilkey | Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi | Guts by Raina Telgemeier | Wrecking Ball (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #14) by Jeff Kinney | The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
The Crayons’ Christmas by Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers | Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o & Vashti Harrison | Tales from a Not-So-Best Friend Forever (Dork Diaries #14) by Rachel Renee Russell | Hello World! Solar System by Jill McDonald | Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
My Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak and ___________ | Sisters by Raina Telgemeier | The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson #1) by Rick Riordan | Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison | How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss
Frozen II (Little Golden Book) by Nancy Cote | I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont | Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls by Dav Pilkey | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Illustrated by J.K. Rowling | Boy-Crazy Stacey (The Baby-Sitter’s Club Graphic Novel #7) by Ann M. Martin & Gale Galligan
| NONFICTION |
|---|
Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice | No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference by Greta Thunberg | Becoming by Michelle Obama | Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez | Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell | Born A Crime by Trevor Noah | The Body by Bill Bryson | Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat | The Sixth Man by Andre Iguodala
The Beautiful Ones by Prince | Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell | The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz | Dear Girls by Ali Wong | Educated by Tara Westover | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Modern Witch Tarot Deck by Lisa Sterle | I Heart Michelle: Uplifting Widsom from the Former First Lady | 50 Things to See in the Sky by Sarah Baker | The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson | Jay-Z: Made in America by Michael Eric Dyson
NOTES:
- Every bookstore’s top-selling books will be different from each other. This list is just for my store.
- These books seem to be forever on the top-selling list: The Alchemist, anything Dog Man or Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, You Are A Badass, The Four Agreements, the 5 Love Languages, and Milk and Honey. (Don’t be surprise if you see these books here or in future “Books in Hand” posts. People love these books.)
- I omitted the poetry list because it didn’t change from February, so it was The Sun and Her Flowers, Pillow Thoughts, and Milk and Honey.
I just finished working seasonally at a bookstore, so all of these are VERY familiar to me! Especially books like Where the Crawdads Sing, Becoming, Dogman, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Boy, Olive Again, and The Overstory. I, myself, got The Starless Sea and The Water Dancer, so I’m not surprised at all by anything on this list haha!