BOOKS IN HAND • What Customers Bought in November 2019

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 November 2019.

FICTION

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates | There There by Tommy Orange | Find Me by Andre Aciman | Blue Moon (Jack Reacher #24) by Lee Child | Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood | The Witch Elm by Tana French | The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho | The Institute by Stephen King | Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller | 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami | The Night Fire by Michael Connelly | The Guardians by John Grisham | Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

KIDS/TEENS

Wrecking Ball (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #14) by Jeff Kinney | Guts by Raina Telgemeier | Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) by Shannon Messenger | Tales from a Not-So-Best Friend Forever (Dork Diaries #14) by Rachel Renee Russell | Boy-Crazy Stacey (The Baby-Sitter’s Club Graphic Novel #7) by Ann M. Martin & Gale Galligan

The Hidden Kingdom (Wings of Fire Graphic Novel #3) by Tui T. Sutherland & Mike Holmes | Drama by Raina Telgemeier | The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3) by Neal Shusterman | The Crayons’ Christmas by Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers | Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Dog Man and Cat Kid by Dav Pilkey | Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o & Vashti Harrison | The Last Kids on Earth and the Midnight Blade by Max Brallier | The Moon Within by Aida Salazar | The Lost Heir (Wings of Fire #2) by Tui T. Sutherland

NONFICTION

Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez | The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians by David M. Rubenstein | The Beautiful Ones by Prince | A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston by Robyn Crawford | Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

Small Doses by Amanda Seales | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari | Becoming by Michelle Obama | The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer | How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell | Little Weirds by Jenny Slate | Dear Girls by Ali Wong | Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow | Modern Witch Tarot Deck by Lisa Sterle

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.

Were there any surprises? What did you think would be a top-selling book? What books from this list have you read?