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, 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 May. Let’s take a look.
| FICTION |
|---|
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan | The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho | The 17th Suspect (Women’s Murder Club #17) by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro | Pachinko by Min Jin Lee | Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer | Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer | Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury | The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu | Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
The Midnight Line (Jack Reacher #22) by Lee Child | Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter |
Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan | Twisted Prey (Lucas Davenport #22) by John Sanford |
The Outsider by Stephen King
| KIDS + TEENS |
|---|
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein | The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan |
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas | Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi |
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli |
War Storm (Red Queen #4) by Victoria Aveyard | Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss |
Dog Man and Cat Kid by Dav Pilkey | A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss & John Oliver |
The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson #2) by Rick Riordan
The Dragonet Prophecy (Wings of Fire: The Graphic Novel #1) by Tui T. Sutherland |
Waste of Space by Stuart Gibbs | Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers |
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard | Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
| NONFICTION |
|---|
The Subtle Art of Not Give A F*ck by Mark Manson | Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA by Luis J. Rodriguez | A Higher Loyalty by James Comey | The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address by Joseph Rodota | 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara | The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish | The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz | Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston | Get Over It!: Thought Therapy for Heading the Hard Stuff by Iyanla Vanzant
Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza | War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow | You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero |
Michelle Obama: A Photographic Journey |
The Soul of America: The Battle of Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham
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, Milk and Honey, and 2Fish.
I used to work in a bookstore, and I’m truly not surprised at all by the top selling books. I probably would have guessed Crazy Rich Asians with the movie coming out, and I know common summer reading books will be big sellers as well.
I’ve worked in two bookstores, and it really is interesting to see how people’s tastes vary by location.
Great post!