You ever want to know what people are buying in bookstores? Well, it so happens that I work at one, and I wanted to write about what books customers have been asking for during the holiday season. All bookstores are different, so the customers coming in ask for different things. These are just the books the customers in my area asked for. This list isn’t a conclusive list; the books here are the ones that I’ve remembered because I’ve been asked about it a bazillion times or I’ve seen customers holding it.
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid* | A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles* |
Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout | Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli* | Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer |
Wonder by R.J. Palacio | A Beautiful Mind, A Beautiful Life: The Bubz Guide to Being Unstoppable by Lindy Tsang*
Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza* | Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates* |
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder* | Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson*
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish* | We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union |
Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris | The Autobiography of Gucci Mane by Gucci Mane & Neil Martinez-Belkin
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz* | Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD | Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann* | Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat*
Everything with an asterisks are books that were sold out early on during the Christmas weekend.
In the case of Obama: An Intimate Portrait and The Last Black Unicorn, 8 out of 10 customers who came into my bookstore asked about these two books. Alas, we didn’t have any in stock and neither did the publishers. There’s a high demand for these books (and A Beautiful Mind, A Beautiful Life amongst the teens). (We’re still waiting for the publishers to restock to get our orders in.)
I didn’t add in books that was part of the Diary of the Wimpy Kids or Dork Diaries series because everybody knows that those are popular kid series that will be asked for.
Lots of customers came in without a specific book in mind, so it was fun, trying to find books that would be great gifts. Not all customers are alike, so my recommendations change depending on the person’s interest. Off the top of my head, for those customers, my go-to recommends for each section:
- Young Adult: Mosquitoland by David Arnold, everything Jason Reynolds, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera
- Kids:
- Picture Books: Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers, Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
- Novels: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer, The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente, The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier
- General Fiction: (People asked a lot for Thriller and Historical fiction recs)
- Whenever I can, I recommended Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky.
I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot of books that I’ve recommended. This holiday season was super busy, and I’m glad it’s now over.
thanks for recommending Last Kids on Earth to your shoppers and readers!
Oh, fun post! I really do want Obama: An Intimate Portrait. I think it’s fun to see what people are most interested in.
-Lauren
This is so cool!! Please do more of these!