Fiction Best Sellers

These listings will appear in The New York Times Book Review print edition dated June 12, 2011. Print edition sales are reported by a wide variety of independent bookstores, local and national chains, supermarkets, university bookstores, newsstands and more. Ebook sales are reported by leading online vendors selling in a variety of formats.

Because the list is relatively new, the number of weeks a book has been on it may not tell the whole story. For example, for the week ending March 12, 2011 no book could have spent more than seven weeks on the list. Some of the books - The Help, for instance - have been on other New York Times lists much longer.

There's something else about this list that you won't see on the older best seller lists: books published as e-books only. Sales for the week ending March 19, 2001 included Diary of a Mad Fat Girl at #32. This first and self-published novel by Stephanie McAfee does not exist in a "dead tree" edition. It first appeared on Amazon.com on December 25, 2010. After two weeks on this list, it's no longer listed, although it's on the Ebook list for a ninth week where it's #28 for the week ending May 21.

Note: Clicking on book links on this lens and then buying books from Amazon.com helps me earn a small commission on the sales. This will not cost you anything extra. Thanks in advance for buying books through this lens and/or any of my other lenses featuring items available from Amazon.

Last week:1
Weeks on List: 18

Twenty-one-year-old Jacob Jankowski's parents are killed in a car accident during the Depression, leaving him nothing. Instead of sitting for his veterinary exams, he runs off and joins the circus. Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth is a two-bit affair. Put in charge of the animals, Jacob is slapped around and otherwise abused by both Uncle Al, the circus impresario and animal trainer August, who also abuses the animals. Then Jacob falls in love with Marlena, the star performer, who is also August's wife.

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Also check out my lens 2011 Movies: Water for Elephants.

Last Week: 2
Weeks on List: 15

In Mississippi in 1962 Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is just back from college and eager to become a writer. Taking the advice of "write what disturbs you" she decides to collect the stories of black maids and enlists the help of two of them, Aibileen and Minny.

The book is an explosive account of mistreatment and abuse, giving hope to the black community and giving Skeeter the courage to pursue her dreams.

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Last Week: 4
Weeks on List: 7

First published in 2004, Something Borrowed has been made into a movie starring Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin that will be released in Summer 2011. Rachel is slated to be maid of honor in her best friend Darcy's wedding. She's always been on who plays by the rules, but then she realizes she has strong feelings for Dex, Darcy's fiance. When she tells Dex, he says the feeling are mutual. As the wedding draws near, events go out of control and Rachel has to make the choice between her heart and her conscience. She realizes choices aren't always clear-cut and endings aren't always tied up neatly.

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Last Week: 3
Weeks on List: 4

Newlywed detective Lindsay Boxer is called on to investigate the case of a teenage girl left for dead, with the girl's baby missing. There's no trace of the perpetrators and Boxer thinks the victim is hiding something.

Meanwhile, Assistant DA Yuki Castellano's career is riding on a guilty verdict for a woman accused of shooting her husband in front of her two young children. Boxer finds evidence that might clear the defendant and Castellano must choose between trusting her friend or following her instinct.

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Last Week: 6
Weeks on List: 3

In 1985, Lucas Davenport, then a young cop, investigated the disappearance of two girls. Their bodies were never found and his superior eventually considered the case closed.

In the present day, during a Minneapolis house demolition, there's an unpleasant surprise: the bodies of two girls wrapped in plastic are discovered. With a chance to pursue the case again, Davenport finds that the truth was buried along with the bodies.

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Last Week: 5
Weeks on List: 4

Sookie Stackhouse witnesses the firebombing of the bar where she works. Suspicion falls on those opposed to shape-shifters since Sam Merlotte, the bar owner, is two-natured, but Sookie's not buying that.

Her attention gets diverted when she realizes Eric Northman, her lover, and his "child" Pam are plotting to kill their vampire master. Sookie gets drawn in and the plot goes a lot further than she realizes.

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Last Week:8
Weeks on List: 6

Edgar Roy is an alleged serial killer facing almost certain conviction. His attorney calls in Sean King and Michelle Maxwell to assist in the defense, but on their way to meet him they find the attorney has been murdered.

As they look into Roy's past, they encounter all manner of obstacles, including those at the highest levels of government and power. It's a case that will push the duo to their limits and may even push them apart permanently.

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Last Week: 9
Weeks on List: 7

After a decade in Hollywood, Martin made a comeback to high fantasy with this, the first of his "Songs of Fire and Ice" series. It was a return strong enough to earn a Nebula Award nomination and a Locus Award for best fantasy novel.

On a world where seasons last four decades, Winter is approaching. Two families are struggling for control of the Iron Throne in one of the Seven Kingdoms. The kingdom's northern border is dominated by a huge and ancient wall, behind which ice vampires, barbarians and direwolves are determined to move south.

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Weeks on List: 1

This is the fifth book in Koontz's Frankenstein series. With the war against humanity in full swing, a scattered group of survivors gather in the small town of Rainbow Falls, Montana for a final stand. While getting ready for their final stand, the group learns the true scope of Victor Frankenstein's plan to remake the future and the long, terrifying reach of his supporters.

Not only their own destinies, but that of humanity hangs in the balance.

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Last Week: 7
Weeks on List: 2

Cotton Malone is a former Justice Department operative known for getting into trouble on his many overseas exploits. This time he's on home turf, the United States, where he foils an assassination attempt on the president. This gains him the unwanted attention of a dangerous secret society.

The plot involves a secret code, the United States Constitution and its link to four presidential assasinations, a lot of history and pirates - the real thing, not the Hollywood stereotype.

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11. Something Blue by Emily Giffin
12. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Conviction by Aaron Allston
13. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
14. The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly
15. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
16. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
17. Room by Emma Donoghue
18. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
19. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
20. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
21. The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
22. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
23. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
24. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
25. The Search by Nora Roberts
26. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
27. I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark
28. A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber
29. Sixkill by Robert B. Parker
30. Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
31. The Land of the Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel
32. Worth Dying For by Lee Child
33. Foreign Influence by Brad Thor
34. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
35. Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts

Amazon's Best Sellers in Literature and Fiction lists the top 100 books selling on Amazon.com. The list is updated hourly.

Best Sellers in Kindle eBooks is two lists side-by-side: the top 100 paid books and the top 100 free books.

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