Bookseller reviews of books on the bestseller list this week
In the weeks since I finished John of John, I keep thinking back to the experience as if I actually traveled to the Western Isles of Scotland, stayed in a croft on the water, gossiped and cried with all the inhabitants of this island–except I didn’t do any of those things, that’s just the power of Douglas Stuart. John of John isn’t a book you read inasmuch as you live it, achingly real and vulnerable. I loved it.
John of John by Douglas Stuart, (List Price: $28, Grove Press, 9780802167194, May 2026)
Reviewed by Lindsay, Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN
I loved this book. It is set in Ireland in 1865 after the Great Famine and is chock full of the rich history and mystery and tragedy and beauty that this country lends to many of its novels. It is the multigenerational story of a cartographer and his wife and children who live a rural existence near a mystical, magical copse. The book is beautifully written, and I highly recommend it.
Land by Maggie O’Farrell, (List Price: $32, Knopf, 9780593320648, June 2026)
Reviewed by Burch, Righton Books in St Simons Island, GA
Can a book be cozy, loving, encouraging, compassionate, AND a threat to the brutal and cutthroat consumer capitalism of our era? I present to you Robin Wall Kimmerer’s first book since her surprise mega-bestselling sleeper hit Braiding Sweetgrass. The serviceberry is a bushy, underappreciated fruit tree native to Eastern North America that Kimmerer uses as inspiration to muse broadly on “abundance and reciprocity in the natural world.” The tree embodies the values of gratitude, interconnectedness, and mutual aid. Strikingly, the serviceberry’s broad and generous distribution of its wealth ensures its own flourishing! Let’s all read this small, beautiful, and powerful little book and talk about how we can reimagine modern economic life to be a little more sane and humane!
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, (List Price: $20, Scribner, 9781668072240, November 2024)
Reviewed by Josh, Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia
The Southern Indie Bestseller List, as brought to you by IndieBound and SIBA, for the week ending Sunday, July 5. Based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and IndieBound. For an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.org.
HARDCOVER FICTION
1. The Calamity Club
Kathryn Stockett, Spiegel & Grau, $35.00, 9781954118812
2. Whistler
Ann Patchett, Harper, $30.00, 9780063511637
3. Yesteryear (Indies Introduce)
Caro Claire Burke, Knopf, $30.00, 9780593804216
4. Country People
Daniel Mason, Random House, $30.00, 9798217197453
5. The Correspondent
Virginia Evans, Crown, $28.00, 9780593798430
6. Land
Maggie O'Farrell, Knopf, $32.00, 9780593320648
7. Carl's Doomsday Scenario
Matt Dinniman, Ace, $30.00, 9780593820261
8. The Shampoo Effect
Jenny Jackson, Pamela Dorman Books, $30.00, 9798217059959
9. Villa Coco
Andrew Sean Greer, Doubleday, $30.00, 9780385551977
10. Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt (Indies Introduce)
Ben Reeves, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, $28.00, 9781668216361
11. The Things We Never Say
Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $29.00, 9798217154746
12. Love You More
Emily Giffin, Ballantine Books, $32.00, 9780593600320
13. The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed #2)
Brigitte Knightley, Ace, $31.00, 9780593819487
14. It Could Have Been Her
Lisa Jewell, Atria Books, $29.00, 9781668033906
15. John of John
Douglas Stuart, Grove Press, $28.00, 9780802167194
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump
Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, Simon & Schuster, $34.00, 9781668067246
2. The Land and Its People: Essays
David Sedaris, Little, Brown and Company, $30.00, 9780316264839
3. London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth
Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35.00, 9780385548533
4. Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
Belle Burden, The Dial Press, $30.00, 9780593733318
5. Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children
Mac Barnett, Little, Brown and Company, $20.00, 9780316601122
6. Famesick: A Memoir
Lena Dunham, Random House, $32.00, 9780593129326
7. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
John Green, Crash Course Books, $28.00, 9780525556572
8. Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About: A Memoir
Isabel Klee, William Morrow, $28.00, 9780063451070
9. Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution
Denise Kiernan, Dutton, $32.00, 9780593183434
10. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28.00, 9780593804148
11. Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing, One National Park at a Time
Brad Ryan, Simon & Schuster, $29.00, 9781668099261
12. Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Simon Six, $26.00, 9781668249970
13. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald
John U. Bacon, Liveright, $35.00, 9781324094647
14. You Won't Get Free of It: Stories of Mothers and Daughters
Rachel Aviv, Knopf, $30.00, 9780525657057
15. On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear
Julia Angwin, Ami Fields-Meyer, Mariner Books, $28.99, 9780063491946
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
1. Theo of Golden
Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20.00, 9781668236512
2. Dungeon Crawler Carl
Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20.00, 9780593820254
3. Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $22.00, 9798217299461
4. Atmosphere
Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $20.00, 9780593158739
5. Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99, 9780063204164
6. The God of the Woods
Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $19.00, 9780593418925
7. I Who Have Never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman, Transit Books, $16.95, 9781945492600
8. Every Summer After
Carley Fortune, Berkley, $19.00, 9780593438534
9. Dolly All the Time
Annabel Monaghan, G.P. Putnam's Sons, $20.00, 9780593853979
10. The Deal
Elle Kennedy, Bloom Books, $18.99, 9781775293934
11. The Road to Tender Hearts
Annie Hartnett, Ballantine Books, $20.00, 9780593873465
12. Red Rising
Pierce Brown, Del Rey, $18.00, 9780345539809
13. Angel Down
Daniel Kraus, Atria Books, $18.00, 9781668068519
14. The Odyssey
Homer, Emily Wilson (Transl.), Norton, $18.95, 9780393356250
15. The Someday Garden
Ashley Poston, Berkley, $20.00, 9780593952757
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
1. A Marriage at Sea
Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $20.00, 9780593854297
2. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
David Grann, Vintage, $21.00, 9780307742490
3. The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Erik Larson, Crown, $22.00, 9780385348768
4. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $22.00, 9781571313560
5. Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature
Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, Spiegel & Grau, $19.00, 9781966302407
6. The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces
Seth Harp, Penguin Books, $20.00, 9780593655108
7. Raising Hare: A Memoir
Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21.00, 9780593689004
8. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18.00, 9781984898456
9. Communion: The Female Search for Love
bell hooks, William Morrow Paperbacks, $17.99, 9780060938291
10. The Shell Seeker: Encounters with Thirty Seashells
Juli Berwald, Clarkson Potter, $19.99, 9798217035229
11. Is a River Alive?
Robert Macfarlane, W. W. Norton & Company, $19.99, 9781324130734
12. The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial IntelligenceŅBefore It's Too Late
Cory Doctorow, MCD, $18.00, 9780374621568
13. All About Love: New Visions
bell hooks, William Morrow Paperbacks, $17.99, 9780060959470
14. Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers
Caroline Fraser, Penguin Books, $21.00, 9780593657249
15. I'm Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $19.99, 9781982185831
MASS MARKET
1. Animal Farm
George Orwell, Signet, $12.00, 9780451526342
2. 1984
George Orwell, Signet, $12.00, 9780451524935
3. Lord of the Flies
William Golding, Penguin, $12.00, 9780399501487
4. The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger, Little, Brown, $9.99, 9780316769488
5. The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank, Bantam, $9.99, 9780553577129
6. The Left Hand of Darkness
Ursula K. Le Guin, Ace, $10.99, 9780441478125
7. Dune
Frank Herbert, Ace, $10.99, 9780593640340
8. Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton, Ballantine, $10.99, 9780345538987
9. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou, Ballantine, $9.99, 9780345514400
10. Interview with the Vampire
Anne Rice, Ballantine, $10.99, 9780345337665
CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED
1. Goodnight Moon
Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper, $10.99, 9780694003617
2. It's My Bird-Day!
Mo Willems, Union Square Kids, $18.99, 9781454999621
3. The Skeleton and the Cat
Brandon James Scott, HarperCollins, $19.99, 9780063455887
4. The Greatest Bedtime Story Ever
Jessie Sima, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9781665974523
5. Goldfinches
Mary Oliver, Melissa Sweet (Illus.), Viking Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780593692417
6. Good Night Outer Banks
Adam Gamble, Mark Jasper, Joe Veno (Illus.), Good Night Books, $9.95, 9781602196049
7. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle, World of Eric Carle, $10.99, 9780399226908
8. Good Night, Gorilla
Peggy Rathmann, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, $8.99, 9780399230035
9. The Day the Crayons Quit (The Day the Crayons...)
Drew Daywalt, Oliver Jeffers (Illus.), Philomel, $17.99, 9780399255373
10. The Shy Little Kitten (Little Golden Book)
Cathleen Schurr, Gustaf Tenggren (Illus.), Golden Books, $5.99, 9780307001450
CHILDREN'S INTEREST
1. Impossible Creatures
Katherine Rundell, Ashley Mackenzie (Illus.), Yearling, $11.99, 9780593809891
2. Odder: The Novel
Katherine Applegate, Charles Santoso (Illus.), Square Fish, $8.99, 9781250423429
3. Trucks on Trucks
Sorche Fairbank, Nik Henderson (Illus.), Greenwillow Books, $9.99, 9780062842107
4. Watch Me (Shatter Me: Series Two #1)
Tahereh Mafi, Storytide, $16.99, 9780063419018
5. Unsettling Salad! (Jasper Rabbit's Creepy Tales!)
Aaron Reynolds, Peter Brown (Illus.), Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $13.99, 9781665961110
6. Smile: A Graphic Novel
Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $12.99, 9781338740264
7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Special Edition)
Stephen Chbosky, Simon Pulse, $15.99, 9781665982412
8. Better Than the Movies
Lynn Painter, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $12.99, 9781534467637
9. The Escape Game
Marissa Meyer, Tamara Moss, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, $22.99, 9798217006120
10. Peppa Pig: Peppa Loves Unicorns and Mermaids
Scholastic Inc., $5.99, 9798225039233
CHILDREN'S SERIES TITLES
1. Heartstopper #6: A Graphic Novel
Alice Oseman, Graphix, $19.99, 9781546102441
2. Warriors Graphic Novel: The New Prophecy, Part One of Three
Erin Hunter, Gibson Twist, Sammy Savos (Illus.), HarperAlley, $15.99, 9780063450882
3. I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941 (I Survived Graphic Novel #14) (I Survived Graphix #14)
Lauren Tarshis, Peter Wartman (Illus.), Graphix, $14.99, 9781546137757
4. Bonnie's New Toy (Disney/Pixar Toy Story 5) (Step into Reading)
RH/Disney, $5.99, 9780736446327
5. The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jenny Han, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $11.99, 9781665922074
6. Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin, #3
Erin Hunter, Natalie Riess (Illus.), Sara Goetter (Illus.), HarperAlley, $15.99, 9780063203938
7. The Baby-sitters Club Fan Edition: Baby-sitter Summer
Ann M. Martin, Becky Albertalli, Coe Booth, Scholastic Inc., $14.99, 9781546171379
8. The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, $12.99, 9780545425117
9. Dog Man: Big Jim Believes
Dav Pilkey, Graphix, $15.99, 9781546176183
10. Talons of Power: A Graphic Novel (Wings of Fire Graphic Novel, #9)
Tui T. Sutherland, Mike Holmes (Illus.), Graphix, $14.99, 9781339001265
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