TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of April 7, 2002

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EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL
Stephen King
Cover of EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL

EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL

by Stephen King · Scribner

2 wks at #1 · 3 on list

In this eerie, enchanting compilation, King takes readers down a road less travelled (for good reason) in the blockbuster e-book 'Riding the Bullet', terror becomes déjà vu all over again when you get 'That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It is in French' and LT has a theory about pets which will make you stop and think before giving one as a present to a loved one - along with eleven more stories that will keep you awake until dawn Nothing is quite as it seems. Expect the unexpected in this veritable treasure trove of enthralling, witty, dark tales that could only come from the imagination of the greatest storyteller of our time.

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2ND CHANCE
James Patterson with Andrew Gross

2ND CHANCE

by James Patterson with Andrew Gross · Little, Brown

A brutal madman sprays bullets into a crowd of children leaving a San Francisco church. Miraculously-or was it intentionally?-only one person dies. Then an elderly black woman is hung. Police homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer senses a connection and together with medical examiner Claire, assistant D. A. Jill, and Chronicle reporter Cindy, finds a link that sends a chill through the entire nation. This killer's motives are unspeakable. A Main Selection of The Literary Guild®, of Book-of-the-Month Club®, of Doubleday Book Club®, and of The Mystery Guild®

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THE SUMMONS
John Grisham
Cover of THE SUMMONS
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THE NANNY DIARIES
Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Cover of THE NANNY DIARIES

THE NANNY DIARIES

by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus · St. Martin's

3 wks on list

Written by two former nannies, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, The Nanny Diaries deftly punctures the glamour of Manhattan's upper class. Now a major motion picture starring Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney. Wanted: One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy. Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless--bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply. Who wouldn't want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day. When the Xs' marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude.

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WIDOW'S WALK
Robert B. Parker
Cover of WIDOW'S WALK

WIDOW'S WALK

by Robert B. Parker · Putnam

1 wks on list

A murder draws Boston PI Spenser into the dramatic world of theater in this New York Times bestseller in Robert B. Parker’s long-running series. In a shabby waterfront town, an actor is shot dead onstage. Granted, the script left much to be desired. But there's more behind the scenes than an overzealous critic—and Spenser and Hawk are combing Port City’s underworld to find it... “Great fun...[Spenser] is still the cockiest and wittiest P.I. on the block.”—The New York Times

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THE STONE MONKEY
Jeffery Deaver
Cover of THE STONE MONKEY

THE STONE MONKEY

by Jeffery Deaver · Simon & Schuster

2 wks on list

NOW A MAJOR TELEVISION EVENT FROM NBC, STARRING RUSSELL HORNSBY, ARIELLE KEBBEL, AND MICHAEL IMPERIOLI This follow-up to Jeffery Deaver’s massive bestseller The Bone Collector (also a feature film starring Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington) is a “simply outstanding” (San Jose Mercury News) addition to the Lincoln Rhyme series. Recruited to help the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs manage to track down a cargo ship headed for New York City carrying two dozen illegal Chinese immigrants, as well as the notorious human smuggler and killer known as “the Ghost.” But when the Ghost’s capture goes disastrously wrong, Lincoln and Amelia find themselves in a race to track him down before he can find and murder the two surviving families from the ship, who have vanished into the labyrinth of New York City’s Chinese community. As Rhyme struggles to locate the families, aided by a quirky policeman from mainland China, Sachs finds herself forming a connection with one of the immigrants that may affect her relationship with her partner and lover.

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THE PURSUIT
Johanna Lindsey

THE PURSUIT

by Johanna Lindsey · Morrow

1 wks on list

A young Scottish woman from an all-male household must navigate the ministrations of her sixteen meddling uncles when a handsome suitor arrives on the scene.

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THE CORRECTIONS
Jonathan Franzen
Cover of THE CORRECTIONS

THE CORRECTIONS

by Jonathan Franzen · Farrar, Straus & Giroux

29 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER *A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: TOP TEN “A spellbinding novel” (People) from the New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Franzen, the author of Crossroads, The Corrections is a comic, tragic epic of worlds colliding: an old-fashioned world of civic virtue and sexual inhibitions, a new world of home surveillance, hands-off parenting, do-it-yourself mental health care, and globalized greed. After almost fifty years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson’s disease, and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. The oldest, Gary, a once-stable portfolio manager and family man, is trying to convince his wife and himself that, despite certain alarming indicators, he is not clinically depressed. The middle child, Chip, has lost his seemingly secure academic job and is failing spectacularly at his new line of work. And Denise, the youngest, has escaped a disastrous marriage only to pour her youth and beauty down the drain of an affair with a married man—or so her mother fears. Desperate for some pleasure to look forward to, Enid has set her heart on an elusive goal: bringing her family together for one last Christmas at home.

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JOURNEY THROUGH HEARTSONGS
Mattie J.T. Stepanek
Cover of JOURNEY THROUGH HEARTSONGS

JOURNEY THROUGH HEARTSONGS

by Mattie J.T. Stepanek · VSP Books

Mattie J. T. Stepanek takes us on a Journey Through Heartsongs with more of his moving poems. These poems share the rare wisdom that Mattie has acquired through his struggle with a rare form of muscular dystrophy and the death of his three siblings from the same disease. His life view was one of love and generosity and as a poet and a peacemaker, his desire was to bring his message of peace to as many people as possible.

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THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER
Joyce Reardon
Cover of THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER

THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER

by Joyce Reardon · Hyperion

At the turn of the twentieth century, Ellen Rimbauer became the young bride of Seattle industrialist John Rimbauer, and began keeping a remarkable diary. This diary became the secret place where Ellen could confess her fears of the new marriage, her confusion over her emerging sexuality, and the nightmare that her life would become. The diary not only follows the development of a girl into womanhood, it follows the construction of the Rimbauer mansioncalled Rose Redan enormous home that would be the site of so many horrific and inexplicable tragedies in the years ahead. The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red is a rare document, one that gives us an unusual view of daily life among the aristocracy in the early 1900s, a window into one womans hidden emotional torment, and a record of the mysterious events at Rose Red that scandalized Seattle society at the timeevents that can only be fully understood now that the diary has come to light. Edited by Joyce Reardon, Ph.D. as part of her research, the diary is being published as preparations are being made by Dr. Reardon to enter Rose Red and fully investigate its disturbing history.

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SOUTHAMPTON ROW
Anne Perry
Cover of SOUTHAMPTON ROW

SOUTHAMPTON ROW

by Anne Perry · Ballantine

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In Victorian England, a divisive election is fast approaching. Passions are so enflamed that Thomas Pitt, shrewd mainstay of the London police, has been ordered not to solve a crime but to prevent a national disaster. The aristocratic Tory candidate—and Pitt’s archenemy—is Charles Voisey. The Liberal candidate is Aubrey Serracold, whose wife’s dalliance with spiritualism threatens his chances. Indeed, she is one of the participants in a late-night séance that becomes the swan song of a stylish clairvoyant who is found brutally murdered the next morning in her house on Southampton Row. Meanwhile, Pitt’s wife, Charlotte, and their children are enjoying a country vacation—unaware that they, too, are deeply endangered by the same fanatical forces hovering over the steadfast Pitt.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.