TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of January 8, 2006

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
MARY, MARY
James Patterson
Cover of MARY, MARY

MARY, MARY

by James Patterson · Little, Brown

5 wks at #1 · 6 on list

When he investigates the murder of an actress outside of her Beverly Hills home, FBI agent Alex Cross learns that the attack was the latest in a series of celebrity killings linked to the elusive Mary Smith.

2
THE DA VINCI CODE
Dan Brown
Cover of THE DA VINCI CODE

THE DA VINCI CODE

by Dan Brown · Doubleday

3 wks on list

THE #1 WORLDWIDE BESTSELLING PHENOMENON, WITH MORE THAN 85 MILLION COPIES SOLD “Blockbuster perfection . . . a gleefully erudite suspense novel.” —The New York Times “A pulse-quickening, brain-teasing adventure.” —People While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever. Robert Langdon returns in The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets (coming soon)!

4
1
AT FIRST SIGHT
Nicholas Sparks
Cover of AT FIRST SIGHT

AT FIRST SIGHT

by Nicholas Sparks · Warner

10 wks on list

There are few things Jeremy Marsh was sure he'd never do: he'd never leave New York City: never give his heart away again after barely surviving one failed marriage: and most of all, never become a parent. Now, Jeremy is living in the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, married to Lexie Darnell, the love of his life, and anticipating the birth of their daughter. But just as his life seems to be settling into a blissful pattern, an unsettling and mysterious message re-opens old wounds and sets off a chain of events that will forever change the course of this young couple's marriage...

5
1
AMAZING PEACE
Maya Angelou
Cover of AMAZING PEACE

AMAZING PEACE

by Maya Angelou · Random House

3 wks on list

A Christmas poem celebrates the goodness of life, the value of peace, and the spirit of the season for those of all faiths.

6
1
PREDATOR
Patricia Cornwell
Cover of PREDATOR

PREDATOR

by Patricia Cornwell · Putnam

9 wks on list

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, takes charge of a case that at first appears as unnerving as any she has ever faced.

8
2
THE CAMEL CLUB
David Baldacci
Cover of THE CAMEL CLUB

THE CAMEL CLUB

by David Baldacci · Warner

9 wks on list

In The Camel Club, bestselling author David Baldacci paints a frighteningly vivid portrait of a world that could be our own very soon, and the few people who have a chance to stop the chaos...

9
2
CHRIST THE LORD: OUT OF EGYPT
Anne Rice
Cover of CHRIST THE LORD: OUT OF EGYPT

CHRIST THE LORD: OUT OF EGYPT

by Anne Rice · Knopf

8 wks on list

Incorporates the latest New Testament scholarship to offer a fictional chronicle of the early years of Jesus Christ.

10
1
THE LIGHTHOUSE
P. D. James
Cover of THE LIGHTHOUSE

THE LIGHTHOUSE

by P. D. James · Knopf

5 wks on list
12
SON OF A WITCH
Gregory Maguire
Cover of SON OF A WITCH

SON OF A WITCH

by Gregory Maguire · ReganBooks/HarperCollins

13 wks on list

Ten years after the publication of Wicked, beloved novelist Gregory Maguire returns at last to the land of Oz. There he introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully, Liir is shattered in spirit as well as in form. But he is tended to at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by the silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts. What dark force left Liir in this condition?

13
NEW
THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN
Mitch Albom
Cover of THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN

by Mitch Albom · Hyperion

100 wks on list

Plot Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him, as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here" Personal Details Collection Status In Collection Index 10 Read It Yes Links Amazon US Product Details LoC Classification PS3601.L335F59 2003 Dewey 813/.6

15
NEW
THE MARCH
E. L. Doctorow
Cover of THE MARCH

THE MARCH

by E. L. Doctorow · Random House

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In 1864, Union general William Tecumseh Sherman marched his sixty thousand troops through Georgia to the sea, and then up into the Carolinas. The army fought off Confederate forces, demolished cities, and accumulated a borne-along population of freed blacks and white refugees until all that remained was the dangerous transient life of the dispossessed and the triumphant. In E. L. Doctorow’s hands the great march becomes a floating world, a nomadic consciousness, and an unforgettable reading experience with awesome relevance to our own times.

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