Paperback Bestsellers

The New York Times Book Review
Paperback Best Sellers
October 5, 2008

TRADE FICTION

1	THE SHACK, by William P. Young, (Windblown Media, $14.99.) A man whose daughter was abducted is invited to an isolated shack, apparently by God.
2	THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO, by Junior Diaz. (Riverhead, $14.) A nerdy Dominican-American struggles to escape a family curse.
3	WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, By Sara Gruen. (Algonquin, $13.95.) A young man - and an elephant - save a Depression-era circus.
4	BAREFOOT, by Elin Hilderbrand. (Back Bay/Little Brown, $13.99.) Three women burdened by various problems (work, love, health) spend a transformative summer together on Nantucket.
5	NIGHTS IN RODANTHE, by Nicholas Sparks. (Grand Central, $7.99.) Romance ignites between a middle-aged man and woman at an inn in North Carolina.
6*	THE ALCHEMIST, by Paulo Coelho. (HarperOne, $13.95.) A Spanish shepherd boy travels to Egypt in search of treasure.
7	THE CHOICE, by Nicholas Sparks. (Grand Central, $13.99.) How a North Carolina man's choices play out.
8	THE ROAD, by Cormac McCarthy. (Vintage, $14.95.) A father and son travel in post-apocalypse America.
9	THE ALMOST MOON, by Alice Sebold. (Little, Brown, $14.99.) A woman accustomed to satisfying the needs of her clinging family finally reaches the point of no return.
10	LOVING FRANK, by Nancy Horan. (Ballantine, $14.) A story of the romance between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney, and the scandal that followed when they left behind spouses and children.
11	THE KITE RUNNER, by Khaled Hosseini. (Riverhead, $15.96 and $14.) An Afghan-American returns to Kabul to learn how a childhood friend has fared under the Taliban.
12	SECOND CHANCE, by Jane Green. (Plume, $15.) A group of 30-something friends reconsider their lives after one of their number is killed in a terrorist attack.
13	WHEN THE SOUL MENDS, by Cindy Woodsmall. (WaterBrook, $13.99.) A disgraced Amish woman returns home to care for her sister, and faces a choice between her two worlds.
14	NINETEEN MINUTES, by Jodi Picoult. (Washington Square, $15.) The aftermath of a high-school shooting reveals the fault lines in a small New Hampshire town.
15	THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, by Kate Jacobs. (Berkley, $14.) A group of women meet weekly at a New York City yarn shop.
16	THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, by Sue Monk Kidd. (Penguin, $14.) In South Carolina in 1964, a teenage girl tries to discover the secret to her mother's past.
17	OUT STEALING HORSES, by Per Petterson. (Picador, $14.) In a remote cabin, a Norwegian man circles around his memories of the past.
18	INFINITE JEST, by David Foster Wallace. (Back Bay, $17.99.) In a near future dominated by commercialism, addiction and political turmoil, a Quebecois separatist group plots to distribute copies of a lethal underground movie.
19	BRIDGE OF SIGHS, by Richard Russo, (Vintage, $14.95.) The entangled lives of an upstate New York couple and their friend, from the author of "Empire Falls."
20	RUN, by Ann Patchett. (Harper Perennial. (14.95.) Two young black men, adopted in childhood by a Boston politician encounter their birth mother and sister.

MASS-MARKET FICTION

1	BOOK OF THE DEAD, by Patricia Cornwell. (Berkley, $9.99.) The forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta opens a private practice in Charleston, SC.
2	NIGHTS IN RODANTHE, by Nicholas Sparks. (Grand Central, $7.99.) Romance ignites between a middle-aged man and woman at an inn in North Carolina.
3	DEAD UNTIL DARK, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $7.99.) A psychic cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana falls in love with a bad-boy vampire.
4	STONE COLD, by David Baldacci. (Vision, $9.99.) Members of Washington's Camel Club are being stalked to prevent them from uncovering government secrets.
5	PROTECT AND DEFEND, by Vince Flynn. (Pocket, $9.99.) An American counterterrorism operative must avert catastrophe in nuclear Iran.
6	COMPULSION, by Jonathan Kellerman. (Ballantine, $9.99.) Several Los Angeles women are murdered, and the psychologist-detective Alex Delaware investigates.
7	PLAYING FOR PIZZA, by John Grisham. (Dell, $7.99.) An American third-string quarterback joins the Italian National Football League's Parma Panthers.
8	8 SANDPIPER WAY, by Debbie Macomber. (Mira, $7.99.) Romantic intrigue in Cedar Cove, Wash.
9	SWEET REVENGE, by Diane Mott Davidson. (Avon, $7.99.) While catering a holiday breakfast, Goldy Schulz thinks she spots a woman who killed Goldy's ex-husband - and who is supposed to be dead herself.
10	YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, by James Patterson and Howard Roughan. (Vision, $9.99.) An aspiring photographer working as a nanny has terrible visions.
11	LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $7.99.) A vampire asks the psychic waitress Sookie Stackhouse to track down one of his missing companions.
12	CRITICAL, by Robin Cook. (Berkley, $9/99.) A medical examiner investigates infection deaths at Manhattan hospitals whose main financial backer is a Mafia don.
13	KEEPING FAITH, by Jodi Picoult. (Avon, $7.99.) A child starts hearing divine voices in the aftermath of her parents' divorce.
14	CLUB DEAD, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $7.99.) Sookie Stackhouse's vampire boyfriend has been kidnapped, and she has to go to Jackson, Miss., to try to rescue him with the help of an undead Elvis.
15	TRUNK MUSIC, by Michael Connelly. (Grand Central, $7.99.) Harry Bosch's investigation of a Hollywood producer's murder leads to Las Vegas; a reprint of a 1997 book.
16*	DEAD AS A DOORNAIL, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $7.99.) The cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is drawn into the world of wee-politics when a friend's father tries to take over his local werewolf pack, and a sniper is targeting nonhumans.
17*	DEAD TO THE WORLD, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $7.99.) Sookie Stackhouse's vampire boyfriend has traveled to Peru, leaving her to deal with his amnesiac boss and her own missing brother.
18	ALL TOGETHER DEAD, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $7.99.) Sookie Stackhouse, a New Orleans cocktail waitress, is swept up in the intrigue of a vampire summit.
19	DEFINITELY DEAD, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $7.99.) A New Orleans vampire queen tries to stop a cocktail waitress, Sookie Stackhouse, from looking into the past of her consort, who is Sookie's cousin.
20	COLD HEARTED, by Beverly Barton. (Zebra/Kensington, $6.99.) A P.I. wonders why every man who gets close to Jordan Price seems to end up dead.

NONFICTION

1	THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. (Penguin Books, $15.) A former mountain climber builds schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
2	EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert. (Penguin Books, $15.) A writer's year long journey in search of self takes her to Italy India, and Indonesia.
3	SARAH, by Kaylene Johnson. (Epicneter, $15.95.) The career of Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee.
4	CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, CHANGE YOUR LIFE, by Daniel G. Amen. (Three Rivers, $15.) Instructions for conquering anxiety, depression and anger.
5	THE AUDACITY OF HOPE, by Barack Obama. (Three Rivers, $14.95.) The Illinois senator proposes that Americans move beyond their political divisions.
6	DREAMS FROM MY FATHER, by Barack Obama. (Three Rivers, $13.95.) The senator on life as the son of a black African father and a white American mother.
7	A LONG WAY GONE, by Ishmael Besh. (Sarah Crichton/Fararar, Straus & Giroux, $12.) A former child soldier from Sierra Leone describes his drug-crazed killing spree and his return to humanity.
8	LOOK ME IN THE EYE, by John Elder Robison. (Three Rivers, $14.95.) A memoir of life with Asperger's syndrome.
9	CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN. with a foreword by Barack Obama. (Three Rivers, $13.95. Speeches and policy proposals from Obama's presidential campaign.
10	THE NINE, by Jeffrey Toobin. (Anchor, $15.95.) Inside the secret world of the Supreme Court.
11	I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL, by Tucker Max. (Citadel, $12.95.) Reflections of a self-absorbed, drunken womanizer.
12	90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN, by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey. (Revell, $12.99.) A minister on the otherworldly experience he had after an accident.
13	ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE, by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver. (Harper Perennial, $14.95.) The novelist and her family spend a year eating homegrown or local food.
14*	THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE, by Diane Ackerman. (Norton, $14.94.) How a Warsaw couple sheltered Jews and members of the Resistance during World War II.
15	THE WORLD IS FLAT, by Thomas L. Friedman. (Picador, $16.) The Times columnist's analysis of 21st-century economics and foreign policy.
16*	MARLEY & ME, by John Grogan. (Harper, $13.95.) A newspaper columnist and his wife learn life lessons from their neurotic dog.
17	MIKE'S ELECTION GUIDE, by Michael Moore. (Grand Central, $13.99.) The documentary filmmaker's take on the 2008 election.
18	THE DUCHESS, by Amanda Foreman. (Random House, $15.95.) A biography of Lady Georgiana Spencer, the great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales.
19	THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBICALLY, by A.J. Jacobs. (Simon & Schuster, $15.) The secular author's memoir of his attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible.
20	MY HORIZONTAL LIFE, by Chelsea Handler. (Bloomsbury, $14.95.) A memoir of one-night stands.

Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous

1	A NEW EARTH, by Eckhart Tolle. (Plume, $14.) A spiritual teacher prescribes letting go of the ego to help end conflict and suffering.
2	SKINNY BITCH, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. (Running Press, $13.95.) Stop eating junk and start looking fabulous.
3	WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING, by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazei. (Workman, $14.95.) Advice for parents-to-be.
4	THE POWER OF NOW, by Eckhart Tolle. (New World Library, $14.) A guide to personal growth and spiritual enlightenment.
5	THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES, by Gary Chapman. (Northfield, $13.99.) How to communicate love in a way
6	THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE, by Rick Warren. (Zondervan, $14.99.) Finding meaning in one's life through God.
7	MONEY, AND THE LAW OF ATTRACTION, by Esther and Jerry Hicks. (Hay House, $16.95.) Improving your physical and financial well-being through the teachings of Abraham.
8	HUNGRY GIRL, by Lisa Lillien. (St. Martin's Griffin. $17.95.) Recipes for burgers, nachos, pizza, fudge, onion rings and other "guilty" foods - without the guilt.
9	1,000 RECORDINGS TO HEAR BEFORE YOU DIE, by Tom Moon. (Workman, $19.95.) Operas, rock albums, blues, classical music, world music and other essentials, from a musician and music journalist.
10	HELLO, CUPCAKE!, by Alan Richardson and Karen Tack. (Houghton Mifflin, $15.95.) Funny, scary, playful and sophisticated creations made with treats you can find in any grocery aisle