Book Buzz from USA TODAY
By Press Release - May 26 , 2009
McLEAN, VA – Here’s the latest book buzz from USA TODAY with a sneak peek at the highlights of tomorrow’s Best-Selling Books list:
Forget vampires, Rick Riordan’s teen demigods have seized the top of Mount Olympus! Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 5: The Last Olympian enters the list at No. 1, the series’ highest debut. It’s the final volume of the series, which has sold 5 million-plus copies. Aimed at readers 10 and up, the books feature Greek Gods and their modern half-human offspring. Riordan joins a select group: Only six other young adult or children’s writers have entered USA TODAY’s list at No. 1: J.K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket,. Stephenie Meyer, P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (writing together), and Christopher Paolini.
Resilience, Elizabeth Edwards’ memoir about her cancer and husband’s adultery, lands on the list at No. 27, with 241,000 copies in print. That’s 10 spots behind her first book, Saving Graces, which entered at No. 17 in 2006. Edwards put two conditions on media interviews: Rielle Hunter, the woman with whom John Edwards had an affair, could not be pictured or named. Broadway Books spokesman David Drake says, “Shows have agreed to exercise discretion.” Edwards has been on Oprah, Today, Larry King and Charlie Rose, and more TV appearances are scheduled.
For all the news from this week’s Best-Selling Books list, see Thursday’s editions of USA TODAY for the top 50 books or log onto www.top150.usatoday.com for the complete list of 150 best-selling books from last week.
USA TODAY’s list differs from other lists because the rankings are based solely on retail sales data from major chain and independent bookstores across the USA. Included are more than one million volumes from approximately 3,000 large-inventory, diverse-content bookstores. USA TODAY’s list shows readers what is selling across the whole range of books, not just what is selling by category. Hardcover, paperback, fiction and non-fiction are pooled together. USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list has been published each Thursday in the newspaper’s Life section since October 28, 1993.
USA TODAY was founded in 1982 with a mission to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Through its flagship newspaper and popular Web site, USA TODAY engages the national conversation and connects readers online through social media applications. USA TODAY, the nation’s top-selling newspaper with a total average daily circulation of 2.1 million, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper Web site which launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.5 million readers daily. The USA TODAY news and information brand also includes: USA TODAY Education, USA TODAY LIVE, USA TODAY Mobile, Open Air magazine and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).
