Loyalty is a motivating factor for Copperfield's Books customers,
particularly when it comes to California authors. Copperfield's
bestseller lists (for the week ending August 13) represent the chain's
five locations in Sonoma and Napa counties.
Mystery scribe and Sonoma County resident Marcia Muller "is a strong
seller for us," said Copperfield's buyer Ty Wilson.
Vanishing Point,
Muller's latest book featuring San Francisco private eye Sharon McCone,
appears at No. 5 on the hardcover fiction list.
The No. 4 spot belongs to Lolly Winston and her new novel,
Happiness
Sold Separately. Winston, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, "was
part of out literary lunch series for her first book,
Good Grief," said
Wilson.
Another author benefiting from appearances in years past is T.C. Boyle.
He hails from farther down the California coast in Santa Barbara, but
that hasn't stopped
Talk Talk from achieving bestseller status at
Copperfield's. "We've hosted him a number of times. Again, I think it's
that loyal following," noted Wilson. "His books have always done well
here."
Customer loyalty extends beyond works of fiction. Area author Anne
Lamott has appeared at Copperfield's on many occasions, and
Plan B:
Further Thoughts on Faith graces the quality paperbacks list at No. 9.
"This book has been out in paperback for a while now," said Wilson,
"and it speaks to how popular she is with our customers."
Other nonfiction tomes with California connections include
The Sonoma
Diet by Dr. Connie Guttersen, a weight loss book that according to the
publisher is "inspired by the sun-drenched foods and vibrant lifestyle
of California's breathtakingly beautiful wine country."
The Female
Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D., a neuropsychiatrist at the University
of California at San Francisco, received a boost from a
San Francisco
Chronicle review.
The Devil's Teeth "is a serious book for us," said
Wilson of New York City journalist Susan Casey's narrative about the
population of great white sharks that congregate each fall in the
waters surrounding the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco.
"We've had shark attacks off the Sonoma Coast, even recently," Wilson
added.
Authors from other parts of the country whose books do not contain a
correlation to the Golden State can take heart, though: they, too, are
well-represented among Copperfield's bestsellers.
The Memory Keeper's
Daughter by Kim Edwards is currently No. 1 on the quality paperbacks
list, although for the last few weeks, noted Wilson, it has traded
places with Al Gore's
An Inconvenient Truth. Nora Ephron's
I Feel Bad
about My Neck debuted at No. 1 and remains on the hardcover nonfiction
list at No. 8.
Running with Scissors is receiving added momentum due to
the upcoming movie version. And along with
The Sonoma Diet,
food-related bestsellers include
The Omnivore's Dilemma and
Ultrametabolism. "The stereotype about us being food-obsessed here
holds, I guess," commented Wilson.
From diets to dilemmas, sleuths to sharks, it's the diversity of
Copperfield's title selection that appeals to Wilson. "It's an exciting
chain to buy for," he said, "because we've got the literary and the
commercial. And left and right."--
Shannon McKenna
Copperfield's Books' bestsellers during the week ended Sunday, August 13:
Hardcover Fiction
1.
Judge and Jury by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Little, Brown, $27.99, 0316013935)
2.
Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke (S&S, $26, 0743277724)
3.
The Ruins by Scott Smith (Knopf, $24.95, 1400043875)
4.
Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston (Warner, $21.99, 0446533068)
5.
Vanishing Point by Marcia Muller (Mysterious Press, $24.99, 0892968052)
6.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin, $23.95, 1565124995)
7.
The Keep by Jennifer Egan (Knopf, $23.95, 1400043921)
8.
Talk Talk by T. C. Boyle (Viking, $25.95, 0670037702)
9.
The Hard Way: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child (Delacorte, $25, 0385336691)
10.
Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky (Knopf, $25, 1400044731)
Hardcover Nonfiction
1.
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas Ricks (Penguin Press, $27.95, 159420103X)
2.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan (Penguin, $26.95, 1594200823)
3.
Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss by Mark Hyman, M.D. (Scribner, $25, 07432725520)
4.
The Sonoma Diet: Trimmer Waist, Better Health in Just 10 Days! by
Connie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D. (Meredith, $24.95, 0696228319)
5.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of
Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow,
$25.95, 006073132X)
6.
The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D. (Morgan Road Books, $24.95, 0767920090)
7.
Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper (HarperCollins, $24.95, 0061132381)
8.
I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron (Knopf, $19.95, 0307264556)
9.
The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 by Ron Suskind (S&S, $27, 0743271092)
10.
The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material
Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids by
Madeline Levine, Ph.D. (HarperCollins, $24.95, 0060595841)
Quality Paperbacks
1.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin, $14, 0143037145)
2.
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (Rodale, $21.95, 1594865671)
3.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Vintage, $14, 1400078776)
4.
The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant (Scribner, $15, 0743225740)
5.
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin, $24, 0143036696)
6.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Norton, $13.95, 0393328627)
7.
Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs (Picador, $14, 031242227X)
8.
The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among
America's Great White Sharks by Susan Casey (Owl Books, $14,
0805080112)
9.
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott (Riverhead, $14, 1594481571)
10.
The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J.R. Moehringer (Hyperion, $14.95, 0786888768)