BENGAL'S HEART

BENGAL'S HEART
by Lora Leigh. (Berkley Sensation, $7.99.)
Reporter Cassa Hawkins has always supported Breed rights—especially in light of a specimen like Cabal St. Laurents, the epitome of the male animal. But when the Breeds are incriminated in a series of violent murders, it’s left to Cassa and Cabal to discover the truth before they become prey.

Paperback Mass-Market Fiction Bestseller

Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list, Week of August 14, 2009

1. BAD MOON RISING, by Sherrilyn Kenyon. (St. Martin’s, $24.99.) Book 18 of the Dark-Hunter paranormal series.
   
2. THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC, by Richard Russo. (Knopf, $25.95.) A long-married couple wrestle with their dissatisfactions during a Cape Cod weekend; by the author of “Empire Falls.”
   
3. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. (Amy Einhorn/Putnam, $24.95.) A young white woman and two black maids in 1960s ­Mississippi.
   
4. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, by Stieg Larsson. (Knopf, $25.95.) A Swedish hacker becomes a murder suspect.
   
5. INHERENT VICE, by Thomas Pynchon. (Penguin Press, $27.95.) A pothead private eye in Los Angeles, circa 1970.
   
6. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, by Jennifer Weiner. (Atria, $26.99.) Childhood friends, estranged in high school, reunite years later when the popular one needs the mousy one’s help.
   
7. THE TRAFFICKERS, by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV. (Putnam, $26.95.) A Philadelphia cop joins forces with a Texas Ranger to track a gang connected to the Mexican drug cartel; part of the Badge of Honor series.
   
8. THE DEFECTOR, by Daniel Silva. (Putnam, $26.95.) When a Russian defector who once saved his life disappears, Gabriel Allon, an art restorer and occasional spy for the Israeli secret service, attempts to rescue him.
   
9. SWIMSUIT, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) A former cop, now a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, investigates the disappearance of a supermodel.
   
10. DEAD AND GONE, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $25.95.) Sookie Stackhouse searches for the killer of a werepanther. Excerpt
    
11. RULES OF VENGEANCE, by Christopher Reich. (Doubleday, $25.95.) A doctor is drawn into a world of international espionage; a sequel to “Rules of Deception.”
    
12. TWENTIES GIRL, by Sophie Kinsella. (Dial, $26.) A young woman is haunted by the spirit of her great-aunt, who wants her to find a missing necklace.
    
13. BLACK HILLS, by Nora Roberts. (Putnam, $26.95.) A South Dakota wildlife biologist and an ex-cop, childhood sweethearts, reunite to pursue a serial killer.
    
14. FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN, by Janet Evanovich. (St. Martin’s, $27.95.) The bounty hunter Stephanie Plum tracks a celebrity chef’s killer.
    
15. THE WINDS OF DUNE, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. (Tor/ Tom Doherty, $27.99.) Frank Herbert’s son and his collaborator, drawing on Herbert’s notes on the “Dune” series, pick up the story after the events of “Dune Messiah,” following Jessica, the mother of the emperor Paul Atreides

#1 This Week in Children's Chapter Books bestseller

The Awakening (Darkest Powers, Book 2) (Hardcover)

by Kelley Armstrong

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl—someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I'm as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment—not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization called the Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control; I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.

Now I'm running for my life with three of my supernatural friends—a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch—and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

About the Author
Kelley Armstrong is the New York Times bestselling author of the Women of the Otherworld series and the first book in the Darkest Powers series, The Summoning, about which Kirkus Reviews said in a starred review: "Terrifying ghosts, smatterings of gore, and diverse teen voices will prompt young adults to pick up the next in this series."

Kelley has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed. Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing-dungeon.

Paperback Trade Fiction Best Sellers list, Week of May 17, 2009

1. VISION IN WHITE, by Nora Roberts. (Berkley, $16.) A wedding photographer finds romance with the brother of a bride-to-be; Book 1 in the Bride Quartet series.

2. THE SHACK, by William P. Young. (Windblown Media, $14.99.) A man whose daughter was abducted receives an invitation to an isolated shack, apparently from God. (†) First Chapter

3. CITY OF THIEVES, by David Benioff. (Plume, $15.) Two men arrested in World War II Russia must complete a seemingly impossible task to save their lives.

4. 7TH HEAVEN, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. (Grand Central, $14.99.) Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women’s Murder Club hunt for an arsonist.

5. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. (Quirk, $12.95.) The classic story, retold with “ultraviolent zombie mayhem.”

6. UNACCUSTOMED EARTH, by Jhumpa Lahiri. (Vintage Contemporaries, $15.) Stories about the anxiety and transformation experienced by Bengali parents and their American children. First Chapter

7. ANGELS AND DEMONS, by Dan Brown. (Washington Square, $16.) A scholar tries to save the Vatican from the machinations of an underground society.

8. LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH, by Emily Giffin. (St. Martin’s Griffin, $13.95.) A woman’s happy marriage is shaken when she encounters an old boyfriend.

9. FIREFLY LANE, by Kristin Hannah. (St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.95.) A friendship between two women in the Pacific Northwest endures for more than three decades as they make different choices in their lives.

10. OLIVE KITTERIDGE, by Elizabeth Strout. (Random House, $14.) A seventh-grade math teacher is the link in 13 stories set on the Maine coast; the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

11. SARAH’S KEY, by Tatiana de Rosnay. (St. Martin’s Griffin, $13.95.) A contemporary American journalist investigates what happened to a little girl and her family during the roundup of Jews in Paris in 1942.

12. MY SISTER’S KEEPER, by Jodi Picoult. (Washington Square, $14.) A girl sues her parents after learning they want her to donate a kidney to her sibling.

13. THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG, by Muriel Barbery. (Europa, $15.) A young girl and a widowed concierge, both closet intellectuals, become friends.

14. THE ALCHEMIST, by Paulo Coelho. (HarperOne, $13.95.) A Spanish shepherd boy travels to Egypt in search of treasure.

15. PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, by Geraldine Brooks. (Penguin, $15.) An expert unlocks the secrets of a rare manuscript.

16. AMERICAN WIFE, by Curtis Sittenfeld. (Random House, $15.) A librarian marries the alcoholic scion of a political family who somehow becomes president. First Chapter

17. CERTAIN GIRLS, by Jennifer Weiner. (Washington Square, $15.) A girl discovers the sexy, somewhat autobiographical novel her mother wrote years earlier.

18. THE READER, by Bernhard Schlink. (Vintage, $13.95.) A German high school student falls in love with a former Auschwitz employee.

19. THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO, by Junot Díaz. (Riverhead, $14.) A nerdy Dominican-American struggles to escape a family curse.

20. STILL ALICE, by Lisa Genova. (Pocket, $15.) A 50-year-old Harvard professor learns she has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list, Week of May 17, 2009

1. THE 8TH CONFESSION, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women''s Murder Club investigate a pair of killings.

2. LOVER AVENGED, by J. R. Ward. (New American Library, $24.95.) A vampire ally hides his mixed blood; Book 7 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

3. FIRST FAMILY, by David Baldacci. (Grand Central, $27.99.) Former Secret Service agents, now P.I.’s, search for a child abducted from a party at Camp David.

4. SUMMER ON BLOSSOM STREET, by Debbie Macomber. (Mira, $24.95.) More stories of life and love from a Seattle knitting class.

5. TEA TIME FOR THE TRADITIONALLY BUILT, by Alexander McCall Smith. (Pantheon, $23.95.) The 10th novel in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

6. JUST TAKE MY HEART, by Mary Higgins Clark. (Simon & Schuster, $25.95.) An assistant prosecutor who has had a heart transplant discovers that her life is at risk.

7. LOITERING WITH INTENT, by Stuart Woods. (Putnam, $25.95.) Stone Barrington takes a case in Key West.

8. THE HOST, by Stephenie Meyer. (Little, Brown, $25.99.) Aliens have taken control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but one woman won’t surrender.

9. THE LANGUAGE OF BEES, by Laurie R. King. (Bantam, $25.) Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, help a painter search for his missing wife and child.

10. LOOK AGAIN, by Lisa Scottoline. (St. Martin’s, $26.95.) A reporter learns that her adopted son may have been abducted from his birth mother.

11. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. (Amy Einhorn/Putnam, $24.95.) A young white woman and two black maids in 1960s ­Mississippi.

12. THE PERFECT POISON, by Amanda Quick. (Putnam, $24.95.) A Victorian botanist investigates a poisoning; an Arcane Society novel.

13. LONG LOST, by Harlan Coben. (Dutton, $27.95.) Myron Bolitar helps an ex-lover search for her daughter.

14. HOME SAFE, by Elizabeth Berg. (Random House, $25.) A widow and her daughter cope with grief and discovery.

15. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. (Dial, $22.) A journalist meets the island’s old Nazi resisters.

16. HANDLE WITH CARE, by Jodi Picoult (Atria)

10 Best Books of 2008

The editors of The New York Times Book Review have announced their choices for the 10 Best Books of the year, always one of the most-watched end-of-the-year lists. (All books reviewed in the Book Review since December of last year are eligible. The books are unranked and are ordered according to our own current bestselling rankings below. We've listed 2666 twice, because it was released both as a single-volume hardcover and a (gorgeous!) three-volume paperback set.)

2666: A Novel Roberto Bolano
It was one thing to read Roberto Bolaño's novel The Savage Detectives last year and have your mind thrilled and expanded by a sexy, meandering masterpiece born whole into the English language. It was still another to read it and know, from

A Mercy Toni Morrison
Nobel laureate Morrison returns more explicitly to the net of pain cast by slavery, a theme she detailed so memorably in ...

The Forever War Dexter Filkins
Filkins, a New York Times prize–winning reporter, is widely regarded as among the finest war correspondents of this generation. His richly textured book is based on his work in Afghanistan and Iraq since 1998. It begins with a Taliban-staged execution in Kabul. It ends with Filkins musing ...

Netherland: A Novel Joseph O'Neill
A Q&A with Joseph O'Neill Joseph O’Neill was born in Ireland and raised in Holland. He received a law degree from Cambridge University and worked as a barrister in London. He writes regularly for The Atlantic Monthly and is the author ...

Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri
The gulf that separates expatriate Bengali parents from their American-raised children...

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals Jane Mayer
This hard-hitting expose examines both the controversial excesses of the war on terror and the home-front struggle to circumvent legal obstacles to its prosecution. New Yorker correspondent Mayer (Strange Justice) details the battle within the Bush Adminis...

2666 - 3-Volume Boxed Set: A Novel Roberto Bolano
It was one thing to read Roberto Bolaño's novel The Savage Detectives last year and have your mind thrilled and expanded by a sexy, meandering masterpiece born whole into the English language. It was still another to read it and know, from ...

Nothing to Be Frightened Of Julian Barnes

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War Drew Gilpin Faust
Battle is the dramatic centerpiece of Civil War history; this penetrating study looks instead at the somber aftermath. Historian Faust

The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul Patrick French
V.S. Naipaul's biographer aims not to sit in judgment of the Nobel laureate, but to expose the subject with ruthless clarity to the calm eye of the reader. In this he succeeds admirably. Descendant of poor Brahmins, born in 1932 in Trinidad...

Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories Steven Millhauser
Phenomenal clarity and rapacious movement are only two of the virtues of Millhauser's new collection, which focuses on the misery wrought by misdirected human desire and ambition. The citizens who build insulated domes over their houses in ...

Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list, Week of May 17, 2009

1. LIBERTY AND TYRANNY, by Mark R. Levin. (Threshold Editions, $25.) A conservative manifesto from a talk-show host and president of Landmark Legal Foundation.

2. OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed, from the author of “Blink.” First Chapter

3. THE GIRLS FROM AMES, by Jeffrey Zaslow. (Gotham, $26.) An enduring friendship among a group of Midwestern women.

4. ALWAYS LOOKING UP, by Michael J. Fox. (Hyperion, $25.99.) Fox’s last 10 years; his struggles with Parkinson’s disease and his work as an activist through his foundation.

5. COLUMBINE, by Dave Cullen. (Twelve, $26.99.) A full account of the Columbine massacre 10 years later.

6. THE END OF OVEREATING, by David A. Kessler. (Rodale, $25.95.) How eating sugar, fat and salt affects our minds and bodies and encourages overindulgence.

7. MOMMYWOOD, by Tori Spelling with Hilary Liftin. (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $25.) Humorous stories about Hollywood motherhood.

8. A BOLD FRESH PIECE OF HUMANITY, by Bill O’Reilly. (Broadway, $26.) The Fox News commentator on his upbringing and career.

9. LOSING MUM AND PUP, by Christopher Buckley. (Twelve, $24.99.) A memoir of the lives and deaths of the author''s parents, Patricia and William F. Buckley.

10. HOUSE OF CARDS, by William D. Cohan. (Doubleday, $27.95.) The fall of Bear Stearns and the beginning of the Wall Street collapse.

11. ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA, by Chelsea Handler. (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $24.95.) Humorous personal essays from the stand-up comedian.

12. THE YANKEE YEARS, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. (Doubleday, $26.95.) The former Yankee manager (1996-2007) on his years with the team.

13. THE LOST CITY OF Z, by David Grann. (Doubleday, $27.50.) A New Yorker writer searches for a British explorer who disappeared 80 years ago in the Amazon.

14. AMERICAN LION, by Jon Meacham. (Random House, $30.) Andrew Jackson, the seventh president, in the White House. First Chapter

15. A LION CALLED CHRISTIAN, by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall. (Broadway, $21.95.) Two men buy a pet lion cub in London, release him in Africa and later reunite.

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