In Clubland

Emily Henry tops the charts once again with her latest rom-com, Great Big Beautiful Life. Our starred review called it “a stunner,” and Reese’s Book Club gave it the nod for May. This month’s Oprah’s Book Club selection lands at #4 on our hardcover fiction list: Matriarch is the memoir of fashion designer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Tina Knowles, mother to Beyoncé, Solange, and Kelly Rowland, whom she calls her “bonus daughter.”

Create Space

Journalist and artist Suleika Jaouad debuted with 2021’s Between Two Kingdoms, an account of her cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. She returns with The Book of Alchemy, #3 on our hardcover nonfiction list. The anthology includes 100 essays by writers and artists— among them Melissa Febos, Hanif Kureishi, Kiese Laymon, and Sarah Ruhl—that act as journal prompts and amplify the nourishing aspects of a creative practice. “The prompts are varied enough to appeal to devoted diarists and newbies alike,” per our starred review, “and Jaouad poignantly interweaves her own intimate meditations on creativity, pain, and art.”

Dear John

Landing at #10 on our hardcover nonfiction list, Notes to John arrives more than three years after the death of its author, Joan Didion. According to our starred review, “This intimate posthumous volume brings together notes from the early 2000s that Didion addressed to her husband, John Gregory Dunne, on her sessions with psychiatrist Roger MacKinnon, whom she started seeing at the behest of her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, in an effort to repair their relationship.” The Guardian called the volume “an invasion of privacy,” while the New York Times deemed it “slightly sordid and absolutely fascinating.” Our review, meanwhile, says it’s “essential reading for Didion devotees.”

Double Double

J.T. Geissinger began self-publishing her four-volume Queens & Monsters dark mafia romance series in 2021. Bramble picked it up and published the first two books, Ruthless Creatures and Carnal Urges, in January. In their first weeks on sale, they sold about 8K and 5K print copies, respectively. This week sees the Bramble release of books three and four: Savage Hearts lands at #3 on our trade paperback list with more than 10K print copies sold, and Brutal Vows, #11 on the list, moved more than 7K print copies.