The following were the bestselling books at independent bookstores in and around Chicago during the week ended Sunday, November 14:
Hardcover Fiction
1. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
2. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larrson
3. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
4. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
5. The Confession by John Grisham
Hardcover Nonfiction
1. Decision Points by George W. Bush
2. Barefoot Contessa by Ina Garaten
3. I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron
4. Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 by Mark Twain
5. Life by Keith Richards
Paperback Fiction
1. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
2. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide by Ntozake Shange
3. Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
4. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson
Paperback Nonfiction
1. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
2. When Everything Changed by Gail Collins
3. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
4. The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison
5. The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholson Taleb
Children's
1. The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney
2. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
3. It's a Book by Lane Smith
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kenney
Reporting bookstores: Anderson's, Naperville and Downers Grove; Read Between the Lynes, Woodstock; the Book Table, Oak Park; the Book Cellar, Lincoln Square; Lake Forest Books, Lake Forest; the Bookstall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka; and 57th St. Books; Seminary Co-op; Women and Children First, Chicago.
[Many thanks to the booksellers and Carl Lennertz!]