The Gospel Coalition

I think my eyes must have bugged out when I saw this week’s list of bestsellers. There are seven (count ‘em, seven!) new books on the list this week. That is the most I have ever seen. I don’t think it’s possible for me to read that many in just seven days, so I’ll hope that next week is a little more relaxed to allow me to play some catch-up.

As predicted, Levitt and Dubner’s Superfreakonomics made its appearance this week, jumping right to #2 on the list. It is, of course, the sequel to the megaselling Freakonomics which dominated the list for quite some time several years ago (and which is still hanging around the softcover list). Thankfully I received the book a couple of weeks ago so I’ve already read that one. A review will follow early next week.

I had also predicted that Malcolm Gladwell’s new book would make its appearance and, sure enough, What the Dog Saw debuted at #3. This means that Gladwell has two books in the top-8 on the hardcover list and two books in the top-8 on the softcover list. Considering he’s only ever written those 4 books, I’d say he’s a bona fide star. I’d love to see the royalty checks he must get! What the Dog Saw is a compilation of many of his columns from The New Yorker.

Coming in at #4 is Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin (a third book I had predicted to make an appearance on the list. I’m getting good at this.). It offers “the inside story of how Wall Street and Washington fought to save the financial system–and themselves.” It is a big, big book that weighs in at over 600 pages. This book alone would make a good week’s reading, I think.

Down at #12 we’ve got Eating the Dinosaur by Church Klosterman. Though he seems to be a well-known writer, I don’t know him from Adam. A quick skim of his book, a collection of essays on pop culture, leaves me thinking that I won’t much enjoy it. We’ll see.

At #13 is this week’s only new celebrity memoir. Big Man is a life of Clarence Clemons who, I learned from the cover, plays saxophone for Bruce Springsteen. Considering that the last time I bought an listened to an album by Springsteen it was Born in the USA (1984) this does not mean a lot to me.

Next up at #14 is When Everything Changed by Gail Collins. The book presents “the amazing journey of American women from 1960 to the present.” This was my first foray into the women’s studies section of my local bookstore and I had to search long and hard to even find the section (which, in my defense, turned out to be in an illogical place).

Finally, at #15, is The Big Burn by Timothy Egan. I have read Egan’s The Worst Hard Time and really enjoyed that one, so I am hoping The Big Burn is just as good. It tells of the heroism displayed in fighting a huge forest fire in 1910–one that won public support for Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation efforts.

My week looks full. I’d best get to reading.