Want to know what your friends are reading without snooping through their bookshelves? 

Lo and behold, we present the Country Bookshelf Bestseller List.  Though not as legendary as the New York Times Bestseller List, ours has the advantage of showing what’s interesting our (primarily) local customers. And I have to say that we’re pretty impressed by your taste.

The lists below were tabulated by analyzing all books sold from January through April 2009 and removing bulk orders by schools and other organizations.

New Non-Fiction (hardcover)

1. Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination & Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown

2. Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin

3. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell &

   The Lost City of Z by David Grann (tie)

4. Hot Flat & Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman &

   With Wings Like Eagles by Michael Korda (tie)

5. The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson &

   The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (tie)

Non-Fiction (paperback)

1. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

2. The Soloist by Steve Lopez

3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

4. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

5. The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan &

   Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner (tie)

Regional (non-fiction)

1. This Common Secret by Susan Wicklund

2. Full-Court Quest by Linda Peavy & Ursula Smith

3. Stepping Up by Tavis Campbell and Sam Cox

4. Forget Me Not by Jennifer Lowe-Anker

5. Trash Fish by Greg Keeler

Children’s Picture Books

1. Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson & Susan Roth

2. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

3. Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier &

   Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (tie)

4. Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams &

   Cross-Country Cat by Mary Calhoun

5. Country Bunny & the Little Gold Shoes by Du Bose Heyward

New Fiction (hardcover)

1. Triple Cross by Mark T. Sullivan

2. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

3. The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig

4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

5. The English Major by Jim Harrison

Fiction (paperback)

1. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

2. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

3. The Shack by William P. Young

4. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan &

   Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson(tie)

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Juvenile

1. Three Cups of Tea (young reader) by Greg Mortenson

2. The Last Straw -#3 Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

3. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

4. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Young Adult

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

3. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

4. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

5. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie