The Book Sense Category Bestseller List: Humor

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Based on the last four weeks of sales from over 300 independent bookstores across America.

Thanks to all the stores that report, the new expanded electronic reporting options, and the software our team here has built to sort and slice a ton of data according to BISAC categories, this is the third of many subject category lists to run in BTW each week. (For the Business and the Cookbooks list, click here.) These are intended as inventory checking tools for booksellers, alerts to publishers as to what's selling, and lists that the media can run.

Attention Media: Please contact Kristen Gilligan at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

Thank you to all who participate in this major new Book Sense initiative.

Carl Lennertz
[email protected]


Humor Bestsellers
Top 25 for the Last Four Weeks ... plus some honorable mentions

1. Me Talk Pretty One Day,
by David Sedaris (Back Bay, $14.95 paper, 0316776963)
2. The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook,
by Joshua Piven et al. (Chronicle, $14.95 paper, 0811825558)
3. The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love,
by Jill Conner Browne (Three Rivers, $12 paper, 0609804138)
4. Naked,
by David Sedaris (Back Bay, $13.95 paper, 0316777730)
5. The Bear in the Attic,
by Patrick F. McManus (Holt, $22, 0805070788)
6. Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of the Onion,
ed. by Robert Siegel et al. (Three Rivers, $16 paper, 0609808346)
7. The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel,
by Joshua Piven et al. (Chronicle, $14.95 paper, 0811831310)
8. You May Not Tie an Alligator to a Fire Hydrant: 101 Other Real Dumb Laws,
by Jeff Koon and Andy Powell; illus. by Ward Schumaker (Free Press, $12.95, 0743230655)
9. Non Campus Mentis,
by Anders Henriksson (Workman, $12.95, 0761122745)
10. Bad Girl Guide to Perfect Parties,
by Cameron Tuttle (Chronicle Books, $14.95 paper, 0811833615)
11. Fuzzy Logic: Get Fuzzy #2,
by Darby Conley (Andrews McMeel, $10.95 paper, 0740721984)
12. A Prairie Home Companion: Pretty Good Joke Book,
by Garrison Keillor et al. (Penguin, $9.95 paper, 1565115228)
13. 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter: And Other Tips from a Beleaguered Father,
by W. Bruce Cameron (Workman, $11.95 paper, 0761126333)
14. Amy's Answering Machine: Messages from Mom,
by Amy Borkowsky (Pocket, $14.95 paper, 0743422287)
15. Simpsons Comics Unchained,
by Matt Groening et al. (Perennial, $14.95 paper, 0060007974)
16. Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe,
by Andrew Boyd (Norton, $11.95 paper, 0393322815)
17. A Year in Van Nuys,
by Sandra Tsing Loh (Three Rivers, $13 paper, 0609809512)
18. Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from the New Yorker,
ed. by David Remnick and Henry Finder (Random House, $27.95, 0375504753)
19. God Save the Sweet Potato Queens,
by Jill Conner Browne (Three Rivers, $12.95 paper, 060980619X)
20. Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody,
by Michael Gerber (Fireside, $11 paper, 0743244281)
21. Zits Unzipped: Sketchbook #5,
by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman (Andrews McMeel, $10.95 paper, 0740723227)
22. His Code Name Was the Fox,
by Bill Amend (Andrews McMeel, $8.95 paper, 0740721917)
23. The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbs,
by Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel, $12.95 paper, 0836218981)
24. Darwin Awards,
by Wendy Northcutt (Plume, $10 paper, 0452283442)
25. The Onion's Finest News Reporting,
ed. by Scott Dikkers and Robert Siegel (Three Rivers, $16 paper, 0609804634)

Some other favorites:

27. Rules for Aging: A Wry and Witty Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Learn from the Blunders of the Older Generation,
by Roger Rosenblatt (Harvest, $11 paper, 0156013606)
29. Shiksa Goddess: (Or, How I Spent My Forties),
by Wendy Wasserstein (Vintage Books, $13 paper, 0375726039)
32. I'm the One That I Want,
by Margaret Cho (Ballantine, $14.95 paper, 0345440145)
33. Duct Shui: A New Tape on an Ancient Philosophy,
by Duct Tape Guys (Workman, $7.95 paper, 076112635X)
35. You Can Be Anything: From A to Z,
by Sarah Montague (Villard, $9.95 paper, 0375507825)
38. Balsamic Dreams: A Short but Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation,
by Joe Queenan (Picador, $14 paper, 031242082X)
39. Brain Droppings,
by George Carlin (Hyperion, $12.95 paper, 0786883219)
50. The Mammoth Book of Humor,
ed. by Geoff Tibballs (Carroll & Graf, $12.95 paper, 0786707836)
55. Haikus for Jews: For You, a Little Wisdom,
by David M. Bader (Harmony, $11.95, 060960502X)
57. Me Talk Pretty One Day - Audiotape,
by David Sedaris (Time Warner Audio, $24.98, 1570428654)
58. The Gashlycrumb Tinies: Or, After the Outing,
by Edward Gorey (Harcourt, $9, 0151003084)
68. Kilroy Was Here: The Best American Humor from World War II,
ed. by Charles Osgood (Hyperion, $14.95 paper, 0786885742)
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