So according to Indie Bound, the top sellers in fiction are:

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

and nonfiction are:

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Bossypants by Tina Fey
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot     
Heaven Is for Real by Todd Burpo     
Just Kids by Patti Smith

Unfortunately, they don’t have overall lists without dividing hardcover/paperback and fiction/nonfiction. They also don’t seem to have any regional or by-store breakdowns, which is really the part I’m interested in — the variations in local culture and bookstore personality that change the books that work best at each individual independent bookstore. Hence, my totally biased survey:

In Brooklyn, the delightful Word has released its top 20 overall sellers. The top 3 are:

1. A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD
2. JUST KIDS
3. 1Q84 

Also notable are THE ASTRAL and THE NEW BROOKLYN COOKBOOK, which presumably make the list for local reasons, and THE GONE-AWAY WORLD, which presumably makes the list because those bitches are crazy about it.

Elsewhere in Brooklyn, Community Bookstore offers its top ten. The top 3 are:

#1: Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
#2: Patti Smith, Just Kids
#3: Tina Fey, Bossypants

and the rest are usual suspects, if more literary that some.

Over in Cali, Skylight Books responds with a list of a whopping 50 top titles, the top 3 of which are:

1. Just Kids by Patti Smith
2. A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

But! Numbers 4 and 8 are Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle, which seems to be a local favorite. Or maybe they just did a huge event with him? Coming in at 23 is Slake #2, an LA-based lit journal. The Help comes in all the way down at #37, Writing Movies for Fun and Profit is #46 (Oh, LA) and Veganist beat Freedom (Oh, LA, again.)

Hey, have you noticed that the ladies are killing it this year?

But my favoritest news comes out of Vroman’s in Pasadena, where the #1 seller of the year, over Jenny Egan and Patti Smith and The Help and The Hunger Games and little boys reporting back from Heaven, was Helen of Pasadena By Lian Dolan, which my East coast ass has never even heard of! I have never even heard of the publisher! And I tend to know things like books and publishers! HAVE I MENTIONED THAT LOCAL BOOKSTORES ARE LOCAL?

Yay for all of these bookstores, and all of the others serving their unique communities every single day.

(If you have more interesting local bookstore sales to report, please ask box, tweet, or email me. Thanks!)