Our Top Sellers of 2019: Local Heroes

One of the most fun things we’ve done since opening Skylark has been learning our customers’ tastes and interests, and catering to them. When we meet with sales reps from the major publishing companies, we usually know right away whether a particular title will work in the shop - because we know our customers so well. It’s a frequent refrain in this industry that every bookstore is unique, and it’s true.

We present, as evidence, our list of our bestselling titles for 2019. We’re willing to bet that no other list from any other bookshop in the country looks anything like this. Three of the titles are by Jill Orr, Laura McHugh, and Deborah Zemke, beloved local authors who launched their latest novels at Skylark, and three are by speakers at last year’s Unbound Book Festival - George Saunders, Jacqueline Woodson, and Garrard Conley. Three more - Wright Thompson, Emily Wilson, and (in absentia) Jeff Kinney - did events at the shop during the year. The other titles are there because we loved them so much and couldn’t stop talking about them. Which, you know, is kind of the point. We’re proud of this quirky, idiosyncratic list of fabulous books!

  1. The Ugly Truth by Jill Orr

  2. The Wolf Wants In by Laura McHugh

  3. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

  4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney

  5. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

  6. Field Guide to Dumb Birds by Matt Kracht

  7. The Cost of these Dreams by Wright Thompson

  8. The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

  9. Homer’s Odyssey by Emily Wilson

  10. Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

  11. Bea Garcia - The Tree and Me by Deborah Zemke

  12. Boy Erased by Garrard Conley

  13. The Overstory by Richard Powers

  14. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

  15. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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