A tennis star versus a football coach: L.A. Times bestsellers, Aug. 1, 2010
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On Monday, Jacket Copy wondered how former USC football coach Pete Carroll’s book “Win Forever” is selling. Carroll’s winning tenure has come into question after the NCAA leveled penalties against the school for improprieties made during his time there. Carroll has been on tour promoting his book, and this week it enters our nonfiction bestseller list at No. 6. It appears the controversy hasn’t affected his popularity.
Except that Carroll’s isn’t the only sports-and-life-philosophy book entering the nonfiction list this week, and it’s not the highest. “Come to Win: Business Leaders, Artists, Doctors, and Other Visionaries on How Sports Can Help You Top Your Profession” by Venus Williams debuts on the list at No. 5, one spot higher than Carroll.
The only other sports book in the top 20, “Coming Back Stronger” by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, slips three places to No. 15. After the jump, see the complete fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists for Aug. 1, 2010.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
twitter.com/paperhaus
| Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers | ||
| Place | Book | Weeks on list |
| 1 | The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $27.95) The highly anticipated final book of the Millennium Trilogy. | 9 |
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| 2 | The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (Doubleday: $25.95) Rose Edelstein’s gift of taste is bittersweet. | 6 |
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| 3 | The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The Southern lives of a maid, cook and college graduate intertwine. | 60 |
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| 4 | Savages by Don Winslow (Simon & Schuster: $25) Laguna Beach drug dealers take on a violent Baja Cartel. | 2 |
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| 5 | The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (Random House: $26) A pious Dutch official finds love in turn-of-the-19th-century Japan. | 3 |
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| 6 | Faithful Place by Tana French (Viking: $25.95) An Irish undercover cop investigates the discovery of an old girlfriend’s body. | 1 |
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| 7 | The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster: $25.99) Detective Dave Robicheaux investigates a serial killer and his daughter’s dangerous new boyfriend. | 1 |
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| 8 | The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman (Dial: $26) The goings-on at a ragtag English-language newspaper in Rome. | 8 |
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| 9 | Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner (Atria: $26.99) A mother and her daughters find comfort after an affair. | 1 |
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| 10 | Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic: $17.99) In a post-apocalyptic future, kids are forced to fight in gladiator-like matches to the death. | 10 |
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| 11 | Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst (Random House: $26) A Greek official becomes immersed with European spies in the early days of World War II. | 5 |
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| 12 | The Obama Diaries by Laura Ingraham (Threshold: $25) A satirical look at fictional diaries of the Obamas. | 1 |
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| 13 | The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $13.99) The newborn vampire army closes in on Bella Swan and the Cullens. | 6 |
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| 14 | The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva (Putnam: $26.95) Murder and a stolen Rembrandt portrait. | 1 |
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| 15 | Point Dume by Katie Arnoldi (Overlook: $24.95) Surf culture and marijuana farming collide in Malibu. | 6 |
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| 16 | Private by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $27.99) A former CIA agent tracks down the killer of a former lover. | 5 |
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| 17 | The Beaufort Diaries by T. Cooper (Melville House: $15.95) A polar bear tries to survive the Hollywood rat race with help from Leonardo DiCaprio. | 1 |
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| 18 | A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron (Forge: $22.99) A dog is reborn several times before finding his true purpose. | 2 |
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| 19 | The Passage by Justin Cronin (Ballantine: $27.00) An apocalypse with fangs: A military experiment with vampires goes wrong and imperils humanity. | 6 |
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| 20 | Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis (Knopf: $24.95) An L.A. noir nightmare that returns to “Less Than Zero’s” characters as they near middle age. | 6 |
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| Hardcover Nonfiction Bestsellers | ||
| Place | Book | Weeks on list |
| 1 | Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern (HarperCollins: $15.99) A son’s compilation of his elderly father’s ramblings and observations. | 10 |
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| 2 | Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth (Scribner: $24) How the connection between eating and core beliefs brings fulfillment. | 16 |
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| 3 | Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle (Free Press: $25) A Jesuit priest recounts working with L.A. youth through his gang intervention program. | 16 |
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| 4 | Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain (Ecco: $26.99) A gastronome’s journey for foodies everywhere. | 6 |
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| 5 | Come to Win by Venus Williams (Amistad: $25.99) How sports helps with success off the field. | 1 |
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| 6 | Win Forever by Pete Carroll (Portfolio: $25.95) The USC coach advises how to be your best in every aspect of your life. | 1 |
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| 7 | Suck It, Wonder Woman by Olivia Munn (St. Martin’s Press: $23.99) A self-proclaimed geek girl’s advice on life in Hollywood. | 1 |
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| 8 | War by Sebastian Junger (Twelve: $26.99) The author’s account of 14 months with a U.S. Army platoon in Afghanistan. | 10 |
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| 9 | Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson (Harper: $19.99) How “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and a little black dress influenced a generation. | 3 |
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| 10 | Furious Love by Nancy Schoenberger and Sam Kashner (Harper: $27.99) The high-octane marriage of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton | 4 |
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| 11 | Golden Gate by Kevin Starr (Bloomsbury: $23) A chronicle of the the longest suspension bridge in the world. | 2 |
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| 12 | Role Models by John Waters (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $25) A quasi-memoir from the iconoclastic movie director. | 7 |
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| 13 | Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking: $26.95) The author tackles her fears of marriage by delving into the institution’s history. | 15 |
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| 14 | You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh (Shambhala: $19.95) Buddhist techniques and practices for finding happiness by living in the moment. | 6 |
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| 15 | Coming Back Stronger by Drew Brees (Tyndale House: $26.99) The Super Bowl MVP faces adversity in this comeback story. | 2 |
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| 16 | Scout, Atticus & Boo by Mary Murphy (Harper: $24.99) How “To Kill A Mockingbird” has left is mark on American consciousness. | 1 |
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| 17 | The Men Who Would Be King by Nicole Laporte (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: $28) The rise and fall of DreamWorks Studios. | 5 |
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| 18 | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Crown: $26) How a poor black woman’s cancer cells helped scientists. | 12 |
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| 19 | Portrait of An Addict As a Young Man by Bill Clegg (Little, Brown: $23.99) A literary agent’s crack-addicted confessional. | 2 |
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| 20 | Parisians by Graham Robb (W.W. Norton: $28.95) The geography of Paris told through experiences of historical figures. | 1 |
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| Paperback Fiction Bestsellers | ||
| Place | Book | |
| 1 | The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson ($14.95) | |
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| 2 | The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson ($15.95) | |
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| 3 | Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann ($15) | |
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| 4 | Tinkers by Paul Harding ($14.95) | |
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| 5 | Little Bee by Chris Cleave ($14) | |
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| 6 | Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese ($15.95) | |
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| 7 | One Day by David Nicholls ($14.95) | |
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| 8 | This is Where I Leave You by Johnathan Tropper ($15) | |
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| 9 | To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee ($7.99) | |
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| 10 | Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner ($15) | |
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| 11 | The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho ($13.95) | |
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| 12 | Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell ($15) | |
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| 13 | The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger ($6.99) | |
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| 14 | The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein ($14.99) | |
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| 15 | The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon ($15.95) | |
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| Paperback Nonfiction Bestsellers | ||
| Place | Book | |
| 1 | Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ($16) | |
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| 2 | Lit by Mary Karr ($14.99) | |
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| 3 | Three Cups of Tea by David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortenson ($16) | |
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| 4 | Zeitoun by Dave Eggers ($15.95) | |
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| 5 | Food Rules by Michael Pollan ($11) | |
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| 6 | Secret Stairs by Charles Fleming ($16.95) | |
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| 7 | Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad ($10) | |
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| 8 | Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen ($14) | |
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| 9 | How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer ($14.95) | |
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| 10 | The Complete Idiot’s Guide to European History by Nathan Barber ($18.95) | |
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| 11 | The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd Edition by The College Board ($21.99) | |
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| 12 | The Lost City of Z by David Grann ($15.95) | |
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| 13 | The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell ($15.99) | |
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| 14 | Man, Interrupted by James Bailey ($14.95) | |
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| 15 | Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt ($15.99) | |
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