NEW ON THE LIST AND IN PUBLISHING
‘Island’ escape:
Camino Island is turning out to be a popular getaway. John Grisham’s summer thriller lands in the top spot on USA TODAY’s BestSelling Books list. It’s the novelist’s 22nd No. 1 USA TODAY best seller. It’s unusual for Grisham to have a June book for adults, and readers seem eager to pack it in their beach bags. Usually he delivers a legal thriller in the fall, as he will this year. Even more unusual: Grisham’s on his first bookstore tour in 25 years. In my ★★★g review, I called Camino Island “a most agreeable summer destination” and a “fresh, fun departure from (Grisham’s) usual fare.” The entertaining heist tale is set in the world of rare book collecting. (Grisham is himself a collector.) It kicks off with the shocking theft of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original manuscripts from Princeton University.
Joking around:
What does Kevin Hart have in common with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Chelsea Handler, Mindy Kaling and Amy Schumer? They are all comedians who’ve had top 5 USA TODAY best sellers. Hart crashes the girl party with I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons, a humorous, inspirational memoir charting his rise to the top. It lands at No. 4. The actor ( Think Like a Man ) got things rolling at BookCon in New York on June 4, telling fans: “I’m not afraid of being honest, I’m an open book.” All the tongue-incheek blurbs on the back of the jacket are provided by the author. (Usually other writers sing a book’s praises.) Sample: “The most fascinating life story ever told. I related to every scene as if I’d been there” — Kevin Hart.