Armageddon, optimism, religious pessimism, peace and liberty, and tyranny are all subjects that make this month’s bestsellers nonfiction list, topped off with David Foster Wallace’s “This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life.” The children’s list, and the adult’s as well, has Greg Mortenson’s “Three Cups of Tea,” the One Book, One City-Malibu reading selection, as well as the insightful read for teenagers, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie.
Fiction
1. “Unaccustomed Earth: Stories,” by Jhumpa Lahiri, paperback, Alfred A. Knopf, $15
2. “The Elegance of the Hedgehog,” by Muriel Barberry and Alison Anderson, paperback, Europa Editions, $15
3. “Girls in Trucks,” by Katie Crouch, paperback, Back Bay Books, $13.99
4. “City of Thieves,” by David Benioff, paperback, Plume Books, $15
5. “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” by Junot Diaz, paperback, Riverhead Books, $14
6. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society,” by Annie and Mary Barrows, hardcover, Dial Press, $22
7. “Evidence: Poems,” by Mary Oliver, hardcover, Beacon Press, $23
8. “Little Bee,” by Chris Cleave, hardcover, Simon & Schuster, $24
9. “Olive Kitteridge,” by Elizabeth Strout, paperback, Random House, $14
10. “Out Stealing Horses,” by Per Petterson, paperback, Picador, $14
Nonfiction
1. “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time,” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, paperback, Penguin, $15
2. “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto,” by Mark R. Levin, hardcover, Threshold Editions, $24
3. “Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist,” by Michael J. Fox, hardcover, Hyperion Books, $25.99
4. “Armageddon in Retrospect,” by Kurt Vonnegut, paperback, Berkeley Publishing, $15
5. “God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” by Christopher Hitchens, paperback, Twelve, $14.99
6. “All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Mickey Dora,” by David Rensin, Harper, $15.99
7. “My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs and Stand-Up,” by Russell Brand, hardcover, Collins, $25.99
8. “Malibu: A Century of Living by the Sea,” by Julius Shulman and Juergen Nogai, hardcover, HNA Books, $50
9. “About Dogs,” by George Booth, hardcover, Abrams Image, $14.95
10. “This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life,” by David Foster Wallace, hardcover, Little Brown and Company, $14.99
Children
1. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” by John Boyne, paperback, David Fickling Books, $8.99
2. “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World … One Child at a Time,” by Greg Mortenson, paperback, Puffin Books, $8.99
3. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw,” by Jeff Kinney, hardcover, Amulet Books, $12.95
4. “Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire!,” by Jane O’Connor, hardcover, HarperCollins, $12.99
5. “Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga No. 4),” by Stephenie Meyer, hardcover, Little Brown, $22.99
6. “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” by Trenton Lee Stewart, paperback, Little Brown, $6.99
7. “Scat,” by Carl Hiassen, hardcover, Alfred A. Knopf, $16.99
8. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie, paperback, Little Brown, $8.99
9. “King Arthur and His Knights of the Roundtable,” by Roger Lancelyn Green, paperback, Puffin Books, $4.99
10 “Gallop: A Scanimation Picture Book,” by Rufus Seder, hardcover, Workman, $12.95
Book list provided by Diesel, A Bookstore