Here are the top ten selling books of 2008 in the of Children’s, Fiction, and Nonfiction categories. In the children’s category, series books have dominated the list in 2008, so only single titles from each of the bestselling series, “Twilight” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” have been included. Now, a shout out to the local authors who have brought us some of the best books of the year, appearing prominently on the bestsellers list for 2008: Katie Arnoldi: “The Wentworths;” Laird Hamilton: “Force of Nature;” Dolores Rivellino: “The Malibu Cookbook;” and Richard Means Ybarra: “Scratch and the Pirates of Paradise Cove.”
Fiction
1. “Out Stealing Horses,” by Per Petterson, paperback, Picador, $14
2. “Ten Days in the Hills,” by Jane Smiley, paperback, Anchor Books, $14.95
3. “The Wentworths,” by Katie Arnoldi, hardcover, Overlook Press, $23.95
4. “The Savage Detectives,” by Roberto Bolano, paperback, MPS, $15
5. “The Great Man,” by Katie Christensen, paperback, Anchor Books, $14.95
6. “Water for Elephants,” by Sara Gruen, paperback, Algonquin, $13.95
7. “Unaccustomed Earth,” by Jhumpa Lahiri, hardcover, Alfred A. Knopf, $25
8. “The Witch of Portobello,” by Paulo Coelho, paperback, Harper, $13.95
9. “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy, paperback, Vintage, $14.95
10. “The Gathering,” by Anne Enright, paperback, Black Cat, $14
Nonfiction
1. “Kelly Slater: For the Love,” by Kelly Slater, hardcover, Chronicle Books, $35
2. “God Grew Tired of Us,” by John Bul Dau, paperback, National Geographic Society, $14.95
3. “New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose,” by Eckhart Tolle, paperback, Plume, $14
4. “When You Are Engulfed in Flames,” by David Sedaris, hardcover, Little Brown, $25.99
5. Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson, paper, Penguin, $15.00
6. “Force of Nature: Mind, Body, Soul (and, of Course, Surfing),” by Laird Hamilton, et al, hardcover, Rodale, $27.95
7. “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia,” by Elizabeth Gilbert, paperback, Penguin, $15
8. “The Last Lecture,” by Randy Pausch, hardcover, Hyperion Books, $21.95
9. “The Audacity of Hope,” by Barack Obama, paperback, Three Rivers Press, $14.95
10. “The Malibu Cookbook,” by Dolores Rivellino, hardcover, AuthorHouse, $28.49
Children
1. “Twilight,” by Stephenie Meyer, paperback, Little Brown, $10.99
2. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” by Jeff Kinney, hardcover, Abrams, $12.95
3. “Gallop,” by Rufus Seder, hardcover, Workman, $12.95
4. “Scratch and the Pirates of Paradise Cove,” by Richard Means Ybarra, paperback, Pinata Books, $9.95
5. “The Tail of Emily Windsnap,” by Liz Kessler, paperback, Candlewick, $5.99
6. “The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1), by Rick Riordan, paperback, Miramax, $7.99
7. “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” by J.K. Rowling, hardcover, Scholastic, $12.99
8. “Cathy’s Book,: by Sean Stewart, paperback, Perseus, $9.95
9. “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” by Brian Selznick, hardcover, Scholastic, $22.99
10. Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay Asher, hardcover, Penguin, $16.99
Book list provided by Diesel, A Bookstore