Post Date:
March 15, 2003 Issue Date:
March 15, 2003

Bestsellers

Name: WORLD
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The Top 5 best-selling hardback novels as measured by placement on four leading lists as of March 3

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Scoring system: 10 points for first place, 9 for second, down to 1 for 10th, on the lists of the American Booksellers Association (independent, sometimes highbrow stores), The New York Times (4,000 bookstores, plus wholesalers), Publishers Weekly (general bookstores), and Amazon.com (internet purchases). 1 The King of Torts John Grisham

39 Points

PLOT A mysterious benefactor lifts a young lawyer from the public defender's office and installs him as the newest and wealthiest class-action specialist.

GIST Instead of presenting a rookie lawyer trying to make good, Grisham gives us a cynical public defender all too easily captured by greed.

CAUTION Mild obscenities and profanities, adult situations.

2 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold

37 Points

PLOT Susie Salmon, 14, is murdered by her neighbor. From "heaven" she watches the effects of her murder on family and friends.

GIST Heaven in this novel has no God, but is a place where what you want, you get. Eventually she sees her friends and family rebuild lives shattered by grief.

CAUTION Some language, violence, and sexual situations; particularly graphic opening chapters.

3 Flashback Nevada Barr

15 Points

PLOT Park Ranger Anna Pigeon solves a mystery while dealing with an illegal alien smuggling operation.

GIST Anna is drawn into a mystery involving Samuel Mudd (John Wilkes Booth's doctor) and his time as a prisoner in Florida's Dry Tortugas National Park. Meanwhile, she must find out why she and the previous ranger became ill after taking up duties there.

CAUTION Some language.

4 Pattern Recognition William Gibson

14 Points

PLOT A Belgian advertising bigwig hires a freelance consultant to discover who is posting anonymous film clips on the Internet that create a worldwide buzz.

GIST Gibson melds brand-names, buzzwords, and computer geek jargon to deal with themes such as commercialism, globalization, and Internet culture.

CAUTION Scattered obscenities.

5 Crossroads of Twilight Robert Jordan

13 Points

PLOT Book 10 in the Wheel of Time, Jordan's fantasy series, continues the complex saga that simultaneously complicates and clarifies aspects of Jordan's vast world.

GIST The Wheel of Time world comes with its own mythology and morality. For the reader unwilling to absorb this vast cosmology, the Wheel of Time is little more than a bunch of strange names and imaginary places.

CAUTION None.

Bestsellers

The Top 5 best-selling hardback novels as measured by placement on four leading lists as of March 3

Full access isn’t far.

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