Here are the best selling hardcover books for the week ending October 23, 2009:


THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown
Professor Robert Langdon is back with another complex but completely engrossing mystery on his hands. As with previous Da Vinci books, this one also contains an ancient ritual as well as a couple of big secrets. Great reading for Dan Brown fans!


A TOUCH OF DEAD, by Charlaine Harris
This book contains a compilation of Sookie Stackhouse short stories found in previously published anthologies. It's great that they've bundled all of the stories together into one book!  This book (and other Sookie Stackhouse books) have been on the best selling books list for several weeks.


THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
Eugenia Phelan, an aspiring writer, returns home from college and decides to write about the experiences of the black maids in her Jacksonville, Mississippi community. What she discovers will shock and amaze readers as we discover, along with Eugenia, thehypocrisies that these brave women have to endure in the 1962 South. Great reading!


THE PROFESSIONAL, by Robert B. Parker
Private investigator Spenser gets an interesting case from a local lawyer: four of her wealthy female clients have all had affairs with the same man. The guy in question is now blackmailing them by threatening to tell their husbands. Spenser is asked to track this guy down and "persuade" him to back off.

But things get complicated when some of the women start turning up dead. This is a classic Robert B. Parker detective noir book which has enough suspense to keep the mystery thriller junkies satisfied from start to finish.


THE LAST SONG, by Nicholas Sparks
Seventeen year old Ronnie is forced to suffer what believes will be her greatest nightmare: live with her father during the summer in Wrightsville Beach, NC. She's been angry with her father ever since her parents divorced and her father moved away from New York and headed south to pursue his craft.

Slowly but surely Ronnie learns several life lessons about commitment, forgiveness and redemption. This book is beautifully written; I'm getting goose bumps just writing about it. It's one of those books that will stay with you months if not years after reading it. This was my first book by Nicholas Sparks but it definitely won't be my last.

Here are the best selling graphic novels on the New York Times Bestsellers List for the week ending October 23, 2009:

1. BLOOM COUNTY: THE COMPLETE LIBRARY, VOL. 1, by Berkeley Breathed

2. FABLES: DELUXE EDITION, VOL. 1, by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham

3. ABSOLUTE PROMETHEA, VOL. 1, by Alan Moore and J. H. Williams

4. BATMAN: CACOPHONY, by Kevin Smith and Walter Flanagan

5. THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young