Indie Best Sellers

August 03, 2023

The last week of July’s indie bookstore bestsellers has me drooling.

In the hardback fiction category, Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead was the second best seller. Barbara Kingsolver wowed me twenty years ago when I read The Poisonwood Bible, a historical fiction about a family of missionaries in Africa. It reflects the arrogance of Westerners, the problems with imperialism, and the power of guilt all through a family saga told through the eyes of four different women. This book inspired me to read more Kingsolver, and I can’t get enough of her.

Demon Copperhead was a co-recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and won the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. It is an allusion to Dickens's David Copperfield, pointing out we are still battling childhood poverty.

The third in that category was Colson Whitehead’s Crook Manifesto, which debuted that same week! This is a dark and funny continuation of his Harlem saga which started with Harlem Shuffle. While I was not a fan of Harlem Shuffle, I have enjoyed the others I have read by him - Nickel Boys and The Intuitionist.

What excites me about these two books is that both authors have such a wide range of genres, topics and style, and even if I am underwhelmed by one of their books, I know the next one I pick up will wow me!

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