Frank L. Weyenberg Library Blog: I Want to Read a Bestseller!

If you enjoy reading the books that everyone’s talking about, or simply like to stay abreast of current books, the New York Times Bestseller list is a great resource. You can access it directly through Easicat: from the Easicat page choose the “Search” tab, and then either “Keyword” or “Browse”. On the left side you’ll see a sidebar that says “NY Times Bestsellers.” If you click on the drop-down arrow, you can choose from bestselling fiction, non-fiction or advice titles (advice includes self-help, cookbooks and fitness books), as well as children’s and young adult chapter books (think Hunger Games), paperbacks, and picture books.

The best part about viewing the bestseller lists from Easicat is that you can immediately request a title by clicking the “Request” button. Or if you’re like me, and you have more books checked out than you have time to read, Easicat will keep a list of books you hope to read in the future: log on with your barcode number and PIN under the “Patron Account” tab, and then when you find a book you’d like to read, click on “Add to list” on the right-hand side of the screen.
While the NYT bestseller lists are top-10 lists, you’ll find as many as 50 entries in the Easicat version of the list. That’s because each book is listed in all the available formats. You can decode these by looking at the icon that appears next to the picture of the book.

means it’s a traditional book

means it’s a large print book

indicates a non-musical sound recording, which is a book on CD

Got an e-reader or an mp3 player?

indicates an e-book which you can download onto your e-reader or computer and

is the icon for an audiobook which you can listen to on an mp3 player or computer. Just click on the link that says “Click here to access the title or place a request” and it will take you the Wisconsin Library Digital Download Center (Overdrive).

Looking at the NYT Bestseller list is an easy way to find your next great read. Here’s a few I’ve read or listened to lately:

From the Adult Non-fiction list: Unbroken: a World War II airman’s story of survival, resilience and redemption by Laura Hillenbrand—I didn’t think I would be interested in the story of a WWII airman who was shot down over the Pacific Ocean, but so many people recommended it to me I decided to give it a try. I found myself riveted to the story of a man whose determination and mental toughness brought him to the 1936 Olympics, enabled him to survive weeks at sea in a lifeboat, and then carried him through months of brutality and horror in Japanese POW camps. It sounds like a grisly story, but in the end is an inspiring one.

From the Adult Fiction list: Fall of giants by Ken Follett—The master historical fiction writer wows us again with this book, the first in a series of three that will take us through the twentieth century. Follett’s characters include the rich and the poor, the influential and the ordinary, and the stories take us from the United States to England, France, Germany and Russia as we trace the fates of five inter-connected families.

From the Adult Advice list: Heaven is for real: a little boy’s astounding story of his trip to heaven and back by Todd Burpo—This is a wonderful story about a boy whose brush with death left him with stories about heaven that are nothing short of remarkable. He tells of people he met in heaven who he would not otherwise know because they were not alive during his life on earth, and he tells details of heaven that are consistent with facts in the Bible which he had not yet been taught in his short life. This book will bolster your faith in God, and provide comfort to any who are mourning those who have preceded them to heaven.

From the children’s chapter book list: Wonderstruck by Brian Selznik—This book tells two stories simultaneously: the story of a young boy looking for his father, told entirely with words, and the story of a deaf girl, who has no words, told entirely in pictures. It is by the same author as The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was the inspiration for the movie Hugo.

Other NYT Bestsellers that have been made into award-winning movies include War Horse by Morpurgo, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Descendants by Kaui Hemmings, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, and The Vow by Kim and Krickett Carpenter. You can check out the book or the DVD, which is indicated by an icon that looks like this: