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Our poetry best seller lists are based on data received from Nielsen BookScan, which tracks sales from more than 4,500 retail booksellers. Retailers included in the list include both large, high-volume retailers such as Borders and Amazon.com, and more than 400 smaller, independent bookstores. We generate the lists each week by tallying the number of books sold for recently published volumes of contemporary poetry, poetry anthologies, and children's poetry. The contemporary poetry best seller list is meant to reflect the current market for new poetry, and so excludes translations and new editions of classical works. Our small press list is based on Small Press Distribution's poetry sales to bookstores and individual customers, which are reported to us on a monthly basis.
Week of August 12, 2007
Contemporary |
1 |
After
by Jane Hirshfield
(Harper Perennial)
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2 |
The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (paperback)
by Billy Collins
(Random House)
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3 |
Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems
by Billy Collins
(Random House Trade Paperbacks)
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4 |
New and Selected Poems: Volume Two (paperback)
by Mary Oliver
(Beacon Press)
|
5 |
Thirst
by Mary Oliver
(Beacon Press)
|
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Anthology |
1 |
The Best Poems of the English Language (paperback)
edited by Harold Bloom (Harper Perennial)
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2 |
Good Poems
edited by Garrison Keillor (Penguin)
|
3 |
Good Poems for Hard Times
edited by Garrison Keillor (Penguin)
|
4 |
Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry
edited by Billy Collins (Random House)
|
5 |
The Best American Poetry 2006
edited by Billy Collins (Scribner)
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Children's |
1 |
Where the Sidewalk Ends (30th Anniversary Edition)
by Shel Silverstein
(HarperCollins)
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2 |
Nursery Rhymes: Well-Loved Verses to Share
edited by Beth Harwood, Susie Lacome (illustrator) (Silver Dolphin)
|
3 |
Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook
by Shel Silverstein
(HarperCollins)
|
4 |
Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose: One Hundred Best-Loved Verses
by Mary Engelbreit (illustrator) (HarperCollins)
|
5 |
A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children
edited by Caroline Kennedy (Hyperion / Hyperion Books for Children)
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Small Press |
1 |
Evensong: Contemporary American Poets on Spirituality
edited by Gerry LaFemina and Chad Prevost (Bottom Dog Press)
|
2 |
The Business of Fancydancing
by Sherman Alexie
(Hanging Loose Press)
|
3 |
Until the Morning After: Collected Poems 1963-1985
by Kofi Awoonor
(Greenfield)
|
4 |
Annus Mirabilis
by Sally Ball
(Barrow Street Press)
|
5 |
Low Italian
by George Guida
(Bordighera)
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Behind the List
Jane Hirshfield has a terrific week as her latest book, After, makes it to the top of the list. A mention of the book on NPR last week helped bump the paperback to number 1, and the hardcover to number 22.
Former poet laureate Ted Kooser sees a big jump as his Delights and Shadows moves on up to number 9. The Koose refuses to be overshadowed by new laureate Charles Simic, whose The Voice at 3:00 A.M. only makes it to number 10.
María Meléndez's How Long She'll Last in This World debuts on the list at number 17. We'll see how long she lasts on the list.
Kooser might have bested Simic above, but Simic isn't going down quietly, or maybe he is. My Noiseless Entourage gains 6 spots to number 18.
At number 27, Sledding on Hospital Hill by Leland Kinsey appears for the first time. With over 30,000 people being injured each year in sledding related accidents, we hope that there is indeed a hospital on that hill.
Harold Bloom keeps his Best Poems of the English Language at number one on the anthology list. Could the poems actually be "the best?"
Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak stays at number 6, stuck right where it was last week. It's a lot like the detainees in that way.
It works for clothes, so why not poems too? The slightly worn, but still styling Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry makes it to number 7.
We can always tell a new school year is about to start when we see the Norton Anthology of Poetry pop onto the list. It's at number 9 this week where it ties with another schoolyard fave, The Oxford Book of American Poetry.
Horror-themed kids books are in. Adam Rex's Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich comes in at number 10, and while not having a traditional horror theme, Jack Prelutsky's It's Raining Pigs and Noodles still seems a terrifying enough of a prospect to count. It comes in at number 7.
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