Ashvegas 2016 Year in Review: Bestselling books at Malaprop’s in Asheville

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Here’s a look at the best-selling books of 2016 as of mid-November, via our friends at Malaprop’s Bookstore in downtown Asheville. (Note that this is the list for the year as of about Thanksgiving.) Malaprop’s is Asheville’s vibrant independent bookstore that’s as much an institution as it is a place to buy great books. Malaprop’s will be celebrating its 35th anniversary next year. Amazing!

The list of best-selling books is topped by a cookbook and New York Times bestseller, which makes sense for a foodie town like Asheville. Asheville Chef Katie Button cracks the top 5 with her new cookbook. Local favorite Ron Rash also craks the top 5 with his new novel. There’s plenty of self-help type reading material here, too.

2016 Bestselling Books (so far!)

• Everydaycook: This Time it’s Personal by Alton Brown
• A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
• Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
• The Risen by Ron Rash
• Curate: Authentic Spanish Food from an American Kitchen by Katie Button
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
• Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• Dimestore by Lee Smith
• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett
• The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf

Below find the list of bestselling titles for children’s books. What’s notable to me here is all the local authors represented. Robert Beatty, Constance Lombardo, Beth Revis, Stephanie Perkins and Megan Shepherd are all Asheville authors. How cool is that?

Children’s Bestsellers 2016

• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne
• Serafina and the Twisted Staff by Robert Beatty
• Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty
• Mr. Puffball: Stunt Cat to the Stars by Constance Lombardo
• World Without You by Beth Revis
• A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
• Summer Days and Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins
• The Last Star by Rick Yancey
• The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd
• The Maypop Kidnapping by Cynthia Surrisi
• The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan