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New York Times Best Seller lists

The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is updated online every Wednesday evening. Below are best seller lists for hardcover fiction and non-fiction. For more lists, visit our New York Times Children’s Best Sellers page or The New York Times’s Best Sellers page.

Hardcover Fiction

May 16, 2021

1

Sooleyby John Grisham
Samuel Sooleymon receives a basketball scholarship to North Carolina Central and determines to bring his family over from a civil war-ravaged South Sudan.

2

The Hill We Climbby Amanda Gorman
The poem read on President Joe Biden's Inauguration Day, by the youngest poet to write and perform an inaugural poem.

3

Finding Ashleyby Danielle Steel
Two estranged sisters, one a former best-selling author, the other a nun, reconnect as one searches for the child the other gave up.

4

A Gambling Manby David Baldacci
Aloysius Archer, a World War II veteran, seeks to apprentice with Willie Dash, a private eye, in a corrupt California town.

5

The Four Windsby Kristin Hannah
As dust storms roll during the Great Depression, Elsa must choose between saving the family and farm or heading West.

6

The Midnight Libraryby Matt Haig
Nora Seed finds a library beyond the edge of the universe that contains books with multiple possibilities of the lives one could have lived.

7

Ocean Preyby John Sandford
The 31st book in the Prey series. When federal officers are killed, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers team up to investigate matters.

8

Whereaboutsby Jhumpa Lahiri
A woman who feels lost in life finds solace in the city she calls home and gets a new outlook while visiting the sea.

9

The Invisible Life of Addie Larueby V.E. Schwab
A Faustian bargain comes with a curse that affects the adventure Addie LaRue has across centuries.

10

Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Goodby Timothy Zahn
In this Star Wars saga, Thrawn and the Expansionary Defense Fleet discover how their enemy truly operates.

11

A Distant Shoreby Karen Kingsbury
A secret agent with the F.B.I. and a young woman betrothed by her father to a drug lord pretend to be in love for a mission.

12

The Vanishing Halfby Brit Bennett
The lives of twin sisters who run away from a Southern Black community at age 16 diverge as one returns and the other takes on a different racial identity but their fates intertwine.

13

Klara and the Sunby Kazuo Ishiguro
An “Artificial Friend” named Klara is purchased to serve as a companion to an ailing 14-year-old girl.

14

Fugitive Telemetryby Martha Wells
The sixth book in the Murderbot Diaries series. When a dead body turns up on Preservation Station, Murderbot must speak to humans.

15

Reunion Beachby Elin Hilderbrand et al
A collection of stories and other writing inspired by the work of the late author Dorothea Benton Frank.

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Hardcover Nonfiction

May 16, 2021

1

What Happened to You?by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey
An approach to dealing with trauma that shifts an essential question used to investigate it.

2

The Bomber Mafiaby Malcolm Gladwell
A look at the key players and outcomes of precision bombing during World War II.

3

You Are Your Best Thingby Tarana Burke and Brené Brown
An anthology of writing on the Black experience and shame resilience.

4

How Y'all Doing?by Leslie Jordan
A collection of essays by the Emmy-winning actor who became a viral sensation without knowing what that phrase meant at the time.

5

Out of Many, Oneby George W. Bush
Forty-three portraits by the former president, of men and women who have immigrated to the United States.

6

Crying in H Martby Michelle Zauner
The daughter of a Korean mother and Jewish-American father, and leader of the indie rock project Japanese Breakfast, describes creating her own identity after losing her mother to cancer.

7

Untamedby Glennon Doyle
The activist and public speaker describes her journey of listening to her inner voice.

8

Casteby Isabel Wilkerson
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines aspects of caste systems across civilizations and reveals a rigid hierarchy in America today.

9

Greenlightsby Matthew McConaughey
The Academy Award-winning actor shares snippets from the diaries he kept over 35 years.

10

The Code Breakerby Walter Isaacson
How the Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues invented CRISPR, a tool that can edit DNA.

11

Think Againby Adam Grant
An examination of the cognitive skills of rethinking and unlearning that could be used to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

12

Antitrustby Amy Klobuchar
The senior senator from Minnesota suggests ways to deal with monopolies, promote business competition and encourage innovation.

13

Madam Speakerby Susan Page
Based on numerous interviews, the USA Today Washington bureau chief profiles the current speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

14

Empire of Painby Patrick Radden Keefe

15

On the Houseby John Boehner
The former speaker of the House reflects on his time in Washington, key political figures and the current state of the Republican Party.