Bestseller Dreams

So, last week, I'm just going along my merry way, planning meals, working on laundry, trying to write. Just another day in the life of a writer. Which looks very similar to my former life as a teacher. Yes, I can still go shopping and out to eat without strangers flocking to me, holding out books they'd like me to sign. I'm not on Oprah's speed dial. Hollywood hasn't yet called.

And then I get an e-mail from my agent. All the Numbers was released in Taiwan on May 28. It debuted at #23. Yeah. #23. No extra zeroes left off. The following week, it had moved up to #12. You can see the June 8 bestseller list here.

In case you can't tell what some of the other titles are, here you go:

#1 THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein
#4 THREE CUPS OF TEA by Greg Mortenson
#5 PREP by Curtis Sittenfeld
#12 ALL THE NUMBERS by Judy Merrill Larsen!!!
#13 MY SISTER'S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult
#14 DOUBLE CROSS by Patrick Woodrow
#15 THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS by John Boyne
#17 A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini
#22 THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini
#23 SIMPLE DEAD by Peter James

Pretty crazy, huh?

It's amazing to think that my story has so caught on in Taiwan. Thrilling. Humbling. From my google searches, I know the book is being blogged about. Recommended. Now, I can't really tell what all is being said about it (on-line translation leaves much to be desired), but this goes right to the top of my "You Never Know" file. Almost two years after it was released here, in the good ol' USA, I'm now an international bestselling author.

It's all beyond my wildest dreams.

* * * *

Okay, enough about me. Now to a book that will likely be a bestseller right here this summer. I devoured it. And I keep thinking about it. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton comes out tomorrow.



Here's what I wrote Meg after finishing the book: "Well, I just have to tell you how much I loved, devoured, fell under the spell of The Wednesday Sisters! I finished it this morning after starting it Sunday evening. You so captured that time of innocence and change. (And, as a Cubs fan from way back then, you captured them as well.) I felt like a 6th sister--it's just a fabulous story, Meg and I can't say enough good things about it. Kath and Ally and Linda and Brett and Frankie are so finely drawn I feel as though I'll run into them in the grocery store. Like old friends I'd know anywhere."

You will love this book--the women are strong and flawed and honest. They grow and wonder and become who they need to be but not necessarily who they thought they'd be. The world of that time (the late 60's and early 70s) shapes and shakes them, but they also discover strengths they never knew they had. Buy several copies--give them to your friends, your sisters, your moms. You'll see yourself in these pages and at the end you'll find all sorts of things to celebrate.