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I'm not just cranking these things out,'' John Grisham protested recently. ''Updike comes out every year and nobody accuses him of just cranking them out.'' Is that whining we hear from the lord and master of lawyerly lit? Might he be feeling a tad defensive about a few poorly received film versions and whispers of declining sales? In brief: Doubt it. Grisham still sells in such volume that if he skipped a year, small bookstores everywhere would take huge financial hits. And of the two Johns, Updike's not the one boasting 2.8 million copy first pressruns.
FICTION WEEKS ON LIST 1 THE STREET LAWYER John Grisham, Doubleday, $27.95 2 2 PARADISE Toni Morrison, Knopf, $25 6 3 COLD MOUNTAIN Charles Frazier, Atlantic Monthly, $24 34 4 BLACK AND BLUE Anna Quindlen, Random House, $23 3 5 THE CAT WHO SANG FOR THE BIRDS 2 Lilian Jackson Braun, Putnam, $22.95 6 FEAR NOTHING Dean Koontz, Bantam, $26.95 5 7 MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA Arthur Golden, Knopf, $25 14 8 THE WINNER David Baldacci, Warner Vision, $25 10 9 A CERTAIN JUSTICE P.D. James, Knopf, $25 11 10 CAT & MOUSE James Patterson, Little, Brown, $24.95 14
NONFICTION
1 SIMPLE ABUNDANCE Sarah Ban Breathnach, Warner, $20 98 2 TALKING TO HEAVEN James Van Praagh, Dutton, $22.95 6 3 THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR 32 Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, Longstreet, $22 4 ANGELA'S ASHES Frank McCourt, Scribner, $24 73 5 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE MItch Albom, Doubleday, $19.95 16 6 INTO THIN AIR Jon Krakauer, Villard, $24.95 42 7 THE PERFECT STORM Sebastian Junger, Norton, $23.95 34 8 MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL 158 John Berendt, Random House, $25 9 DON'T WORRY, MAKE MONEY Richard Carlson, Hyperion,$15.95 12 10 DEATH OF A PRINCESS: THE INVESTIGATION 1 Thomas Sancton and Scott MacLeod, St. Martin's, $23.95
TRADE PAPERBACKS
1 DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF... 45 Richard Carlson, Hyperion, $9.95 2 JAMES CAMERON'S TITANIC Ed W. Marsh, HarperPerennial, $20 6 3 CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE TEENAGE SOUL J. Canfield, 37 M.V.Hansen,and Kirk Kirberger, Health Communications, $12.95 4 UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN Frances Mayes, Broadway, $13 21 5 THE COLOR OF WATER James McBride, Riverhead, $12 49 6 THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE 333 Stephen R. Covey, S&S/Fireside, $14 7 THE SIMPSONS: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO OUR FAVORITE FAMILY 11 Matt Groening, edited by Ray Richmond, HarperPerennial, $15.95 8 THE WORLD ALMANAC AND BOOK OF FACTS 1998 11 Edited by Robert Famighetti, World Almanac Books, $9.95 9 CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE WOMAN'S SOUL J. Canfield, M.V. 68 Hansen, J. Read Hawthorne, and M. Shimoff, Health Communications, $12.95 10 INTO THE WILD JON KRAKAUER, Doubleday/Anchor, $12.95 41
SOURCE: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
