Sara Gruen's Loch Ness novel is a hit
Here's a look at what's new on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list and in publishing ...
A monster debut: Sara Gruen has her highest debut ever with At the Water's Edge (Spiegel & Grau), a novel about Philadelphians pursuing the Loch Ness monster during World War II. It lands at No. 12. (The full list will publish on Thursday.) While that's Gruen's best debut, it's not her highest ranking. That belongs to Water for Elephants, which hit No. 1 in 2011, thanks to the movie adaptation. It took a while for Elephants to make it to the top; the period circus novel first entered the list at No. 141 in 2006. Elephants spent 200 weeks on the list. Gruen's 2010 novel Ape House peaked at No. 65. USA TODAY reviewer Patty Rhule gave Water's Edge **½ stars out of four, saying: "Gruen's depiction of life during wartime is powerfully evocative. … But despite the presence of a mythical beast, this doesn't quite add up to a legendary love story."
'Magic' touch: Cleaning house, Japanese-style, has struck a real chord with American readers. Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (Ten Speed Press), at No. 16 this week, is one of the breakout hits of 2015. The manual, published last fall, entered the top 150 on Nov. 6 at No. 104. The book had climbed to No. 11 by March 19. It's spent 19 weeks on the list. Kondo has attracted celebrity fans including Kate Hudson, who posted the book jacket to Instagram and raved: "This takes spring cleaning to a whole new level! Love this book and the process is liberating! Thank you #MarieKondo." Kondo's KonMari Method tells readers to clean out the mess by going through belongings and keeping only those that "spark joy."
Reddy or not: Kate Reddy is making a comeback. The working-mom heroine of Allison Pearson's best-selling 2002 novel I Don't Know How She Does It will return in a sequel in fall 2016, says St. Martin's Press. The original book peaked at No. 30 in 2002 and became a movie in 2011 starring Sarah Jessica Parker. In the new book, Kate, about to turn 50, is her family's sole breadwinner as she juggles angry teenagers and aging parents. Pearson, a journalist, writes a column for the U.K. Daily Telegraph.