Book Buzz: Poetry makes its mark on the list

Here’s a look at what’s new on Paste BN’s Best-Selling Books list…

It gets better:  Ever wondered what’s inside the real life of a millennial who has seven million YouTube followers? Shane Dawson’s It Gets Worse, No.6 on this week's Paste BN Best-Selling Books List, invites you to take a look at his.

A collection of essays capturing the non-YouTube half of himself — funny, witty and sometimes bittersweet — It Gets Worse,Dawson writes in the voice of a young adult who is, sometimes, still haunted by embarrassing high school moments. As he writes, “My biggest fear was the boys’ locker room. The thought of changing in front of a group of guys made me want to jump out of my mom’s car and get hit by a semi. Which, by the way, I used to think about every day.”

You will get a sense of how he comes up with those creative ideas for his top hit videos — life is the source of art after all.

The book, Dawson's second, is outperforming his first collection of essays, I Hate Myselfie, which focused more on the teen life that inspired his YouTube videos, landed at No. 51 in March 2015, and was on the list for four weeks.

Milk and Honey stirs: Books of poetry are rare on Paste BN's Best-Selling Books list so when Milk and Honey, a debut collection of poetry and prose by Rupi Kaur, makes the top 50 for not one, but three weeks, it’s a big deal. For perspective, the last time a collection of poems appeared in the top 50 was in 2011 when Shel Silverstein’s  Every Thing On It debuted at No. 11.

Originally published in October of 2015, the book first cracked the top 150 in March and has steadily climbed the best-seller list before reaching its current rank, No. 34. "Obviously we are thrilled," says Kirsty Melville, president and publisher of Andrews McMeel Publishing, "It is one of those books that is selling by word of mouth."

And what is that word of mouth? "Rupi's poetry resonates with how young women, really all women, feel. It speaks to them in a way where they want to share with each other." And while it is the form that helps,  "its simple and short and speaks to them," says Melville, "the message is stronger."