Carrie Fisher's 'Diarist,' 'Drinking' climb Paste BN's list

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

Dear 'Diarist': The outpouring of affection for Carrie Fisher has spilled over to bookstores: two witty memoirs by the actress, who died on Dec. 27 at age 60, are high on Paste BN’s list this week.

The Princess Diarist lands at No. 3. And Wishful Drinking is No. 14. (The full list will be published on Thursday.)

Publishers are rushing back to press for more print copies of her books. (Most are available as e-books, too, and are selling strongly in that format.)

Princess Diarist, published on Nov. 22 to much fanfare after Fisher revealed she had had a youthful love affair with her Star Wars’ co-star Harrison Ford, has not made Paste BN’s list until now. Immediately after Fisher’s death, Diarist zoomed to No. 1 on Amazon.

This is a return appearance (at a much higher spot) on Paste BN’s list for Wishful Drinking, which peaked at No. 105 in 2008. It’s based on a stage show about Fisher’s colorful Hollywood life, and HBO re-aired the TV version on Jan. 1. (This week’s list tracks sales from Dec. 26-Jan. 1.)

Princess Leia’s writing career began in 1987 with Postcards From the Edge, a semi-autobiographical novel about Suzanne Vale, her stint in rehab, and her complicated relationship with her overbearing mother. (In real life, Debbie Reynolds, who died one day after her daughter.)

Blue Rider Press says it went back to press last week for 65,000 additional hardcover copies of Princess Diarist, for a total of 173,000 copies in print. Blue Rider also released a statement: “We are heartbroken by the untimely passing of our friend Carrie Fisher. She will, however, remain alive forever through her art, her words, her many kindnesses and her love."

Her paperback publisher, Simon & Schuster, reports that it’s sold 500,000 copies of Fisher’s novels and memoirs over the course of her career and that her books have never gone out of print. But “our supply was wiped out by demand,” says spokesman Cary Goldstein.  “We are quickly reprinting her books.”

The publisher is printing 20,000 more paperback copies each of Wishful Drinking and Postcards (for which there is not a Kindle edition); 10,000 more copies of Shockaholic, and 2,500 copies of her novel The Best Awful.

Shockaholic, Fisher’s 2011 memoir about receiving electroshock treatment for bipolar disorder, is in Paste BN’s top 150 this week at No. 104.

Counting calories: Like clockwork, diet books are gobbling up the list as we move into the new year armed with weight-loss resolutions. Four are in the top 50 this week. The top seller in the category is The Lose Your Belly Diet by Travis Stork, M.D., which lands at an impressive No. 2 (behind the thriller The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly at No. 1). This is Stork’s third Paste BN best seller; The Doctor’s Diet hit No. 14 in 2014. Stork appears on the syndicated TV show The Doctors.

Readers are also finding tips for healthy eating in Green Smoothies for Life by JJ Smith at No. 27; The Whole 30 by Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig at No. 36; and Zero Sugar Diet by David Zinczenko at No. 45.