NYC's favorite book store reveals its bestsellers of the year. 

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As New York City&rsquo;s bookstores dwindle (the former Barnes and Noble on 6th Ave still sits empty five years later and Three Lives on 10th street just narrowly survived), the staying power of Strand&nbsp;serves as a testament to its status as a literary landmark, a mecca to the city&rsquo;s anti-corporate consumers.

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Founded in 1927, the independently-run store has sat at its four-story flagship location, just two blocks south of Union Square, since 1956. Ever since, it has drawn something of a cult following&mdash;Strand caps, tote bags, and pins with clever literary references dot the sidewalks and subways acting as a symbol of local pride and intellectualism. The store&rsquo;s street-level floor sees a constant rotation of selected books by some of the industry&rsquo;s most prominent writers. Store employees make their picks, too, and they&rsquo;re just as trusted.

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As the go-to place for books in NYC, we asked Strand about their ten bestselling books (they stock close to 2.5 million at any given time), which offer a glimpse into the Big Apple mentality and a reflection of television&rsquo;s effect on literature consumption. It should come as no surprise that Margaret Atwood&rsquo;s dystopian 1985 novel The Handmaid&rsquo;s Tale, which was adopted into a Golden Globe-nominated Hulu series, makes the list.

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Read it in full below:

Though published in 1985, Atwood&#39;s The Handmaid&#39;s Tale has found new meaning in the Trump era. Before becoming handmaid for an officer and his wife,&nbsp;Offred once had a family and child of her own. Now, women are not taught how to read and are valued only for their ability to procreate. The book has resurfaced after Hulu&#39;s&nbsp;recent successful adaptation, which already has garnered two Golden Globe nominations.&nbsp;

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/strand-80/the-handmaid-s-tale-a-novel/_/searchString/margaret%20atwood">Purchase&nbsp;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&nbsp;from Strand here.&nbsp;</a>

The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

milk and honey is a compilation of poetry inspired by pain, abuse, love, femininity, and healing. Kaur gained a strong following on Instagram and Tumblr where she first started posting her work alongside complimentary illustrations, also drawn by Kaur. You can read our interview with the author <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/rupi-kaur-on-why-she-is-more-than-just-an-instagram-poet">here</a>.

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/poetry-1/milk-and-honey-144947425x/_/searchString/milk%20%20honey">Purchase&nbsp;milk and honey</a><a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/poetry-1/milk-and-honey-144947425x/_/searchString/milk%20%20honey">&nbsp;from Strand here.</a>&nbsp;

 milk and honey, Rupi Kaur

Written in 1949, Orwell paints a harrowing and convincing portrait of the future in 1984. Though the year has long since passed, his vision of a corrupt government that suppresses individuality and a city where Big Brother looms over everyone&#39;s shoulder feels as relevant as ever.&nbsp;

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/strand-80/1984/_/searchString/1984">Purchase&nbsp;1984</a><a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/strand-80/1984/_/searchString/1984">&nbsp;from Strand here.</a>&nbsp;

1984, George Orwell

Adapted from her widely viewed TEDx talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie&#39;s&nbsp;We Should All Be Feminists evaluates what it means to be a feminist in today&#39;s society. In the wake of a political and cultural turn,&nbsp;Adichie dives into discrimination, institutional misogyny, and unmasks sexual politics. Fashion lovers will recognize the title from its appearance in Maria Grazia Chiurri&#39;s first collection for <a href="https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524447095169">Dior</a>, and music lovers will recognize a sound bite from Adichie&#39;s TEDx talk featuring on Beyonce&#39;s track &quot;****Flawless.&quot;

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/product/we-should-all-be-feminists/_/searchString/we%20should%20all%20be">Purchase&nbsp;We Should All Be Feminists&nbsp;from Strand here.</a>

We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adichie makes the list twice with her equally impactful, and award-winning&nbsp;Americanah. Two lovers,&nbsp;Ifemelu and Obinze, flee Nigerian dictatorship in search of new lives. After finding success in different continents, enduring racism along the way, the two reunite and evaluate building a life together despite their different paths. Lupita Nyong&#39;o and&nbsp;David Oyelowo are expected to play Ifemelu and Obinze in a forthcoming film adaptation.&nbsp;

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/fiction/americanah-0307455920/_/searchString/americanah">Purchase&nbsp;Americanah&nbsp;from Strand&nbsp;here.&nbsp;</a>

Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Following the significant buzz around the Showtime series&nbsp;American Gods, which was adapted from his book of the same name, Gaiman released his take on the great Norse myths.&nbsp;

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/mythology-folklore/norse-mythology-039360909x/_/searchString/norse%20mythology">Purchase&nbsp;Norse Mythology&nbsp;from Strand&nbsp;here.</a>

Norse Mythology, Neil Gaiman

Roxane Gay comments on current day feminism while&nbsp;walking us through her experiences as a feminist and women color. Gay leads us through her own self-journey while simoutainlusly evaluating today&#39;s culture. Reevaluation and reflection&nbsp;have become a common past time in an age of exploration and questioning authority, and Gay&#39;s collection of essays propel these self-evolutionary thoughts.

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/women-s-studies/bad-feminist-essays/_/searchString/bad%20feminist">Purchase&nbsp;Bad Feminist&nbsp;from Strand here.</a>

Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay

Rebecca Solnit takes on the dynamics of men and women in this witty essay. Solnit&#39;s abrupt description of what needs to be revised in our cultural dynamics helps fuel the current fire for change.&nbsp;Men Explain Things to Me&nbsp;comes at a cultural moment when&nbsp;the portmonteau &quot;mansplaining&quot; takes center stage&mdash;where women rightfully call out men for assuming they need help understanding.

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/women-s-studies/men-explain-things-to-me-1608464660/_/searchString/men%20explain%20things%20to%20me">Purchase&nbsp;Men Explain Things to Me&nbsp;from Strand here.&nbsp;</a>

Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit

Neil DeGrasse Tyson has become something of a cultural icon given his astrophysicist background and the current administration&#39;s insistance on&nbsp;denying scientific fact. Here, he&nbsp;helps us find our place in the universe with his summary of the mind-expanding questions, and how to approach them.&nbsp;All boiled down for the five-second minds of today.

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/physics/astrophysics-for-people-in-a-hurry/_/searchString/astrophysics%20neil">Purcahse&nbsp;Astrophysics for People in a Hurry&nbsp;from Strand here.</a>

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Columbia University associate professor Paul Beatty released his book, The Sellout, in 2015 after 18 different publishers turned it down. A year after finding a financial backer, the satirical novel won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and&nbsp;The Guardian&nbsp;dubbed Beatty the &quot;funniest writer in America.&quot;&nbsp;

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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/product/the-sellout-a-novel-1250083257/_/searchString/%20sellout">Purchase&nbsp;The Sellout&nbsp;from Strand here.&nbsp;</a>

The Top Ten Bestselling Books at the Strand in 2017

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