October 15, 1999 Tie at the Top for New Book Sense 76 There's a tie for the top vote-getter for November/December! AHAB'S WIFE by Sena Jeter Naslund (Morrow) and FENCING THE SKY by James Galvin (Holt) tied for the top spot, although five other new or recently-published books are very, very close. Here are the top seven bookseller favorites for the Nov./Dec. 76:   AHAB'S WIFE Or, the Star-Gazer, by Sena Jeter Naslund (Morrow, $28, 0688171877) CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA, by Stendhal; translated by Richard Howard (Modern Library, $24.95, 0679602453) FALL OF THE YEAR, by Howard Frank Mosher (Houghton Mifflin, $24, 0395984165) FENCING THE SKY, by James Galvin (Henry Holt, $23, 0805062203) FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire, by John Maclean (Morrow, $24, 0688144772) HEADLONG, by Michael Frayn (Metropolitan, $26, 0805062858) THE LANGUAGE OF THREADS, by Gail Tsukiyama (St. Martin's, $23.95, 0312203764) And there were three very strong Children's Book vote-getters; they are: THE 20TH CENTURY CHILDREN'S POETRY TREASURY, edited by Jack Prelutsky (Random House, $19.95, 0679893148) SECTOR 7, by David Wiesner (Clarion Books, $16, 0395746566) WESLANDIA, by Paul Fleischman; illus. by Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick, $15.99, 0763600067) The full 76, with the bookseller quotes, will be available in the October 25 issue of BOOKSELLING THIS WEEK, with 250,000 printed four-page fliers to be distributed to stores by early November. The 76 list--titles and ISBNs only--will be emailed to all stores and wholesalers October 18. We think you'll be pleased again by the range and quality of the books. And, finally, it's very much worth noting that the latest pick for Oprah's Book Club is Breena Clarke's RIVER, CROSS MY HEART, which was an October Book Sense 76 selection, highlighted by Carla Cohen of Politics & Prose in Washington, DC. Topics: Book Sense,