1980

CharlasBestsellers over the Years

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1980

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1vpfluke
Editado: Ago 17, 2007, 8:52 pm

Continuing along. I wish genre fiction would show up more.

1. The Covenant by James A. Michener, 291 owned with 2 reviews. This was also pbulished in 2 volumes which have 15 and 19 owners, respectively. Michener's The Source; a novel is his most famous with 607 owners and 9 reviews. I'm not sure how well Michener is standing the test of time. (South African historical)

2. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum has 1,311 owners and 13 reviews. Perhaps, this is bolstered by movies. (thriller)

3. Rage of angels by Sidney Sheldon has 208 owners and 2 reviews. (thriller)

4. Princess Daisy by Judith Krantz has 101 owners and 1 review. (contemporary)

5. Firestarter by Stephen King has 1,416 owners and 10 reviews. (thriller)

6. The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett has 303 owners and 3 reviews. (espionage/thriller)

7. Random Winds by Belva Plain has 43 owners and 1 review. (romance regarding generations of doctors)

8. The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth has 226 owners and 2 reviews. His Day of the Jackal has 632 onwers and 10 reviews. (espionage/thriller)

9. The Fifth Horseman : a novel by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre has 59 owners and 1 review. Collins' Freedom at Midnight has 153 owners and 1 review. (thriller)

10. The Spike by Arnaud De Borchegrave and Robert Moss has 30 owners (0 reviews). (spy story) De Borchegrave was Belgian born and for a while editor in chief of the Washngton Times.

2varielle
Ago 20, 2007, 12:33 pm

Maybe when you run out of years you can do non-fiction bestsellers. I wonder if they have held up better over time. Any thoughts?

3vpfluke
Ago 20, 2007, 1:04 pm

Well, non-fiction includes self-help books, and these don't have long lasting power, except for something like the The Power of Positive Thinking. This was on the list 1952, 53, 54 & 55. In some years, bibles and dictionaries have managed to get on the list. 9th in 1951 was Walt Kelly's Pogo, a comic strip compilation, presumably.

I'll do a couple more years of books. I think 1966 will come up next.

What I have in mind, after this, is to look at the 100 bestsellers that USA Today published some time ago for the 10 years 1993-2003. They mix fiction and non-fiction and hardback and paper. Ultimately, I think this is a better way to go. And they do include Harry Potter. I think the top 5 of the first 10 are Harry Potter books.

4Bookmarque
Ago 20, 2007, 1:19 pm

Know I've read The Key to Rebecca, Firestarter & think I've read The Bourne Identity. I went on a huge Ludlum kick once & after a while they all kind of blur together...
Tried reading The Source but it was way too much for my teenaged self at the time.

5MarianV
Ago 20, 2007, 6:12 pm

Michener is still - & will be- best known as the author of Tales of the south Pacific. His best big-book is probably Hawaii. After that, he seemed to get carried away with his own prose. Each of his following books grew bigger & more boring. Perhaps Centennial a history of Colorado & a TV mini-series will last. It's available in DVD. Of all Michener's books, the first book he wrote & had been turned down by publishers until he became famous The fires of Spring was IMHO his best. It is an auto-biographical novel of the depression years, nothing at all like his other works. I have a well-worn paperback copy from the 1950's. Don't know if it is in BIP.

6vpfluke
Ago 20, 2007, 7:21 pm

Tales of the South Pacific has 224 owners and 7 reviews. My mother played the record of the South Pacific soundtrack all the time growing up (along with the King and I). Caravans was also an early book of Michener, but not as good as "The Source" of "Hawaii".

7vpfluke
Ago 20, 2007, 7:30 pm

I also liked James Michener's The novel with 138 owners and 3 reviews, and an obscure book, Report of the county chairman with only 3 copies and 1 review. The latter deals with Bucks County (PA) politics, that he dabbled in. I don't seem to own it now, but I do remember reading a good part of it when it came out decades ago. "The Novel" was intersting for Michener's look at the practice (not really the 'art') of writing and bringing a book to publication.

8Polite_Society
Editado: Sep 14, 2007, 10:02 pm

vpfluke wrote:

What I have in mind, after this, is to look at the 100 bestsellers that USA Today published some time ago for the 10 years 1993-2003. They mix fiction and non-fiction and hardback and paper. Ultimately, I think this is a better way to go. And they do include Harry Potter. I think the top 5 of the first 10 are Harry Potter books.

As one who has barely nicked the "top ten" of all the bestseller years you've covered to date, I wholeheartedly support this broader approach -- although I doubt I'd allow USA Today an ultimate say in what's worthwhile. (I have half a dozen of Thomas Costain's books, for instance, but they're all non-fiction, NON-bestsellers, but excellent works, just the same.)

"The best 100 books of any decade" might be a great theme -- one that could be determined by readers here on LT -- as opposed to agenda-oriented and sales-conscious mainstream reviewers.

Taken decade by decade, such an endeavor might produce some enlightening results. (Or at least some uniquely LT ones!)

9vpfluke
Sep 16, 2007, 9:00 pm

I'm not quite in gear to do the USA Today listing -- I just came back from vacation, and had only peripheral computer access for nine days.

My reason for doing USA Today's listing was simply to get something which lots of LT members have. There are listings of things like the 100 most significant books of the century, and I could eventually do something like that and see what LTers have of them.

10usnmm2
Oct 22, 2007, 5:55 pm

Have read;
1. Fire starter which is Stephen Kings best book.
2.;The Key to Rebecca a great WW2 story by Ken Follett
3. Both The Covenant and The source by James A. Michener
4. Day of the Jackal by Fredrerick Forsyth

11vpfluke
Oct 22, 2007, 9:53 pm

Although I didn't read "The Spike", I do remember reading Arnaud de Borchgrave's columns in newspapers.

12varielle
Editado: Ene 1, 2008, 8:54 pm

US Non-Fiction

1. Crisis Investing: Opportunities and Profits in the Coming Great Depression, Douglas R. Casey I don't seem to recall this Depression. 8 copies on LT

2. Cosmos, Carl Sagan I didn't understand but loved it because of Carl. 1,497 copies

3. Free to Choose: A Personal Statement, Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman 384 copies

4. Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, Norman Cousins 100 copies

5. Thy Neighbor's Wife, Gay Talese 70 copies

6. The Sky's the Limit, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer 17 copies

7. The Third Wave, Alvin Toffler 328 copies

8. Craig Claiborne's Gourmet Diet, Craig Claiborne with Pierre Franey 38 copies

9. Nothing Down, Robert Allen 17 copies

10. Shelley: Also Known as Shirley, Shelley Winters 36 copies

13keren7
Abr 14, 2008, 4:11 pm

Have read Firestarter

14adpaton
Jul 14, 2010, 2:32 am

Princess Daisy (blush) and Firestarter - another King I didn't really enjoy - are the only two I have read here. I actually still own them both.

15geneg
Jul 14, 2010, 11:20 am

My wife swears by Stephen King. He reminds me a little of Hemingway in one respect, he tries awfully hard. I read one of his most popular books, The Stand, years ago. Aside from the prose that really wasn't polished or particularly accomplished, the main thing that stood out was this was trilogy under one title. Long, drawn out, punctuated with some excitement or other weirdness and told in three discreet sections. I haven't read a King novel since, however I have enjoyed some of his movies.

16danellender
Ago 7, 2010, 5:52 pm

Bourne was Ludlum's breakout novel, the prototype for clueless protagonists ever since.