2004

US Fiction Hardcover

1 THE DA VINCI CODE By Dan Brown 21,044 copies on LT
2 THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN By Mitch Albom. 4,356 copies
3 THE LAST JUROR By John Grisham. 1,963 copies
4 ANGELS & DEMONS By Dan Brown 11,741 copies
5 THE RULE OF FOUR By Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason. 2,909 copies
6 THE GLORIOUS APPEARING: THE END OF DAYS By Tim Lahaye & Jerry B. Jenkins. 451 copies
7 TRACE By Patricia Cornwell. 1,202 copies
8 3RD DEGREE By James Patterson and Andrew Gross. 1,174 copies
9 SONG OF SUSANNAH: THE DARK TOWER VI By Stephen King. 2,495 copies
10 SAM'S LETTERS TO JENNIFER By James Patterson. 10,637 copies

Nonfiction Hardcover

1 MY LIFE By Bill Clinton. 1,423 copies
2 AMERICA (THE BOOK): A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO DEMOCRACY INACTION By Jon Stewart & the Daily Show. 4,765 copies
3 PLAN OF ATTACK By Bob Woodward. 571 copies
4 AGAINST ALL ENEMIES: INSIDE AMERICA'S WAR ON TERROR By Richard A. Clarke. 673 copies
5 UNFIT FOR COMMAND: SWIFT BOAT VETERANS SPEAK OUT AGAINST JOHN KERRY. By John E. O'Neill & Jerome R.Corsi. 124 copies
6 BIG RUSS & ME: FATHERAND SON: LESSONS OF LIFE By Tim Russert. 120 copies
7 AMERICAN SOLDIER By Gen. Tommy Franks with Malcolm McConnell. 189 copies
8 DELIVER US FROM EVIL: DEFEATING TERRORISM, DESPOTISM, AND LIBERALISM By Sean Hannity. 173 copies

Children's Books

1 THE GRIM GROTTO: A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS: BOOK THE ELEVENTH By Lemony Snicket. 1,535 copies
2 ERAGON: INHERITANCE, BOOK ONE By Christopher Paolini. 5,853 copies
3 HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX By J.K. Rowling. 25,943 copies
4 THE POLAR EXPRESS By Chris Van Allsburg. 971 copies
5 HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE By J.K. Rowling. 24,861 copies
6 GOODNIGHT MOON (BOARD BOOK). By Margaret Wise Brown. 1,772 copies
7 OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO! By Dr. Seuss. 1,547 copies
8 THE BAD BEGINNING: A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS: BOOK THE FIRST By Lemony Snicket. 3,897 copies
9 SUMMER OF THE SEA SERPENT: MAGIC TREE HOUSE BOOK #31 By Mary Pope Osborne. 63 copies

Nonfiction Paperback

1 THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT. 1,236 copies
2 READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN: A MEMOIR IN BOOKS By Azar Nafisi. 4,185 copies
3 DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUROY AND DENIM By David Sedaris. 4,918 copies
4 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE By Mitch Albom. 4,622 copies
5 THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY By Erik Larson. 4,482 copies
6 A CHILD CALLED "IT": ONE CHILD'S COURAGE TO SURVIVE By Dave Pelzer. 1,471 copies

Fiction Paperback

1 ANGELS & DEMONS By Dan Brown. 11,741 copies
2 DECEPTION POINT By Dan Brown. 4,956 copies
3 DIGITAL FORTRESS By Dan Brown. 4,975 copies
4 THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES By Sue Monk Kidd. 6,657 copies
5 THE KING OF TORTS By John Grisham. 1,892 copies
6 THE NOTEBOOK By Nicholas Sparks. 2,350 copies
7 ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE By Gabriel García Márquez. 11,339 copies
8 BLEACHERS By John Grisham.1,107 copies
9 KEY OF VALOR By Nora Roberts. 660 copies
10 THE WEDDING By Nicholas Sparks. 1,092 copies

Self-Help Titles

1 THE SOUTH BEACH DIET By Arthur Agatston. 799 copies
2 THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE: WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR? By Rick Warren. 2,857 copies
3 THE SOUTH BEACH DIET GUIDE By Arthur Agatston 216 copies
4 THE SOUTH BEACH DIET COOKBOOK By Arthur Agatston. 226 copies
5 EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES: THE ZERO-TOLERANCE APPROACH TO PUNCTUATION By Lynne Truss. 5,663 copies
6 THE ULTIMATE WEIGHT SOLUTION FOOD GUIDE By Dr. Phil McGraw. 91 copies
7 THE PROPER CARE & FEEDING OF HUSBANDS By Dr. Laura Schlessinger. 149 copies
8 THE ULTIMATE WEIGHT SOLUTION By Dr. Phil McGraw. 279 copies
9 HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU by Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo. 590 copies
10 THE AUTOMATIC MILLIONAIRE By David Bach. 293 copies

In Hardcover fiction, I've read #1, 2 & 5. I also read # 4 Angels and Demons in paper (which is # 1 on the fiction paper list). We have one of the South Beach Diet books, as well as the Purpose Driven Life. We also own Deception Point and Digital Fortress which my wife has read and I have not. Also we have Eats, Shoots and leaves

We have all the Harry Potter books as well as Eragon. We also have one of the Lemony Snicket books, but may have disposed of it.

What a thoroughly depressing year for the written word.

#3
I take it, you don't think any of these books will stand the test of time.

In hardcover fiction, the best is the Rule of Four and that probably won't.

I think Harry Potter will last, possibly also Dr. Seuss books.

You read me right.

geneg

How do you think "Harry Potter" will do?

Do you think George MacDonald (At the Back of the North Wind) has stood the test of time? As I write this, I'm not sure. Certainly CS Lewis has, as well as J R R Tolkien.

For regular adult fiction, is there anything current that has any possibilities? (I know this is not the right place to ask this question)

Goodnight Moon is one of my all-time favorite kids' books ~ I read it to my daughter 25 years ago, read it to my godson 7 years ago, and hope to read it to my grandchild in another 7 years or so. :)

I really loved Devil in the White City. It's non-fiction that reads better than most of the novels on this list (adult ones, at any rate, except MAYBE the Marquez, which I don't think I've read yet, tho I've read others of his).

I'm embarrassed to admit what novels I did read from this list: #1 and 6 in the first list *hides face in shame* and #9 in Paperback fiction list. Also the Harry Potters.

As geneg wrote, a pretty dismal year for the written word.

#6 IMO Harry Potter will wind up in a category akin to Scott's Waverly novels or Robert Louis Stevenson or Tolkien. Better than average writing, but not on a par with Dickens, or Eliot, or the Brontes, or Jane Austen, or most of all in my book, Henry James. Good stuff, available in two hundred years, but not taught in school. All that said, I must admit that I have yet to read a Potter book, so that's how much my opinion counts here. I base my judgment on the fact that my wife, who does not read anything but true crime, thought they were wonderful.

I know, I know, if I haven't read the books don't talk about them.

I am not familiar with George MacDonald beyond knowing the name. I can't make a judgment other than to say my lack of familiarity with his work says something about either the staying power of his work or the state of my education.

As far as C. S. Lewis goes, he seems to be of interest anymore primarily for his Christian works. While these may be top notch works, they are addressed to a limited audience, regarding a single subject. Not the fodder for a non-genre classic. I will say that as a general interest reader, I enjoy Graham Greene more than Lewis and would consider him more likely to stand time's test.

Once again, these are my limited opinions (not humble, just limited). I know there are millions of people who absolutely love some or all of the authors in question and will disagree, but I'm trying to think in terms of five hundred years or more, that's the time the test takes.

Since I seemed to have jumped in with both feet, allow me to comment on just the first ten fiction bestsellers.

Genre Beach reads of various quality ranging from typical modern day page turners to average entertainment (page turners are not necessarily great books, just well paced. #1 and #4 are cases in point.):

1 THE DA VINCI CODE By Dan Brown 21,044 copies on LT
3 THE LAST JUROR By John Grisham. 1,963 copies
4 ANGELS & DEMONS By Dan Brown 11,741 copies
7 TRACE By Patricia Cornwell. 1,202 copies
8 3RD DEGREE By James Patterson and Andrew Gross. 1,174 copies
9 SONG OF SUSANNAH: THE DARK TOWER VI By Stephen King. 2,495 copies

Maudlin crap:

2 THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN By Mitch Albom. 4,356 copies

Pure gore with sadistic voyeurism:

6 THE GLORIOUS APPEARING: THE END OF DAYS By Tim Lahaye & Jerry B. Jenkins. 451 copies

This may well be the single worst book ever written. The Bulwer-Lytton prize should be renamed the LaHaye-Jenkins prize, except this book does not come close to camp. It's just disgusting.

Books I don't know enough about to form an opinion:

5 THE RULE OF FOUR By Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason. 2,909 copies
10 SAM'S LETTERS TO JENNIFER By James Patterson. 10,637 copies

Knowing much of what James Patterson writes, this book probably belongs to the beach reads.

#9 - I am having a good laugh here.

"Pure gore with sadistic voyeurism:

6 THE GLORIOUS APPEARING: THE END OF DAYS By Tim Lahaye & Jerry B. Jenkins. 451 copies

This may well be the single worst book ever written. The Bulwer-Lytton prize should be renamed the LaHaye-Jenkins prize, except this book does not come close to camp. It's just disgusting."

I just finished off Have a Nice Doomsday : Why Millions of Americans Are Looking Forward to the End of the World by Nicholas Guyatt (oh goody, no touchstone) and those two authors are covered extensively.

I think Graham Green has staying power, but he is far from recent.

The Rule of four is a youthful novel set at Princeton University. Not truly an academic novel of the David Lodge type, though.

Mitch Albom writes where a lot of people are in their thinking about ulitmate things. I think it will be interesting in 50 years in a sociological sense, but not literary. Ha.

I think we've mentioned in some other threads that the LaHaye/Jenkins End Times books' sales numbers are artificially inflated since they are bought en masse by groups with a vested interested for give aways or maybe they're just storing them in warehouses somewhere.

I suspect that the Tim Lahaye book numbers are real. Those 'en masse' books were read by people who don't read other fiction. I actually know people who have read them, even though I couldn't get beyond the title (i.e. when I saw them in bookstores, I had no desire to pick one up and flip through the pages).

Hi, vpfluke ~ I actually know people who read them too. Me for one. ;b Though the writing was execrable and the stories sophomoric, I just couldn't seem to stop myself.

*ducking out the back door, dodging rotten tomatoes thrown by those with discerning taste in literature*

I read the first one, but didn't feel the need to read the rest.

I struggled through eleven and a half of these books. The quality declined steadily after about the third book, but I was determined to press forward to The Glorious Appearing, but alas and alack, it turned out the last book made Christ look like Freddie Krueger on steroids (everyone was on steroids in this one) and the blood flowed quite literally in a river a mile wide and five feet deep. The most incredible gore fest I've ever read. I couldn't finish it. If this was Jesus I sure didn't want anything to do with it. I just couldn't finish it. It was just so obvious that the writers were thrilled that they were vindicated by Christ in their righteousness and desire for revenge.

This book made me wonder about people who soaked this stuff up as God's revenge on humanity.

Zero for me. Nothing here really catches my eye except Devil in the White City, which is on my reading list based on a recommendation.

In fiction: all the Dan Brown except Deception Point.
In nonfiction: America: the Book, Against All Enemies, The 9/11 Commission Report, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and Eats, Shoots & Leaves
In children's: the two Harry Potter, and The Polar Express and Goodnight Moon when I was younger.

I have read

Five people you meet in Heaven read and owned but bookmooched away
Da Vinci Code - read and owned
Tuesdays with Morrie - own and have read - I really like this book.
A child called it - read but don't own - I also enjoyed this book.
Secret Life of bees - read and owned and also bookmooched away
King of Torts - read and own and am trying to bookmooch away
The South Beach Diet - owned but not read. it sits next to my books on getting over procastination which are also waiting to be read.

>19 keren7:

it sits next to my books on getting over procastination which are also waiting to be read.

I saw that!

Devil in the White City is good, and the 9/11 Commission Report is surprisingly readable. I have read both Harry Potters but don't own them (bought them for my nephew, and carefully read them before shipping them).

I have My Life but haven't found time to read it. Not a great Clinton fan, but I have biographies of all of the presidents.

Goodnight Moon is a classic, and a favorite gift for new babies, along with anything by Dr. Seuss.

Keren, I am glad to know that I am not the only one whose books on procrastination never seem to get read!

LOL

Yes, I joke that I will read my books on getting over procastination tomorrow---at this point my husband just rolls his eyes lol

Of all these books, the only one I've read is One Hundred Years of Solitude. But how did it find its way onto a 2004 bestseller list?

Oh, I get it now. When I type in the touchstone, I see "(Oprah's Book Club)" next to the book title. Way to go, Oprah! This is one of my favorite books, and good for her for introducing a whole new generation and a whole new group of readers to this classic.

#6: Harry Potter will wind up in a category akin to Scott's Waverly novels or Robert Louis Stevenson or Tolkien.

Tolkien is the most influential fantasy writer of all time, has the most popular pre-WWII book on LibraryThing, and if we fixed the work system and counted all the copies of the Fellowship of the Ring, including those in the Lord of the Rings, there would be 41984 on LT, pushing it past anything but Harry Potter and even one of those. I don't think tossing him in the same category as Scott or Stevenson or Rowling is appropriate. 50 years have passed since LotR came out, and it still has hosts of fans, new movies, new academic work on him, etc.; I think that says something of judgment of time.

David Brin went off on those type of judgments, commenting how a hundred years ago, literary people thought that no one would know of H. G. Wells nowadays, unlike Henry James. Right now, on Project Gutenberg, H. G. Wells is the 11th most downloaded author, running twice as many downloads as Henry James, number 54. (Those numbers have stayed fairly steady over time.) Interestingly enough, on LibraryThing, they're running head to head, with Henry James in a slight lead.

As far as C. S. Lewis goes, he seems to be of interest anymore primarily for his Christian works.

His most a-Christian work, The Chronicles of Narnia is his most owned work on LT (again, if you include The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with The Chronicles of Narnia, you get 28.8 thousand copies on LT, which bump To Kill a Mockingbird out of 13th place.) His books on Christianity aren't exactly for a limited audience or on a single subject, either; they're guides for living, and even assuming they're only for Christians, that's still a billion-odd people.

I'm trying to think in terms of five hundred years or more, that's the time the test takes.

That depends on your rules, doesn't it? I find it interesting that you said Dickens, or Eliot, or the Brontes, or Jane Austen, or most of all in my book, Henry James. ... , available in two hundred years*. None of these are two hundred years old yet, with Henry James not even making it 150 yet. Not once did you mention an author first published five hundred years ago. Of great status, English has one--Chaucer. I suppose one could argue the Beowulf poet, but I might argue that his works have only been available for a couple hundred years. There's a lot to be said for reaching an audience beyond your day and age, without having to demand surviving a half-millennium and the cultural shift that will go along with it.

* I realize I'm twisting the context in attaching the part after the ellipsis, but I felt it accurately represented geneg's intent. If not, my apologies.

The only artist alive today working in any genre that is likely to be remembered in five hundred years with anything more than a passing mention is Bob Dylan.

#25> Thanks, geneg. I can always use a laugh first thing in the morning! The idea that we think we might have an idea who will or won't be remembered 500 years from now gives me a good chuckle. In my mind, that all depends on which way technology goes, and whether or not the music, print, etc., around today will still be accessible then. Also, since we don't have a clue as to what society will actually be like, we don't have any idea what values, talents and means of expression will be appreciated at that time. Will they have an interest in the past then? Will their society be so entirely different that ours is wholly incomprehensible to them, or will what we're doing and caring about now still resonate with them in human terms?

If by "today" you mean the people who happen to still be alive right now, vs. those who have passed away over, say, the past 10 years, I will say off the top of my head that if today's music is still available for listening to 500 years from now, people will still very much care about Wayne Shorter.

25> Depending on what you consider at a passing mention, I'm not sure there's a single literary author in Western literature between Ovid and Dante that gets more than one. And in English literature, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Canterbury Tales, the works of Shakespeare, Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, A Pilgrim's Progress, and Paradise Lost* is about the entire list of books published before 1800 that get more than a passing mention. Even if true, I'm not sure your claim means a whole lot.

Again, the earliest book by any of the authors you mentioned is Sense and Sensibility in 1811. Two hundred years is a long, long time for a book to still be read, and five hundred years much longer; and among his contemporaries and immediate successors, I think few would have bet on Shakespeare being the read author in Elizabethan literature.

* Off the top of my head + the top 1000 on the Zeitergeist.

I so appreciate your informed perspective.

I am curious: What are You reading now?
On or off the list.

#27

For books over 400 years old, there are books like Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (I touchstoned a more modern reworking of the 1559 version, but the Early Modern English language of the BCP remained until editions done in the 1950's).

#29: I wouldn't consider the BCP primarily a literary work. I probably would add Le Morte d'Arthur, as (1) the right touchstone is popularity 1003, and if you added the split works and what-not, it would break 1000, and (2) everyone knows what it's about, even if they haven't read it. (Though it is but one example of the King Arthur story that predates it and modern versions are usually playing off the whole myth instead specifically Malory's version.) But the Faerie Queene is popularity 4000, and it (and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Moll Flanders in reterospect) aren't the type of works that I would consider someone uncultured for not being familiar with, like I would if they didn't know who Romeo and Juliet or Robinson Crusoe were.

Le Morte d'Arthur is more than 500 years old, so fits into geneg's categories. The other two, again, aren't that old.

I have The Da Vinci Code and I've read Angels and Demons and all of the Harry Potter books. I've seen Eragon and The Polar Express movies (I work in a video store). My hubby has read Deception Point and Digital Fortress and The King of Torts. I've seen The Secret Life of Bees movie. I tried reading one Nicholas Sparks book and I've no interest in trying any more. I own and have read Eats, Shoots and Leaves, and I've seen He's Just Not That Into You movie, if that's from the book.

Oh yeah, I read The Rule of Four but it was too ordinary - no surprises at all.

The problem is - as is to be expected - this best seller list is very American: for those of us in The Colonies the eight non-fiction hard-cover titles hold very little interest although where fiction is concerned the dreaded Dan Brown was lapped up as avidly as anywhere else in the world. The Rule of Four was well advertised in publications such as The New Yorker and I had high hopes for it dashed by the end of the first chapter unfortunately but I recall I had to buy the book online. The first time I saw it in South Africa was in a discount shop so it is safe to say it did not make best-seller status here.