The Biggest Fiction Bestsellers of the Last 100 Years

I love this, thank you for posting the link! Though it's possible I'm feeling a bit...old right now.

I must be the only person who's read How Green Was My Valley in the past 30 years. I liked it too -- it's poetic and nostalgic without shying away from the hardships of that life, along a similar vein to Cider With Rosie.

It only seems to be mentioned nowadays in relation to the film adaptation, which won the Oscar Best Picture in the same year that "Citizen Kane" was nominated, widely considered one of the Academy's poorer decisions.

This was extremely interesting. The oldest I recognized was by James Joyce, and the earliest I had read was "Gone with the Wind." I didn't recognize any from last year.

This is great, bookmarked, what an interesting resource - thanks for sharing @AW Admin

the oldest I've read is Crome Yellow from 1920, and have read three from the year of my birth (John Le Carré, Hubert Selby Jr, and Ian Fleming)

My fave from the year of no.1 son's birth is Philip Pullman's Golden Compass - love that book - although it was a few years afterwards when I read it

I have to brush up on some more recent works...

I was surprised to see and happy to see some short story collections on there. Gives me hope for my own short story collection.

I forgot to add: "Hiroshima" by John Hersey (under the "Also published that year" part) is nonfiction. Also "The Giver" was a best seller by Lois Lowry and that's YA. Glad to see those up as well.

Awesome list!

The only one I've read from the year I was born I only got halfway through (Rabbit, Redux) because it was too tied to the current issues of the day, and seemed horribly dated. I loved Rabbit, Run precisely because the story relied on the character and could have taken place anytime from the 1950s to 1980s.

I haven't read any of the books from the bestseller list from the year I was born, though I have read all three of the "also published" books from the year. Richard Brautigan, Arthur C. Clarke, and Philip K. Dick.

The oldest books I've read on the list are also from "also published." F. Scott Fitzgerald and Agatha Christie.

Fun list! Thanks for posting. It's interesting how "also published" often has the most lasting and well-read books. It also seems that trend changed over the years.

yesandno said:

Fun list! Thanks for posting. It's interesting how "also published" often has the most lasting and well-read books. It also seems that trend changed over the years.

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For the changing over the years, I wonder if new titles haven't had the time to exhibit their staying power over others that came out that same year. I had never even heard of Infinite Jest until a couple years ago, and the more recent the list gets the less chance I've heard of the "Also published" titles although the bestsellers are nearly all familiar.

Mentioning Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis was much more popular at the time, and although he's not unknown to modern readers, he's not thought of as "the writer" for that age like Fitzgerald is. However, to me they are very much cut from the same cloth. I wonder how many people today, if given a random page from either writer (assuming the reader didn't recognize any of the characters), could identify the author from the writing style? That might be a fun experiment!

I think All Quiet on the Western Front may be the oldest on the list that I've read.

I have a vague memory of picking up The Good Earth, but can't recall whether I finished it, or anything about it other than the title. Interesting to see that its author, Pearl S. Buck, had two best-sellers in the 1932 list.

As an avid SF reader, I'm bemused to see L. Ron Hubbard being mentioned in 1949 as "also published" for Dianetics. A bit before he founded the (as a friend used to say) "Church of L. Ron Hooverology of Rubes' Cash".

The Old Man and the Sea may be the only Hemingway I've ever read?

Interesting to see that Doctor Zhivago was a best-seller in both 1958 and 1959.

Have read none of the best-sellers of my birth year, 1960, though certainly have read the "also published" To Kill a Mockingbird.

Have read many of the SF novels mentioned, though most were "also published", not best-sellers. I confess it takes a rare non-SF/F novel to attract my eye or hold my interest long enough to finish it.

Chris P said:

For the changing over the years, I wonder if new titles haven't had the time to exhibit their staying power over others that came out that same year. I had never even heard of Infinite Jest until a couple years ago, and the more recent the list gets the less chance I've heard of the "Also published" titles although the bestsellers are nearly all familiar.

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I suppose what's popular (and therefore, sells a lot) at any moment isn't always what's viewed as "important" to later curators of lists? "Fifty Shades" sold a lot, but is it important to literature? Lasting? Maybe not?

Oldest book I've read on the list is Willa Cather's My Antonia, and I read that years ago in my 20s and haven't read anything of hers since. Only one I've read from the year I was born is The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. I seem to have read a hell of a lot of the also published from between 1924 and 1935. I wonder why that is.

I've always wanted to read Edna Ferber because I love the black and white version of Showboat.

They are great lists, though if an Aussie list was compiled, it might look a little different. Possibly not as Aussies always hang on for grim death to the US belt in many things.

Lolly12 said:

Oldest book I've read on the list is Willa Cather's My Antonia, and I read that years ago in my 20s and haven't read anything of hers since.

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Saphira and the Slave Girl is quite good for such a little-known title, though not without its faults. It's fairly short too, and a quick read.

Chris P said:

Saphira and the Slave Girl is quite good for such a little-known title, though not without its faults. It's fairly short too, and a quick read.

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Thanks, I'll take a look.

mrsmig said:

I was on a Cather kick for a while (possibly after my sister in Nebraska turned me on to her - Cather was from Nebraska). I really enjoyed O Pioneers!

Chris P, maybe there's a way we can use this list in the 2019 Reading Challenge. I was glancing through it, noting the years I hadn't read any of the best-selling/notable publications and wondering which ones I should try to fill in those gaps.

P.S. Couldn't help but notice the 1926 #1 best-seller. With that cover, I don't doubt it. I wonder if they only sold it behind the counter.

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*Time travels to 1926* *Fans self*

And I'm right with you on the Challenge. I linked to this list to select a book from the year you turned 21 (or 12, if you're not 21 yet).