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Sheer horror, legal problems, and romance.
Posted by Dave on 22/2/2002, 4:38:49
For some reason I am still intrigued with this issue of the phenomena of bestsellers, and what makes a book a bestseller. While drinking coffee in a mega-bookstore tonight after work, I happened upon this book called "Making The List - A Cultural History of the American Bestseller 1900-1999" by Michael Korda. It shows the bestseller lists of the 20th Century, according to Publisher's Weekly, which the author claims is a more accurate (broad-based) list than that of the New York Times. He says that the bestseller list presents us with a kind of "corrective reality. It tells us what we're ACTUALLY reading (or at least, what we're actually buying) as opposed to what we think we OUGHT to be reading, or would like other people to believe we're buying." I thought that was an interesting comment. Also, "the books we read from decade to decade tell us something about ourselves, where we've been, who we are, where we're going."
I noticed some really amazing things as I surveyed these lists, and I will try to lay them out here as trivia for us bibliophiles. The 1980's and 90's were LITERALLY dominated by a few writers. The three writers that appear most frequently on these lists are Stephen King, John Grisham, and Danielle Steele.
King ruled the '80's. Grisham the '90's.
King... 24 times. Grisham, 9 times (all in the '90's). Steele, a whopping 32 times.
Check out some of these bizarre stats: John Grisham began his reign in '91 when he had the #7 bestseller with The Firm. In '92 he was #2 with The Pelican Brief. But then he OWNED the rest of the decade. From '93 to '99, every single year, John Grisham's book was #1.
Then there's Danielle Steele. In '85, '87, '89, '91, '92, '95, '96 and '99 she had two books in the top ten IN EACH YEAR. But (get this!) in '94, '97, and '98 she had three books in the top ten IN EACH YEAR. How is this humanly possible? I just think it is so incredible! Whatever the secret is to writing the bestseller... she could probably write a bestselling book about it!
Some other authors that figure prominently throughout these 20 years are Ken Follett, James Michener, Judith Krantz, and Anne Rice. Looking through Korda's book made me realize something about my own reading habits, because of the BIG THREE authors, I only read one of the books listed, and that was Stephen King's "The Stand" (which I thought was fabulous). If Korda's comment is true that the bestseller lists "tell us something about ourselves" I guess we can conclude that for the past 20 years, society in general has been most interested in reading about sheer horror, legal problems, and romance.
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Re: Sheer horror, legal problems, and romance.
Posted by Michael Sympson on 22/2/2002, 18:33:41, in reply to "Sheer horror, legal problems, and romance."
I wonder how much these listings actually profile the reader. Some readers would never touch a best-seller even with an iron tong, many buy nothing but best-sellers. Others do a bit of both. The second group is getting a fair representation in those lists, and I am quite willing to concede that they may represent a majority. Still: what about the others?
It's really like this fast food thing: McDonalds is a huge enterprise, and not without reason. But does this make people who frequent French restaurants wish they would "really" rather eat at McDonalds? Korda's argument is ridiculous.
Re: Sheer horror, legal problems, and romance.
Posted by Lale on 22/2/2002, 11:52:56, in reply to "Sheer horror, legal problems, and romance."
Wasn't Frederick Forsyth listed in that book? I haven't read any of the authors you mention but I have read Frederick Forsyth's "The Day of the Jackal" and thought it was fabulous. But I wouldn't enjoy it that much if I were to read it today, I don't think. At the time I was 20 and I haven't yet discovered historic-fiction.
People are fascinated by crime and how some criminals in the past have gotten away with multiple murders. Aren't most TV shows about legal stuff? Even news channels have crime/law shows now. But that's really in America only. Over here, I watch BBC and French tv and they do not go overboard with the latest murder case.
A cartoon from New Yorker: In a publishing house, editors are sitting around the table discussing the book submissions they have recently received. One woman is trying to convince her colleagues to the merits of a manuscript. She says: "I tell you, the book has everything -- sex, history, consciousness, and cats!" (The cartoon is by William Hamilton.)