Masterpiece
*****
Excellent
**** 1/2
Very good
****
Good
**** 1/2
Just okay
***
Not for me
**
Definitely not for me
*

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Fiction Bestsellers: 15 Years Ago Today

The New York Times Best Seller List
October 26, 1997

Fiction

This Week/Title/Author/Last Week/Weeks On List

1 FLOOD TIDE, by Clive Cussler. 1 4

2 COLD MOUNTAIN, by Charles Frazier. 2 16

3 THE BEST LAID PLANS, by Sidney Sheldon. 3 6

4 THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS, by Caleb Carr. 4 5

5 10 LB. PENALTY, by Dick Francis. 6 3

6 UNDERWORLD, by Don DeLillo. 5 5

7 TIMEQUAKE, by Kurt Vonnegut. 7 3

8 TEMPLE OF THE WINDS, by Terry Goodkind. - 1

9 NIGHT PASSAGE, by Robert B. Parker. 11 3

10 THE NOTEBOOK, by Nicholas Sparks. 8 53

11 THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS, by Arundhati Roy. 9 11

12 DEJA DEAD, by Kathy Reichs. 12 7

13 REIGN IN HELL, by William Diehl. - 1

14 UNNATURAL EXPOSURE, by Patricia Cornwell. 10 13

15 THE LETTER, by Richard Paul Evans. - 1

Fiction Bestsellers 25 Years Ago Today

The New York Times Best Seller List
October 11, 1987

Fiction

This Week/Title/Author/Last Week/Weeks On List

1 PRESUMED INNOCENT, by Scott Turow. 1 16

2 PATRIOT GAMES, by Tom Clancy. 2 11

3 HEAVEN AND HELL, by John Jakes. 8 2

4 LEAVING HOME, by Garrison Keillor. 4 2

5 BELOVED, by Toni Morrison. 3 4

6 SARUM, by Edward Rutherfurd. 6 8

7 LEGACY, by James A. Michener. 5 6

8 MISERY, by Stephen King. 7 19

9 HOT FLASHES, by Barbara Raskin. 9 3

10 FREEDOM, by William Safire. 11 5

11 THE NEW BREED, by W. E. B. Griffin. 10 3

12 TEAM YANKEE, by Harold Coyle. - 2

13 THE PRINCE OF TIDES, by Pat Conroy. 15 47

14 THE FIVE BELLS AND BLADEBONE, by Martha Grimes. 14 6

15 WEEP NO MORE, MY LADY, by Mary Higgins Clark. 12 15

Thoughts on the first 1/3 of Cloud Atlas + trailer

I really, really wanted to read Cloud Atlas before I saw the movie, so I started it today, and I'm already 1/3 of the way through. I struggled a bit at first to get through the first segment, which is written in an old fashioned style to fit the time of the narrator. It took me about halfway through this first part to get used to the style, and then it was onto another main character of the novel. These parts, or segments, of the novel end somewhat abruptly just as you are getting used to that character and the occurrences of his or her life. However, I'm loving it so far. I can't wait to finish it and I'm really looking forward to the film, which will be released October 26. Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, among others, it received a 10 minute standing ovation from the audience at the Toronto Film Festival.

I hope I've convinced you to read it or at least see it; I think the film is going to be spectacular.

11 new titles on the 1001 list

  1. History of Love by Nicole Krauss
  2. Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
  3. There but for the by Ali Smith
  4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
  5. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
  6. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
  7. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
  8. Cain by Jose Saramago
  9. Nemesis by Philip Roth
  10. 1Q84 Books 1 and 2 by Haruki Murakami
  11. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Fiction Bestsellers 35 Years Ago Today

The New York Times Best Seller List
September 25, 1977

Fiction

This Week/Title/Author/Last Week/Weeks On List

1 THE THORN BIRDS, by Colleen McCullough. (Harper & Row, $9.95.)
Australian family saga.
1 19

2 ILLUSIONS, by Richard Bach. (Delacorte/Eleanor Friede, $5.95.) Messiah
barnstorms Middle America.
2 15

3 THE SILMARILLION, by J.R.R. Tolkien. (Houghton Mifflin, $10.95.) Middle
Earth in pre-Hobbit days.
- 1

4 THE CRASH OF '79, by Paul E. Erdman. (Simon & Schuster, $8.95.)
Sheiks, oil, International intrigue and skullduggery.
4 41

5 DYNASTY, by Robert S. Elegant. (McGraw-Hill, $10.95.) Saga of a Eurasian
family in Hong Kong over three generations.
3 6

6 COMA, by Robin Cook. (Little, Brown, $8.95.) Manchurian horror at the
Boston Memorial Hospital.
7 4

7 DELTA OF VENUS, by Anais Nin. (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, $10.)
Elegant erotica written for a wealthy patron.
6 8

8 THE INVESTIGATION, by Dorothy Uhnak. (Simon & Schuster, $9.95.)
Woman accused of murdering her children.
9 3

9 THE SECOND DEADLY SIN, by Lawrence Sanders. (Putnam's, $9.95.) Cop
tracks down a painter's murderer.
11 2

10 FULL DISCLOSURE, by William Safire. (Doubleday, $10.95.) President
goes blind; White House intrigue.
5 10

11 OLIVER'S STORY, by Erich Segal. (Harper & Row, $7.95.) Tearless but
well-meaning sequel to "Love Story."
8 29

12 CONDOMINIUM, by John D. MacDonald. (J.B. Lippincott, $10.) Disaster hits
Leisure Village.
10 23

13 THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT, by Susan Howatch. (Simon & Schuster,
$11.50.) They have more money.
12 5

14 FALCONER, by John Cheever. (Knopf, $7.95.) Stunning prison novel of
escape and redemption.
14 25

15 DANIEL MARTIN, by John Fowles. (Little, Brown, $12.95.) English
screenwriter reviews his life.

Bestsellers 50 Years Ago Today - Fiction

The New York Times Best Seller List
September 16, 1962

Fiction

This Week/Title/Author/Last Week/Weeks On List

1 SHIP OF FOOLS, by Katherine Anne Porter. 1 23
2 DEARLY BELOVED, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. 2 14
3 YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE, by Herman Wouk. 3 17
4 THE REIVERS, by William Faulkner. 5 13
5 THE PRIZE, by Irving Wallace. 4 13
6 ANOTHER COUNTRY, by James Baldwin. 6 11
7 PORTRAIT IN BROWNSTONE, by Louis Auchincloss. 8 8
8 UHURU, by Robert Ruark. 7 13
9 HORNBLOWER AND THE HOTSPUR, by C.S. Forester. 14 3
10 ACT OF ANGER, by Bart Spicer. 11 3
11 THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, by Irving Stone. 10 77
12 MAGNIFICENT DESTINY, by Paul I. Wellman. 13 4
13 LETTING GO, by Philip Roth. 8 11
14 BEFORE MY TIME, by Niccolo Tucci. -- 1
15 FRANNY AND ZOOEY, by J.D. Salinger. 12 52