Yet another list: 100 years of bestsellers

Here, via a link from commenter David H, a website where we see a particular reader’s responses to books when he read every single #1 bestseller (using the Publisher’s Weekly list) published from 1913 to 2013.

What a project! I had two reactions: 1. This is awesome! and 2. I would never do this!

Here’s the list — at the actual post, each title links through to the review. I read some of the reviews last night, so I can tell you: No, not that Winston Churchill. Actually kinda hard to believe there could ever have been a famous author of the same name, but so it seems.

Scanning quickly through this list, how many titles do you see that you would have to be paid (a lot) to read? For me it would be Gone With the Wind, plus The Da Vinci Code and any sequels. Well, and Fifty Shades.

How many did you think were just movies and not books? For me, that would be ET and the Star Wars novelization.

How many have you actually read? For me, very few till you hit the 1980s and then eight or so, but none in the past decade. I should add that I’ve read a couple by Pearl Buck and liked them quite a bit, but not The Good Earth.

I’m definitely going to read through the reviews. I read the first few last night.

1913: The Inside of the Cup by Winston Churchill

1914: The Eyes of the World by Harold Bell Wright

1915: The Turmoil by Booth Tarkington

1916: Seventeen by Booth Tarkington

1917: Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H. G. Wells

1918: The U. P. Trail by Zane Grey

1919: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

1920: The Man of the Forest by Zane Grey

1921: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

1922: If Winter Comes by A.S.M. Hutchinson

1923: Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton

1924: So Big by Edna Ferber

1925: Soundings by A. Hamilton Gibbs

1926: The Private Life of Helen of Troy by John Erskine

1927: Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis

1928: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

1929: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

1930: Cimarron by Edna Ferber

1931: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

1932: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck *

1933: Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen

1934: Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen*

1935: Green Light by Lloyd C. Douglas

1936: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

1937: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell*

1938: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

1939: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

1940: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

1941: The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin

1942: The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel

1943: The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas

1944: Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith

1945: Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

1946: The King’s General by Daphne du Maurier

1947: The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney

1948: The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas

1949: The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

1950: The Cardinal by Henry Morton Robinson

1951: From Here to Eternity by James Jones

1952: The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain

1953: The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas*

1954: Not as a Stranger by Morton Thompson

1955: Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk

1956: Don’t Go Near the Water by William Brinkley

1957: By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens

1958: Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

1959: Exodus by Leon Uris

1960: Advise and Consent by Allen Drury

1961: The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone

1962: Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter

1963: The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris L. West

1964: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

1965: The Source by James A. Michener

1966: Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

1967: The Arrangement by Elia Kazan

1968: Airport by Arthur Hailey

1969: Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth

1970: Love Story by Erich Segal

1971: Wheels by Arthur Hailey

1972: Johnathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

1973: Johnathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach*

1974: Centennial by James A. Michener

1975: Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow

1976: Trinity by Leon Uris

1977: The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien

1978: Chesapeake by James A. Michener

1979: The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum

1980: The Covenant by James A. Michener

1981: Noble House by James Clavell

1982: E.T., The Extraterrestrial by William Kotzwinkle

1983: Return of the Jedi by James Kahn

1984: The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

1985: The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel

1986: It by Stephen King

1987: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

1988: The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy

1989: Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy

1990: The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel

1991: Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley

1992: Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King

1993: The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

1994: The Chamber by John Grisham

1995: The Rainmaker by John Grisham

1996: The Runaway Jury by John Grisham

1997: The Partner by John Grisham

1998: The Street Lawyer by John Grisham

1999: The Testament by John Grisham

2000: The Brethren by John Grisham

2001: Desecration by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye

2002: The Summons by John Grisham

2003: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown**

2004: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown*

2005: The Broker by John Grisham

2006: For One More Day by Mitch Albom

2007: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini**

2008: The Appeal by John Grisham

2009: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

2010: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson

2011: The Litigators by John Grisham

2012: Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

2013: Inferno by Dan Brown

2014: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green