Need something to read soon, but are waiting lists for current best sellers too long? Check out these titles from previous bestsellers (from Publishers Weekly):
1950s
FICTION:
My Cousin Rachel (Daphne Du Maurier)
The charming widow of Philip's uncle comes to Cornwall from Italy, but soon Philip suspects she might have poisoned his uncle.
Sweet Thursday (John Steinbeck)
A group of California alcoholics, whores, and idlers form bonds of affection among themselves and with a biologist in post-World War II Monterey.
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
The decisions of a few industrial leaders shake the roots of capitalism and reawaken man's awareness of himself as a heroic being.
NON-FICTION:
Kon Tiki (Thor Heyerdahl, 910.45 H)
Photographs illustrate the author's account of his voyage from Peru to Tahiti on a balsa raft to test a theory concerning the origins of the Polynesian race.
The Power of Positive Thinking (Norman V. Peale, 248.4 PEA)
In one of the earliest contemporary self-help books, Peale explains how you can overcome any obstacle, internal or external, through the dynamic combination of the "science of faith" with psychological counseling and modern medicine.
Gift from the Sea (Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 818 L)
The author's incisive reflections on life, its stages, and its states compares them with the natural treasures of life in the sea.
1960s
FICTION:
Hawaii (James Michener)
Hawaii's prehistory and history appears through the eyes of its natives and the missionaries and Asians who came to influence it.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John Le Carré)
Alec Leamas wants to stop being a spy but he agrees to take a final assignment in order to prove to the enemy that their leader is a double agent.
This Rough Magic (Mary Stewart)
A fledgling actress vacationing in Corfu, Lucy Waring witnesses the murder of one of England's theater luminaries and becomes embroiled in a dangerous offstage drama.
NON-FICTION:
Sex and the Single Girl (Helen Gurley Brown, 301.424 B)
A nice single woman has no sex life? Think again, says
Helen Gurley Brown.
Happiness is a Warm Puppy (Charles M. Schultz, 741.5 S)
A tiny tidbit of wisdom from one of the gang on every spread, along with one of Schulz’s irresistible drawings.
A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway, 813 Hemingway)
Hemingway records his five years in Paris, describing his own creative struggles and providing portraits of such fellow expatriates as Scott Fitzgerald, Pound, and Gertrude Stein.
FICTION:
My Cousin Rachel (Daphne Du Maurier)
The charming widow of Philip's uncle comes to Cornwall from Italy, but soon Philip suspects she might have poisoned his uncle.
Sweet Thursday (John Steinbeck)
A group of California alcoholics, whores, and idlers form bonds of affection among themselves and with a biologist in post-World War II Monterey.
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
The decisions of a few industrial leaders shake the roots of capitalism and reawaken man's awareness of himself as a heroic being.
NON-FICTION:
Kon Tiki (Thor Heyerdahl, 910.45 H)
Photographs illustrate the author's account of his voyage from Peru to Tahiti on a balsa raft to test a theory concerning the origins of the Polynesian race.
The Power of Positive Thinking (Norman V. Peale, 248.4 PEA)
In one of the earliest contemporary self-help books, Peale explains how you can overcome any obstacle, internal or external, through the dynamic combination of the "science of faith" with psychological counseling and modern medicine.
Gift from the Sea (Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 818 L)
The author's incisive reflections on life, its stages, and its states compares them with the natural treasures of life in the sea.
1960s
FICTION:
Hawaii (James Michener)
Hawaii's prehistory and history appears through the eyes of its natives and the missionaries and Asians who came to influence it.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John Le Carré)
Alec Leamas wants to stop being a spy but he agrees to take a final assignment in order to prove to the enemy that their leader is a double agent.
This Rough Magic (Mary Stewart)
A fledgling actress vacationing in Corfu, Lucy Waring witnesses the murder of one of England's theater luminaries and becomes embroiled in a dangerous offstage drama.
NON-FICTION:
Sex and the Single Girl (Helen Gurley Brown, 301.424 B)
A nice single woman has no sex life? Think again, says
Helen Gurley Brown.
Happiness is a Warm Puppy (Charles M. Schultz, 741.5 S)
A tiny tidbit of wisdom from one of the gang on every spread, along with one of Schulz’s irresistible drawings.
A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway, 813 Hemingway)
Hemingway records his five years in Paris, describing his own creative struggles and providing portraits of such fellow expatriates as Scott Fitzgerald, Pound, and Gertrude Stein.
1970s FICTION:
Islands in the Stream (Ernest Hemingway)
An American painter living on an island in the Gulf Stream becomes involved in anti-submarine reconnaissance and warfare during World War II.
The Passions of the Mind (Irving Stone)
Sigmund Freud works and develops his psychoanalytic theories in Vienna.
Something Happened (Joseph Heller)
A middle-aged man attempts to cope with the pressures of family life and work.
Sleeping Murder (Agatha Christie - mystery)
Although Gwenda and Giles Reed are determined to solve a macabre puzzle involving a hauntingly familiar Victorian villa and a terrifying vision of a strangled woman, Miss Jane Marple advises them not to uncover a long unreported murder.
Jailbird (Kurt Vonnegut)
Recently released from a prison for white-collar criminals, Walter Starbuck tries to rebuild the life that was ruined during the Communist witchhunt of the 1950s.
Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow)
In America at the beginning of this century three families become entwined with Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, Theodore Dreiser, and Emiliano Zapata.
NON-FICTION:
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Dee Alexander Brown, 970.5 BRO)
Documents and personal narratives record the experiences of the American Indian during the nineteenth century.
All Things Bright and Beautiful (James Herriot, 92 H5675-1)
A Yorkshire veterinarian describes the adventures and experiences of his career as he tends to sick cattle, pregnant ewes, ailing dogs, and their eccentric owners, in a celebration of the relationships between human and animal.
The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank
(Erma Bombeck, 817 B)
Lays bare the truth about the people of suburbia and their extraordinary way of life.
1980s
FICTION:
Noble House (James Clavell)
The setting is Hong Kong, 1963. Under the eyes of the KGB, the CIA, and the People's Republic of China, British and American businessmen maneuver for control of Hong Kong's oldest trading house.
The Parsifal Mosaic (Robert Ludlum)
Czech-born CIA agent Michael Havelock discovers a maniacal, potentially disastrous conspiracy at the highest levels of the U.S. government and must act on his own to thwart that conspiracy and ensure his own future.
The Little Drummer Girl (John Le Carré)
Israeli intelligence agent Kurtz--aka Schulman, aka Gold, aka Raphael--assembles a private army to trap the most dangerous Palestinian terrorist, a trap that perilously involves a brilli
ant, young English actress.The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
In the early 14th century, the English monk William, visiting at a Clunic abbey in Italy, solves a murder.
The Sands of Time (Sidney Sheldon)
Four nuns, suddenly severed from the security of convent life by the turbulence of Spanish political unrest, find themselves fighting their enemies and their own desires and struggling to sustain their friendship and their lives.
The Queen of the Damned (Anne Rice)
Intertwines the stories of rock star and vampire Lestat, beautiful twins haunted by a gruesome tragedy, and Akasha, mother of all vampires, who dreams of godhood.
The Dark Half (Stephen King)
Thad Beaumont comes under suspicion when clues concerning a murder lead to George Stark, the fictional alter ego under whose name Beaumont used to write.
NON-FICTION:
Cosmos (Carl Sagan, 520 SAG)
The well-known astronomer presents an illustrated guide to the universe and to Earth's relationship to it, moving from theories of creation to humankind's discovery of the cosmos, to general relativity, to space missions, and beyond.
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines: China, Greece, and Rome (Jeff Smith, 641.59 SMI)
Focuses on recipes from ancient China, Greece, and Rome.
1990s
FICTION:
The Burden of Proof (Scott Turow)
Criminal defense lawyer Alejandro "Sandy" Stern copes with his wife's suicide, his three grown children and a government investigation of his brother-in-law's successful brokerage house.
Remember (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
Beautiful and fabulously successful as a television war correspondent, Nicky Wells deeply mourns the loss of her great love, only to be confronted with disturbing suspicions that this remarkable man led a mysterious double life.
The Client (John Grisham)
A US State Senator is dead, and Mark Sway is the only one who knows where the body is hidden. The FBI want him to tell them where it is at whatever cost to Mark and his family. The killer wants him silenced forever. Reggie Love has been practising law for less than five years. Only
she can save Mark from these twin threats.
The Gift (Danielle Steel)
In a small, peaceful midwestern town during the 1950s, a happy family is shattered by a child's death, a loving marriage begins to unravel, and the arrival of a young woman will change many lives forever.
Paradise (Toni Morrison)
It's the 1970s, and four young women living in a convent near an all-black town have been viciously attacked.
Pretend You Don’t See Her (Mary Higgins Clark)
A young woman in the witness protection program decides to reclaim her identity because she’s fallen in love and no longer wants to live in the shadows.
NON-FICTION:
Childhood (Bill Cosby, 818 Cosby, B COS)
The popular TV comic features the eternal conflict between parents and kids while comparing the dull, structured, affluent lives of today's children with his own richly adventurous, independent years growing up in the 1940s.
Embraced by the Light (Betty J. Eadie, 133.9013 EAD)
A woman is declared clinically dead only to come back to write about her near-death experience.
2000s (up to 2007)
FICTION:
The Rescue (Nicholas Sparks)
A volunteer fireman and a single mother join forces to find the woman's son who has been lost in a storm. While searching for the boy, the two adults find themselves increasingly close.
Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages (Tim LaHaye)
All armies of the world, including the Tribulation Force, head for the Middle East to engage in one massive battle, as the world becomes even more dangerous to live in with death, mistrust, and treachery all around.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom)
Killed in a tragic accident, Eddie, an elderly man who believes that he had an uninspired life, awakens in the afterlife, where he discovers that heaven consists of having five people explain the meaning of one's life.
Mary, Mary (James Patterson)
When he investigates the murder of an actress outside of her Beverly Hills home, FBI agent Alex Cross learns that the attack was the latest in a series of celebrity killings linked to the elusive Mary Smith.
Twelve Sharp (Janet Evanovich - mystery)
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's typically chaotic life is thrown into greater turmoil by the appearance of a mysterious female stalker with a close connection to Ranger.
Playing for Pizza (John Grisham)
A former American football star joins the Parma Panthers to play football in a small town in Italy.
NON-FICTION:
Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Li
fe
(Spencer Johnson, 155.24 JOH)
Relates a highly meaningful parable intended to help one deal with change quickly and prevail, offering readers a simple way to progress in their work and lives.
Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
(Lynne Truss, 428.2 TRU)
See how using (or not using) a comma can change the
meaning of a sentence.
A US State Senator is dead, and Mark Sway is the only one who knows where the body is hidden. The FBI want him to tell them where it is at whatever cost to Mark and his family. The killer wants him silenced forever. Reggie Love has been practising law for less than five years. Only
she can save Mark from these twin threats.The Gift (Danielle Steel)
In a small, peaceful midwestern town during the 1950s, a happy family is shattered by a child's death, a loving marriage begins to unravel, and the arrival of a young woman will change many lives forever.
Paradise (Toni Morrison)
It's the 1970s, and four young women living in a convent near an all-black town have been viciously attacked.
Pretend You Don’t See Her (Mary Higgins Clark)
A young woman in the witness protection program decides to reclaim her identity because she’s fallen in love and no longer wants to live in the shadows.
NON-FICTION:
Childhood (Bill Cosby, 818 Cosby, B COS)
The popular TV comic features the eternal conflict between parents and kids while comparing the dull, structured, affluent lives of today's children with his own richly adventurous, independent years growing up in the 1940s.
Embraced by the Light (Betty J. Eadie, 133.9013 EAD)
A woman is declared clinically dead only to come back to write about her near-death experience.
2000s (up to 2007)
FICTION:
The Rescue (Nicholas Sparks)
A volunteer fireman and a single mother join forces to find the woman's son who has been lost in a storm. While searching for the boy, the two adults find themselves increasingly close.
Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages (Tim LaHaye)
All armies of the world, including the Tribulation Force, head for the Middle East to engage in one massive battle, as the world becomes even more dangerous to live in with death, mistrust, and treachery all around.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom)
Killed in a tragic accident, Eddie, an elderly man who believes that he had an uninspired life, awakens in the afterlife, where he discovers that heaven consists of having five people explain the meaning of one's life.
Mary, Mary (James Patterson)
When he investigates the murder of an actress outside of her Beverly Hills home, FBI agent Alex Cross learns that the attack was the latest in a series of celebrity killings linked to the elusive Mary Smith.
Twelve Sharp (Janet Evanovich - mystery)
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's typically chaotic life is thrown into greater turmoil by the appearance of a mysterious female stalker with a close connection to Ranger.
Playing for Pizza (John Grisham)
A former American football star joins the Parma Panthers to play football in a small town in Italy.
NON-FICTION:
Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Li
fe(Spencer Johnson, 155.24 JOH)
Relates a highly meaningful parable intended to help one deal with change quickly and prevail, offering readers a simple way to progress in their work and lives.
Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
(Lynne Truss, 428.2 TRU)
See how using (or not using) a comma can change the
meaning of a sentence.
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