Today is a look back twenty-five years and the books selling well in 1997. Often, this type of exercise puts the present and future in perspective. You can draw your own conclusions about what any of this means.

First, the July 13, 1997 New York Times Bestseller List:

Fiction

1. PLUM ISLAND, by Nelson DeMille (Warner)
2. SPECIAL DELIVERY, by Danielle Steel (Delacorte)
3. FAT TUESDAY, by Sandra Brown (Warner)
4. THE PARTNER, by John Grisham (Doubleday)
5. UP ISLAND, by Anne Rivers Siddons (HarperCollins)
6. CHASING CEZANNE, by Peter Mayle (Knopf)
7. LONDON, by Edward Rutherfurd (Crown)
8. THE NOTEBOOK, by Nicholas Sparks (Warner) – film adaptation in 2004
9. THE PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER, by Jack Higgins (Putnam)
10. PRETEND YOU DON’T SEE HER, by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster)
11. OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! by Dr. Seuss (Random House) – 161^st week on list
12. THE TENTH JUSTICE, by Brad Meltzer (Weisbach/ Morrow)
13. COLD MOUNTAIN, by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly) – film adaptation in 2003
14. SNOW IN AUGUST, by Pete Hamill (Little, Brown) – film adaptation in 2001
15. LOS ALAMOS, by Joseph Kanon (Broadway)

Nonfiction

1. ANGELA’S ASHES, by Frank McCourt (Scribner) – 43^rd week on list, film adaptation in 1999
2. INTO THIN AIR, by Jon Krakauer (Villard) – television movie adaptation in 1997
3. THE BIBLE CODE, by Michael Drosnin (Simon & Schuster)
4. THE PERFECT STORM, by Sebastian Junger (Norton) – film adaptation in 2000
5. BRAIN DROPPINGS, by George Carlin (Hyperion)
6. THE GIFT OF FEAR, by Gavin de Becker (Little, Brown)
7. MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL, by John Berendt (Random House) – 156^th week on list, film adaptation in 1997
8. JUST AS I AM, by Billy Graham (HarperSanFrancisco/Zondervan)
9. THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR, by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko (Longstreet)
10. CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD: Book 1, by Neale Donald Walsch (Putnam) – film adaptation in 2006
11. INTO THE STORM, by Tom Clancy with Fred Franks Jr. (Putnam)
12. WITHOUT A DOUBT, by Marcia Clark with Teresa Carpenter (Viking)
13. THE DILBERT FUTURE, by Scott Adams (Harper Business)
14. UNDERBOSS, by Peter Maas (HarperCollins)
15. CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD: Book 2, by Neale Donald Walsch (Hampton Roads)

Christian titles released in 1997 include:

STRENGTH FOR TODAY, by John MacArthur (Crossway)
THE SACRED ROMANCE, by Brent Curtis & John Eldredge (Thomas Nelson)
WON BY LOVE, by Norma McCorvey (Thomas Nelson)
FRESH WIND, FRESH FIRE, by Jim Cymbala & Dean Merrill (Zondervan)
WHAT’S SO AMAZING ABOUT GRACE? by Philip Yancey (Zondervan)
YOU ARE SPECIAL, by Max Lucado (Crossway)
NICOLAE, by Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye (Tyndale House)
THE TENDER YEARS, by Janette Oke (Bethany House)
ONLY THE RIVER RUNS FREE, by Bodie and Brock Thoene (Thomas Nelson)
THE ATONEMENT CHILD, by Francine Rivers (Tyndale House)
THE SHUNNING, by Beverly Lewis (Bethany House) – film adaptation in 2011
          [Arguably the first bestselling Amish fiction release.]