What was the bestselling novel or non-fiction book the week you were born? Follow this link to a delightful search engine on Biblioz, an Australian company. Make sure you type the date first (not the month).
It is a bit startling to see how fleeting the popularity of books can be. They were the most popular in the country at the time! But I have to admit that I don’t recognize most of the novelists.
My #1 novel was Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver.
My #1 non-fiction was Masters of Deceit by J. Edgar Hoover.
What was the bestselling book on your birth date?
Now check out the titles for your children’s birth dates. Here are the #1’s for our kids:
Fiction:
The Man from St. Petersburg – Ken Follet
If Tomorrow Never Comes – Sydney Sheldon
Zoya – Danielle Steel
Non-fiction:
Living, Loving, and Learning – Leo Buscaglia
Iacocca: An Autobiography – Lee Iacocca
Moonwalk – Michael Jackson
HT: GalleyCat
Thank you for this interesting toy!
My #1 novel was The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas.
My #1 non-fiction was Crusade in Europe by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
I didn’t recognize the name Lloyd C. Douglas, so I looked him up on Wikipedia. I promptly felt very dumb because two of his other books were The Magnificent Obsession and The Robe, which were both made into movies.
I’m old enough to remember President Eisenhower and vaguely remembered that he did write this book.
I do recognize several of the other books and authors on the list, but you’re right. Others aren’t at all familiar. It makes you wonder why some authors endure over the years, while others don’t. These bestsellers obviously touched something in the reading public at the time but have now faded into obscurity.
For the week of my birth date, the #1 fiction title was Passions of the Mind by Irving Stone, which I’ve ever heard of. (Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar was #8 and Agatha Christie’s Passenger to Frankfort was #10.)
But I’m very familiar with the #1 nonfiction title: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown.
The top ten list is revealing. Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath was number one, and Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca was number three.
In non-fiction, Hitler’s Mein Kamp was number seven. Number one was Days of Our Years by Pierre van Paassen. John Gunther’s Inside Asia was number three.
This is almost frightening.
I love it! Everything from Agatha Christie to Hitler so far!
I’ve mentioned that when I first started in the bookselling industry, 30 years ago, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and Halley’s Bible Handbook were mainstays on the Christian bestseller list. My, how times have changed…
Very interesting. In fiction, No. 1 was Keys of the Kingdom by A.J. Cronin and No. 5 was For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. Loved this book and movie. In non-fiction, No. 1 was Berlin Diary by William L. Shirer and No. 5 was Blood, Sweat and Tears by Winston S. Churchill. Ironically I read both these books when I was researching background for my first novel.
I checked out the bestsellers the week I was born (Dec 11, 1951). What a great way to understand the world I entered. The number 1 fiction bestseller was The Caine Mutiny by Herman Woulk and the non-fiction number 1 bestseller was by Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us. Over half the books included in the 16 titles for each categories were books and authors I know, such as The Catcher in the Rye, From Here to eternity, A Man Called Peter, Kon-Tiki, and authors Irving Stone, Graham Greene, Thomas Mann and Winston S. Churchill. It was a world trying to heal from World War II through words and stories. It was a world beginning to stretch beyond the ordinary and willing to stand against authority. It was a world that valued a good love story. It was world reaching to understand its resources. It was a world seeking its God. All in all a pretty interesting place in which to be born.