We spend plenty of time here on The Millions telling all of you what we’ve been reading, but we are also quite interested in hearing about what you’ve been reading. By looking at our Amazon stats, we can see what books Millions readers have been buying, and we decided it would be fun to use those stats to find out what books have been most popular with our readers in recent months. Below you’ll find our Millions Top Ten list for July.
This
Month
Last
Month
Title
On List
1.
2.
A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee’s Guide to Saving the World
3 months
2.
1.
Beautiful Ruins
5 months
3.
–
The Round House
1 month
4.
6.
Well-Read Women: Portraits of Fiction’s Most Beloved Heroines
4 months
5.
3.
The Son
4 months
6.
–
Reading Like a Writer
1 month
7.
4.
Bark: Stories
4 months
8.
8.
Americanah
2 months
9.
–
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
1 month
10.
–
My Struggle: Book 1
1 month
July is the month of revolutions, writes Tom Nissley, and the theory is borne out in our July Top Ten. Not only do we have a new number one, but we also have four newcomers to our list — this in spite of the fact that not a single book from our June Top Ten graduated into our hallowed Hall of Fame. Are you intrigued? Then let’s get right to it.
Rachel Cantor’s A Highly Unlikely Scenario continues its months-long ascent up our list. When it debuted at #8 in May, I attributed its success to its placement on our Great 2014 Book Preview, but it looks like Millions readers have grown more and more intrigued ever since. Last month, Cantor’s book rose all the way to #2, and now it’s finally edged Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins out of the top spot. What will August hold in store for Cantor’s novel about “competing giant fast food factions rul[ing] the world?” Only time will tell.
Of the four newcomers to our list, the appearance of Karen Jay Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is probably the easiest to explain. The novel, which has been described by Khaled Hosseini as “a gripping, bighearted book,” won this year’s PEN/Faulkner award, and was also recently longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Likewise, the debut of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle: Book 1 is understandable — and, frankly, overdue — considering the immense hype it’s been getting lately. When Jonathan Callahan reviewed the book’s early installments for our site last year (which feels like ages ago…), he wrote of the autobiographical project:
With astounding single-mindedness (or monomania, if you prefer), Knausgaard conceives of and then executes the writing project that both consumes him and sequesters him from life. He’s Ahab, only with the final volume’s publication — which reportedly concludes with whatever the Norwegian is for “I am no longer an author” — he’s gone and caught the whale.
At the time, it seemed an unlikely candidate for breakout success. But oh, how wrong we were. Since last year, Knausgaard’s earned himself praise in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and more. He’s packed standing-room-only bookstore readings and he’s been talked about about just about every bar in New York. In fact there were rumors recently that the book was so popular in the author’s native Norway that the country had to institute “Knausgaard-free days” in order to keep its economy humming.
Also joining the list this month are books by Louise Erdrich and Francine Prose. The Round House has been knocking on the Top Ten’s door since its publication in 2012, and Reading Like a Writer seems like it’s perfectly suited for most of our readers.
Near Misses: The Good Lord Bird, Jesus’ Son, Just Kids, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and The Fault in Our Stars. See Also: Last month’s list.
I've been engaging with Netherland, and Zadie Smith's NYRB article on same here:
http://nigelbeale.com/2009/01/part-1-netherlandwood-smith-and-the-truly-great/
and here:
http://nigelbeale.com/2009/01/netherland-lyrical-realism-and-the-flip-flops-of-zadie-smith-part-ll/
I'm 400 pp. into 2666.
Last month I read Oscar Wao and Tree of Smoke.
Kirk, Tx.
I finished 2666 last week. I loved it.
I just started reading 2666 yesterday and so far I can't put it down. This is the second book of Bolano's I've read (the first being Amulet). I probably should have read The Savage Detectives first, but I just couldn't wait.
I've read Infinite Jest and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, but the rest I have not.
I'm reading 2666. On the first book right now and can't put it down. So far so good. I've read most of DFW except Infinite Jest. Prefer his essays, but that's just my taste.
read Netherland (loved it, seriously considering adding it to my syllabus next semester)
read The Savage Detectives (loved the first half, alright in the middle, really liked the end) – liked it so much that I . . .
bought 2666 and it is on "The Stack"
Infinite Jest shows up on "The Stack" sometimes, but usually comes out before I get to it (though sometimes I start it before deciding I don't have time right now).
bought The Dud Avocado on recommendations here
am reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. about half way and would probably enjoy it more if I knew more Spanish (but I can get by). I think it might come off as heavy-handed in its "geek culture" references (for lack of a better term), but at least I haven't found more than one that I don't get immediately. if I didn't have the Spanish AND I had never spent much time with comics and hanging out in comic book shops I think I would be very lost.
I read Oscar Wao last year, and I loved it. I am not a comic book reader and have never read Lord or the Rings, but I still loved the book. As soon as I finished it, I ran out and bought Diaz's book of short stories Drown and enjoyed it very much too. I think Oscar Wao is a classic in the making.
I'm about 200 pages into 2666, and the book led me on a side trip, as they always do, to the book by journalist Teresa Rodriguez, "The Daughters of Juarez" A true story of serial murder south of the border."
I'm reading 2666 now, savouring it slowly. It is my first venture into Bolano, it has been very interesting this far. The Savage Detectives is buried somewhere beneath the mountain of coursework.
I have had Savage Detectives and haven't gotten around to reading it but judging from all the comments here maybe I need to pick it up next. Infinite Jest is the only thing on this list I've read and the more I let it marinate the highter it moves up on my list of favorite books…
Just finished Netherland Great read. Tried infinite Jest but just could not get into it.
Read Bolano's 2666, DFW's Supposedly Fun Thing, and O'Neill's Netherland. Netherland was a bit of a disappointment after all the hype, while 2666 was simply amazing even with the hype. It's been a few months since I read 2666, and I still find anything I've read since lackluster and uninteresting. I remember enjoying a number of the essays in this collection by DFW, but I read it so long time ago that my memory can't be trusted. I, too, prefer his essays to his fiction.