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 August.
This
Month
Last
Month
Title
On List
1.
1.
A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee’s Guide to Saving the World
4 months
2.
–
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
1 month
3.
2.
Beautiful Ruins
6 months
4.
3.
The Round House
2 months
5.
4.
Well-Read Women: Portraits of Fiction’s Most Beloved Heroines
5 months
6.
5.
The Son
5 months
7.
–
Cosmicomics
1 month
8.
6.
Reading Like a Writer
2 months
9.
9.
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
2 months
10.
10.
My Struggle: Book 1
2 months
When it comes to literary fiction bestseller lists, is there a more reliable fixture than Haruki Murakami? Not only is the author prolific — having published thirteen novels (including a 1,000+ pager!) over his career — but he’s also incredibly popular. It was reported last year that in his native Japan, copies of his latest book, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, were flying off shelves to the tune of a million copies per week. And his reach is increasing, if you can believe it. A recent poll indicated that the author’s popularity is growing in Korea, and his work has been adapted for the screen in Vietnam. (His 2011 doorstopper, 1Q84, was banned from China, but that could be viewed as a mark of success depending on who you ask.)
So of course it should come as no surprise to see his latest novel break into our latest Top Ten, even despite Woody Brown’s fairly tepid review of the work for our site. “All of the hallmarks of Murakami’s style are present in Colorless Tsukuru,” Brown wrote back in August. “But for perhaps the first time … they seem flat and uninteresting, almost overused, as if the novel is a parody of his earlier work.” Ultimately, Brown notes, it’s a novel that, like Franz Liszt’s “Le mal du pays” (which figures prominently in the book), is “aloof, quiet, and finally, dissonant.”
Here’s hoping his next effort — due before the end of the year — is stronger, although it seems like no matter what, it’ll sell plenty of copies.
Meanwhile, the Top Ten saw the emergence this month of Italo Calvino’s classic work of “scientific” fiction, Cosmicomics. Undoubtedly Millions readers have Ted Gioia’s tantalizing review (“Italo Calvino’s Science Fiction Masterpiece“) to thank for putting the under-appreciated gem onto their radars:
Imagine a brilliant work of science fiction that wins the National Book Award and is written by a contender for the Nobel Prize in literature. Imagine that it is filled with dazzling leaps of the imagination, stylish prose, unique characters, philosophical insights, and unexpected twists and turns, but also draws on scientific concepts at every juncture. Imagine that it ranks among the finest works in the sci-fi genre.
And then imagine that almost no science fiction fan has read it, or even heard about it.
Rounding out this month’s list, we see the continued dominance of Rachel Cantor’s A Highly Unlikely Scenario and Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins. Both Well-Read Women and The Son remain popular mainstays as well. The list is due for a major shake-up in two months, as all four will likely be gracing our Hall of Fame by October and November. Will Knausgaard hang on to the last spot of the list by then? Will it have moved up? Will Book 2 have cracked the rankings? Only time will tell.
Near Misses: Americanah, Jesus’ Son, Bark, and Just Kids. 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.