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.
–
Inherent Vice
1 month
2.
5.
Zeitoun
2 months
3.
4.
The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw, and Never Will See, in The New Yorker
6 months
4.
2.
Infinite Jest
6 months
5.
6.
Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste
6 months
6. (tie)
7.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
6 months
6. (tie)
–
The Skating Rink
1 month
8.
8.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2 months
9.
10.
Netherland
2 months
10.
9.
Felonious Jazz
3 months
Thomas Pynchon staged an impressive debut in August, hitting number one in The Millions Top Ten as Inherent Vice hit shelves. Garth, our resident Pynchon expert, shared his thoughts on the post-modern detective story just this week. Also debuting on our list in August is yet another title from Roberto Bolaño. Out of the gate, The Skating Rink is looking less like a footnote in Bolaño’s prolific career and more like another Bolaño masterpiece, receiving impressive notices from the likes of Wyatt Mason in The New York Times (a “short, exquisite novel“) and Scott Esposito in The Quarterly Conversation (“well worth your time“). The book was also on our most recent “Most Anticipated Books” list.
Graduating to our Hall of Fame (after being on our list for 6+ months) are two books that have been surprise Millions favorites. Kitty Burns Florey’s Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences was the jumping off point for a grammar rodeo that Garth put on analyzing a snippet of a speech by President Obama. The upshot? A Venn diagram of Millions readers and grammar lovers would show quite a lot of overlap, I now suspect. Also newly honored in our Hall of Fame is prizewinner Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, which inspired Edan to pen her much discussed “Mom Book” essay.
Other notable action: Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun, recently reviewed around here and generally getting outstanding notices, shot to the number two spot in its second month on the list.
Next month should be quite interesting as we’re poised to have four titles join the Hall of Fame, freeing up room for lots of newcomers.
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.