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 March.
Looking for additional book recommendations? One of the benefits of subscribing to The Millions is access to our exclusive monthly newsletter in which our venerable staffers let you know what they’re reading right now. Learn more here.
| This Month | Last Month | Title | On List | |
| 1. | 1. |  |
5 Year Diary | 4 months |
| 2. | 2. |  |
Manhattan Beach | 6 months |
| 3. | 3. |  |
Her Body and Other Parties | 4 months |
| 4. | 4. |  |
Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process |
5 months |
| 5. | 5. |  |
Fire Sermon | 3 months |
| 6. | 6. |  |
Little Fires Everywhere |
6 months |
| 7. | 10. |  |
The Immortalists | 2 months |
| 8. | 7. |  |
Sing, Unburied, Sing |
4 months |
| 9. | 8. |  |
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden |
3 months |
| 10. | 9. |  |
My Favorite Thing is Monsters |
3 months |
This month brought nothing new to our list and the top half remains unchanged. The first six titles from February are also the first six titles for March. Mercifully, titles seven, eight, nine, and ten switched places, which gives me enough material to write at least this single sentence.
Most of this month’s near misses carried over from February as well. The lone newcomer is Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage. In our Great 2018 Book Preview, our own Nick Ripatrazone observed that, “In our greatest tragedies, there is the feeling of no escape—and when the storytelling is just right, we feel consumed by the heartbreak.” He highlighted Jones’s “powerful new novel” as an example of this feat, stating that despite the book’s tragic turns of plot, its author “makes sure … we can’t look away.”
Next month at least two spots will open up after Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere and Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach graduate to our Hall of Fame. Which books will take their places? Will they be new releases or some of the near misses from our previous lists? There’s only one way to find out.
In the meantime, those looking for recommendations on what to read should consider subscribing to our monthly “What We’re Reading” round-up, which is sent to Millions supporters. You can learn more about the (extremely affordable!) program over here. In recent months, these round-up emails have featured Hannah Gersen on Future Sex, Iľja Rákoš on Penguin Lost, and yours truly on The Trees The Trees, Shelter, and It to name just a few. The round-ups provide quick, snapshot book recommendations from Millions staffers and special guests which serve as digital recreations of the staff picks shelf stickers at your favorite bookstore. In the past four months, I’ve added at least a dozen books to my “to read” pile thanks to them.
This month’s other near misses included: The Odyssey, Frankenstein in Baghdad, Belladonna, Don’t Save Anything, and An American Marriage. See Also: Last month’s list.
