The Millions Top Ten: September 2022

October 14, 2022 | 2 min read

We spend plenty of time here at 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 September.

This Month Last Month Title On List
1. 1. How High we go in the dark cover millions How High We Go in the Dark 6 months
2. 2. refuse to be done cover millions Refuse to Be Done 6 months
3. 3. either/or cover millions Either/Or 4 months
4. 4. sea of tranquility cover millions Sea of Tranquility
5 months
5. 5. sirens and muses cover millions Sirens & Muses 2 months
6. 6. the angel of rome: and other stories cover The Angel of Rome: And Other Stories 3 months
7. 8. forbidden city cover Forbidden City 3 months
8. 7. paradis cover Paradais 4 months
9. 9. tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow cover Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow 2 months
10. when we were bright and beautiful cover When We Were Bright and Beautiful 1 month

Precious little movement on this month’s list, as nine of last month’s titles return. Of the returning titles, two changed positions: Vanessa Hua’s Forbidden City City switched places with Fernanda Melchor’s Paradais. Dino Buzzati’s The Tartar Steppe dropped out.

The list’s lone opening was filled by Jillian Medoff’s novel When We Were Bright and Beautiful, which rose from last month’s Near Misses.

Lacking drama, I offer trivia: six of the titles on this month’s list were covered in our First Half Book Preview, and three in our Second Half Book Preview. Only one title came without our advance promotion: Refuse to Be Done, Matt Bell’s guide for writing and rewriting novels. I wonder if we can rewrite the list…

Next month at least two spots will open, as at least two titles seem bound for our Hall of Fame. Will the newcomers filling their places be new to us, or familiar names among the Near Misses? There’s just one way to find out.

This month’s near misses included: Shrines of Gaiety, The Hurting Kind, How to Read Now (Essays), and Properties of Thirst. See Also: Last month’s list.

works on special projects for The Millions. He lives in Baltimore and he frequents dive bars. His interests can be followed on his Tumblr, Nick Recommends and Twitter, @nemoran3.