2011

So, anyone stumble across a list for the past year yet?

Publishers Weekly doesn't come out with their lists until March.

Huffington Post has a 11-month chart published Feb 12, 2012, covering all but the last 4 weeks of December 2011: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/bestselling-books-of-2011_n_1173104.htm... .

This is Huffington's top ten non-fiction:

1 "Heaven Is For Real" Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson Publishers) (1008 books)
2 "Steve Jobs" Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster) (1485)
3 "Unbroken" Laura Hillenbrand (Random House) (2328)
4 "Killing Lincoln" Bill O’Reilly (Henry Holt & Company) (278)
5 "Strengths Finder 2.0" Tom Rath (Gallup Press) (952)
6 "A Stolen Life" Jaycee Dugard (Simon & Schuster) (463)
7 "Bossypants" Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur Books) (1989)
8 "The 17 Day Diet" Mike Moreno (Free Press) (57)
9 "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks" Rebecca Skloot (Broadway Books) (3863)
10 "In The Garden Of Beasts" Erik Larson (Crown Publishing Group) (1441)

I've been meaning to pick up a copy of In the Garden of Beasts. I've heard The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is very good, but I don't have much stomach for medical stuff, though I apparently have a stomach for bad Nazis. I've always been interested in diplomatic history and even tried to get in the foreign service when I was young, so thought this might be an interesting perspective.

PW published the list... some big surprises in the Fiction list (at least for me..)

I can't seem to find a definitive fiction list for last year. Anybody got a link? Here is USA Todays version. They've mixed fiction with non-fiction.

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
2. The Girl Who Played With Fire Stieg Larsson
3. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Stieg Larsson
4. Decision Points George W. Bush
5. The Last Song Nicholas Sparks
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth Jeff Kinney
7. Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert
8. Dear John Nicholas Sparks
9. The Help Kathryn Stockett
10. Breaking Dawn Stephenie Meyer

This is a link to a list in the Huffington Post, using Nielsen: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/bestselling-books-of-2011_n_1173104.htm... .

Thisis the Huffington Fiction top 10:

1 "The Help" Kathryn Stockett (Berkley Publishing Group)
2 "The Help" (Movie Tie-In Edition) Kathryn Stockett (Berkley Publishing Group)
3 "Water For Elephants" Sara Gruen (Algonquin Books Of Chapel Hill)
4 "Cutting For Stone" Abraham Verghese (Vintage Books)
5 "A Dance With Dragons" George R. R. Martin (Bantam Books)
6 "The Confession" John Grisham (Dell Publishing Company)
7 "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Stieg Larsson (Vintage Books)
8 "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest" Stieg Larsson (Knopf Publishing Group)
9 "The Litigators" John Grisham (Doubleday Books)
10 "Room" Emma Donoghue (Back Bay Books )

This is the Huffington on-fiction list:

1 "Heaven Is For Real" Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson Publishers)
2 "Steve Jobs" Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster)
3 "Unbroken" Laura Hillenbrand (Random House)
4 "Killing Lincoln" Bill O’Reilly (Henry Holt & Company)
5 "Strengths Finder 2.0" Tom Rath (Gallup Press)
6 "A Stolen Life" Jaycee Dugard (Simon & Schuster)
7 "Bossypants" Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur Books)
8 "The 17 Day Diet" Mike Moreno (Free Press)
9 "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks" Rebecca Skloot (Broadway Books)
10 "In The Garden Of Beasts" Erik Larson (Crown Publishing Group)

I will admit to having torn through all the Dragon Tattoo books. I only wish there was a 4th one.

My wife loved the Stieg Larrson books, but I didn't read them. The Quiet Girl by Peter Høeg has been my most recent Scandinavian (in this case, Danish) mystery, published in 2006 but which I read a year ago or so. Høeg is most famous novel is Smilla's Sense of Snow.

Smilla was great, but was unfortunately made into a not very good movie. I recall getting a great tip from Smilla on tips for dealing with dry winter skin -- almond oil. A funny thing to get from a serious book.