A Conferacy of Dunces
27
Vanilla is a flavor, I guess.
5
Jaws and Helter Skelter both 1974
26
I devoured (pun intended) Jaws in one all-nighter. It was already dog-eared from tearing like lightening through the rest of the house. Even my grandmother read it.
15
@Brenda Both fantastic!!! Don't understand how at least Jaws didn't make the list!!
10
The Godfather
The DaVinci Code
The Hunt for Red October
Silence of the Lambs
The French Lieutenants Woman
36
I have read a majority of these books! The book that came to my mind was “Presumed Innocent”. My sister commuted from Providence, RI to Boston for work back in the day and she entered a train car one morning and every single person in the car was reading that book!
27
Lonesome Dove
28
I thought of so many other books but they all fell into the "popular authors" category. Harry Potter, Stephen King, James Michener, James Clavell, and others. By eliminating the major authors, the books that people have commented on here shrinks dramatically.
For this year, I vote for "The Woman in the Window" by James Finn.
7
It’s a lot harder today to figure out what is the “it book” of summer by observing. So many people are now reading novels on a Kindle or other electronic device.
18
"Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All."
'89, 4 million copies sold, NYT best-seller for 8 months
A wonderful first novel - I didn't expect much going in, but I was gripped throughout. I may have shed a few tears
Nice article!
11
There's only one book I ever had to fold over to hide the title, but that's because I was at the clothing-optional Harbin Hot Springs and the book was Jennifer Egasn's "Look At Me".
8
The Word According to Garp was everywhere when I first moved back to the States around about 1977. I resisted reading it because it was inescapable. Once I gave in, I fell in love with it and the rest of John Irving's early work. It was THE book of that year.
46
Seabiscuit is possibly the greatest book of all time. Laura Hillenbrand is a master, as evidenced by how long her books always stay on the NYT bestseller list and how many years it takes for them to even reach paperback! I've read Seabiscuit maybe four times or so now? And every time, it's such a pleasure.
On a different note: The Lovely Bones is some of the worst writing I've ever encountered. I remember when I read (all? part of?) it (I've mostly blocked out the experience), I could barely believe even two people managed to get through it at all.
Also, surprised that this article didn't mention the summer of ... was it 2016? when everyone was reading Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. I didn't get to read them till 2018, but they were so good, I read all four of them twice last year!
18
A great list, but I would have to add John Grisham’s breakout blockbuster, “The Firm.” You couldn’t go to the pool or board a plane without seeing at least one person with a copy.
45
Oh, come on!! You missed THE summer book of all time- 'Jaws' in 1974. People didn't swim for years after that. No book has had more impact on summers.
56
@politicsandamericanpie
Yep, and I was one of them. I read that book when I was probably much too young (11) and living two blocks from the ocean in Ormond Beach, FL. Definitely messed with my head!
8
What about Rich Man Poor Man in the mid 70’s I loved that book. I saw it everywhere then they turned it into a TV mini series.
15
The Summer Wives, by Beatriz Williams, is pretty good.
2
Shantaram (Roberts, 2003)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Larsson, 2011)
31
E.L. Doctorow, “Ragtime”, 1975. Remembering people reading this book while walking on the street. Time before Audible, lol.
18
A Prayer for Owen Meany. No less than 4 people were reading it in a doctor's office waiting room one hot day.
27
The Other Side of Midnight - some 1970s summer.
25
Thanks for the memories. Books that weren't or should have been included can be found in the comments.
Well done.
11
Were there no pictures from NY beaches available? Based on the Morris-Mini ad on that newspaper and the stones on the beach, this picture is from somewhere in Great Britain. Seriously, there were no pictures of Coney Island available?
Bad on you, NY Times!
12
Red Mars
Green Mars
Blue Mars
2
Anyone care to comment what the book of this summer should be as I am looking for a good read with last summer’s draught of good books having me go back to summer books I have missed r ads. Please enlighten me!
28
"Are You There, God, It's Me Margaret" was the "It" book for every tween in the 1970's.
30
Bridges of Madison County was everywhere, especially the subway, in the summer of 1993.
39
Although I didn’t read them, I remember my parents and aunts and uncles passing around Ragtime in 1975 and Roots in 1976. And yes...Jaws! Even though I was 10, I read that!
22
"House of the Spirits", Isabel Allende, 1982
13
What happened to "The Thorn Birds?" Everybody was reading it in '78 (or was it '79?) Bookstores had dummy display copies because they'd sold out of every last book.
75
I'm waiting for Malcolm Gladwell's analysis on what causes a book to become a summer "It" book. He must have an unfinished essay somewhere...
13
Just saw the remarkable movie, “On the Basis of Sex.,” on the service to justice of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Down through various times of tribulation there have been poems, novels, plays , and movies that have heroically and inspirational addressed prevailing wrong that so much needed righting---the clear message of appeal of this movie needs now to be spread and heralded as far as the eye can see, the ear can hear, and love concern and compassion most deeply felt. Talk it over in appreciation with your family and friends. If your book club has not rear the book on which the movie is based they might want to and also see the movie.
7
1970 was the summer between my junior and senior years at Indiana University. Every woman I knew was beyond gaga over “Love Story,” by Erich Segal. I gave up and read it, sort of in self-defense. I didn't get it. So I read it again (it was short and easy to read). I still didn't get it. So I finally decided if all kinds of other people thought it was wonderful and felt edified by the story who was I to say it was utter tripe.
18
I remember finding Lord of the Rings misfiled with his philogist works at the UCSB library in the spring of '67. Read all three of them in about 4 days. Better than studying! I think my grades were okay as well. Do not remember my grades nearly as well as those books.
Does that count as early summer reading?
29
Jaws 1974
Airport 1968
Fail Safe 1962
26
@Paul
JAWS - JAWS - Jaws!...
da, da... da, da
8
Going back further, who remembers PEYTON PLACE?
52
@Cookie please
Just the “good parts”
7
@Cookie please
I read it in 2015, after reading a great book about it: Unbuttoning America: A Biography of Peyton Place, by Ardis Cameron.
I was amazed at how well it has held up, and how much better it is than I thought when I read it for the first time, decades ago. (Another book from that era, A Summer Place, has also held up and is better than I expected.)
Link to Unbuttoning America, which I recommend highly.
https://www.amazon.com/Unbuttoning-America-Biography-Peyton-Place-ebook/dp/B00WJPLG3E/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=unbuttoning+america&qid=1560117793&s=gateway&sr=8-1
8
@Cookie please
I do! I read Return to Peyton Place too. Didn't like it as much though. I didn't care for the tv series either.
1
I love that so many people are so loyal to their favorites. The truth is, more than one book can represent a time period, and no one article is going to pull them all in. But this article, and even more so, the comments, makes for a great reading list! Thank you for everyone who chose to list their favorites. I have read about 75%; I will get going on those that tickle my fancy from the other 25%.
32
Love Colorado, so read Michener’s Centennial in one summer weekend. Also, Snow Falling on Cedar—a wonderful, wonderful book.
31
Try looking at travel and adventure writing from the past--Robert Louis Stevenson, and many others, have excerpts in the wonderful anthology, in "Dead Reckoning". Or the original "Seven Years in Tibet", by Heinrich Harrer--the final chapter(s) were about his years with the Dalai Lama.
5
No one has mentioned Snow Crash - wasn't that a summer pub in the way-back-when 90s? Or is it too SF/genre to appeal broadly enough to count as an "It"?
To me, that novel was breathtaking & cool. Still is.
9
@DameAlys -- I listened to Snow Crash as an audio-book on a business trip. As an Alaskan, I was amazed and amused by its major character from my state. But I almost crashed my car when it mentioned the town I was driving thru JUST AT THAT MOMENT. I told the public library there that they should get a copy; the librarians said they'd never heard of it.
1
@DameAlys I started reading Snow Crash on a Friday afternoon. Soon cancelled Friday night's plans. Then cancelled Saturday's plans, including a garden party I had been looking forward to. Finished book, and cancelled Saturday night's plans in order to get some sleep. Started re-reading it on Sunday after brunch. Thank god for friends' reading recommendations!
4
Fear of Flying (1973) and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) certainly defined my 20's and the 70's in general.
52
The Help
38
"Love means not ever having to say you're sorry"?
Did the movie change it to "Love means never having to say you're sorry"?
1
@Theo Borgerding
Yes, the wording was changed in the movie.
2
@Theo Borgerding
John Lennon replied, love means having to say you're sorry a hundred times a day.
20
The summer of '73 belonged to Watership Down. For weeks I was a rabbit, and man's unthinking destruction was a portend of things to come.
56
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?
55
Here are my prehistoric additions, in no particular order: Battle Cry (read in the 7th grade); God’s Little Acre; Grapes of Wrath; East of Eden; Angle of Repose; and every Nancy Drew mystery ever written.
36
@Bluebeliever
Angel of Repose is an excellent novel, written by the underappreciated writer, Wallace Stegner, who was also an early environmentalist.
20
@Diogenes: I am rereading it right now—fourth time. Anything Stegner wrote is golden, any time of the year.
13
@Bluebeliever. Angle of Repose is a perennial favorite of mine!
8
1987 - The Shell Seekers.
43
@MED OMG - I Loved that book!! Forgot all about it and still have it! I found it tucked away back in a long forgotten corner of my book shelf. Will read it again this summer - Thanks for posting this!
3
The summer of 1969 (or was it 1970) everyone on the El in Philly was reading Mario Puzo's The Godfather
55
@Rick Malloy, S.J. Yes, The Godfather. I read it on the subway in NYC where I had a summer job. Was so engrossed I forgot to get off at my midtown stop and when I looked up the train was stopping at 125th Street in Harlem!
12
Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides?
61
@Chris Jones. Liked his South of Broad much better.
@Chris Jones His 'Beach Music' made me cry for hours. I love that book.
1
Skewed but interesting list
https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Recency_effect
2
@T.J. Elliott
the link doesn't go to a list
I was waiting for Valley of the Dolls to appear.
36
@Andy
...and The Carpetbaggers
11
Presumed Innocent!!
43
The Day After Tomorrow, by Allan Folsom, summer of 1994. Who can forget that crazy story?
6
"The Godfather" 1969; "The Exorcist" 1971; "Interview With a Vampire" 1976.
47
@John Lewis
Bingo! Read them all, but I didn't read Exorcist until after I'd watched the movie, which was a mistake. The book was better (they usually are.)
6
The World According to Garp by John Irving, 1978.
58
@NA
I read Garp because of all the hype.
It stunk.
7
@JND. agree
2
The Thornbirds!!
35
How on Earth do you omit “Jaws” from the summer of 1975?
43
1967 or 68? Rosemary’s Baby. Read it in one sitting. Loved it. Scared me to death.
And, of course, The Godfather
61
I am surprised that Naomi Alderman's "The Power" is not on this list. Maybe that's because it's too recent or was not a "summer book". It was released in the USA in October 2017 but still was a resonant book for the #MeToo movement and was the first item included in Obama's 2017 list.
James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Every summer since 1979. Also, anything by James Salter from my collection, which has not already been pilfered by house guests...
4
The Gold Coast, early 90s?
4
Are you claiming these books weren’t hyped by big publishing houses?
It's revealing how good or awful you can sense a book is from one, single, "memorable" line.
2
How could you have forgotten “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”? It was everywhere on the subway in 2010 when I moved to New York.
29
Interesting how the genre of books was a bit more diverse in the past. Yet, now, it seems to fit a more feminine interest slant. This is not a condemnation of the titles. It does leave me to wonder if most of the summer reading public is women.
6
Left, sadly, off the list: the pbk bestseller of the Summer of '85, the doorstop novel "And Ladies of the Club," by Helen Hooven Santmyer...
...which I suspect many really did NOT read cover to cover.
11
@DameAlys. I read it every few years...a wonderful book!
@DameAlys - how I loved that book!
3
@DameAlys I truly read almost the entire book. I enjoyed it immensely. I deliberately chose not to finish it because I had come to really care about the characters whose lived had passed me before me as I read. I did not want to see them die so I stopped reading.
4
This year’s will be Where the Crawdads Sing.
17
Argh, why would you include such a blatant spoiler? You may not like the book, but many haven’t read it yet.
16
@Echo It's a fabulous book...
1
Sorry everybody, but this summer it’s got to be The Mueller Report!
64
Not sure when they came out but I caught up with The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo books in the summer.
7
The Thorn Birds Colleen McCollough 1977
The Client John Grisham 1993
The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003
I could go on.
25
"The Exorcist"!
13
What about Douglas Coupland’s Generation X, and Alex Garland’s The Beach?! A clever story idea, this article!
8
I don’t know if I should be embarrassed or frightened or pleased that I have read all but two of these.
11
Marjorie Morning Star, my first sexy novel.
27
Coma by Robin Cook, around '77.
24
1969: The Godfather, by Mario Puzo.
18
I thought that this was, well, trivial, but I was intrigued and decided to read this despite misgivings.
To my surprise I recall most of the books. To my dismay I did not read them. I do recall seeing a couple of movies and the music that was part of them. Love Story, from 1970 was made into a movie with Ali McGraw. For that reason I went to see it and also because of the music of Francis Lai. I loved that. I also liked it because I was just 22, young and very much in love with a beautiful college girl with whom I had some wonderful adventures. She was so warm and soft. Her smile would linger like the Cheshire cat's.
What is strange to me is that I guess I did pay attention to summer reads and "It Books".
Now I can't get the theme from Love Story out of my head. The girl never left and sometimes I wish for the summer of 1970.
11
I can't afford to run out and buy new books when they're first released. I buy all my books at a second hand book store, so I'm usually hopelessly out of date. The "it" books are always out at the library, so I never seem to have an "it" book at the right time. I might get in a few years after it's time has passes. Or, I skip the "it" books altogether for ones few other people have ever heard of. I've found some great books that were never in line to be an "it." But, I like them anyway.
6
@Ms. Pea Try looking at year old magazines, that list current new books to read...by then they are available through the library, usually.
6
@Ms. Pea
Here is a plug for the library: dust off your library card and put the “it” books on hold!
34
@Ms. Pea
Try requesting them from your local library. That's how I get most of the books I read, even newer ones. Just don't request too many at once or you could be deluged with so many you can't read them all by the deadline.
8
I remember the summer of 1991 when my mom and I took the boat tour on the River Walk in San Antonio and everyone we passed along the way was reading The Firm. That was a fun summer read.
30
At least one of the Harry Potter books was released in the summer, because I remember being at the local pool with my toddler and being amused by the pre-teens and teenagers who were huddled on their umbrellas reading!
20
@HNI know for sure that numbers 4 and 5 were released in the summer. I remember taking Goblet of Fire on vacation and reading whenever I could. I was the Mom, by the way. And the 5th one came out the day before one of my kids was heading off to camp , so we splurged on 2 copies so we could each read it asap. Fond memories!
7
@HN Harry's birthday is July 31st. I think a lot of books were released on that date and midnight parties at bookstores the night before were common at least for the later books.
4
I found so many of the books (not all of them, but many) on this list to be unreadable trash--even for beach reads. To this day I'm stunned by the fact that anyone could do other than feel sick to their stomach at having lost a few hours of their life after reaching the end of "The Girl o the Train," hours that they'll never get back. Same for "Gone Girl," "Lovely Bones," "Eat, Pray, Love," "Joy Luck Club."
I don't always need to be reading great literature. But every book needs to have a reasonably good story and at least some quality of writing. If the popularity of these books doesn't attest to the herd-like quality of humans I don't know what does.
16
@EB
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Relished most of these books over the decades.
Agreed that Harry Potter deserves a shout out; those had a way of coming out just in time for summer vacation.
17
@EB
But sometimes the herd is right, isn't it?
6
@EB
Wow, are you wrong about The Lovely Bones.
9
"Darwin's Shooter," a fictional rendering of the life of the semi-educated boy who was Darwin's shooter during his trip on the Beagle. The boy grows up and reads Darwin's book. It is interesting how it affects him.
4
Summer of 1987. I was 17 on what would turn out to be my last annual family summer camping trip to Long Key State Park. My mom, my high school friend, her mom and I were sharing a single copy of Stephen King’s ‘Misery’. I remember reading for hours in that lawn chair next to the water, hiding from the broiling sun under the shade of Australian pines. The minute one of us put that book down, another one would snatch it up. Sequestering it in our tents didn’t work as none of were above rummaging through each other’s duffel bags.
32
Didn’t Like Water for Chocolate set off the craze for foodie books with recipes? Quite an accolade.
11
For me, it was the summer of 1982 and Clan of the Cave Bear. I was 17 and read this on a lovely, langourous beach vacation.
46
@loracle
I read Clan of the Cave Bear that same summer. Couldn't stop reading it, but didn't want it to end.
5
@loracle
Jondalar! I remember sitting in my car in the driveway for hours as I was listening to this book on tapes and I couldn't stop. My wife thought I was nuts. She was right.
3
@Literatelily.. same here...also a couple of the subsequent books. I couldn't put it down.
That so many of these were turned into movies cannot be a coincidence.
2
Look no further than Hazards of Good Fortune by Seth Greenland for this summer’s beach reading. Entertaining, diverting and current (and ageless) as it gets.
I just looked at some Booth Tarkington books to see how they're holding up.
(They're not. Gone the way of Salinger's cringers.)
@Pecan
Huh? You didn't love "Monsieur Beaucaire"?! (There are a few of us Tarkington lovers still alive, just so you know.)
And, seriously, "cringers" for Salinger seems a little harsh. "Catcher in the Rye," Franny and Zooey," & "Nine Stories" have all held up well, and have earned their current status as classics.
Had this fun feature article pushed back another 10 years, "Catcher" would probably have made the list. Not sure it was a "summer" book, tho'.
8
@DameAlys
I loved the Penrod books and Seventeen, but the racist dialogue in Seventeen is unbearable.
Disagree that Salinger's cringers are "classics." I can't see anyone reading them in ten years. (Or now, unless there are some high school teachers still assigning Catcher.
5
So interesting - but a bit of a missed opportunity by not showing the original covers for all the books. The feeling of these books' ubiquity is tied in part to their visual manifestations. It's super interesting to see the actual covers of the books that you'd see on the subway in 1992 - that way you really get a sense of the aesthetic of the time. Google first editions of Waiting to Exhale, American Psycho, The Name of the Rose, Love Story and Andromeda Strain to check it out.
20
1994 Snow Falling on Cedars
1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
2003 The Kite Runner
2007 A Thousand Splendid Suns
52
1977: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. I commuted into Boston for a summer and everyone on the T was reading it.
20
“Andromeda Strain”. My favorite B science fiction film as well. Unforgettable beginning. Good ending.
11
Despite their being children/young adult novels, so many adults eagerly anticipated the summer releases of the Harry Potter novels and devoured them themselves. The NYT ran more than one story about this phenomenon, including pictures of adults reading the novels when riding the trains.
13
I stayed up all night twice reading Lonesome Dove. 1985?
30
@Karen Larsen
Yes! I couldn't put it down, but I don't think I read it twice. Memory fails.
1962: Another country by James Baldwin
22
Awww, come on! “Summer Sisters” by Judy Blume, all the way!! I re-read it every summer.
14
Shogun (1976) and Trinity (1977) are two more.
65
@S Dooner
I was just WAITING for James Clavell's books to show up along with James Michener. And there not a single mention of Stephen KIng.
2
I don’t do “beach reads” but I remember getting a kick out of the fun and clever Bridget Jones’s Diary when it came out. I enjoyed Joy Luck Club, even thought the plot felt formulaic. Amy Tan was a fresh voice, at that time. Adored Midnight in the Garden, full stop. And I admit to liking Eat, Pray, Love. What people forget about that book is that Elizabeth Gilbert is a solid writer. It was a truly good read, regardless of what the more dismissive snobs thought of the content. Unfortunately, the book brought out some very ugly anti-female rebuttal, though. At my husband’s workplace, the top partners (all of them the absolute worst kind of males) were passing around the profanity-titled parody of EPL. Ugh. Probably just jealousy.
16
Since well before the time of the Mongol Invasions, people have always enjoyed well spun yarns about murder, lies, sex, the living, the dead, plagues, war. love won love lost by peoples living under the endless blue sky. What this says about people over time and space is that the human condition is one wherein most of us live a life based on love, fantasy, fear, desperation, longing and hope but seldom one rooted in logic and facts. What this says about us as a species and a nation is that we are all essentially emotional saps being manipulated by carnival barkers and snake oil salesmen who exploit our fear, needs, wants and desires. It says that people are easy marks willing to be manipulated and entertained. Welcome to the USA in 2019.
18
@American Akita Team. Does this mean that your favorite summer read wasn't on this list?
4
@American Akita Team
Yup... 's true. Just like all those saps who used to listen to the Iliad.
5
In 1977 you couldn't find a seat on the subway without sitting next to someone reading "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCollough.
174
Great idea for a books article, thank you!
@Jay Kardon I went to the comments specifically to see if anybody else felt "The Thorn Birds" deserved a spot on this list. It's the book which I as a kid remember all the adults reading during summers on Cape Cod. I can't remember which year, so maybe it was 1977, or maybe it was more than one year; but it was memorable whatever the case. I was back on the Cape, in Harwich Port, a couple years ago, after not having gone for more than two decades, and I was thrilled to find a worn paperback copy of "The Thorn Birds" in the small, covered shelf of books at the public beach. Brought back memories . . .
12
"What, exactly, is a summer ‘‘it’’ book? It’s usually written by someone you’ve never heard of before. It appears out of nowhere, often having been published quietly the previous winter or spring, and has spent months gathering steam —"
As an aspiring author, that's all I needed to hear.
20
I remember the novel JAWS (1975),Benchley’s book was pretty good – it’s was an easy terrific “summer read” .
62
@MICHAEL
The movie was 1975 however the book was the previous year. That film really took over that summer of 1975 - in those carefree Ford years.
4
For me, 1988 was the summer of 'Love in the Time of Cholera'. It was suitably sweltering as well.
59
Just like with the "it" song of summer, the best part is when publishers and retaiilers are ready to proclaim a title the "it" book at the start of summer, and it ends up being something else entirely, which no one but its fans saw coming.
6
"Scruples" and "The Far Pavillions" are two that I recall being "beach read" musts.
Also, of course, "Jaws" was an egregious omission from this list -- though that was a bit before my time.
51
@Earthling Forgot about The Far Pavilions! Must reread!
18
@Earthling
LOVED, The Far Pavillions!
8
For better for for worse, the mind reels ...
In no real order:
"Exodus"
"Valley of the Dolls"
"The Group"
"Airport"
"Peyton Place"
"Jaws"
"Portnoy's Complaint"
"The Godfather"
"Bonfire of the Vanities"
"The World According to Garp"
"The Bridges of Madison County"
"The Horse Whisperer"
145
@Bridgman, I read Portnoy’s Compliant during a particularly grueling finals week when I was an undergrad. A guilty pleasure! (Also remember reading Frankie and Zooey during finals. Something to break the tension.)
11
@Bridgman I was a rising senior in high school on vacation with the family, I was madly devouring The Godfather. It was blistering hot but if I jumped in the pool I had to fight both my parents to get the book back! They felt it was inappropriate reading for a young girl- Sonny and the bridesmaid, the horse head. Luckily, I was a fast reader. We all finished it that week.
11
@Bridgman yes to the world according to garp!
6
What? No "Jaws"?
34
C'mon, how can you leave out: “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water." Jaws (1974) You still think twice at the beach.
87
@Kenneth C. Davis See my comment. I didn't forget! ;-)
10
@Kenneth C. Davis
That was actually one of the first books I thought of when I saw the title of this article. I was fairly shocked not to see it.
2003: The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown.
91
2011 everyone one I saw on the beach was reading 50 Shades of Gray. Furtively, the novel half hidden in a beach towel, the readers blushed and barely looked away.
36
I saw the movie very recently; it was so bad I now have no desire to read the book.
7
Perhaps in some pretentious South Hampton enclave they read Eco's book as a beach read. I find this highly doubtful. None of the Latin was translated, and he did not publish the Key to the Name of the Rose until after its publication. It is similar to finding someone a Gramsci T-shirt working in Walmart.
22
@patrick Hmmm We read it on Sacandaga Lake in Adirondacks. Nobody even heard of the Hamptons but we still love a good yarn, which Umberto provided.
25
@patrick, I don’t know anyone who actually READ The Name of the Rose. It was purchased by many, skimmed by some, and put aside by most.
23
@Passion for Peaches I have read it twice in its entirety. Great book.
9
1975. Just graduated from high school. I spent most of the summer working at the new cineplex at the Sunrise Mall on L.I. and taking college classes in Saratoga Springs. Jaws and Watership Down were the must reads as I recall. Both had been released earlier (1974 & 1972 respectively), but really hit their stride when the paperback releases came out. It was a glorious summer full of great memories!
58
@L.C. Grant, I loved Watership Down! I raised rabbits as a child.
21
@Passion for Peaches We had rabbits for awhile too. I girl I knew in high school gave me the book as a gift.
1
I declare this the summer of doing nothing but reading. More, please, more!
45
Interesting list.
Many of those books have become popular movies.....what are the top five overlapping factors contributing to the popularity of a book and the book becoming a movie?
4
@Kelly Clark, many popular books are written with screenplays in mind. You can see it plainly in the writing. There will be many scene changes with a lot of description for each change. The text will be peppered with artifacts that denote the period — popular songs, snack foods, fashions, events, etc. The book will be loaded with dialogue. The characters will be the standard casting array common in popular films. One author who had the book-to-movie formula down pat was Frank Conroy. More recently, I read Vanessa Hua’s book A River of Stars, and all I could think of is how much it read like an expanded treatment for a movie.
17
You really hit the nail on the head with your reply. And these films’ screenwriters won’t be getting the Oscar for best adaptation because as you well point out, the book is a treatment per se.
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What about 'Valley of the Dolls', or wasn't that a summer read?
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@DAN0804 Just checked. It was 1966 and certainly the first time I looked around a public bus and saw if anyone was reading a book, then they were reading Valley of the Dolls. Trashy and irresistible.
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@DAN0804, that’s the first book that comes to mind when I think of a summer read.
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@DAN0804
Loved the book. The movie was awful. Thankfully I had read the book first.
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It would have been nice to see the original covers of some of the older titles listed here.
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In 1983, it was The Thorn Birds. Everyone at the beach was imagining Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward.
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@Guin Absolutely! I graduated from college that summer, our neighbor had a pool and my sister and I traded that book back and forth.
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@Guin Thank you! As multiple comments here attest, the book that absolutely should have been on this list is "The Thorn Birds"!
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