New York Times Bestseller List
 

Would you say the New York Times Bestseller List is a good way to judge the quality of a book? Are you more likely or less likely to buy a book once you've found out that it was on the bestseller list? Does it make any difference whatsoever? discuss.

and after you've read/replied to this thread, start your own thread. Book Talk needs an infusion of interest.


DON'T LET THIS FORUM DIE.

theres a world of difference between good and successful..

(yeh, it's generally the case that most books which are successful are also good. but this is not always the case... nor is it the case that all good books are successful.)

Myself I generally ignore best-seller lists, and go for things which look interesting to me, not just that which has sold well.

Hemulen

The NY Times bestseller list is a good measure of what people are reading, but that's about it. It measures success, but definitely not quality.

I'll look at it occasionally to see if there's anything interesting. After all, there must be a reason why the book is successful, right? But I don't think I've ever bought or read a book just because it was popular.

The Fiction list is a waste of time IMO. The same authors dominate the top of it all year and their books are bought because of name recognition. When people tell me they're buying the new King or Grisham, thats what they're buyin. It has nothing to do with whats in the book, just who wrote it. However if you look lower on the list you can sometimes get a good idea of some lesser know authors that have a good book out.

I have found more jems on the non fiction list and from my experience many of the top selling non fiction books are quite good. David McCullough's John Adams was an excellent biography and George Carlin's Napalm and Silly Putty was hillarious. I found out about both from the NY Times best seller list.

The list can be useful, but make sure to read some of the reviews as well. Just because Mary Higgins Clark's new book debuts at the top of the list doesn't mean its worth reading. (It wasn't by the way)

I don't remember ever buying a book on any bestseller list.

Most of the time I hit the clearence tables and look for something interesting.

The most recent read I bought for $5 was Father and Son, which turned out to be a great book.

So to answer the question, the bestseller list, for me at least, is a non-issue.

-Steve