Have you ever wondered which book took the world by storm when you were born?
A popular online bookstore Wordery launched recently a fun web-based tool that will tell you which book topped the New York Times bestseller list the longest in your birth year.
Additionally, it will provide a short (spoiler-free!) summary, the genre of the book and the number of weeks it remained a bestseller.
All you have to do is visit Wordery’s Best-selling Books by Year, type in your age, and the tool will reveal your birth year’s most popular title. Also, this fun and easy-to-use tool enables you to scroll through the timeline with titles ranging from 1948 up to 2018.
However, what is perhaps the most interesting about the tool is how different the bestsellers of each year are.
There is Christian fiction, spy novels, historical novels, romance, self-help books and even magic realism. There is Dan Brown, Stephen King, Irving Stone and J. K. Rowling (and Robert Galbraith too!).
The bestseller-of-all-bestsellers, “Hawaii” by James A. Michener, spent an astonishing 38 weeks at the top of the list in 1960, while John Grisham (author of blockbusters such as “The Firm” or “A Time to Kill”) is the writer who appears on the timeline most frequently. Romance and historical fiction are among the most popular genres appearing on the list.
A spokesperson for Wordery, Barry Magennis, explains the idea behind the project:
It’s always fun to find out what was happening in the world the year you were born and knowing which novel your parents were likely to be reading throughout the first year of your life is quite fascinating.
He adds:
Not only that, if, like me, you find yourself asking ‘what should I read next?’ then this offers some great recommendations to help you figure out what book should be next on your reading list.
Try out Wordery’s tool and discover which book was à la mode the year you were born.
Via Mental Floss.
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More to explore:
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