conuly

First, go read this link. One of the commenters there referenced this ST quote, which seems apropos. (Though I think Spock was being sarcastic, or at least the writers were.)

Now that you're primed, I'm heading over here to find the bestsellers the week I was born.

Fiction

1 SPACE, by James A. Michener.
The story of the American space program told through fiction.

2 MISTRAL'S DAUGHTER, by Judith Krantz.
The art world of the 20's and the fashion industry of the 80's. 3

3 2010: ODYSSEY TWO, by Arthur C. Clarke.
A continuation of the tale begun in ''2001: A Space Odyssey.''

4 MASTER OF THE GAME, by Sidney Sheldon.
The hidden truth behind a woman business tycoon's rise to power.

5 THE VALLEY OF HORSES, by Jean M. Auel.
A continuation of the saga of human survival at the dawn of civilization begun in ''The Clan of the Cave Bear.''

6 FOUNDATION'S EDGE, by Isaac Asimov.
The struggle to keep civilization alive in a crumbling empire: science fiction.

7 LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING, by Douglas Adams.
On a journey through space, two men find answers to all their questions about existence: science fiction-fantasy.

8 CROSSINGS, by Danielle Steel.
A clandestine trans-Atlantic romance survives the stresses and strains of World War II.

9 E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL STORYBOOK, by William Kotzwinkle.
Abridged, profusely illustrated version of the novelization of the current film.

10 GOODBYE, MICKEY MOUSE, by Len Deighton.
World War II pilots in military and romantic encounters.

11 DIFFERENT SEASONS, by Stephen King.
Four novellas with mainly nonhorror themes by a modern master of horror.

12 DEADEYE DICK, by Kurt Vonnegut.
Comments on contemporary life made through the story of a youthful criminal who grows up to be a playwright.

13 LIFE SENTENCES, by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey.
Old college chums come to a woman's aid in her time of crisis.

14 SECOND HEAVEN, by Judith Guest.
An emotionally battered man and woman are healed through the act of healing an emotionally battered runaway boy.

15 MAX, by Howard Fast.
The birth of the American film industry in New York at the turn of the century

I mean, it could be worse. I've at least heard of several of these writers, and I've read three of these books - books 5, 6, and 7.

Highlights of the nonfiction list include Shel Silverstein's "A light in the Attic" and two different books entitled "Jane Fonda's Workout Book", except the one crediting Fonda herself as author is vanilla edition and the other one is for pregnancy recovery and written by somebody else.

Edit: Putting aside from the fact that I culled that from the NYTimes hardcover bestseller list, which automatically cuts some books out of the running, another commenter at the original article points out that the older lists had some serious selection bias towards whatever booksellers said was selling rather than what objective data showed was selling.