A new reason to lie about your age
By Jimmie Epling, Director, Darlington County Library System
As 2016 draws to a close, the Darlington County Library System will determine the most popular book of the year. In the running so far are “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Killing the Rising Sun,” “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” and “A Man Called Ove.”
The most popular book the year I was born was… a soap opera. Maybe I should fudge a bit about my age to claim a year with a most popular book that became a more significant piece of literature. Feel free to fudge a bit on your age as we will never tell!
Below is the list of the most popular books by year and those available within the Darlington County Library (indicated by “*”).
1940: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn*
1941: For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway*
1942: The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
1943: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith*
1944: Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith
1945: Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
1946: The King’s General by Daphne du Maurier*
1947: The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney*
1948: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank*
1949: The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer*
1950: The Cardinal by Henry Morton Robinson
1951: From Here to Eternity by James Jones*
1952: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger*
1953: The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas*
1954: Not as a Stranger by Morton Thompson
1955: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson
1956: Eloise by Kay Thompson*
1957: Peyton Place by Grace Metalious*
1958: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov*
1959: Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak*
1960: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee*
1961: Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller*
1962: Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger*
1963: The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West*
1964: You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
1965: Herzog by Saul Bellow*
1966: Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann*
1967: Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin*
1968: Couples by John Updike
1969: Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth*
1970: Love Story by Erich Segal
1971: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty*
1972: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach*
1973: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut*
1974: Jaws by Peter Benchley*
1975: Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow*
1976: Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie*
1977: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough*
1978: Fools Die by Mario Puzo*
1979: Sophie’s Choice by William Styron*
1980: The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum*
1981: Cujo by Stephen King*
1982: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial by William Kotzwinkle
1983: The Color Purple by Alice Walker*
1984: The Sicilian by Mario Puzo*
1985: Secrets by Danielle Steel*
1986: The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy*
1987: Patriot Games by Tom Clancy*
1988: The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice*
1989: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie*
1990: The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
1991: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien*
1992: Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan*
1993: The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller*
1994: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt*
1995: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
1996: The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard*
1997: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier*
1998: Paradise by Toni Morrison*
1999: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling*
2000: The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks*
2001: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen*
2002: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold*
2003: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown*
2004: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom*
2005: The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd*
2006: Marley & Me by John Grogan*
2007: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling*
2008: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer*
2009: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult*
2010: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson*
2011: The Help by Kathryn Stockett*
2012: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James*
2013: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn*
2014: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green*
2015: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins*
2016: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*