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From: citrin@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Wayne Citrin)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Most Popular Novel Results
Message-ID: <11464@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Mon, 20-Jan-86 03:38:53 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.11464
Posted: Mon Jan 20 03:38:53 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Jan-86 07:13:17 EST
References: <2660012@csd2.UUCP>
Reply-To: citrin@ucbvax.UUCP (Wayne Citrin)
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 29

In article <2660012@csd2.UUCP> krantz@csd2.UUCP writes:
>
>The winner, by a large margin, is....
>
>Winter's_Tale,  by Mark Helprin.
>

Although I'm happy to see this (it was #1 on my list), I'm also really
surprised.  "Garp" was a major media event, there were major profiles of
John Irving in Time and Newsweek, I believe it reached the #1 spot on the 
NY Times Bestseller list, and the announcement that a movie would be
produced with Robin Williams was a major news story.  On the other hand,
although "Winter's Tale" was critically acclaimed (I don't think I've
ever seen a more enthusiastic review in the Times), neither the book 
nor Helprin got nearly as much attention as "Garp" and Irving did,
I don't believe that "Winter's Tale" ever reached #1 on the bestseller
lists (although I could be wrong on that), and the announcement of a
movie version went almost unnoticed.  (Incidentally, Martin Scorsese
will be directing.)

1984 was unusual for having three good, serious novels at or near the
top of the bestseller list at the same time: "Winter's Tale," "The Name 
of the Rose," by Umberto Eco (I would have guessed that this was the most 
popular novel of 1984), and "August," by Judith Rossner.  I also believe that
"The White Hotel" appeared late in 1984, but I'm not sure about that.  
1984 was a good year for good popular novels.

Wayne Citrin
(ucbvax!citrin)