The Best Selling Books of 2007

I haven't decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet, but my reading choices over the past year seem to be fairly out-of-step with mainstream America. Publisher's Weekly put out their list yesterday of the top sellers of 2007. From the top 15 (in fiction) I've only read two and they're both Janet Evanovich. And what's up with James Patterson? I'm not convinced he's really writing all these books. I think his publisher is suffering from the Hollywood sequel syndrome; if one is a hit, pump out 10 more of the same damn thing and people will gobble it up.

Here's the list:

PW 2007 Bestsellers
1 A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead (5/07) 2,201,865
2 Playing For Pizza by John Grisham. Doubleday (9/07) #1,445,000
3 Double Cross by James Patterson. Little, Brown (11/07) 1,428,974
4 The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central (9/07) 1,200,809
5 Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich. St. Martin's (6/07) 1,116,828
6 Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich. St. Martin's (1/07) 1,080,686
7 Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell. Putnam (10/07) 1,027,000
8 The Quickie by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Little, Brown (7/07) 795,736
9 The 6th Target by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. Little, Brown (5/07) 769,460
10 The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz. Bantam (11/07) #740,000
11 Step on a Crack by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Little, Brown (2/07) 732,702
12 You've Been Warned by James Patterson and Howard Roughan. Little, Brown (9/07) 724,713
13 T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton. Putnam (12/07) 716,582
14 Stone Cold by David Baldacci. Grand Central (11/07) 670,590
15 Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. Atria Books (3/07) 609,000

Click here to read the full Publisher's Weekly article.