TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 14, 1984

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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2
8
GOD KNOWS
Joseph Heller
Cover of GOD KNOWS

GOD KNOWS

by Joseph Heller · Knopf

2 wks on list

Contains mostly first (some second) editions of selected works by Joseph Heller.

5
1
LINCOLN
Gore Vidal
Cover of LINCOLN

LINCOLN

by Gore Vidal · Random House

17 wks on list

Lincoln is the cornerstone of Gore Vidal's fictional American chronicle, which includes Burr, 1876, Washington, D.C., Empire, and Hollywood. It opens early on a frozen winter morning in 1861, when President-elect Abraham Lincoln slips into Washington, flanked by two bodyguards. The future president is in disguise, for there is talk of a plot to murder him. During the next four years there will be numerous plots to murder this man who has sworn to unite a disintegrating nation. Isolated in a ramshackle White House in the center of a proslavery city, Lincoln presides over a fragmenting government as Lee's armies beat at the gates. In this profoundly moving novel, a work of epic proportions and intense human sympathy, Lincoln is observed by his loved ones and his rivals. The cast of characters is almost Dickensian: politicians, generals, White House aides, newspapermen, Northern and Southern conspirators, amiably evil bankers, and a wife slowly going mad. Vidal's portrait of the president is at once intimate and monumental, stark and complex, drawn with the wit, grace, and authority of one of the great historical novelists. With a new Introduction by the author.

7
1
CRESCENT CITY
Belva Plain
Cover of CRESCENT CITY

CRESCENT CITY

by Belva Plain · Delacorte Press

5 wks on list

She was the exquisite daughter of a wealthy& & Jewish merchant. From a charmed girlhood in opulent New& & Orleans, she would be swept into the cataclysm of& & the Civil War. Forced to choose between her duties& & as a Southern wife and mother and her love for a& & forbidden man, a forbidden cause, Miriam Raphael is& & at the center of the whirlwind in a spellbinding& & novel of divided loyalties and divided hearts.

9
1
JOB: A Comedy of Justice
Robert A. Heinlein
Cover of JOB: A Comedy of Justice

JOB: A Comedy of Justice

by Robert A. Heinlein · Del Rey

7 wks on list

After he firewalked in Polynesia, the world wasn't the same for Alexander Hergensheimer, now called Alec Graham. As natural accidents occurred without cease, Alex knew Armageddon and the Day of Judgement were near. Somehow he had to bring his beloved heathen, Margrethe, to a state of grace, and, while he was at it, save the rest of the world .... Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

10
1
THE MIKO
Eric Van Lustbader
Cover of THE MIKO
11
1
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION
Robert Ludlum
Cover of THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION

THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION

by Robert Ludlum · Random House

32 wks on list

Michael Havelock's world died on a moonlit beach on the Costa Brava. He watched as his partner and lover, Jenna Karats, double agent, was efficiently gunned down by his own agency. There was nothing left for him but to quit the game, get out. Until, in one frantic moment on a crowded railroad platform in Rome, Havelock saw his Jenna alive. From then on, he was marked for death by both U.S. and Russian assassins, racing around the globe after his beautiful betrayer, trapped in a massive mosaic of treachery created by a top-level mole with the world in his fist--Parsifal.

12
1
THE BUTTER BATTLE BOOK
Dr. Seuss
Cover of THE BUTTER BATTLE BOOK

THE BUTTER BATTLE BOOK

by Dr. Seuss · Random House

31 wks on list

<b>In this classic cautionary tale about respecting differences, Dr. Seuss shows how a small—and in this case, very silly—disagreement can escalate into a big problem.<br><br>A <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> NOTABLE BOOK</b><br><br><i>“But we Yooks, as you know, when we breakfast or sup, spread our bread,” Grandpa said, “with the butter side up.”</i><br><br>The Yooks and Zooks share a love of buttered bread, but animosity brews between the two groups because they enjoy the tasty treat differently. One prefers the butter side up, the other prefers the butter side down. How far will each side go to prove they’re right? <br><br>The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach young children about respect and conflict resolution. Whether in the home or in the classroom, <i>The Butter Battle Book</i> is a must-have for readers of all ages.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.