TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of January 20, 1985

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH
Douglas Adams
Cover of SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

by Douglas Adams · Harmony

6 wks on list

There is a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. It's not an easy thing to do and Arthur Dent thinks he's the only human who's been able to master this nifty little trick - until he meets Fenchurch, the girl of his dreams. Fenchruch knows how the world could be made a good and happy place. Unfortunately she's forgotten. Convinced that the secret lies within God's Final Message to His Creation, they go in search of it. And, in a dramatic break with tradition, actually find it. . .

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JITTERBUG PERFUME
Tom Robbins
Cover of JITTERBUG PERFUME
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ILLUSIONS OF LOVE
Cynthia Freeman
Cover of ILLUSIONS OF LOVE

ILLUSIONS OF LOVE

by Cynthia Freeman · Putnam

8 wks on list

Twenty-five years after their parting and Martin's arranged marriage to Sylvia, Jenny walks back into Martin's life and their undiminished passion threatens his marriage, his family, and his heritage

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LINCOLN
Gore Vidal
Cover of LINCOLN

LINCOLN

by Gore Vidal · Random House

31 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.

13
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GOD KNOWS
Joseph Heller
Cover of GOD KNOWS

GOD KNOWS

by Joseph Heller · Knopf

15 wks on list

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

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NUTCRACKER
E. T. A. Hoffmann
Cover of NUTCRACKER

NUTCRACKER

by E. T. A. Hoffmann · Crown

8 wks on list

On Christmas Eve, Marie finds a Nutcracker doll among the family’s gifts and is charged by her parents to take special care of it. Under the cover of darkness, the Nutcracker comes to life, along with an evil Mouse King with seven heads, introducing Marie to the magical world of toys, and the brave Nutcracker who will change her life forever. E. T. A. Hoffman’s timeless and whimsical tale has become a Christmas classic since it was first published in 1816. It has been adapted numerous times, most notably for the ballet scored by Pyotr Ilyich Tchikovsky in 1892. Though the ballet was not immediately a success, it has become immensely popular since the late 1960s and is performed every year during the holidays by ballet companies around the world. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collecti on to build your digital library.

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STILLWATCH
Mary Higgins Clark
Cover of STILLWATCH

STILLWATCH

by Mary Higgins Clark · Simon & Schuster

With a new foreword by Riley Sager, a thrilling mystery from the Queen of Suspense about a journalist who uncovers political schemes and revisits hidden secrets from the past. I told you not to come… Slipped under the door of her Georgetown home, the note was an ominous reminder of Pat Traymore’s past. The beautiful young television journalist had come to glamorous, high-powered Washington to produce a TV series. Her subject: Senator Abigail Jennings, slated for nomination as the first woman vice president of the United States. With the help of an old flame, Pat delves into Abigail’s life, only to turn up horrifying facts that threaten to destroy the senator’s reputation and her career. Worse still, sinister connections to Pat’s own childhood and the nightmare secrets hidden within are surfacing—secrets waiting to destroy her. The past and present collide in a battle for truth and survival with every revelation in this suspenseful, thrilling tale from the inimitable Mary Higgins Clark.

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