TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of December 8, 1985

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS
Jean M. Auel
Cover of THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS

THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS

by Jean M. Auel · Crown

11 wks at #1 · 3 on list
2
LAKE WOBEGON DAYS
Garrison Keillor
Cover of LAKE WOBEGON DAYS

LAKE WOBEGON DAYS

by Garrison Keillor · Viking Press

15 wks on list

“Lake Wobegon Days is about the way our beliefs, desires and fears tail off into abstractions--and get renewed from time to time. . . this book, unfolding Mr. Keillor's full design, is a genuine work of American history.” —The New York Times “A comic anatomy of what is small and ordinary and therefore potentially profound and universal in American life…Keillor’s strength as a writer is to make the ordinary extraordinary.” —Chicago Tribune “Keillor’s laughs come dear, not cheap, emerging from shared virtue and good character, from reassuring us of our neighborliness and strength….His true subject is how daily life is shot with grace. Keillor writes a prose that can be turned to laughter, to tears…to compassion or satire, to a hundred effects. He is a brilliant parodist.” —San Francisco Chronicle

3
TEXAS
James A. Michener
Cover of TEXAS
7
2
WORLD'S FAIR
E. L. Doctorow
Cover of WORLD'S FAIR

WORLD'S FAIR

by E. L. Doctorow · Random House

4 wks on list

Winner of the National Book Award • “Marvelous . . . You get lost in World’s Fair as if it were an exotic adventure. You devour it with the avidity usually provoked by a suspense thriller.”—The New York Times Hailed by critics from coast to coast and by readers of all ages, this resonant novel is one of E.L. Doctorow’s greatest works of fiction. It is 1939, and even as the rumbles of progress are being felt worldwide, New York City clings to remnants of the past, with horse-drawn wagons, street peddlers, and hurdy-gurdy men still toiling in its streets. For nine-year-old Edgar Altschuler, life is stoopball and radio serials, idolizing Joe DiMaggio, and enduring the conflicts between his realist mother and his dreamer of a father. The forthcoming Word’s Fair beckons, an amazing vision of American automation, inventiveness, and prosperity—and Edgar Altschuler responds. A marvelous work from a master storyteller, World’s Fair is a book about a boy who must surrender his innocence to come of age, and a generation that must survive great hardship to reach its future. Praise for World’s Fair “Something close to magic.”—Los Angeles Times “World’s Fair is better than a time capsule; it’s an actual slice of a long-ago world, and we emerge from it as dazed as those visitors standing on the corner of the future.”—Anne Tyler “Doctorow has managed to regain the awed perspective of a child in this novel of rare warmth and intimacy. . . . Stony indeed in the heart that cannot be moved by this book.”—People “Fascinating . . . exquisitely rendered details of a lost way of life.”—Newsweek “Wonderful reading.”—USA Today

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4
THE CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS
Robert A. Heinlein
Cover of THE CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS

THE CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS

by Robert A. Heinlein · Putnam

4 wks on list

Follows Colonial Colin Campbell, alias Dr. Richard Ames, alias Senator Richard Johnson from orbiting luxury condos to the Wild West zones of the moon to the worlds of past and future.

10
1
THE SECRETS OF HARRY BRIGHT
Joseph Wambaugh
Cover of THE SECRETS OF HARRY BRIGHT

THE SECRETS OF HARRY BRIGHT

by Joseph Wambaugh · Morrow

10 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Raucous cops, outlaw bikers, and suntanned celebrities collide in a steamy landscape swirling with natural beauty and unnatural death. Seventeen months ago the California desert revealed the remains of Jack Watson. The rich man’s son was found incinerated in a Rolls-Royce, a bullet in his head. Now, a year and a half later, Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective Sidney Blackpool is called into the desert to take on the case. But what begins for Blackpool as an investigation sandwiched between golf games in nearby Palm Springs quickly becomes an obsession. For the savage beauty of the wastelands holds many secrets. Secrets that stir up Blackpool’s long-suppressed nightmares of his own son’s death. Secrets that threaten to destroy an entire police department. Secrets that, by rights, should remain forever buried by the wind in the ageless desert sands. In this riveting novel, bestselling author Joseph Wambaugh jolts our emotions while entertaining us with his special brand of bawdy, beautiful, dark humor.

11
1
THE VAMPIRE LESTAT
Anne Rice
Cover of THE VAMPIRE LESTAT

THE VAMPIRE LESTAT

by Anne Rice · Knopf

4 wks on list

Lestat becomes a rock star.

13
1
THE INVADERS PLAN
L. Ron Hubbard
Cover of THE INVADERS PLAN

THE INVADERS PLAN

by L. Ron Hubbard · Bridge Publications

2 wks on list

Riveting, superbly plotted intrigue. A new style of Science Fiction epic, rooted in the clandestine worlds of intelligence, drug smuggling and crime. With all of the suspense elements of the fast - paced spy/mystery thriller. Exotically spiced with a liberal dash of humor and a hint of sex. Volume 1 of the biggest Science Fiction dekology ever written - Mission Earth. ''"A thriller packed with lust, laughs, adventure and murderous intrigue.''" - Literary Guild This edition is in two volumes. The second volume ISBN is 9781459659841.

15
NEW
WHAT'S BRED IN THE BONE
Robertson Davies
Cover of WHAT'S BRED IN THE BONE

WHAT'S BRED IN THE BONE

by Robertson Davies · Elisabeth Sifton/Viking

1 wks on list

Francis Cornish was always good at keeping secrets. From the well-hidden family secret of his childhood to his mysterious encounters with a small-town embalmer, an expert art restorer, a Bavarian countess, and various masters of espionage, the events in Francis's life were not always what they seemed. In this wonderfully ingenious portrait of an art expert and collector of international renown, Robertson Davies has created a spellbinding tale of artistic triumph and heroic deceit. In this second book of the Cornish Trilogy, Davies spins a tale told in stylish, elegant prose, endowed with lavish portions of his wit and wisdom. "A deliciously readable story...An altogether remarkable creation, his most accomplished novel to date." -- The New York Times

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