Can you guess which books were the longest running on the Publishers Weekly Bestsellers list for 2006?
The surprise breakout was John Grogan's Marley & Me with 50 weeks on the list! The subtitle tells it all: Life and love with the world's worst dog. It's a valentine to the spirited puppy who joined a newly-married young couple and inspired a very popular book.
Not so surprising are The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman with 42 weeks on the list and Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner (41 weeks.) Levitt & Dubner continue to present economics-with-a-new-approach in magazine articles and on television. Dog fanciers had another book buying spree with Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan which stayed on the list for 25 weeks amid controversies over the author's dog training methods. Well-written popular history propelled Mayflower: a story of courage, community and war by Nathaniel Philbrick to 18 weeks of bestseller fame. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron, with its look at women aging with grace and humor, was published in August and spent the rest of 2006 on the list. What's a bestseller list without a book on health? In 2006, it was YOU: the owner's manual by Michael Roizen & Mahmet Oz (16 weeks.)
Did I forget to mention The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown? Only 21 weeks in 2006, but 141 weeks before 2006! Quite a run.