The Millions discussion

Cross-post from Facebook, apologies to those who've seen both:

This year's had a lot of blockbuster book releases: The Marriage Plot, 1Q84, and The Pale King to name a few. What's the best "blockbuster book" you've ever read? Did you read as part of the zeitgeist?

I have been thinking about this since I read your question a couple of days ago and so far...I have come up with nothing - though I think I am stumbling over the word "blockbuster". I have never really applied that term to a book, the way it is applied to films. (But wouldn't it be nice if book sales matched movie ticket sales??? Ahhh we can dream! Hee hee hee.)

Right now, I am hugely excited about The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco. Man I love him! I don't own it yet but I think I will ask for the novel as a Christmas gift.

Generally I have looked forward to John Irving's new releases, but I wasn't wowed by Last Night in Twisted River in a "Holy hell where are my socks?" sort of way. I liked it well enough. I am definitely keen for Irving's upcoming In One Person, which will be released in May or June 2012.

I tend to not jump on new releases and balance my reading between contemporary fiction and the classics, with some nonfiction thrown in the mix too. Not because I am not interested in current/new books, but because I tend to get worried about my opinion being impacted by reading too many reviews or being disappointed because a book is oversold in the media. I usually let the frenzies die down a bit and give myself some distance between a book's release and my reading. If it's an author and book I am hugely interested in, I will avoid reviews altogether, so as not to be swayed or have preconceived ideas.

Sorry! That's a lot of rambling and I don't know if I even answered your question but wanted to try and get this thread going! :D

I know I will keep on thinking on this subject.

I just found this topic (I clearly need to follow this group more closely!). I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo way after it came out, and it was such a weird experience to have people come up to me and say "Oh, I loved that! Wait till you get to such and such part!" That never happens when I'm reading the stuff I usually read (Not that my tastes are so obscure, I just rarely seem to be on top of things enough to read a book in the zeitgeist).

I think the book I read at the height of its craze was probably book:2666|63032], and I liked it quite a lot. I'd never read Bolano, and everybody was going crazy for him at that point, so it was an interesting experience to read it in that atmosphere.

I'll also be the only guy camping out outside Book Soup to buy my copy of the new Robert A. Caro book when it comes out in May.

I don't usually rush towards the new releases either- I guess I choose to read according to my mood or what topic I am immersed in at the time. As for the new Caro release count me in on that! I routinely got the Johnson years as birthday presents and they are sitting waing to be finally finished !

Pynchon's about the only author i've ever tried to read as soon as the book is published, and yes, it's very much fun to read one of his books while others are interested in it, and interested in actively discussing it.