Bestselling Books of 2008

I read Marley & Me (No. 38) long before the movie plans were made public.

I liked it a lot, particularly because I'm a labrador lover.

 

I've read three, including the story of edgar sawtelle, which was petty good (not great). I probably read 40 books a year.

 

Gladwell seems like he's in a breathless pursuit to become the next Tom Wolfe.

 

Probably nothing on that list that your kids are destined to read in school -- except maybe one. "Three Cups of Tea" is a non-fiction book by Greg Mortensen, telling his stories about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan after some of the people there were of help to him after an attempt to climb K2.

It's not a book about the media, but there is a fascinating sequence about the operations of the world's media in the runup to the war in Afghanistan. The media were headquartered -- where else? -- in the Islamabad Marriott. Every afternoon, four Taliban mullahs would stroll through the lobby in their black robes, and sit in the dining room drinking tea. Mortensen marveled that in all the days they were there, nobody from the media ever came over to interview them. They came in, they left, every day. Not that it would've changed anyone's viewpoint, but I felt bad as a media member at that omission. There's some other small tidbits about reporting over there, including some major props to The Associated Press.

Anyway, it's an inspiring book, and I've probably given a dozen copies away. It's an important book that most major publishers passed on, and well worth the time if you happen to run across it.

 

Just arrived from Amazon. I've read about 10 pages.

Haven't read anything else on this list.

 

I have read three of those books and haven't heard about the majority of them.
Can't believe "Pond Scum and Vultures" didn't make it.