The New York Times

Best Books of the Year 2001-2009

The New York Times Best Seller List, published in The New York Times Book Review magazine, is by and large considered to be the principal list of best-selling books in the United States.

The list, first created in 1942, is generated by the editors of The Times’ “News Surveys” department and not by The New York Times Book Review department. The News Surveys department is responsible for gathering public opinion polling on politics and various news topics, as well as for compiling the newspaper’s best-seller lists and football rating polls. The final selection of titles included on the best sellers is based on weekly sales reports obtained from selected samples of independent and chain bookstores, as well as wholesalers, throughout the United States.

A sampling of fiction titles in our current display include:

2001: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

2002: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

2003: Brick Lane by Monica Ali

2004: The Master: A Novel by Colm Toibin

2005: Saturday by Ian McEwan

2006: The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

2007: Man Gone Down: A Novel by Michael Thomas

2008: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

2009: A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

A sampling of nonfiction titles include:

2001: Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks (Biography/Sacks)

2002: Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan (940.314/MAC)

2003: The Bounty by Caroline Alexander (359.1/ALE)

2004: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (Biography/Hamilton)

2005: Postwar by Tony Judt (940.55/JUD)

2006: Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick (974.4/PHI)

2007: Little Heathens by Mildred Kalish (630.9777/KAL)

2008: The Dark Side by Jane Mayer (973.931/MAY)

2009: The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes (509.41/HOL)

Come in and check out a book from the Library’s newest fiction and non-fiction display, The New York Times Best Books of the Year 2001-2009, located near the magazine section. The display also includes titles from The New York Times Best Books of the Year 1990-2000. The reference staff has compiled book lists of all the titles that were selected for these years.