The Millions Top Ten: August 2013

September 6, 2013 | 12 books mentioned 5

We spend plenty of time here on The Millions telling all of you what we’ve been reading, but we are also quite interested in hearing about what you’ve been reading. By looking at our Amazon stats, we can see what books Millions readers have been buying, and we decided it would be fun to use those stats to find out what books have been most popular with our readers in recent months. Below you’ll find our Millions Top Ten list for August.

This
Month
Last
Month
Title On List
1. 1. cover Taipei 3 months
2. 9. cover The Pioneer Detectives 2 months
3. 5. cover Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk 6 months
4. 2. cover Stand on Zanzibar 6 months
5. 4. cover The Orphan Master’s Son 4 months
6. 3. cover The Middlesteins 6 months
7. 10. cover Fox 8 2 months
8. 8. cover Visitation Street 2 months
9. 6. cover The Interestings 2 months
10. cover Night Film 1 month

Tao Lin’s Taipei remains in our top spot. (For more on the book’s success in our Top Ten, take a look at my commentary on June’s list.) Meanwhile, our Millions Original The Pioneer Detectives by Konstantin Kakaes surges into the second spot and continues to win rave reviews from readers. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain was also a mover, landing in the third spot as it nears graduation to our illustrious Hall of Fame.

Our one debut this month is Marisha Pessl’s anticipated sophomore effort Night Film. Our own Bill Morris called the book a “stirring second act” but commenters have voiced strong disagreement.

Pessl bumps Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell from the Top Ten (at least for now).

Other Near Misses: They Don’t Dance Much, Speedboat, Wonder Boys and My Struggle: Book 1. See Also: Last month’s list.

created The Millions and is its publisher. He and his family live in New Jersey.