Submitted by franknelsonyes t3_11vrjjc in books
Inspired by the recent post, "What’s your favorite book of all time that no one has ever heard of?" As a Redditor who skews older than most, I'm always surprised by the number of books, movies, etc. that people think are obscure but that have massive followings and are very well known to my generation/in my circles. (Someone mentioned "Three Men in a Boat" in that thread and it's been continuously in print for 150 years) Lots of books in that thread were published during my adulthood and I can remember the buzz about them, yet to a reader half my age they probably seem like a discovery! And there are plenty of huge books that had their heyday but have dropped out of the general consciousness in a fairly short time (someone mentioned The Eight in that other thread, for instance). By contrast, The Secret History was published 30 years ago and still seems to be pretty well known and buzzy.
So, what books do you remember being super popular at the time of their publication, but might be considered obscure by a reader who's just discovering them? In addition to The Eight (which was EVERYWHERE as a mass market paperback when it came out), some examples:
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow--was a best seller in the late 80s, turned into a movie starring Harrison Ford (that I think has also drifted into relative obscurity); I never hear Scott Turow's name anymore but I see his books are still in print
Martin Dressler by Stephen Millhauser--won a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 and was nominated for a National Book Award; was widely read in book clubs, promoted heavily in stores, and generally a "have you read . . ." at the time; haven't heard it mentioned in forever
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson--when this came out in 2010 it seemed like everyone I knew was reading it, and it had great reviews from NY Times, NPR, etc.; I was sure it would be turned into a movie but that never materialized and the author's one subsequent book didn't seem to get much traction