final paper

For my final paper I'm looking at reading Making the List: A Cultural History of the American Bestseller by Micheal Korda. I'm interested in looking closely into why people read what they do, and how current events affects people's choices- or, if it is more closely linked to longevity of popular authors, or popular series (ie: Grisham, Steele, etc). A common thread in our readings so far this semester is our excitement over what people considered "good" and "bad" reading, as we've looked over books that were considered risque at some point, or in some locations. I think Korda's book is going to be interesting in that regards, to show how what might be considered controversial might still be popular. I think libraries really need to be in touch with what people are interested in, and alot of times I think they rely on the bestseller lists to show them what to order- Korda uses the Bookman lists and Pub. Weekly, so it might also be interesting to find circulation records on those books deemed popular in a year, as well as to examine if some genres are represented more often than others, if there are "male" and "female" books still today, and overall, how today's society, and past societies have shaped and reflected (or not) what people read.