The Bestsellers that Launched the NY Times List

And, how IS Scarlett Johansson's lip treatment, anyway?

I bring you glad tidings! The time has come once again to dig deep into the summer bestsellers of years past. I run this series once Memorial Day has come and gone but… you know, close enough. We’re almost there! Over the last two summers, we’ve cracked open a Tab together and reviewed the best-selling summer books of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and the first decade of the current century. (And took a quick detour to look at what people were reading over Thanksgiving during the 1970s.) Today, we’re rolling it way, way back to the 1930s, when the New York Times bestseller list was born. Wiki reports:

The New York Times Best Seller list was first published without fanfare on October 12, 1931. It consisted of five fiction and four nonfiction for the New York City region only. The following month the list was expanded to eight cities, with a separate list for each city.

LOGISTICS. I love that this one thing, which now rules the hearts and minds of writers across the country (and th…