The Summer Bestsellers of the Early Aughts

a.k.a, Dan Brown, Give Someone Else a Chance.

Gather round Broads, and get out your library cards, for Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer and, accordingly, our return to a semi-regular DWB feature that I wish I’d thought of a clever name for: exploring No. 1 New York Times hardcover fiction bestsellers of summers past. Previously, we visited the ‘80s, then took a trip back to the ‘90s, and, finally, cranked the Wayback Machine waaaay up to return to the 1970s. Today, friends, please put on your fave Steve Madden slides and Going Out tops because we’re visiting the first decade of the aughts. As a sentient adult during this time period — I graduated from college in 1997 — I feel confident in telling you that much of the early aughts were weird and unsettling! First, lots of people thought we were all gonna die in Y2K — and, not for nothing, being alive for the flip of the millennium does give a person some existential pause, even if she’s not worried about her ATM card not working — and then, of course, Septembe…