1981 Popular Books and Bestsellers

1981 Books & Bestsellers

1981 Fiction Top Ten Books

(according to Publisher’s Weekly)
1. Noble House by James Clavell
2. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
3. Cujo by Stephen King
4. An Indecent Obsession by Colleen McCullough
5. Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
6. Masquerade by Kit Williams
7. Goodbye, Janette by Harold Robbins
8. The Third Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders
9. The Glitter Dome by Joseph Wambaugh
10. No Time for Tears by Cynthia Freeman

1981 Non-Fiction Books

1. The Beverly Hills Diet by Judy Mazel
2. The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot
3. Richard Simmons’ Never-Say-Diet Book by Richard Simmons
4. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
5. Cosmos by Carl Sagan
6. Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book by the BH&G Editors
7. Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life by Miss Piggy as told to Henry Beard
8. Weight Watchers 365-Day Menu Cookbook by Jean Nidetch
9. You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen
10. A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney by Andrew A. Rooney

1981 New York Times Bestsellers

Never Say Diet by Richard Simmons
The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot
The Beverly Hills Diet by Judy Mazel
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

1981 Notable Literature

The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
The Transfiguration of the Commonplace by Arthur C. Danto
The Gate of Heavenly Peace by Jonathan D. Spence
Philosophical Explanations by Robert Nozick
Brainstorms by Daniel C. Dennett
Wealth and Poverty by George Gilder
After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre
Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis
The Political Unconscious by Frederic Jameson
1981 Nobel Prize in Literature
Most Popular Books of 1981, according to GoodReads
Scroll to Top