Fifty years ago, I was in fourth grade. From my seat in the front corner of the classroom I could easily reach my then-favorite book, The Swiss Family Robinson. The rest of America had a quite different reading list.
Here are the best-selling novels of 1957:
- By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens
- Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
- Compulsion by Meyer Levin
- Rally Round the Flag, Boys! by Max Shulman
- Blue Camellia by Frances Parkinson Keyes
- Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson
- The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
- On the Beach by Nevil Shute
- Below the Salt by Thomas B. Costain
-
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
These are the first 10 novels I’ll review in Great Penformances.