Remember this? Fanatics celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2007. Fanatics celebrated every fanatical year of their first decade by going back in time, through the Top 10 books from each and every year.
We picked our favourites from the bestselling titles from 1998 to 2007 (We’ve extended this to include the last five years). In these lists Fanatics also included the VIBs (Very Important Books), the cult classics of books as chosen by the Exclusive Books store managers.
What you see below is a combination of books that hit the top sales charts in 2009, and books that captured the imaginations of many, and remain close to our hearts.
Click here to view the full list of top 10’s for 15 years (1998 – 2012)
10. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
It’s 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She’s in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they’re trying for a baby – and she doesn’t want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance. So she travels to Rome, where she learns Italian from handsome, brown-eyed identical twins and gains twenty-five pounds, an ashram in India, where she finds that enlightenment entails getting up in the middle of the night to scrub the temple floor, and Bali where a toothless medicine man of indeterminate age offers her a new path to peace: simply sit still and smile. And slowly happiness begins to creep up on her.
9. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey
Every morning seven million listeners wake up with Steve Harvey and his radio show, ‘The Steve Harvey Morning Show’. And while his opening and closing remarks provide daily reaffirmation and spiritual sustenance, it’s his advice on relationships that keeps listeners hanging on to his every word. Whether he’s doling out wisdom on why women need to enforce a ’90-day probation period’ before they give their men sexual ‘benefits’ the way Ford motor company won’t give a worker medical and dental benefits until they’ve been on the job for 3 months, or explaining to women why men would rather ‘fix it’ than talk about it, Harvey’s advice is always spot on – and more often than not quite funny.
8. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
WHAT WAS LOST WILL BE FOUND…Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object – gruesomely encoded with five symbols – is discovered at the epicentre of the Rotunda. It is, he recognises, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipient towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom. When Langdon’s revered mentor, Peter Solomon – philanthropist and prominent mason – is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend’s life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him.
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder – and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate.
6. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
When 17 year old Isabella Swan moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father she expects that her new life will be as dull as the town. But in spite of her awkward manner and low expectations, she finds that her new classmates are drawn to this pale, dark-haired new girl in town.
5. Captain in the Cauldron – The John Smit Story by Mike Greenaway
The longest serving captain in Springbok rugby history gives a revealing account of the simultaneous joys and travails of one of the most challenging — and rewarding – jobs in sport in this much anticipated autobiography. The genial, jovial and witty Rugby World Cup-winning captain explains how a tubby kid from Pietersburg with dreams of winning Wimbledon grew into his country’s most successful rugby captain.
4. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Twilight tempted the imagination …New Moon made readers thirsty for more …Eclipse turned the saga into a worldwide phenomenon …And now – the book that everyone has been waiting for …Breaking Dawn. In the much anticipated fourth book in Stephenie Meyer’s love story, questions will be answered and the fate of Bella and Edward will be revealed.
3. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob – knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?
2. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of an evil vampire but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realise their troubles may just be beginning …
1. Spud – Learning to Fly by John van de Ruit
As Spud Milton continues his diabolical stagger through adolescence, he learns one of life’s most important lessons: when dealing with women and cretins, nothing is ever quite as it seems.
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