Rabbit, Run is tops among Amazon readers . . . for Updike books

Richard Rabicoff commented on The John Updike Society Facebook page that he went to the Gaithersburg (Md.) Barnes & Noble and was shocked to see that, for the first time in his life, there wasn’t a single John Updike book on the shelf. Yet, he says, there were seven Roth novels and also lots of Steinbeck and Vonnegut.

That begs the question, Are people still reading Updike?

Amazon ranks their books in terms of sales, for all theworld to see. Not surprisingly, the paperback Rabbit, Run is ranked the highest in terms of sales:  ranked #69,140, as of Jan. 26, 2019. Butnumbers two and three might surprise. Have a look, bearing in mind that theseare not the number of copies sold, but the sales ranking, with the lowestselling the most. Not all Updike books are listed—just those that came up inthe first pages as the most frequently searched.

Here are the best-selling Updike books at Amazon:

Rabbit, Run (paper)–#69,140 Gertrude and Claudius (paper)–#136,143 A Child’s Calendar (hardcover)–#163,055 Of the Farm (paper)–#227,124 Rabbit at Rest (paper)–#236,366 In the Beauty of the Lilies–#266,664 The Maples Stories (Everyman hardcover)–#315,707 Rabbit Angstrom (Everyman hardcover)–#317,683 The Witches of Eastwick (paper)–#332,639 The Complete Henry Bech (Everyman hardcover)–#333,161 Collected Stories (LOA hardcover)–#334,615 Rabbit Redux (paper)–#359,135 A Month of Sundays (paper)–#383,758 Rabbit Is Rich (paper)–#406,829 Conversations with John Updike (paper)–#455,792 Poorhouse Fair/Rabbit, Run/Centaur/Of the Farm (LOA hardcover)–#465,872 Couples (paper)–#508,942 Still Looking (hardcover)–#599,499 Just Looking (hardcover)–#607,069 Toward the End of Time (paper)—#622,255 Pigeon Feathers (paper)–#630,258 The Early Stories (paper)–#632,537 My Father’s Tears (paper)–#715,674 Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu (LOA hardcover)–#807,007 Endpoint (hardcover)–#910,608 Olinger Stories (Everyman hardcover)–#969,496 Terrorist (paper)–#971,637 The Widows of Eastwick (paper)–#1,037,139 Licks of Love (paper)–#1,075,513 Updike (Begley bio, paper)–#1,316,562 Selected Poems (hardcover)–#1,335,412 Collected Poems (paper)–#1,448,111 Brazil (paper)–#1,461,206 Trust Me (paper)–#1,509,122 S. (paper)–#1,612,851 The Poorhouse Fair (paper)–#1,659,739 Marry Me: A Romance (paper)–#1,824,514 More Matter (paper)–#1,943,398 Seek My Face  (paper)–#2,137,216 Higher Gossip (paper)–#2,526,515 Picked-Up Pieces (paper)–#2,631,106 Assorted Prose (paper)–#3,124,858 Too Far to Go/The Maples Stories (paper)–#5,055,286

How does that compare with Steinbeck, Vonnegut, and Roth? The first book to come up in a search is the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of The Short Novels of John Steinbeck, which ranks #28,605 in sales. But the paperback edition of Of Mice and Men is ranked #494 in sales, the East of Eden paperback ranks #3,187, Travels with Charley is #9,329, Cannery Row is #17,029, The Pearl is #6,484, and The Grapes of Wrath is #1,598. As for Vonnegut, the LOA Complete Novels is #65,130, while the Cat’s Cradle paperback is #4,115, the Modern Library paperback of Slaughterhouse-Five is #1,397, his Complete Stories is ranked #36,745, and the paperback of Breakfast of Champions is ranked #13,851. Roth? American Pastoral (paper) is ranked #11,790, The Plot Against America (paper) is ranked #7,858, The Human Stain is #16,209, Sabbath’s Theater (paper) is #53,078, and Portnoy’s Complaint (paper) is ranked #31,682.