A good way of determining what was popular is to look at what sold the most.
The top 10 best selling books of 1979 (in the US) were:
- The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum
- Sophie's Choice by William Styron
- Overload by Arthur Hailey
- Memories of Another Day by Harold Robbins
- Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Dead Zone by Stephen King
- The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart
- The Establishment by Howard Fast
- The Third World War: August 1985 by John Hackett
- Smiley's People by John le Carré
