This New York Times bestseller list from January 10, 1943, is fascinating to read, especially when you consider that several of the books on the list (none of which I've ever heard of) were adapted into movies (none of which I've ever seen). As one Times commenter puts it, "What a wonderful illustration of the fleeting nature of fame." This reminded me of several fantastic essays of Anthony Lane's, in which he reads the books on bestseller lists of Times past. You can find those essays in his collection Nobody's Perfect.