TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 17, 1965

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Reconstructed List

This week was not officially published

The NYT did not publish on this date due to a strike. This list was reconstructed from adjacent weeks by Hawes Publications.

Source: Hawes Publications ↗
1
THE SOURCE
James Michener
Cover of THE SOURCE

THE SOURCE

by James Michener · Random House

43 wks at #1 · 21 on list
4
1
THE GREEN BERETS
Robin Moore
Cover of THE GREEN BERETS
5
HOTEL
Arthur Hailey
Cover of HOTEL

HOTEL

by Arthur Hailey · Doubleday

33 wks on list
7
THE RABBI
Noah Gordon
Cover of THE RABBI

THE RABBI

by Noah Gordon · McGraw-Hill

8 wks on list

The New York Times –bestselling novel that follows the life and career of a rabbi as he journeys through America: "A rewarding reading experience." — Los Angeles Times Michael Kind is raised in the Jewish cauldron of 1920s New York, familiar with the stresses and materialism of metropolitan life. Turning to the ancient set of ethics of his Orthodox grandfather, with a modern twist, he becomes a Reform rabbi. As insecure and sexually needy as any other young male, he serves as a circuit-rider rabbi in the Ozarks, and then as a temple rabbi in the racially ugly South, in a San Francisco suburb, in a Pennsylvania college town, and finally, in a New England community west of Boston. Along the way he falls deeply in love with and marries the daughter of a Congregational minister; she converts to Judaism and they have two complex, interesting children. Noah Gordon's picture of a brilliant and talented religious counselor—who at times is as bereft and uncertain as any of his congregants—is a deeply moving and very satisfying novel.

8
2
THOMAS
Shelley Mydans

THOMAS

by Shelley Mydans · Doubleday

15 wks on list

The Archbishop was left dead by four knights of the court of King Henry II. He was in the blackness of his own cathedral, and the people of the town came to dip their hands in his blood. Within hours, miracles were performed in his name and he was proclaimed a Holy Martyr of the Church, St. Thomas.

10
NEW
THE HONEY BADGER
Robert Ruark
Cover of THE HONEY BADGER

THE HONEY BADGER

by Robert Ruark · McGraw-Hill

There is a bloody brave little animal called the honey badger in Africa. It may be the meanest animal in the world. It kills for malice and sport.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.