NYTimes Book Review Disappoints Me

Eight of the top 13 books on the NYTimes New Hardcover Bestseller List have those funny little crosses next to them denoting that their "bestseller" status is faked by bulk purchase orders.

This is a classic tactic by wingnuts to produce phony sales numbers for worthless screeds that otherwise would not be sold outside rural gun shows.

It therefore won't surprise you to learn that of those eight fake bestsellers, seven are: lie-filled attacks on the Democratic Presidential Nominee, boorish attacks by militarists on Democratic Party values, a puff piece on Caribou Barbie, and in one strange instance, the return from the dead of John McCain's own whining, excuse-filled, air-brushed "autobiography."

Over the decades, the New York Times Book Review has revised the way it calculates best-sellers, separating them into various new categories including paperbacks, advice, children's, etc. Each time, the purpose was to keep the main bestseller list uncluttered by tomes in self-contained genres.

It's time for a separate "Bulk Sales" bestseller list.