The Votes Have Been Counted, and the Winner Is?

The Bookstore's Customer Favorite for the Decade, 2000-2009: Harry Potter!

After all the votes were counted, the clear winner was Harry Potter, pictured here "on the podium" with its very own gold medal. It couldn't happen to a nicer book.

We decided to combine all votes, rather than have a separate children's category. After all, many adults enjoy kids and young adult titles from Harry Potter to Twilight. You can tell from the handwriting on the ballots that many of the Harry Potter votes were from adults. (There was a surge of support from the slightly messier kids' ballots for Gregor the Overlander!)

For parents like me, some of our favorite memories over the last decade have come from sharing the excitement over the Harry Potter books with our children, who literally grew up with Harry and Hermione. My kids and I were so impatient to read the newest book that we were unwilling to share - I had to buy one book for each of us. We'd drag our sleeping bags out onto the front porch, and read with flashlights until the wee hours of the night. It was magical.

Some might argue that it's not fair, after all, the Harry Potter series had four books released in the past decade, from Goblet of Fire to Deathly Hallows. But still, we've only closed Main Street for one book in the history of The Bookstore: Harry Potter. Everyone at The Bookstore dreams that some day, there will be another book that can close Main Street at midnight. Until then, Harry Potter stands alone on the podium.

Bringing home the silver medal: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, a personal favorite. After that, we were surprised how varied the vote was; the vast majority of books received only one or two votes. Which really confirms what we try to do here at The Bookstore, and that is to find the perfect book for the right reader. We can't wait to do it for another decade . . . and beyond.