The most consistent best-seller this year, and perhaps the most talked-about, has been Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," a mysterious, historical novel that critics call "clunky" in style but which many readers find fascinating. Brown may not be the best writer of the year, but he is the one who most clearly struck a chord with the current public interest in religion, symbolism and history.

Fantasy writers, such as Patrick Carman ("The Dark Hills Divide") and Michael Stackpole ("The Grand Crusade"), are cashing in on the continuing popularity of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" series, which continues to charm moviegoers.

This was an especially notable year for political writers because the established niche that conservative writers have enjoyed has been effectively challenged by liberals. They are popping up all over the non-fiction best-seller lists — conservative Bill O'Reilly, the host of TV's "The O'Reilly Factor," has "Who's Looking out for You?" which has been among the top-four best-sellers since its publication; glamorous conservative Ann Coulter has hit the big time with several books, most recently "Treason"; liberal Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" has been a consistent best-seller; Michael Moore's "Dude, Where's My Country" is enjoying popularity, much like his earlier book, "Stupid White Men." There is even a liberal talk-radio network about to hit the airwaves in January, with liberal hosts (including Franken) getting their own shows to compete with O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh.

This has also been the year when non-historians cashed in on writing historical works, such as "Benjamin Franklin," written by former CNN /CEO Walter Isaacson, and "Franklin and Winston," in which Jon Meacham, a Newsweek managing editor, has markedly contributed to the public scrutiny of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

Scholars of great distinction, such as Fred Kaplan and Robert Dallek, have also written interesting, definitive books on Mark Twain and John F. Kennedy, respectively.

Although book sales have been down, along with the rest of the economy, the quality of books in my view has generally remained high. And that is good news indeed.

---

E-mail: dennis@desnews.com