Time Capsule Challenge: 1984 in Books

"Memory is a time capsule; it records the wounds inflicted upon the human consciousness."  - Kilroy J. Oldster

Today is my birthday (happy birthday to me!), and in celebration of my thirty fourth year on this Earth I have decided to embark on a challenge to read the best selling books of 1984. Social issues, political climate, and other factors influence entertainment today, and in this way books are time capsules for the collective past.

What was the world like in 1984?

Ronald Regan was President of the United States, the AIDS virus is identified, the Winter Olympics were held in Los Angeles, the US was in a recession, the original Apple Macintosh personal computer went on sale for the first time, the UK and China agree to revert Hong Kong in 1997... and much more.

What were people reading in 1984?

•  Poland by James Michener
• Pet Sematary by Stephen King
• Who Killed the Robins Family? by Thomas Chastain
• The Aquitaine Progression by Robert Ludlum
•  Full Circle by Danielle Steel 
• "...And the Ladies Club" by Helen Hoover Santmyer
• First Among Equals by Jeffrey Archer
• The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth
• The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
• Thinner by Richard Bachman
• The Bone People by Keri Hulme
• Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks
•  Collected Poems, 1947-1980 by Allen Ginsberg 

I sourced my list from the New York Times Bestsellers List, and added a few top rated books on Goodreads that were published in 1984. At minimum I want to read all of the NYT bestsellers (even that Danielle Steel book, I suppose).  I will keep this post updated with links to the full reviews as they are completed.

If you have a suggestion for something omitted, please let me know!