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These are the best books of the decade - according to Amazon's bestseller lists

Photo credit: Amazon/ Good Housekeeping
Photo credit: Amazon/ Good Housekeeping

From Good Housekeeping

Are you one of those people who loves to read the books everyone is talking about? Us too! As much as we enjoy discovering hidden literary gems, we also tend to get severe FOMO (fear of missing out) if we haven't read 'that' book.

There have been many different iterations of 'that' book over the past decade. 'That' book is the one everyone seems to be reading on the commute, it's on everyone's book club list, and, of course, it's flying out of the Amazon warehouse like no tomorrow.

But how many of these books have you read, since 2010? We've trawled through Amazon's bestseller lists to uncover the most popular books from each year in the past decade. Many of the top spots were dominated by recipe books (by the likes of Joe Wicks and Jamie Oliver), advice manuals (from the brilliant Mrs Hinch) or children's books (David Walliams reigned supreme), but we've only included fiction in this roundup.

So, how many of Amazon's bestsellers from the past decade have you read?

2019: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

She wrote The Handmaid's Tale - a ground-breaking, eerie dystopian Feminist novel - back in 1985, so the follow-up was, unsurprisingly, highly anticipated. The brilliant sequel also deservedly won the 2019 Booker Prize (shared with Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other).

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2018: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Honeyman's unique and loveable heroine, Eleanor Oliphant, has inspired a flurry of books containing complex female characters who are often dismissed by society, and many more books that explore the theme of loneliness and isolation. A truly trendsetting and heart-filling novel.

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2017: La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One by Philip Pullman

As the author of the famous His Dark Materials trilogy, it's no surprise that fans went wild for the first instalment of his Pullman's new Book of Dust trilogy, which follows Malcolm on the journey of a lifetime.

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2016: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two by JK Rowling

Harry Potter topping the charts? Why, of course! Fans queued up in their droves, naturally, to buy JK Rowling's highly anticipated two-part play-script, and the play itself on London's West End gets booked up months in advance. Can't say we're surprised - the wizarding world of Harry Potter is a winner every time.

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2015: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Oh, we do love a good thriller. And Hawkins's novel about a woman who sees something truly shocking from the window of her commuter train hits the sweet-spot. Original, gripping, and made into a movie starring Emily Blunt. What's not to love?

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2014: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

It might technically count as Young Adult fiction, but John Green's heartbreaking novel about two teenage cancer patients, Hazel and Augustus, who fall in love was a favourite across generations. The book actually came out in 2013, but the movie release in 2014 - starring Shailene Woodley - meant it exploded in popularity.

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2013: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

It's one of the most shocking, pacy thrillers of all time, so it's hardly surprising that it topped the bestseller list. The story centres around Nick Dunne after his wife, the cool, glamorous, elusive Amy, goes missing. Twists and turns galore.

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2012: Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James

Ah, Christian Grey. He's everyone's guilty (or not-so-guilty) pleasure. EL James made history when her trilogy of erotic fiction - which was originally written as fan-fiction for the famous teen Twilight series - sold more than 125 million copies around the world by 2015. Fifty shades of brilliant, if you ask us.

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2011: One Day by David Nicholls

We adored the unique concept of this novel, which told a story only by narrating events on July 15th across 18 years. Following best friends Dexter and Emma, it's joyous, funny, devastating and everything in between.

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

2010: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Trilogy) by Stieg Larsson

Larsson, the Swedish author and journalist, died before his bestselling, ground-breaking series was released, so sadly he never got to see what a resounding, global success it became. It tells the story of a journalist and computer hacker who team up to solve the mystery of a girl who went missing forty years before.

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Photo credit: Amazon
Photo credit: Amazon

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Photo credit: Hearst Owned
Photo credit: Hearst Owned

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