As a barometer, the best-seller list is an extremely unreliable gauge of America's taste in books. This month, for example, the sales figures obviously reflect gift-book buying -- and let's hope you're buying books for Christmas.

Otherwise, the selections depend on who's compiling the lists. The Post-Gazette uses two -- Publishers Weekly and the American Booksellers Association -- on alternate weeks.

The ABA list, now called Indie Bestsellers, mirrors sales at the independent bookstores, while Publishers Weekly uses a wider sampling.

Without going into the culture war zone, the Indie list tends to be stronger on the more challenging releases, particularly in fiction.

I was reacquainting myself with the sales trends in order to make some judgments about the year on my beat, one that takes in not only reviews but also life on the local literary front and news from the publishing world.

Clearly, the growth of Kindle, Amazon's digital reading device now endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, continues to affect the thinking of people who produce new books every year.

Also, let's not forget Sony's Reader Digital Book, now upgraded and selling for $400. Unlike the Kindle, it is in stock. (The Kindle costs $360.)

While they are still in their infancy, these devices promise significant changes in the way books will be written, edited and merchandised.

The ebb and flow of literature

In 2008, there were books by Toni Morrison, John Updike, Philip Roth, Marilynne Robinson, Salman Rushdie, Geraldine Brooks, Jhumpa Lahiri, Louis Auchincloss, Russell Banks, Louise Erdrich, Stephen King, John Grisham, Alice Hoffman, John le Carre, Danielle Steel, Mary Higgins Clark, Andre Dubus III, James Patterson, Dean Koontz and just two by Joyce Carol Oates.

Maybe that's why I was having trouble distinguishing this year from, say, the past five or six.

For mostly economic reasons, the acquisition and publishing of new, avant-garde fiction are becoming scarcer. Instead, the tried and true will always be published, with little or no editing or editorial judgment.

A few new faces managed to push their way onto the scene -- David Wroblewski, Joseph O'Neill, Kathleen Kent, Hannah Tinti, to name the most successful. There were more, but with the decline in book reviewing, especially in newspapers, they appeared, then disappeared, quietly. According to the Publisher's Marketplace Web site, newspaper space for reviews was down 6.4 percent this year.

In nonfiction, there was a significant drop in the maligned memoir business following the embarrassing "Love and Consequences" debacle.

Oddly, Anne Rice's "Called Out of Darkness," her version of the road to Damascus, failed to attract her vampire fans.

The most popular memoir this year is "Too Fat to Fish" by Artie Lange, cast member on "The Howard Stern Show." No comment.

Abraham Lincoln dominated the history-book field on the eve of his 200th birthday.

Eight years of George W. Bush sparked an outpouring of serious works about the conduct of his administration. Jane Mayer's "The Dark Side" is the best of this year's lot.

The last word on the financial collapse has yet to be written. Instead, "The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008" by Paul Krugman must suffice for now.

At home

Samuel Hazo had a good year. He turned 80 and released two books, a novel, "This Part of the World," and poetry, "The Song of the Horse" from Pittsburgh-based Autumn House Press.

Pittsburgh poets Gerald Stern ("Save the Last Dance") and Jane Beatty ("Red Sugar") saw new collections published this year.

Stewart O'Nan came out with his 11th novel, "Songs for the Missing," and witnessed the release of the film version of his first novel, "Snow Angels."

Also releasing a novel was John Edgar Wideman, with "Fanon."