2010 saw a frenzy for fiction, led by Stieg Larsson's 'Girl' trilogy

Stieg Larsson's trilogy took the top three spots in the list of best-selling titles in 2010.
By Bob Minzesheimer and Anthony DeBarros, USA TODAY

Call it escapism or merely a fondness for good stories, but in the midst of a recession at home and wars abroad, fiction seized a record-high share of the best sellers of 2010.

The year's most popular author: Stieg Larsson, the late Swedish novelist, whose Millennium trilogy of crime thrillers captured the top three spots on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list for 2010, based on data collected all year.

Overall, novelists — from Jonathan Frazen to Nicholas Sparks— accounted for 77% of the weekly best sellers, up from 76% in 2009 and the highest percentage since the list began in 1993.

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