In a 21st Century twist on the annual best book list, blogger Scott Esposito shared the most popular books that readers bought after following Amazon links on his site.

Interestingly enough, the majority of Conversational Reading's book-buying readers picked up a copy of The Invention of Morel, a mind-bending volume from Bioy Casares.

The year-end post illustrates a simple point about online communities: a strong group of web-based readers will buy books--sometimes finding the titles that get lost at more conventional review outlets.

The second place book came in unconventional packaging. Check it out: "Not really a surprise, but something of an unusual pick is experimental British writer B.S. Johnson's novel-in-a-box, The Unfortunates. Clearly, readers were drawn to this one for the atypical presentation (loose signatures collected in a box), although Johnson's status as one of Britain's most notable experimental authors of the late 20th century certainly didn't hurt."