Most Popular Books in Belgium

[lies]

Ions's thread made me curious about what books are in the bestseller lists in Belgium, so I went looking.

I came up with this:

FICTION​

1 - (1) - Dan Brown - De Da Vinci code
2 - (4) - Dan Brown - Het Bernini mysterie
3 - (5) - Isabel Allende - Zorro
4 - (2) - Pieter Aspe - Casino
5 - (3) - Johanna Spaey - Dood van een soldaat
6 - (6) - Dan Brown - Het Juvenalis dilemma
7 - (8) - Sándor Márai - Kentering van een huwelijk
8 - (7) - Paulo Coelho - De Zahir
9 - (9) - Philippe Vandenbergh - Het Sixtijnse geheim
10 - (10) - Ian McEwan - Zaterdag

NON-FICTION​

1 - (-) - Jung Chang + Jon Halliday - Mao. Het onbekende verhaal
2 - (2) - Allan + Barbara Pease - Waarom mannen en vrouwen met hun lichaam zeggen wat ze eigenlijk niet willen vertellen
3 - (4) - Simon Cox - De geheimen van de Da Vinci Code
4 - (3) - Michael Baigent - Het heilige bloed en de heilige graal
5 - (5) - Sabine Dardenne - Ik was twaalf en ik fietste naar school
6 - (2) - Sabine Kuegler - Dochter van de jungle
7 - (-) - Jared Diamond - Ondergang
8 - (8) - Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince - Het geheime boek der Grootmeesters
9 - (-) - Simone Simmons - Diana in vertrouwen
10 - (-) - Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn - 102 minuten

That's an odd list, I think.

 

[ions]

How many of these are authors native to Belgium?

 

[lies]

The only ones I know myself are Pieter Aspe ("famous" Belgian crime type writer) and Sabine Dardenne (girl kidnapped by Dutroux), but I'm guessing Johanna Spaey and Philippe Vandenbergh might be Belgian too (or maybe Dutch?).

 

[Wabbit]

I want to read Zorrro by Allende. Nice to see her in the list.

 

[lies]

I would actually like to read Dardenne's "memoir", but I think I'll feel too voyeuristic.

 

[Rigana]

I think, Pillip Vandenberg is German. Or, at least, he lives here.

In comparison, this are the German best sellers:

FICTION

1. (1) Joanne K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Bloomsbury
2. (2) Dan Brown - Sakrileg Lübbe
3. (3) Dan Brown - Diabolus Lübbe
4. (4) Jan Weiler - Antonio im Wunderland Kindler
5. (6) François Lelord - Hectors Reise Piper
6. (5) Ian McEwan - Saturday Diogenes
7. (8) Nick Hornby - A long way down Kiepenheuer& Witsch
8. (9) Frank Schätzing - Der Schwarm Kiepenheuer& Witsch
9. (7) Donna Leon - Beweise, daß es böse ist Diogenes
10. (10) Santo Cilauro/Tom Gleisner/Rob Sitch - Molwanîen Heyne

NON-FICTION

1. (1) Peter Hahne - Schluss mit lustig Johannis
2. (3) Inge Jens/Walter Jens - Katias Mutter Rowohlt
3. (2) Corinne Hofmann - Wiedersehen in Barsaloi A 1
4. (5) Sabine Kuegler - Dschungelkind Droemer
5. (7) Ben Schott - Schotts Sammelsurium Berlin
6. (6) Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Ich klage an Piper
7. (9) Alexander von Schönburg - Die Kunst des stilvollen Verarmens Rowohlt Berlin
8. (10) Susanne Fröhlich - Moppel-Ich W. Krüger
9. (8) Werner Tiki Küstenmacher/Lothar J. Seiwert - Simplify your life Campus
10. (4) Lothar Seiwert - Die Bären-Strategie Ariston

There are a lot of German authors in the Non-Fiction, but hardly any in Fiction.

@lies: Does this list only feature books published in Belgian? Or how else could it be that Harry Potter isn't on it?

 

[lies]

I think, Pillip Vandenberg is German. Or, at least, he lives here.

I have no idea, really. I just figured someone with a French first name and a Dutch last name would have to be Belgian.

@lies: Does this list only feature books published in Belgian? Or how else could it be that Harry Potter isn't on it?

I think it's actually just a bestseller list for Flanders. Still, I'm not sure if it's because of that that there aren't any English novels on there, or because of the fact Belgium's such a small country and not too many people would want to read the Potter books in English (I went to Waterstones recently and the pile of HBP was still almost as high as it was on July 16th.)

 

[ions]

I think it's actually just a bestseller list for Flanders. Still, I'm not sure if it's because of that that there aren't any English novels on there, or because of the fact Belgium's such a small country and not too many people would want to read the Potter books in English (I went to Waterstones recently and the pile of HBP was still almost as high as it was on July 16th.)

I wondered why Potter wasn't on the CDN list. My last trip to the big book chain here did reveal a significant pile of books still on a shipping palette. I assumed they were being replenished but maybe not.

 

[lies]

I wondered why Potter wasn't on the CDN list. My last trip to the big book chain here did reveal a significant pile of books still on a shipping palette. I assumed they were being replenished but maybe not.

Could still be though:

IN CANADA, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince flew off the shelves at a recordsetting pace. Raincoast's Canadian run of over 1.2 million copies was printed in the US alongside the Scholastic edition, on ancient forest-friendly paper, and it is believed that over 400,000 copies were sold on the opening weekend. All 85 of Indigo's superstores and 20 Coles stores were open on Friday night and, in the first two hours, more than 1,200 transactions per minute went through the stores and via indigo.ca.
Harry Potter parties were held from coast to coast, with customers lining up, often in costume, at exactly 12:01 to purchase the book. Independents as well as chain stores across the country got in on the act. In Toronto, Harbourfront IFOA and Mabel's Fables held a Slytherin House party with over 600 in attendance. Mabel's Fables also held HP parties at their two Toronto locations, as well as in Muskoka, Toronto's cottage country. A town in south-western Ontario, New Hamburg, actually renamed itself New Hogsmeade.
Vankids in Vancouver hosted 3,000 at an amazing event on Friday night. Sleuth of Baker Street, normally an adult mystery store, held a packed adults-only "Harry Potted" party, with a special cocktail designed by Christine Sismondo, author of Mondo Cocktail. The book aisles at Costco, Canada's largest warehouse club, were completely packed on Saturday, with the end of aisle skids rapidly diminishing by Saturday afternoon. (source)

 

[ions]

Yeah I lined up to buy at midnight too. Was a neat experience to see people lining up at midnight for a book as eclectic as the crowd was.

So why is it not on the bestseller lists?

 

[mr_michel]

Yeah I lined up to buy at midnight too. Was a neat experience to see people lining up at midnight for a book as eclectic as the crowd was.

So why is it not on the bestseller lists?

im going to venture a guess here, havent been following the editions of harry potter but my guess is that is fairly new, so being aimed towards younger audiences, a big factor is if the translated edition has been published yet.

 

[lies]

So why is it not on the bestseller lists?

I'm thinking maybe Rigana has a point.

 

[Rigana]

im going to venture a guess here, havent been following the editions of harry potter but my guess is that is fairly new, so being aimed towards younger audiences, a big factor is if the translated edition has been published yet.

It's not on the Canadian list, either. And even in Germany, where a lot of people can't be troubled with English, it's been number one for weeks.

 

[Martin]

Sabine Dardenne - Ik was twaalf en ik fietste naar school

That's kinda icky. I mean, the best of luck to her, but .. I don't know, it rubs me the wrong way.

 

[lies]

That's kinda icky. I mean, the best of luck to her, but .. I don't know, it rubs me the wrong way.

My uncle read it and said it was done tastefully, so I might give it a try anyway.