Top ten books sold in the U.K

[Wabbit]

ABU... you aint gonna like this

Paperback fiction
Lists prepared by The Bookseller using data supplied by and copyright to Nielsen BookScan, taken from the TCM for the seven-day period ending 28/11/04.

1. The Da Vinci Code/Dan Brown
(Corgi £6.99)
Harvard professor must decipher the clues to a Louvre curator’s murder
48,940 (1,215,630)

2. Deception Point/Dan Brown
(Corgi £6.99)
Junior researcher has crucial role in American presidential election intrigue
23,530 (312,390)

3. Angels and Demons/Dan Brown
(Corgi £6.99)
Religion collides with science in the secretive Vatican underworld
20,210 (470,690)

4. Digital Fortress/Dan Brown
(Corgi £6.99)
Complex code baffles and threatens American intelligence officers
19,915 (368,820)

5. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason/Helen Fielding
(Picador £7.99)
Singleton continues search for happiness and a slimmer figure
18,770¹ (1,000,980¹)

6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time/Mark Haddon
(Vintage/Red Fox £6.99)
Boy probes murder of neighbour’s pet
16,210¹ (1,095,605¹)

7. Safe Harbour/Danielle Steel
(Corgi £6.99)
Mother and daughter’s lives are transformed after meeting an artist
14,120 (79,100)

8. A Long and Lonely Road/Katie Flynn
(Arrow £6.99)
Wartime Liverpool woman and children flee from her violent husband
12,370 (16,025)

9. Just One Look/Harlan Coben
(Orion £6.99)
Violent hitman stalks a family in the American suburbs
12,340 (49,530)

10. Pompeii/Robert Harris
(Arrow £6.99)
Engineer attempts to maintain aqueduct in the looming shadow of Vesuvius
11,755 (145,600)

 

[Shade]

It really does baffle me that nearly 50,000 people a week are buying The Da Vinci Code. Still. I mean, haven't they heard?

 

[Wabbit]

What amazes me is that he has four books in the top four positions! You know, I am wondering if these sales are just an aberration due to the Christmas run up? Da Vinci Code ( and others books of his ) are really heavily marketed books and so people maybe buying them for Christmas presents. Surely anybody that has heard of him has gotten his books already?

 

[fluffy bunny]

And who's buying the Danielle Steel books? Noone even borrows them from the libraries.

Ah well, I'm sure most people take the bestseller list as seriously as I take the pop charts. That 'international bestseller' label seems to be applied to too many books out there anyway.

 

[Stewart]

I'm not too bothered by it really - I've given up my interest as I know I'm never going to be a bona fide reader of the more mainstream authors. Currently reading some shorts from Caitlin R. Kiernan.

The sad thing is that Brown's books, prior to the publication of The Da Vinci Code average an approximate sales total in the region of 30,000 copies (although I've lost the source) and it's the financial push that's making The Da Vinci Code, and the others, so great.

I was reading a review of Deception Point and couldn't help sniggering when I saw the reviewer's quote: "This man should work for the CIA, he is such a brain!"

Ach, I don't care anymore. After an argument on the train with an American over the book (I told her I wouldn't talk about it to her until she was finished) I've exorcised that particular demon. I've now got to exorcise the demon of his upcoming The Solomon Key or whatever it will finally be called. No doubt his facts will have him claiming the FBI invented Freemasonry as part of the moon landing.

 

[Stewart]

That 'international bestseller' label seems to be applied to too many books out there anyway.

Yeah, on day one of publication they are tagged with said selling point. It would be nice if these big publishing houses actually cared about literacy and diversity.

 

[Stewart]

What are the top 10 hardbacks? Bastions of a true reader

 

[Halo]

What amazes me is that he has four books in the top four positions! You know, I am wondering if these sales are just an aberration due to the Christmas run up?

Don't think so, because there is a Top 10 book list in my paper and it has been the same ever since it has been published: about 6 Dan Browns, 3 of those "No. 1 Detective Agency" series and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Every week I look at this list, and every week it has the same books!! I can't believe there is no Terry Pratchett or Stephen King, both immensely popular authors whose books sell by the truck load.

 

[fluffy bunny]

What are the top 10 hardbacks? Bastions of a true reader

Top 10 Hardback fiction according to the Sunday Times (also prepared by the Bookseller). Take a look at no 9 which has only just entered the top 10, and will make its way up in the coming weeks


1) The Graft - Martina Cole (another one of those trashy authors I can't stand)
2) Going Postal - Terry Pratchett
3) Nights of Rain and Stars - Maeve Binchy
4) Trace - Patricia Cornwell
5) Deep Black - Andy McNab
6) Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction - Sue Townsend
7) Post Mortem - Ben Elton
8) Echoes - Danielle Steel
9) The Da Vinci Code: The Illustrated Edition - Dan Brown
10) The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell

Well, I haven't read the Da Vinci Code yet, but nearly everyone I know has (and they're non-readers), so I guess I'm going to have to get myself a copy

 

[Wabbit]

I got top 10 paperbacks list also from The Times.

 

[Ice]

Well I haven't actually read any of those books in either the paperback or hardback top ten - though I wil get round to buying Cornwell's The Last Kingdom at some point

 

[Scratchy]

top 10 list

LOL! I don't think any list from the UK can stun me anymore. Especially after I found out that "Gone with the Wind" is the most watched movie in the UK EVER. Oops. Hope I didn't offend any Scarlett O'Hara (or Mitchell) fans out there.

 

[hay82]

I have only read "Angels and Demons" on that list.. It was okay but not something I would place in the top 10. It seems to me that everywhere you go you see Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and I guees that it is going to be under a lot of trees this year.
Actually Dan Brown is the only one I know on that list (You'll never get me to say that I know Danielle Steel).

 

[fluffy bunny]

LOL! I don't think any list from the UK can stun me anymore. Especially after I found out that "Gone with the Wind" is the most watched movie in the UK EVER. Oops. Hope I didn't offend any Scarlett O'Hara (or Mitchell) fans out there.

At risk of going off topic

I predicted that one from the start
It did help that WB did release it into the cinema here about 10-15 times (no VCRs, no TV reruns -just rerelease it next yr. In fact it's just been put on limited release in the cinemas now).

I was surprised that Casablanca didn't make the top 100 though.

 

[ControlArmsNow]

I see Deception Point has dropped to No.9 (Guardian best-selling books) - that's a place below The Beano Annual. Quite right, too.

 

[magemanda]

The Da Vinci Code has been in the top ten of paperback books sold in the UK for the last 40 weeks, so almost a year then... Unless the Christmas rush starts in March, I'm guessing it isn't a Christmas aberration.

The rise and rise of his other three books can be attributed purely to the success of DVC. People who enjoyed that one (yes, there are some of us out there - I loved the book) are going to try his others. I brought Angels and Demons after reading the DVC and also thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Ell]

Canadian top 10 hardcover fiction

What are the top 10 hardbacks? Bastions of a true reader

These are the top 10 from the Globe and Mail (admittedly, a national paper skewed to eastern Canadian - ie. Toronto - readers):

1. The Da Vinci Code By Dan Brown
2. Runaway By Alice Munro
3. A Complicated Kindness By Miriam Toews
4. Nights Of Rain And Stars By Maeve Binchy
5. The Da Vinci Code: Special Illustrated Edition By Dan Brown
6. The Five People You Meet In Heaven By Mitch Albom
7. Shopaholic & Sister By Sophie Kinsella
8. To Every Thing There Is A Season By Ian Rankin
9. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell By Susanna Clarke
10. Fleshmarket Close By Ian Rankin

This list is as of Sunday, Dec. 12th. Interesting that only Dan Brown and Maeve Binchy are on both UK and Canadian lists. Seems obvious that the Special Illustrated Edtion of Da Vinci Code is a marketing ploy for the Christmas season.

 

[Martin]

Dan Brown must be frickin' loaded!!

I'm with Fluff - mr. Brown's so big, guess I'll be picking up a copy, then.

Cheers