Indies Rock Lolita
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 1/26/2004
This week's Book News hails the success of our latest trade paper bestseller, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi, as an indicator of literary titles that enjoy strong support at independent bookstores and eventually become bestsellers in all outlets, including chains. Published in hardcover by Random House in March 2003, the book had 95,000 copies in print after 19 trips to press. While it never made it to PW's top-15 nonfiction list (it was often a runnerup), it enjoyed a long run on the Book Sense 2003 hardcover charts. Today Reading Lolita lands on our trade paper list, with 115,000 copies after four trips to press; it leads the Book Sense nonfiction trade paper list. Still, it has not appeared among a top-15 list at the major chains; expect that to change soon.
