Of Fiction and Nonfiction

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 1/16/2006

At a time when the American publishing community is debating the fictionalized nonfiction of James Frey, it's worthwhile to take a look at how other countries categorize their bestseller lists. In the Czech Republic, the fiction list reflects the broad view of what constitutes fiction in many Slavic cultures. The first two titles on the fiction list are compilations of essays drawn from interviews. The list also includes the biography of a Czech soccer player and a couple of travel guides. The nonfiction top 10 December bestsellers feature how-to titles, sudoku books and, at #10, Jack Welch's Winning.

In addition to its adult hardcover fiction and nonfiction lists, the French trade magazine Livres Hebdo has trade paperback, children's and comics lists. When those categories are combined with adult hardcovers, the top sellers take on a different look. Nine of the 20 top-selling books on the December 11 list were comic books, all from French creators. The balance of the top 20 also includes a healthy dose of children's books, led by Potter and Narnia titles.

The theme of the bestseller lists in Spain was of the domination of publisher Planeta, which took two of the top three spots in both fiction and nonfiction. Da Vinci made an appearance in Spain, although not in Brown's novel but in Charles Nicholl's nonfiction work Flights of the Mind.