Favorites Stay on Top in July
by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 8/20/2007
There was a lot of shuffling among the top sellers abroad last month. In Spain, the long-running bestseller Cathedral of the Sea returned to the top of the fiction charts. The novel, with more than one million copies in print in Spain, is set to be published in the U.S. by Dutton next year. Coloring Book for Adults Who Are Bored at the Office has been among the top 10 in France since spring, but until July never hit #1. Coloring, with its entertaining combination of text and illustrations, has become something of a cult hit.
Other French nonfiction bestsellers have a more serious bent, including The Smell of the Ages, a collection of essays by philosopher Jean d'Ormesson that moves to #3 from #4, and Born on a Blue Day, the memoir by autistic savant Daniel Tammet that debuted at #4; it was originally published in the U.K. in 2005.
A couple of former U.S. bestsellers have hit the charts in Germany and Spain. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince made it to #7 in Germany, benefiting from release of the movie and publicity for the final Potter volume. And Art Spiegelman's Maus, originally published in the U.S. in 1991, lands at #10 in Spain, where it is published by Minotauro.
| France | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | The Hedgehog's Elegance Muriel Barbery Gallimard | Coloring Book for Adults Who Are Bored at the Office Claire Fay Panama |
| 2 | The Children of Freedom Marc Levy Robert Laffont | The Camp Raphaelle Bacque and Ariane Chemin Albin Michel |
| 3 | Because I Love You Guillaume Musso XO | The Smell of the Ages Jean d'Ormesson Editions Heloise d'Ormesson |
| For week ending July 22, used by arrangement with Livres Hebdo/Ipsos. | ||
| Spain | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | The Cathedral of the Sea Ildefonso Falcones Grijalbo | Self-Esteem Luis Rojas Marcos Espasca-Calpe |
| 2 | The Frozen Heart Almudena Grandes Tusquets | Sex Code Mario Luna Acantilado |
| 3 | The Blood of Innocents Julia Navarro Plaza & Janes | The Road to Culture Cesar Vidal Planeta |
| For week ending July 22, used by arrangement with El Cultural. | ||
| Germany | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | Millionaire Tommy Jaud Scherz | I Am Off for a Little While Hape Kerkeling Rowohlt Berlin |
| 2 | Tannod Andrea Schenkel Edition Nautilus | The Two-Class Society Karl Lauterbach Rowohlt Berlin |
| 3 | Through a Glass, Darkly Donna Leon Diogenes | The Secret Rhonda Byrne Arkana |
| For week ending July 22, used by arrangement with Buchreport. | ||
