Big Summer Turnover in Nonfiction
-- Publishers Weekly, 7/21/2008
With the advent of summer, lots of new titles hit the overseas bestsellers list, especially in nonfiction. In Sweden, nine of the top 10 nonfiction titles are new, including autobiographies by international playwright Lars Noren and Swedish rock star Plura Jonsson, in the second and third spots, respectively. A new biography of Adolf Hitler, based on his writings and diaries, debuted at #5.
The subjects are a bit lighter in France, where seven of the top 10 nonfiction titles are new, including two Dummies titles, General Culture for Dummies (#7) and Mental Games and Logical Riddles for Dummies (#9). Bestselling author Dominique Lapierre is back on the French charts at #3 with A Rainbow in the Night, a look at the history of South Africa. Moving to the top of the Netherland's nonfiction list from third place is Real Men Don't Eat Cheese, a memoir of the turbulent life of an 18-year-old girl. Dutch fitness guru Sonja Bakker has three titles on the top 10 list: Fit for Summer with Sonja (landing at #2) joins Getting Healthy with Sonja and Get Your Ideal Weight on the list. And Eckhart Tolle's Oprah-fueled American hit A New Earth debuts in fifth place in Holland.
The most provocative new fiction title is easily Sweden's new top seller, Never Fuck Up, the second book in Jens Lapidus's Stockholm Noir trilogy.
| Sweden | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | Never Fuck Up Jens Lapidus Wahlstrom & Widstrand | A Piece of Cake Leila Lindholm Albert Bonniers Forlag |
| 2 | Cathedral of the Sea Ildefonso Falcones Bazar Forlag | Diary of a Dramatist Lars Noren Norstedts |
| 3 | Lifetime Liza Marklund Piratforlaget | Stories Through Loneliness Plura Jonsson Brombergs |
| For week ending June 15, used by arrangement with Livres Svensk Bokhandel | ||
| France | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | All Those Things We Never Said Marc Levy Robert Laffont | Holiday Notebook for Grown-Ups Ages 17 to 117 Chiflet et Cie |
| 2 | Where Are You Now Mary Higgins Clark Albin Michel | Tabarly: A Biography Yann Queffelec Archipel/Fayard |
| 3 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson Actes Sud | A Rainbow in the Night Dominique Lapierre Robert Laffon |
| For week ending June 15, used by arrangement with Livres Hebdo/Ipsos | ||
| Netherlands | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini Cargo | Real Men Don't Eat Cheese Maria Mosterd Van Gennep |
| 2 | A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini De Bezige Bij | Fit for Summer with Sonja Sonja Bakker De Zonnestraal |
| 3 | The Prophet and the Koran Kader Abdolah Geus B.V. Uitgeverij | Delicious Journey Through the Netherlands and Flanders Unieboek B.V. |
| For week ending June 15, used by arrangement with Boekblad/GFK | ||
