October was a big month for new books in Italy: 12 of the 20 titles on Informazioni Editoriali's combined fiction and nonfiction bestseller list were new entries, including Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love at #2; Paulo Coelho's The Valkyries at #6; and Ken Follett's Fall of Giants at #10. Other books debuting on the list were two from bestselling crime writer Andrea Camilleri: Intermittent and Lips Are Sealed, which Camilleri coauthored with Carlo Lucarelli, and a new children's book by the prolific Geronimo Stilton, Sixth Journey into the Realm of Fantasy. It landed in the #16 spot. Scholastic publishes Stilton, whose books have been translated into 35 languages, in the U.S.; his Karate Mouse is due out here in January.
Fall of Giants, which Dutton released here September 28, is, unsurprisingly, an international success. In addition to hitting Italy's list, it debuted in the #1 spot in France and Germany, and at #5 in the U.K.
Children's and YA books are doing well in the Netherlands, taking eight of the top 20 spots on CPNB De Bestseller's combined fiction and nonfiction list. With the exception of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Roald Dahl's The Twits, all of them are by Dutch authors. Elsewhere on the list, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, which has been a book club hit here, is at #4; David Baldacci's Hell's Corner and Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love are at #6 and #7, respectively.
And while the big story coming out of Sweden for months has been crime-related novels, several of the titles on Svensk Bokhandel's list are not in that genre. In particular, Jan Wallentin's debut, Strindberg's Star, which hit the #3 spot, is billed as a "multigenre novel" involving the discovery of an ancient artifact and a cross-European chase.
Italy
Combined
1) La solitudine dei numeri primi
The Solitutude of Prime Numbers
Paolo Giordano
Mondadori
2) Mangia prega ama
Eat, Pray, Love
Elizabeth Gilbert
Rizzoli
3) Accabadora
Accabadora
Michela Murgia
Einaudi
4) I love mini shopping
Mini Shopaholic
Sophie Kinsella
Mondadori
5) I segreti del Vaticano
Secrets of the Vatican
Corrado Augias
Mondadori
6) Le valchirie
The Valkyries
Paulo Coelho
Bompiani
The Netherlands
Combined
1) Stimmy of Het oer
Stimmy, or The Jungle in the City
Daan Remmerts de Vries & Philip
Hopman
Stichting CPNB
2) Hoe overleef ik mijn vader?
(en hij mij!)
How to Live with My Father?
(And HE with Me)
Francine Oomen
Querido Kinderboek
3) Wij zijn ons brein:
Van baarmoeder tot alzheimer
We Are Our Brains:
From Womb to Alzheimer
Dick Swaab
Contact
4) Haar naam was Sarah
Sarah's Key
Tatiana de Rosnay
Artemis & Co.
5) Déjà vu
Déjà vu
Esther Verhoef
Anthos
6) Rechteloos
Hell's Corner
David Baldacci
A.W. Bruna Uitgevers
Sweden
Fiction
1) Den döende detektiven
The Dying Detective
Leif G.W. Persson
Albert Bonniers
2) Paganinikontraktet
The Paganini Contract
Lars Kepler (a pseudonym for Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril)
Albert Bonniers
3) Strindbergs stjärna
Strindberg's Star
Jan Wallentin
Albert Bonniers
Nonfiction
1) Underbara dagar framför oss:
en biografi över Olof Palme
Wonderful Days Ahead of Us:
A Biography of Olof Palme
Henrik Berggren
Norstedts
2) Fågelsång: 150 svenska fåglar och deras läten
Birdsongs: 150 Swedish Birds and Their Sounds
Lars Svensson; Jan Pedersen
Max Ström
3) LCHF—husmanskost: Den goda vägen till hälsa och viktminskning
LCHF—Household Cooking: The Tasty Way to Health and Weight Loss
Anna Hallén
Bonnier Fakta
