The top three titles on Sweden's fiction list in April were all in new positions, including Kristina Ohlsson's Hostage. Ohlsson published her first book in the U.S. in February 2012 with Atria—Unwanted, a mystery cited for "superior prose, plotting, and characterization" in its starred review from PW. Sweden's top title, Sacrifice to Moloch, is by Åsa Larsson, who has also published in the U.S., including 2008's The Black Path (Delta), which received a star from PW.
2010 Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa's The Civilization of Entertainment made its debut at #2 on the Spanish nonfiction chart last month. Vargas Llosa, who has written across a number of genres including criticism, historical novels, murder mysteries, and political thrillers, this time writes about his unease that arts have been reduced to chaos. He argues that frivolity and entertainment have led to a breakdown of the cultural order. The book ahead of Vargas Llosa on Spain's chart is The Family Meal by Ferran Adrià, chef at the now closed elBulli, which was published in the U.S. in October 2011 by Phaidon Press and is still selling well.
France's #2 fiction title is Marc Levy's If I Had to Do It Again. Levy has had worldwide success, including in the U.S., where his book If Only It Were True was originally published in 2005 by Atria before becoming the source material for the Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy Just Like Heaven. In total, he has sold more than 17 million copies.
Spain
Fiction
El enredo de la bolsa y la vida
The Tangle of Money and Life
Eduardo Mendoza
Seix Barral
El abuelo que saltó por la ventana y
se largo
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out His Window and Disappeared
Jonas Jonasson
Salamandra
El lector de Julio Verne
The Reader of Jules Verne
Almundena Grandes
Tusquets
Nonfiction
La comida de la familia
The Family Meal
Ferran Adrià
RBA Practica
La civilización del espectáculo
The Civilization of Entertainment
Mario Vargas Llosa
Alfaguara
La soledad de la Reina
The Solitude of the Queen
Pilar Eyre
La Esfera de los Libros
France
Fiction
7 ans après...
7 Years Later…
Guillaume Musso
XO
Si c'était à refaire
If I Had to Do It Again
Marc Levy
Robert Laffont
La liste de mes envies
My List of Desires
Grégoire Delacourt
JC Lattès
Nonfiction
Déclarons la paix ! Pour un progrès de l'esprit
Declare Peace! For a Progress of the Spirit
Dalaï-Lama & Stéphane Hessel
Indigène
Le sel de la vie
The Spice of Life
Françoise Héritier
Odile Jacob
Bête noire: condamné à plaider
Nemesis: Sentenced to Defend
Eric Dupond-Moretti & Stéphane Durand-Souffland
Michel Lafon
Sweden
Fiction
Till offer åt Molok
Sacrifice to Moloch
Åsa Larsson
Albert Bonniers Förlag
Paradisoffer
Hostage
Kristina Ohlsson
Piratförlaget
När skönheten kom till Bro
When Beauty Came to Town
Anna Jansson
Norstedts
Nonfiction
Ett kort uppehåll på vägen från Auschwitz
A Short Stop on the Way from
Auschwitz
Göran Rosenberg
Albert Bonniers Förlag
Jag är Zlatan
I Am Zlatan
David Lagercrantz & Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Albert Bonniers Förlag
Fågelsång: 150 svenska fåglar och deras läten, Kompaktutgåvan
Birdsongs: 150 Swedish Birds and Their Sounds, Compact Edition
Lars Svensson & Jan Pedersen
Max Ström Bokförlag