Gift books and bestsellers

In the Saturday Books supplement (18 November), The Times gets going on its recommendations for gift books for the upcoming holiday season, a.k.a. Christmas for the unreconstructed. As the blogs have already been doing this for a while now, including my fairly regular recommendations on Petrona (here's a link to my most recent selection), I won't highlight The Times' selections here. (But if you want to check them out, here is a link to their fiction suggestions, and from there you can navigate to other book category recommendations.)

Apologies for the preamble -- what I am going to mention here are the UK fiction "bestsellers" for 2006, and then highlight a few from last week. For 2006 (not clear whether they mean "so far" or Nov 05 to Nov 06), the top five paperbacks are:

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (826,343)
"Centuries-spanning grail adventure endorsed by Richard and Judy pips Dan Brown to the top spot."
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (566,446)
"Whole forests have been felled to feed our continuing obsession with this book."
The Island by Victoria Hislop (543,966)
"War, lepers and family secrets in Crete."
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (541,678)
Harvard symbologist on the trail of an ancient, murderous brotherhood."
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (516,722)
"Refugees discover their past."

Of course, this isn't the first year that the Dan Browns have been on sale. And for some reason the Times does not mention that Hislop's The Island was also a Richard&Judy selection. Although "Tractors" wasn't, it was one of the BBC's equivalents (Page Turners) and won the Richard&Judy- sponsored newcomer category of the British Book Awards earlier this year. John Self of Waterstones here describes why he chose this book for one of the shop's "3 for 2" offers.

Marketing and sales go hand-in-hand, it seems.

Finally, from last week's bestseller lists (top sellers for the week ending 11 November), a few entries:

1. Guinness World Records (42,858)

5. That Extra Half Inch (26,475) (I'm speechless-- it is "by" Victoria Beckham - who is buying it?)

6. The Devil Wears Prada (23,254) (Lauren Weisberger, first fiction entry)

20. The End (12,045) (Lemony Snicket's "Series of Unfortunate Events" 13)

25. Lisey's Story (10,268) (Stephen King)

46. The God Delusion (7,732) (Richard Dawkins)

47. Disney's Princesses Annual (7,547)

The independent booksellers also have a top 10 listing, but don't provide quantities sold.

1. The Dangerous Book for Boys (21 on the mainstream chart)

2. Why don't Penguin's Feet Freeze? (3) (New Scientist magazine's follow-up to last year's surprise top seller, Does Anything Eat Wasps?)

3. The God Delusion (46)

Comments

[Norm alias Uriah Robinson]

This shows the power of TV personalities to influence people. Richard and Judy, or Oprah in the US can put a book into the best sellers far quicker than good reviews, or advertising.
I remember hearing the story that Ringo Starr after he gained TV fame as the narrator for Thomas the Tank Engine, being interviewed and asked what he did before he was on TV. He replied he was in a group.
The fact that The Da Vinci Code is still at number 2 is frightening. I read the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail when it first came out in the 1980's, before its Brown induced resurrection. I did expect Brown to come up with a new twist on the Mary Madgalene/Jesus marriage theory/history, but it was just rehashed.

[Maxine]

Hello Norm - unfortunately, your Thomas the Tank Engine joke only works for people like you and me "of a certain age" -- it is lost on my daughters (both ex-TTE fanatics).
Yes, the best seller lists are interesting. I wonder if TV is making new people go out and buy books, or whether the people who would have bought their own choice previously are now giving that up in preference to titles highlighted by TV et. al?

[Susan Balée]

Now, Maxine, you must tell us what "that extra half inch" is about? Is Mrs. Beckham referring to the length of her skirt or an asset her husband brought to the marriage???

[Maxine]

Oh, Susan, I assumed it referred to her height -- as Mrs B is famously tiny. But now you've bought up two other possibilities. Do I have to go and leaf through a copy of the book in a bookstore to find out? It isn't the kind of information I can call on Dave Lull to supply, that's for sure, far too shaming. (Dave, if you are reading this, don't do it -- don't go anywhere near Mrs B, I would not wish that fate on anyone.)

[crimeficreader]

Ladies,
This little beauty will tell you all you need to know about that book:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/digestedread/story/0,,1941275,00.html

[Susan Balée]

Good lord, but that Guardian article was funny! I was giggling away here and the editor next to me glanced over in shock (considering he thought I was still working on a story about property-tax reform in New Jersey, laughter seemed an inappropriate response. Or maybe not).

But back to Beckham: Too funny. Who writes those "Digested Read" pieces? He or she deserves an award for humor!

[Maxine]

"The bland leading the brand", very good.

I still don't really get the half "an" inch (sorry I misread the book's title in the Times list) -- from the Grauniad review it means "that extra little bit of effort" [to make yourself look perfect]. As the subject-matter of the book (as described in the review) is nauseating, perhaps we can leave it at that ? ;-)

[crimeficreader]

I'm not sure he writes them all for the Guardian these days, but the author attributed is John Crace and there's even a collection in a book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digested-Read-John-Crace/dp/1843544849/sr=1-2/qid=1164018288/ref=sr_1_2/203-6164867-8025553?ie=UTF8&s=books

As for the "other bit" - oh Maxine, I really am so happy to leave it there!