It was a chance to finally get around to Tolstoy or Proust, but the charts tell a different story. Which books did we actually turn to in the lockdowns? • Let us know in the comments what you were reading Back in spring 2020, when it became clear that coronavirus wasn’t going away, book lovers spied an opportunity for a rare, government-mandated reading holiday. Here, at last, was a chance to have a go at Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. Robert Macfarlane reported that he was working his way through the great Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. Ali Smith urged readers towards Boccaccio’s Decameron. Diana Evans’s thoughts turned “heavenwards” by way of Homer’s Odyssey. I downloaded 27 hours of The Brothers Karamazov audiobook in anticipation.All lovely ideas. With 20 months of hindsight, however, which books did we actually end up turning to? The bestseller lists from the three different lockdowns may not tell you the contents of Britain’s soul, but then again, the numbers do not lie. We read: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Sophie Hinchliffe’s Mrs Hinch: The Little Book of Lists. Lots of David Walliams, who topped the Lockdown 1 and Lockdown 2 charts with Slime and Code Name Bananas respectively. JK Rowling: the first three Harry Potter books steadily rose up the charts through the pandemic. Joe Wicks. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. A Pinch of Nom, plus spin-offs. Sally Rooney’s Normal People. Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-11 09:00:06 UTC ]
His Dark Materials novelist says today’s steep price cuts devalue authors’ work and cheapen the experience of readingWith more than two months to go before Philip Pullman’s long-awaited new novel from the world of His Dark Materials is published, pre-orders have sent La Belle Sauvage flying up... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As her wizarding world returns to the stage and screen, Rowling’s $95m pushes James Patterson into second place with $87mJK Rowling will need to reserve a particularly large vault at Gringotts bank after a bumper year for the Harry Potter novelist magicked her back to the No 1 spot on Forbes’... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) has Wingardium Levoisa’d straight into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Comedian and writer David Walliams talks about writing children's books and why he has to pinch himself every day. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2017-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Joe Wicks has claimed three spots on a ranking of Amazon’s top 10 bestselling print books, in a list dominated by non-fiction and lifestyle titles. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams has topped the chart of the bestselling authors for the first half of 2017. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Veteran Hollywood executive Jonathan Dolgen, who formerly headed Paramount Pictures, has sold his home in Malibu for $18 million. The buyer was Chris Columbus, director of such films as “Home Alone,” “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” The English traditional-style home... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first book in the Harry Potter series is set to be translated into Scots for the first time, with "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stane", marking the 80th translation of the publishing phenomenon. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On 11th July 1997, The Bookseller interviewed Jo Rowling, then a little-known author, about her first novel - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. To mark 20 years since the release of the first Harry Potter novel, we republish that interview, conducted by The Bookseller's then children's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookshops around the country are unveiling a host of magical events — including Quidditch Pong, Harry Potter Bingo and Horcrux hunts—to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Bloomsbury). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We dug into the archives to find the first Kiwi review of Harry Potter, but the earliest seems to be from 1999. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2017-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author said it was "wonderful" seeing the first Harry Potter book in the shops. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2017-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A proof of the first Harry Potter novel, which got the author’s name wrong, is only the latest example of an ungainly tradition stretching back centuriesProofreaders may be worth their weight in gold to authors, but their oversights have proved lucrative for some lucky readers of JK Rowling. On... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams’ second short story collection The World’s Worst Children 2 (HarperCollins Children's) has held on to the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a third week running. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams has held off a challenge by Joe Wicks for the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, with The World’s Worst Children 2 (HarperCollins Children's) rocketing by 19% in volume to claim the top spot for a second week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams' The World's Worst Children 2 (HarperCollins Children's) has rocketed into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, shifting 58,481 copies for £423,282. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Driven by sales of general merchandise and 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' the Canadian bookstore chain reported record revenue growth for fiscal 2017. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Four Amazon Publishing titles, which drew poor BookScan print sales numbers, are among the top 20 fiction bestsellers on the latest iteration of the e-tailer's new weekly bestseller list, bolstered by sales in non-print formats. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A precocious young Irish writer whose début was at the heart of a seven-way auction has produced a novel that belies its creator’s years, reckons Alice O’Keeffe. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestseller lists like the one at the New York Times measure a book's success by how many copies its sold. What it doesn't do is tell you how many of those books are being read, nor how fast. Amazon Charts aims to fix this problem with a new, weekly b... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2017-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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