Nielsen Unveil Bestsellers

Dan Brown’s the Da Vinci Code has placed at number one in the greatest books of all time. Well, not exactly all time….

Unlike other book popularity polls which are based on fairly subjective criteria, the Nielson Bookscan chart is compiled by number of volumes sold, marking the worlds bestselling titles since its creation in 1998.

The remaining entries of the top hundred have been iconic, both in terms of sales and marketing trends and also by inspiring almost cult like status amongst their readership.  JK Rowling scores a coup with all seven of the Harry Potter books featuring in the top ten whilst all five of Brown’s novels to date feature within the top 22.  Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga also fares well, the final instalment Breaking Dawn has, as of December 2010, sold over twelve million pounds worth of units in less than three years.

Book group favourites like The Kite Runner, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, continue to sell well, easily making the Top 30 lists of 2010 as well as the Top 30 All Time List.

An intriguing look at book buying habits over the last decade or so, the full list of data has been published online for the public via Google. A more in depth look at the information can be found on the Guardian’s website http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/01/top-100-books-of-all-time#data.

Reading Resolution

I've finally cracked and made a decision that all bibliophiles must make at some point in their lives. I have decided that I will not buy or borrow any new books for pleasure until I have read every book that I currently own.

I do not take this decision lightly, I'm positively dreading certain books lurking at the back of my bookshelves, tomes which I have previously attempted to read but simply couldn't finish.  The fact remains however that I own too many books for my limited floor space. The bookshelf overflowed ages ago despite being stacked two deep with books crammed horizontally in the small areas of extra space on top of these and now the stack of titles next to the bed is getting precariously large. So in an attempt to prevent death by book avalanche and in a nod to the current austerity drive, I will be purveying the wares I already own with a critical eye.

A secondary motivation behind this decision is my genuine sadness and horror over the predicted future of the printed word. It seems to have been accepted by the world at large that computerised technology will revolutionise the act of reading, making the current printing, binding and even methods of book selection obsolete within the near future. I’ve found myself confronting this spectre directly thanks to my sister receiving a Kindle for Christmas. To make myself perfectly clear on this subject: you will have to pry my books from my cold, dead hands before I accept that I have to read via a screen.  Reading to me is about the entire experience: the weight and smell of a volume and the pure physicality of page turning is as much a part of the pleasure as the words I’m reading. On a more practical note, I am hideously short-sighted and find reading in a traditional medium less straining and tiring than any form of computerised reading, even the special non back- lit kinds.

Following this train of thought, I realised I haven’t been affording my books the value they deserve and have decided that it is a crime against the arts to leave them unread, gathering dust, especially when you consider that many people in the world simply do not have easy access to the wide variety of books that we in the Western World do. So, for the time being, I shall not be parting with any money nor borrowing any books until I have worked my way through those that I already own and I’ll be keeping you informed on my progress.

Is anyone out there thinking of doing a similar thing? Do you have a read everything before buying more policy already? Let me know, leave a comment below.

New Year, New Costa

Happy New Year!

Fresh on the heels of the book-giving bonanza known as Christmas (I'm still rubbing my hands with glee at the though of my unread bounty), a magical time when a cartoon Meerkat can make the transition from television advert to print and become the unexpected and undisputed King of both the biography and gift book markets, comes a new year and the first major British competition of the year, the Costa Award, whose grand winner will be announced on January the 25th.

Previous winners, including Sebastian Barry's Secret Scripture, perform well in the book charts for months to come and are often repeatedly honored with appearances in various shortlists throughout the rest of the year. 
Already a best selling author, Maggie O'Farrell has scooped the top prize for the this year's novel category and is tipped to beat the competition for the overall prize with her latest creation, 'The Hand That First Held Mine.'

Meanwhile, the First Novel Category was won by Kishwar Desai with 'Witness the Night' and  Edmund de Waal wins the Biography category with his highly recommended 'The Hare with the Amber Eyes'. Jo Shapcott tops the Poetry category with her first collection in ten years 'Of Mutability' and debut author Jason Wallace claims the Children's category title with 'Out of the Shadows'.

The winner of the overall prizes nets themselves a cool £30,000 as well as the additional £5,000 prize for the top spot in each individual category. With the decision just weeks away, the 2011 Literary Year has officially begun. Happy reading everyone.