Once again, we’re adding a few more countries—Italy, Sweden and the Czech Republic—to our print coverage of international bestsellers (France, Spain and Germany are featured in this week’s print issue). A handful of familiar titles join many new ones.
Topping Italy’s fiction list is Sorry, But I Call You Love, a novel about a troubled romance between a 37-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl. Farther down the list are two titles that will be more familiar to U.S. readers: Philip Roth’s Everyman and Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris, which is also at number two on Sweden’s fiction list. Not surprisingly, a book about a Pope and his secretary—A Life with Karol—tops the nonfiction list in the home of the Vatican.
Alexander McCall Smith’s In the Company of Cheerful Ladies is at number three on Sweden’s fiction list. PW is planning to check in with Smith, who is currently touring for the newest installment in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, soon. Topping Sweden’s nonfiction list is a book called Overheard, which is a companion volume to a popular Swedish Web site on which readers post funny or unusual things they’ve overheard others saying.
Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being (which is set in Czechoslovakia and was banned there until 1989) is still high up on the Czech list, as is Tax Law 2007, which was a big seller last month as well.
Italy | Fiction | Nonfiction |
1 | Sorry, But I Call You Love Federico Moccia Rizzoli | A Life with Karol: Conversation with Gian Franco Svidercoschi Stanislao Dziwisz Rizzoli |
2 | The Color of the Sun Andrea Camilleri Mondadori | Ten: My Private World in Numbers Alessandro Del Piero Mondadori |
3 | The Cathedral of the Sea Ildefonso Falcones Longanesi | The Dissolution of Facts Marco Travaglio Il Saggiatore |
Sweden | Fiction | Nonfiction |
1 | Dirt Katarina Wennstam Albert Bonniers förlag | Overheard Damon Rasti/ Känguru |
2 | Hannibal Rising Thomas Harris Forum | GI In The City Ola Lauritzson and Ulrika Davidsson CA Bokförlag |
3 | In the Company of Cheerful Ladies Alexander McCall Smith Damm | Under the Walnut Tree Anna och Fanny Bergenström Trio Förlag |
Czech Republic | Fiction | Nonfiction |
1 | The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera Atlantis | The Four Agreements Don Miguel Ruiz Pragma |
2 | Ostravak's Diary Ostravak Ostravski Repronis | Tax Law 2007 Hana Marková Grada |
3 | Like Pole in a Fence Karel Plíhal Inspiracek | Viktor Kalabis: Portrait of the Composer Jiøí Pilka Academia |
