Nobel laureate Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio debuted in the second spot on the French fiction bestsellers list in October with An Old Tale of Quest, a book about his admiration for his mother. One of France's leading science fiction writers, Bernard Werber, whose bestseller Empire of the Ants was released in the U.S. by Random House, landed at #3 with Paradise to Measure, a series of short stories.
In the Netherlands, new titles claimed the four top spots, led by the British thriller writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French; their most recent book, Losing You, was published in the U.S. by St. Martin's. Jan Siebelink had a huge hit in 2005 with Kneeling on a Bed of Violets, and returns to the Dutch fiction list with a novel about the steady unraveling of the main character. In third place is the latest from Appie C. Baantjer, featuring Det. De Cock with an opening that sounds a bit like The Da Vinci Code—a dead body found with glued hands ready to pray.
Three of the top four fiction titles in Germany are new, topped by the German Book Award winner The Tower, a novel about the fall of socialist East Germany. The third-ranking nonfiction title, Who Am I and How Many, was recently acquired for publication in the U.S. by Spiegel & Grau.
| For week ending October 26, used by arrangement with Buchreport. | ||
| France | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | World Without EndKen Follett Robert Laffont | The Despair of the Monkeys and Other TriflesFrançoise Hardy Robert Laffont |
| 2 | An Old Tale of QuestJean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio Gallimard | What Have I DoneJean d'Ormesson Robert Laffont |
| 3 | Paradise to MeasureBernard Werber Albin Michel | My EscapeBenoîte Groult Grasset |
| For week ending October 26, used by arrangement with Livres Hebdo/Ipsos. | ||
| Netherlands | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | What to Do When Someone DiesNicci French Ambo/Anthos | Real Men Don't Eat CheeseMaria Mosterd Gennep B.V., Uitgeverij En Boekhandel |
| 2 | SuezkadeJan Siebelink Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij | You Can Always Call MeKarin Kuiper Uitgeverij Terra Lannoo |
| 3 | DeCock and the Death in PrayerAppie C. Baantjer Uitgeverij De Fontein | We Always Get Our Sin TooMaarten H. Rijkens Bzztoh |
| For week ending October 26, used by arrangement with DutchCharts.nl. | ||
| Germany | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | The TowerUwe Tellkamp Suhrkamp | Off Duty: A BalanceHelmut Schmidt Siedler |
| 2 | WetlandsCharlotte Roche DuMont | The Way of Dieter BohlenDieter Bohlen Heyne |
| 3 | AgravicIldiko von Kurthy Wunderlich | Who I Am, and How ManyRichard D. Precht Goldmann |
