How does this list make you feel? Any surprises?
>>8193557
Where's the Bible? It should definitely be like top 3 combined, in terms of sales
>>8193589
No exact figures, apparently.
>>8193589
it might not count as 'single volume'
>>8193557
I'm surprised that How To Win Friends and Influence People only sold 15 million. It seems like the kind of pleb shit that'd have pushed 100 million copies easily.
>>8193557
is this worldwide? if so it's kind of surprising is how few some of these books have sold when they seem to be utterly ubiquitous. for example- the great gatsby, 25 million since 1925. doesn't every kid in the usa read that at school?
never heard of the poky little puppy. it sounds awesome though.
as well as the bible the other big omission is chairman mao's book
>>8194626
A lot of schools will have their own copies of texts, so 3000 kids might read the same 30 copies over a couple generations.
>>8193557
How is the Lord of the Rings considered a single volume?
>>8193557
Where the fuck is Don Quixote?
>>8195106
LOTR is one book. it was only originally published separately cause of a paper shortage.
wtf, wasn't everyone reading the greeks?
How come "And Then There Were None" has 100 million copies sold? None of her other books are on the list.
It doesnt make me feel anything. What do I care if the average person wants to read shit.
This just means that the end of the day I will look well read and more interesting.
>>8193599
Lord of the Rings single volume???
LOTR is questionable as the best selling.
Don Quixote, Xinhua Zidian, and A Tale of Two Cities have all most likely sold more.
>>8195327
a combination of events. it was originally serialised in newspapers in the uk and usa and published on the brink of ww2. it has had several film, tv, stage and radio adaptations. it's also a very good book.
it was originally published with the title "ten little niggers"
When I read down the list, I was quite surprised by some of them. I would have thought L. Frank Baum's Oz series would have definitely had a place. Harry Potter and the Hunger Games weren't a surprised, especially since they kicked up sales quite a bit when their movies were coming out. Particularly they were not my favorite, however I can see why a lot of people like them. I was honestly surprised there were less of those self help books on this list. Also, side question, why is every book coming out no matter whether it's good or bad, when it's highly publicized, before it's even released it's called a New York Times Bestseller? That never made sense to me.
I like how the Bible isn't included because there aren't "exact figures" yet stuff like "The Divine Comedy" is included with qualified figures noted from only the 20th century.
Wikipedia shitlibs at it again.
>104 books out of 137 are in English (76%)
>all the other languages are mostly irrelevant
>whatever you write in your native language, you will be ignored
>no matter the quality of your efforts, you will always get steamrolled by tons of English books for plebs
>you will always be fluent enough to understand how cucked you are, but never fluent enough to write literature in English
>>8193557
>10 little niggers
>5th highest
>>8195462
Imagine if these niggers were tall LOL
Literally meme list
>>8193557
incredibly surprised to see And Then There Were None so high up there. i'm not really into mystery novels but Agatha Christie was phenomenology at writing them.
at one point i remember reading that Christie uses a lot of psychology in her works? something about the human brain only being able to keep up with around 12 or so plots/subplots at a time which makes it easier to sneak little details that give the main "i should have seen that coming" twist away. a lot of modern pop culture narratives use this technique
Each market is pretty insular and doesn't like foreign literature (even translated).
See, for example, the 10 best-selling "classic" authors in France from 2004 to 2012. Only two are foreign:
>1. Maupassant: 3,790,000 books sold
>2. Molière: 3,400,000 -
>3. Zola: 2,900,000 -
>4. Camus: 2,810,000 -
>5. Hugo: 2,710,000 -
>6. Agatha Christie: 2,650,000 -
>7. Zweig: 2,510,000 -
>8. Saint-Exupéry: 2,310,000 -
>9. Voltaire: 2,200,000 -
>10. Balzac: 2,020,000 -
>>8195435
>gives a fuck about popularity
>doesn't realize that the plebs will always outnumber him
>literally has the proof right in front of his face but won't realize
Honestly pham I don't know what to say
>>8195497
>Maupassant
I see the dogshit also rises to the top in over there.
Lowest common denominator and all that, I guess.
>>8195503
Sadly, yes (I would also include Zola in the literal dogshit category).
I guess part of the high Maupassant sales come from the fact they're short stories, hence you've got to buy plenty of different books. Other writers can have less books to sell.
If you're interested, there's a more complete ranking with the top 50 sellers in France:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/livres/2012/03/14/03005-20120314ARTFIG00604-le-top-50-des-auteurs-classiques-les-plus-vendus.php
Ranking by language:
>French: 35
>English: 11
>German: 2 (both Jews desu)
>Russian: 1
>Italian: 1 (again a Jew)
>Rest of the world: 0
Why is the little prince so popular ?
>>8195536
People buy it when learning other languages
I bought it when I was learning french
>>8195528
Surprises me that Zweig is so popular.
I've liked what I've read of his but it didn't stand out too much.
I wonder, I don't think he'd be that high up on the list for Germany but then again I don't have a good feel for such things and I couldn't find a list.
>>8195536
Children books sell well.
4 of the top 7 selling books of all time (Bilbo, LOTR, Little Prince, Harry Potter) are books for young people.
>>8195544
Zweig is huge here. It has that old-world complexity and distinction (which appeals to women), while being extremely easy and quick to read.
He's always prominently placed in libraries, and it is not rare to encounter a woman reading Zweig in a park or in the bus. Also often studied in school, etc.
The thing with Zweig is that he retains a high literary credibility for the cultured public (unlike "pop" authors who sell just as well), it's almost impossible to hate him whether you're "pleb" or "patrician"... so he ticks all the boxes.
I'm surprised by how popular Lolita is. I always felt kind of embarrassed admitting I read it, but it's sold more copies than pretty much any book ever published.
