Slate.fr offers an overview of what books (as opposed to what French novelists; see my previous mention) sold best in France in 2013, in Ventes de livres 2013: cinquante nuances de blé et Astérix chez les Pictes-sous -- with Asterix leading the way and the three variations of Fifty Shades close behind (and Dan Brown in that mix) .....
Particularly useful/interesting (if badly presented ...), see this chart, which lists the top 25 -- and reveals both units sold and box office (well, bookstore) take (and I ask yet again: why aren't there American charts providing this information regarding US sales ?).
Guilluame Musso's Demain was the top-selling French novel -- 6th place, 303,867 copies sold -- and several of these titles are forthcoming in English this year, including The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puértolas (12th; 150,785 sold; coming from Harvill Secker; pre-order your copy from Amazon.co.uk) and The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker (9th; 201,375 sold; coming from MacLehose Press and Penguin; pre-order your copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), with the Pierre Lemaitre (7th, 272,537 sold) to presumably follow soon.
Aside from the aberrations James and Brown the French hold their own pretty well for the year: yeah, there are two Stephen Kings, a Douglas Kennedy, and a Richard Ford (as well as a Camilla Läckberg -- the only non-English, non-French title in the mix) in the top twenty-five, but the French don't fare badly at all.
Particularly useful/interesting (if badly presented ...), see this chart, which lists the top 25 -- and reveals both units sold and box office (well, bookstore) take (and I ask yet again: why aren't there American charts providing this information regarding US sales ?).
Guilluame Musso's Demain was the top-selling French novel -- 6th place, 303,867 copies sold -- and several of these titles are forthcoming in English this year, including The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puértolas (12th; 150,785 sold; coming from Harvill Secker; pre-order your copy from Amazon.co.uk) and The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker (9th; 201,375 sold; coming from MacLehose Press and Penguin; pre-order your copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), with the Pierre Lemaitre (7th, 272,537 sold) to presumably follow soon.
Aside from the aberrations James and Brown the French hold their own pretty well for the year: yeah, there are two Stephen Kings, a Douglas Kennedy, and a Richard Ford (as well as a Camilla Läckberg -- the only non-English, non-French title in the mix) in the top twenty-five, but the French don't fare badly at all.