I always love looking at best seller lists. Here’s one from the Quality Paperbacks Club via way of GuideLive listing the best-selling non-religious books of all-time that I thought you might enjoy:
1) Don Quixote (1605), by Miguel de Cervantes, 500 million copies
2) The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), by Alexandre Dumas, 200 million
3) And Then There Were None (a.k.a. Ten Little Indians) (1939), by Agatha Christie, 115 million
4) The Catcher in the Rye (1951), by J.D. Salinger, 65 million
5) The Da Vinci Code (2003), by Dan Brown, 64 million
6) Heidi (1880), by Johanna Spyri, 52 million
The following are all tied with around 50 milion copies sold:
* Ben Hur (1880), by Lew Wallace
* The Curse of Capistrano (a.k.a. The Mask of Zorro) (1920), by Johnston McCulley
* How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), by Dale Carnegie
* The Little Prince (1943), by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
* The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946), by Dr. Benjamin Spock
* The Alchemist (1988), by Paulo Coelho
I've read all these except Catcher in the Rye, How to Win Friends, The Little Prince, and the Alchemist. I'll have to get on those, but I did at least know about all of them. The one I hadn't read that I had no idea about? Zorro! My favorite! I can't wait to get my hands on this one. I love Zorro!!
Was anyone else a fan of the black and white TV show? It used to replay on Saturday mornings in the 1980's if I'm remembering correctly.
Is anyone a fan of reading Don Quioxete? I can't believe it's sold twice as many copies as my beloved Monte Cristo. Then again, it has had an extra 250 years ...
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I've read most of these titles but my favorite is And Then There Were None by Christie. A very entertaining mystery. Don Quixote is one of those classics I don't much care for and I've given it a try twice.
ReplyDeleteDon Quixote has that whole school niche going for it. I had to read it in Spanish (literally).
ReplyDeleteThis is a great site!
Loved And Then There were None!
CORRECTION!!! LW pointed out to me that I hadn't read Dr. Spock's book.
ReplyDeleteYes, the only Spock I know has pointed ears.
Hi David -- And Then There Were None is one of those amazingly clever books. I recall finishing reading it and just being befuddled at Christie's genius. I'm with you, too, on Quixote - 2x and it was a bust for me both times. It's probably just that I don't have the patience for the rambling, overly verbose style.
ReplyDeleteHi PJ -- You read it in Spanish? I'm impressed. We were talking last night if the translation had something to do with my not liking it. Maybe I need a new version.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure it was even worse in Spanish. At least with my foreign language reading abilities. :)
ReplyDeleteToo true, PJ. I suppose if I was impatient reading it in English that I'd really flop trying to tackle the Spanish version.
ReplyDelete