What are the Germans reading?
The year's bestseller lists released in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair – in cooperation with the trade journal buchreport
Frankfurt, 12/10/2009 - In this nine-month interim assessment for 2009, the list of most popular novels is topped by a global bestseller: Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn (Bis(s) zum Ende der Nacht), the fourth book in her Twilight saga. The other books in that series are also included prominently in the list. Meyer's vampire novels are targeted at all age groups and they owe their success to this cross-generational interest. As well as their appeal to all ages, the books' German sales have also been helped by the fact that the original English editions sold well, even before they were released in German. In 2003 the fifth book in the Harry Potter series became the first ever foreign-language title to appear in the German bestseller lists in its original version.
Despite the dominance of Stephenie Meyer's books, demand for which was also stimulated by the release of a film, German-language novelists also enjoy a strong presence in the nine-month bestseller list. These range widely from literary figures and light fiction authors, to Cornelia Funke, whose books are also aimed at the all-age segment. The bestselling book in 2008, Feuchtgebiete (Wetlands) by Charlotte Roche, is still selling well this year (in eighth position). Likewise, the winner of the 2008 German Book Prize, Uwe Tellkamp, is still in the top 20.
In non-fiction, German authors predominate. The spectrum of topics covered by successful non-fiction books ranges from popular introductions to psychology and philosophy (Hirschhausen, Precht) to personal memoirs (Helmut Schmidt, Schlingensief, Obama, Inge Jens) and the ongoing debate about the right way to educate children. Non-fiction on contemporary politics no longer features significantly in the bestseller lists. The past master in this field, Peter Scholl-Latour (Der Weg in den neuen kalten Krieg - The way to the new Cold War), could only reach number 24 in the chart.
Books are only considered for ranking as bestsellers if they meet certain criteria. These criteria have governed the Spiegel bestseller lists for decades:
1.The most important prerequisite: the books' contents must be exclusively the original creations of their authors. Reference books and anthologies of previously published works are therefore excluded.
2. Guidebooks (cookery books, medical advice, fitness programmes), special editions and gift books are also not considered. This criteria is used to make sure the bestseller lists do not become clogged and boring for years on end.
3. If a single title appears in different editions simultaneously, only the edition that sells the most will be included.
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