It's confirmed, the French are very attached to books and they have very different tastes!
Evidenced by the winners of the program "The Favorite Book of the French", broadcast this Thursday evening on France 2. This major competition launched almost a year ago in partnership with "Le Parisien" devotes Virginie Grimaldi, the most read author in our country behind Guillaume Musso.
In a few years, the novelist who lives near Bordeaux has become a must on the literary scene.
"It's high time to rekindle the stars", published in 2019 and huge success in bookstores, is ahead in the ranking revealed this Thursday two behemoths of children's literature, "One Piece" the most famous manga (23 million copies sold for the series) who has just celebrated his 25th birthday, and his little friend of the same age, "Harry Potter" (more than 36 million books sold in France), who needs no introduction!
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"This very eclectic list is very interesting because it is very representative of what is sold in bookstores", comments Anne-Laure Vial, co-founder of the largest independent Parisian bookseller, "Ici".
For her, the two French authors who appear in the ranking, Virginie Grimaldi and Mélissa Da Costa, represent "two phenomena of literature", starting of course with the first, "who is a committed novelist, and has been able to tie via the networks a very strong bond with its community of readers".
"It's high time to rekindle the stars", published in 2019 and huge success in bookstores, is ahead in the ranking of "One Piece" and "Harry Potter".
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As for Mélissa Da Costa, her novel "All the Blue of the Sky" published in February 2019, is having a crazy adventure, since it is still in the ranking of the best sellers in pocket format.
Anne-Laure Vial also emphasizes the good performance of three great classics, "The Little Prince", "Les Miserables" and "The Count of Monte-Cristo", "books that are still widely read and sold, still very current and which have a real heritage value.
The initial idea of this major competition launched in April by France Télévisions in partnership with "Le Parisien" was to appeal to readers of all ages, as summed up in the campaign slogan: "There is necessarily ONE book that has counted in your life.
According to the television group, "tens of thousands" of people responded, and a first selection of 50 titles was unveiled in July, and a second reduced by half in September.
Here are the favorite books of the French:
"It's high time to rekindle the stars", by Virginie Grimaldi (2019).
One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (1997)
“Harry Potter” by JK Rowling (1997)
"The Little Prince", by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)
“Les Miserables”, by Victor Hugo (1862)
"The Lord of the Rings" by JRR Tolkien (1954)
"The Count of Monte Cristo", by Alexandre Dumas (1844)
"All the Blue of the Sky", by Mélissa da Costa (2019)
Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama (1984)
“Berserk”, by Kentaro Miura (1989)