“ARMENPRESS” INTRODUCES 29TH BESTSELLER BOOKS LIST
10:55, 2 August, 2013
YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, ARMENPRESS. The selling volume reduced in the
bookstores of Yerevan because of the vocation season.
“The Alchemist” novel by contemporary Brazilian author Paulo Coelho
tops this week’s “Bestseller Books List” introduced by “Armenpress”
News Agency. This book has been translated into 67 languages and
according to AFP, it has sold more than 30 million copies in 56
different languages, becoming one of the best-selling books in history
and winning the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a
living author.
“The Alchemist” is followed by “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” by
Columbian author Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez. The book was translated
into Armenian from the Russian version by Hovhannes Ayvazyan in
2010. “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” is dedicated to the love
affairs of an old journalist, who falls in love with a young girl.
“The Book of Lamentations” by St. Gregory of Narek occupies the third
position this week. The pearl of the medieval Armenian literature
is also known to the public as “Narek” for short. The mystical poem
“Book of Lamentations” has been translated into many languages and has
played a significant role in the development of the Armenian literary
language. This masterpiece by St. Gregory of Narek has always been
included in our bestseller books list.
The Armenian version of prominent Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli’s
“Stone Dreams” published by “Graber” publishing house occupies
the fourth position in the bestseller books list. Artak Vardanyan
translated the novel into Armenian. Aram Ananyan authored the
preface of the book and the publication was edited by Seyranuhi
Geghamyan. Aylisli’s “Stone Dreams” novel caused a lot of noise
and hysteria in Azerbaijan. On February 7, 2013, the President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a presidential decree that stripped
Aylisli of the title of “People’s Writer” and the presidential
pension. Earlier, Aylisli confirmed reports that his son, a customs
official, and wife were dismissed from their jobs.
“Where the Wild Roses Bloom” by Moscow-resident contemporary
Armenian author Mark Aren (Karen Martirosyan) has appeared in the
fifth position.
The last collected book of poems by renowned Armenian poet Hamo
Sahyan titled “Don’t Declare Me Absent” has been included in the
“Bestseller Books List” introduced by “Armenpress” News Agency and
maintains the sixth position.
“The Little Prince” by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
occupies the seventh place. The novella is both the most read and
most translated book in the French language, and was voted the best
book of the 20th century in France. The book was translated into more
than 250 languages and dialects, as well as Braille.
“The Book of Whispers” by contemporary Armenian writer Varujan
Vosganian occupies the eighth position of our ranking list. The
Book of Whispers begins in a picturesque register, on a lane of
the Armenian quarter of FocÅ~_ani in the 1950s, among the steam of
freshly roasted coffee and the scents of grandmother Armenuhi’s larder,
among the old books and photographs of grandfather Garabet. But the
reader is not left to savour the intimacy of this hearth and home and
nor is he invited to chat with the merry folk who in peacetime spin
stories about Ara the Fair and Tigran the Great. Varujan Vosganian’s
“old Armenians from childhood” have no delectable tales to tell,
but rather events that are thoroughly disturbing. In narrating these
events, they attempt to disburden themselves of a trauma – their own
and that of their forbears The history of the 1915 genocide against the
Armenians, the history of the interminable convoys of those banished
into the Circles of Death, into the Deir ez Zor Desert, the history
of General Dro’s army, the history of the Armenians who followed
the path of exile in the Stalinist period – all these and many other
biographically filtered histories are to be found illustrated in the
pages of this unsettling book.
“The Book of Whispers” is followed by “The Autumn of the Patriarch” and
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Columbian author Gabriel GarcÃa
Márquez, which have been enclosed in one book, which occupies the
ninth position of the ranking list.
And “Farewell, Tzit” by young author Aram Pachyan occupies the final
position of the Bestseller Books List introduced by “Armenpress”
News Agency.