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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 García 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 Focşani 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 García 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.