"Armenpress" introduces 30th bestseller books list

YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS. The selling volume is still low in the bookstores of Yerevan because of the vocation season. The managers of the bookstores assured us that this is a usual phenomenon for this period of the year.

"The Little Prince" by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry tops this week's "Bestseller Books List" introduced by "Armenpress" News Agency. 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.

"Treasure Island" by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold" occupies the second position. First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island or, the mutiny of the Hispaniola with Stevenson adopting the pseudonym Captain George North.

Traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, Treasure Island is an adventure tale known for its atmosphere, characters and action, and also as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality — as seen in Long John Silver — unusual for children's literature now and then. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. The influence of Treasure Island on popular perceptions of pirates is enormous, including treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen carrying parrots on their shoulders

This book is followed by "A Place Far Away" novel by contemporary Lebanese-Armenian author Vahan Zanoyan. "A Place Far Away" tells about a 16-year old pretty girl named Lara Galyan, who lives in a poor village in Armenia. The author introduces the features of the Criminal Oligarchy representatives, who had unprecedented power and do not obey the law in a country, which had just obtained its independence. One the characters called Sergey Ayvazyan has a conversation with Lara's father and tells him that he has connections abroad, due to which his daughter can make a successful career of model. The heroine's father harshly turns down that suggestion, but after Lara's mother accepts it, because of which Lara first appears in Moscow, than in Dubai, where the main events of the novel take place.

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 advances to the fourth position.

"The Alchemist" novel by contemporary Brazilian author Paulo Coelho occupies the fifth position. 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 ''The Book of Lamentations'' by St. Gregory of Narek. 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.

"Where the Wild Roses Bloom" by Moscow-resident contemporary Armenian author Mark Aren (Karen Martirosyan) has appeared in the seventh position.

Nineteen Eighty-Four dystopian novel by George Orwell first published in 1949 occupies the eighth position.

"Stone Dreams" by Akram Aylisli published by "Edit Print" publishing house occupies the ninth place. 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.

"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 final position of this week’s "Bestseller Books List" introduced by "Armenpress" News Agency.