9 minute read
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. "The Little Prince" by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, re-published by “Antares” and “Edit Print”, tops the Yerevan Bestseller this week. 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 190 languages and dialects, as well as Braille. Over 80 million examples of the book were sold. It had several publications in Armenian. Saint-Exupéry, a laureate of several of France's highest literary awards and a reserve military pilot at the start of the Second World War, wrote and illustrated the manuscript while exiled in the United States after the Fall of France. He had travelled there on a personal mission to persuade its government to quickly enter the war against Nazi Germany. In the midst of personal upheavals and failing health he produced almost half of the writings he would be remembered for, including a tender tale of loneliness, friendship, love and loss, in the form of a young prince fallen to Earth.
The second horizontal is occupied by the “The Book of Lamentations'' by St. Gregory of Narek published by “MHM”, “Nairi” and “Zangak” publishing houses. 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. In 95 grace-filled prayers St. Gregory draws on the exquisite potential of the Classical Armenian language to translate the pure sighs of the broken and contrite heart into an offering of words pleasing to God. The result is an edifice of faith for the ages, unique in Christian literature for its rich imagery, its subtle theology, its Biblical erudition, and the sincere immediacy of its communication with God. This masterpiece by St. Gregory of Narek has always been included in our bestseller books list.
“The Art of Dedication or Dithyramb to a Rose” written by Edgar Harutyunyan occupies the third position in the list.
“The Tin Drum” by Günter Wilhelm Grass back on our list occupying the fourth position.
“A Man in Love” by Camille Lemonnier occupies the fifth position of the bestseller books list introduced by "Armenpress" News Agency.Camille Lemonnier (24 March 1844 – 13 June 1913) was a Belgian writer, poet and journalist. He was a member of the Symbolist La Jeune Belgique group, but his best known works are realist. His first work was Salon de Bruxelles (1863), a collection of art criticism. His best known novel is Un Mâle (1881). This novel tells us, in an autobiographical style, about the discovery of love by a young man, starting from his childhood, his hopes, his despair, his wanderings.
The 6th horizontal goes to “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson, which is one of the most read books in the world. With Who Moved My Cheese? Dr. Spencer Johnson realizes the need for finding the language and tools to deal with change--an issue that makes all of us nervous and uncomfortable. Most people are fearful of change because they don't believe they have any control over how or when it happens to them. Since change happens either to the individual or by the individual, Spencer Johnson shows us that what matters most is the attitude we have about change. When the Y2K panic gripped the corporate realm before the new millennium, most work environments finally recognized the urgent need to get their computers and other business systems up to speed and able to deal with unprecedented change. And businesses realized that this was not enough: they needed to help people get ready, too. Spencer Johnson has created his new book to do just that. The coauthor of the multimillion bestseller “The One Minute Manager” has written a deceptively simple story with a dramatically important message that can radically alter the way we cope with change. Who Moved My Cheese? allows for common themes to become topics for discussion and individual interpretation.
"Steppenwolf" novel by German-Swiss author Hermann Hesse is the seventh in our list. Originally published in Germany in 1927, it was first translated into English in 1929. Combining autobiographical and psychoanalytic elements, the novel was named after the lonesome wolf of the steppes. The story in large part reflects a profound crisis in Hesse's spiritual world during the 1920s while memorably portraying the protagonist's split between his humanity and his wolf-like aggression and homelessness. Hesse would later assert that the book was largely misunderstood.
"Animal Farm" by George Orwell occupies the 8th position. Animal Farm is an allegorical and dystopian novel, published in Englandon 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalin era in the Soviet Union. Orwell, ad emocratic socialist, was an outspoken critic of Joseph Stalin and, especially after experiences with the NKVD and the Spanish Civil War, he was actively opposed to the controversial ideology of Stalinism. The Soviet Union, he believed, had become a brutal dictatorship, built upon a cult of personality and enforced by a reign of terror. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell described Animal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin "un conte satirique contre Staline", and in his essay "Why I Write" (1946), he wrote that Animal Farm was the first book in which he had tried, with full consciousness of what he was doing, "to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole".
“Book ofWhispers” authored byVarujan Vosganianis in the 9th place. The book is about the Armenian Genocide. The “Book ofWhispers” was nominated for Nobel Prize.
"1984" by George Orwell closes Bestseller Books List introduced by "Armenpress" News Agency. While 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is more timely than ever. 1984 presents a "negative utopia", that is at once a startling and haunting vision of the world — so powerful that it's completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of entire generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions — a legacy that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.
To complete the bestseller list, the following bookshops have participated in the survey: “Bookinist” (53-74-13), “New Book” (093-60-40-64), “Noah’s Ark” (56-81-84), “Armenian Book” (54-07-06), “Edit Print” (57-70-09), “Narek” (51-91-36) and “Zangak” (23-25-28). No textbook was considered during the survey.
Presented by Roza Grigoryan