YEREVAN BESTSELLER 4/102: ‘Where Wild Roses Bloom’, ‘Ville-Évrard’ and ‘Unfound Chamomiles’ top three books of the list

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS. The exclusive project of ARMENPRESS entitled ‘Yerevan Bestseller’brings the top ten bestselling books of Yerevan every week.

Mark Aren’s ‘Where Wild Roses Bloom’again tops the bestselling list of the week.

The story describes the inner world of an Armenophobic Turkish former serviceman, when he, already an old man, suddenly hears a lullaby song that reminds him of his mother and later finds out that the song is in Armenian: realizing his parents were Armenians. He spends his remaining life searching the graves of his parents, without knowing that it was a misunderstanding.

‘Ville-Évrard’, another novel again by Mark Aren, is ranked second. A story evolving around Komitas, Edmund Forster, the psychologist who inspired Adolf Hitler that the latter was unique, guided by which the Nazi leader decided to conquer the world, resulting in millions of victims. It was Forster who saved Soghomon Tehlirian, who gunned down Talat Pasha, one of the organizers of the Armenian Genocide, from capital punishment. The refuge of Komitas, who survived the Armenian Genocide, was Ville-Évrard mental hospital in France.

Edgar Harutyunyan’s ‘Unfound Chamomiles’this week is ranked 3rd. This is the second book of the author. ‘Unfound Chamomiles’ is about human relationship, love, friendship and betrayal.

‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ by American writer Richard Bachis 4th in the list. It is afableinnovellaform about aseagullwho is trying to learn about life and flight, and ahomilyabout self-perfection. It was first published in 1970.

Edgar Harutyunyan’sanother book‘Art of Devotion or Ode to Rose’is ranked 5th in this week’s list.

‘Collected Stories of Guy de Maupassant’this week is 6th. It includes the author’s best works. Guy de Maupassant is an author of numerous stories, novels depicting France’s daily life. His numerous works have been translated and published in Armenian.

‘Flowers for Algernon’ byDaniel Keyes is next. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue ofThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won theHugo Award for Best Short Storyin 1960.

Armenian writer Edgar Kostandyan’s ‘Ordinary Country’ captures the 8th position this week.

‘TheAlchemist’by Brazilian writerPaulo Coelhois 9th. Originally written inPortuguese, it became an international bestseller translated into some 70 languages as of 2016. Anallegoricalnovel,The Alchemistfollows a youngAndalusianshepherd in his journey toEgypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there.

‘The Red-Haired Woman’by Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize laureateOrhan Pamukconcludes this week’s list. The Red-Haired Womanis the story of a well-digger and his apprentice looking for water on barren land. It is also a novel of ideas in the tradition.

The following bookstores took part in a survey for the bestseller project: Bookinist (53-74-13), Hay Girk (54-07-06) and Zangak (23 26 49).

Yerevan Bestseller project presented by Angela Hambardzumyan

English –translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan