YEREVAN BESTSELLER 5/5 – Vazgen Sargsyan’s ‘What are you doing, guys?’ among weekly top 10

YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS. The exclusive project of ARMENPRESS entitled ‘Yerevan Bestseller’brings the top ten bestselling books of Yerevan every week.

This weekMark Aren’s‘Where Wild Roses Bloom’tops the bestselling list.

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.

New book by Vazgen Sargsyan is among the weekly top ten. ‘What are you doing, guys?’ collection of stories is ranked 2nd. Vazgen Sargsyan writes in the book: “I am not afraid. I am not afraid of anyone. I warn – the history also ends with footprints. Our history must not end with our footprints…”

‘TheAlchemist’by Brazilian writerPaulo Coelhois next. 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.

Armenian writerEdgar Kostandyan’s ‘Ordinary Country’returned to the list, capturing the 4th place.

‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell is 5th. 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, a democratic 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 book is banned in China, North Korea, Burma and a number of Islamic countries.

Armen Niazyan’s ‘Hold my hand: I am afraid’is ranked 6th. The book consists of three parts – stories, thoughts and poems the focus of which is the following: be careful towards human beings, not ignore them who need us.

‘Fahrenheit 451’byRay Bradburyis 7th. Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel published in 1953. It is regarded as one of his best works. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The title refers to the temperature that Bradbury understood to be the autoignition point of paper.

Davit Samvelyan’s ‘Winter of Rodin’is 8th in the bestselling list. It includes short stories and essays.

‘The Kite Runner’byAfghan-AmericanauthorKhaled Hosseinicomes next.Published in 2003 byRiverhead Books, it tells the story of Amir, a young boy from theWazir Akbar Khandistrict ofKabul, whose closest friend is Hassan, his father's youngHazaraservant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall ofAfghanistan's monarchythrough theSoviet military intervention, the exodus ofrefugeestoPakistanand the United States, and the rise of theTalibanregime.

‘Siddhartha’, a 1922 novel byHermann Hessethat deals with the spiritualjourney of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of theGautama Buddha, concludes this week’s bestselling list. The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, lyrical style. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential during the 1960s. Hesse dedicated the first part of it toRomain Rollandand the second to Wilhelm Gundert, his cousin. The book has been translated by Ashot Alexanyan.

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