2023-12-29 17:12:55
Time.news – While waiting for the official findings to clarify who triumphed in the grand final duel of the Festival, the2023 for books closes (at the moment) with +0.3% in sales, corresponding to 1,283 million euros and 85.7 million copies (Italian Publishers Association – Nielsen BookScan data relating to the first 11 months of the year). The market appears to be divided in half between small and medium-sized publishers (50.1%) and large publishers, while among the sales channels both physical bookstores (from 53.4 to 54.5%) and large-scale distribution (from 4 to 54.5%) recover. 7 to 4.9%), with e-commerce falling from 41.9 to 40.6%.
The provisional ranking
Again according to IEA data relating to the first 11 months of 2023, the sales ranking for the year sees ‘Spare’ (Mondadori) in first place Principe Harryfollowed by ‘Give me a thousand kisses’ (Always Publishing)’ by Tillie Cole – book published in 2018 – and ‘La portalettere’ (North) by Francesca Giannone.
Immediately off the podium was the comeback of Niccolo Ammaniti ‘La vita intima’ (Einaudi) precedes the most controversial surprise of the year: ‘The world upside down’ by the general Roberto Vannacci, self-published volume. In sixth place is ‘Tre ciotole’ (Mondadori) of the prematurely deceased Michela Murgiawhich surpasses the posthumous Strega Prize ‘Come d’aria’ by Ada D’Adamo (Elliot) and ‘ELP’ (Sellerio) by Antonio Manzini.
Closing the top ten is the longseller ‘The Eight Mountains’ (Einaudi) by Paolo Cognetti and ‘Two Hearts to Let’ (Newton Compton) by Felicia Kingsleya 35-year-old writer from Modena who, however, won the title of most read author of 2023 with 1 million copies of all her books sold.
It is worth remembering again that this ranking does not include the performances of some of the winners of the last few weeks, starting from Fabio Volo with his ‘Everything is here for you’ (Mondadori), Aldo Cazzullo with ‘When we were the masters of the world’ (HarperCollins Italy) and again Antonio Manzini with ‘Will our heroes be able to find their friend who mysteriously disappeared in South America?’ (Sellerio). Given the sales results that these and other titles are obtaining, such as those of Donato Carrisi e Gerry Scottifor a realistic final picture of 2023 we will have to wait for the January numbers.
Returns
Beyond the numbers, what is about to come to a close was the year of two, as unexpected as they were relevant, returns. Niccolò Ammaniti and Bret Easton Ellis had not appeared in the novel form since 2015 and 2010 respectively and it seemed they were now only interested in genres of expression connected to the seventh art – or at least the essay, as far as the American is concerned. Instead, here they are again on the shelves with ‘La vita intima’ (Mondadori) and ‘Le schegge’ (Einaudi, translated by Giuseppe Culicchia), two titles that deserve some reflection.
Never before has he been an omniscient narrator, Ammaniti has confirmed himself as a storyteller who links with a story that explores the themes of truth and appearance, electing as protagonist a female figure who seems vaguely inspired, in the starting point, by the partner of the former prime minister Giuseppe With you. A highly original choice (it is no coincidence that we are talking about Ammaniti) supported by a master’s writing of the third person who occasionally forces himself to lower the bar as if he never wanted to give himself too much airs (once again, a choice by Ammaniti).
But in addition to descriptive brushstrokes of absolute precision, characters so surreal as to take on three-dimensionality and constant flashes of irony, which would invite a second reflection, what is striking is the slight final turning point: as if our – gifted since the days of ‘Fango’ of a stinging feigned naivety – had believed that it is still necessary to hold a mirror in front of the 1920s reader, but that the extreme mouth-to-mouth of pietas should be practiced so as not to leave him mortally wounded by what he has seen.
Someone who has openly stated that he wants to be hurt by art, and in fact has always used it to hurt, is Bret Easton Ellis. Who with the declared themes of the torrential ‘The Splinters’ seemed to want to confirm this inclination of his in every way. But beyond the surface (so dear to the creator of Patrick Bateman) his umpteenth return to the past in the form of fake auto fiction pulsates under the skin at a different pace than usual. Drugs, alcohol, unbridled sex and the gruesome murders of the Ellipsian leading figure of the serial killer are not enough, the news is that from the recipe of his latest novel the author of ‘Meno di zero’ has eliminated the fundamental ingredient of ‘irony.
Not that this in any way affects the pleasure of reading: Ellis is still the modern equivalent of the myth of the Siren and leaving its pages, once the cover has been lifted, remains impossible. But the enchanting force – contradicting the recent iconoclastic fury of his essay ‘Bianco’ (Einaudi) – is now tinged with renunciation. Playing in turn with the theme of true and false, from the height of his almost 60 years Ellis only pretends to want to hurt, because without irony the regrets remain, the acrid acceptance of time and past mistakes and also for he shows an unprecedented and very human pity for the reader.
Reproduction is expressly reserved © Time.news 2023
#Prince #Harry #Ammaniti #Vannacci #bestselling #books