Heidenreich’s best-selling book “Aging.”

2024-12-16 06:00:00

What did many people in Germany read this year? Which audiobook was the most successful? The editorial successes of the year in summary.

Baden-Baden.

Despite competition from Angela Merkel’s autobiography: “Aging” by Elke Heidenreich is the best-selling book in 2024. Media Control reports it. Although Merkel recently recorded the best sales start of the year with her book “Freiheit”, published in late November (more than 200,000 copies in the first week), Heidenreich’s book, published in May, had more than 25 weeks of sales sales higher than those of the former Chancellor.

In the annual literature ranking for 2023, the novel “Parents’ Evening – It’s Not a Thriller (Even if the Title Sounds Horror!)” by Sebastian Fitzek was at the top.

Heidenreich’s bestseller “Aging” is optimistic, intelligent and personal, explains Media Control in Baden-Baden. In it Elke Heidenreich “addresses the topic of aging and provides valuable advice on how to manage this phase of life consciously and well”.

“Yes, and then age. Why?”

Heidenreich herself writes in her book that in her life she “smoked too much, drank too much” and drove her motorcycle and car too carelessly and hastily. “I’ve never played any sport, I have no talent for sexual fidelity and therefore I wasn’t particularly suited to marriage. I’ve written lots of bestsellers, so I’m carefree, which is wonderful (… ) Yes, and then age. Since when? This is the starting point of a funny, very open and honest book, written by an independent, childless eighty-one year old.

According to Media Control, the most listened to audiobook in Germany in 2024 (according to hours consumed by Bookbeat) was “Coldhart – Strong & Weak” by Lena Kiefer, the first volume of the “Coldhart” series, which is about the love they are turning kidnapping victim Elijah Coldwell and the charming Felicity Everhart.

The best-selling e-book is “Madame le Commissaire and the secret dossier” by Pierre Martin. In Inspector Isabelle Bonnet’s eleventh case, readers can expect entertaining criminal suspense in Provence.

Both Heidenreich and Merkel’s books will probably end up as gifts under many Christmas trees in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In “Freedom. Memories 1954 – 2021”, the seventy-year-old Merkel retraces her life in more than 700 pages. The hard cover costs 42 euros.

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel at an event for her book in Stralsund. (archive photo) Image: Stefan Sauer/dpa

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel at an event for her book in Stralsund. (archive photo) Image: Stefan Sauer/dpa

Publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch does not reveal how much money Merkel, who currently travels a lot with it, earns from the book. Several media had written about an advance of millions for the authors. Merkel wrote the book together with her longtime confidante Beate Baumann.

The analysis of the first week of sales showed that 52% of “Freiheit” buyers were men, 11% were under 29 years old and the same percentage was over 70 years old. About 19% were between 30 and 39 years old, 17% were between 40 and 49 years old, 21% were between 50 and 59 years old, and 22% were between 60 and 69 years old. (dpa)