Books: Best-sellers

No surprises in the entry of Chris Patten in the history and current affairs and non-fiction lists. His much travelled account of the handover of Hong Kong East and West was published last week and, ably publicised by Rupert Murdoch, is selling extremely well. But not as well as Addicted by Arsenal captain, Tony Adams, which has gone straight to number one in the non-fiction list. Sub-titled his honest and open autobiography, Adams with co-author Ian Ridley writes frankly about his passion for alcohol, which led him to consider giving up football, his second addiction.

Meanwhile, a glance at the fiction lists proves that only a wholesome saga, Maeve Binchy-style, has the clout to knock Irvine Welsh off his sordid perch.

Compiled by Bookwatch from sales over seven days ending 16 September.

c Copyright Bookwatch Ltd, 1998

ORIGINAL FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1 (1) Tara Road Maeve Binchy (Orion) 8,906 pounds 16.99

2 (3) Filth Irvine Welsh (Cape) 6,632 pounds 9.99

3 (4) Rainbow Six Tom Clancy (M Joseph) 6,063 pounds 16.99

4 (2) Field of Thirteen Dick Francis (M Joseph) 5,713 pounds 16.99

5 (5) Jemima J Jane Green (Penguin) 5,449 pounds 5.99

6 (7) Love Song Charlotte Bingham (Bantam) 4,752 pounds 5.99

7 (6) Charlotte Gray Sebastian Faulks (Hutchinson) 4,525 pounds 16.99

8 (10) The Tesseract Alex Garland (Viking) 4,203 pounds 9.99

9 (8) Bag of Bones Stephen King (Hodder) 3,551 pounds 16.99

10 (-) Hitched Zoe Barnes (Piatkus) 2,054 pounds 5.99

ORIGINAL NON-FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1(-) Addicted Tony Adams (CollinsWillow) 5,730 pounds 17.99

2(1) The Little Book of Calm Paul Wilson (Penguin) 4,530 pounds 1.99

3(4) The Guv'nor Lenny McLean (Blake) 4,259 pounds 16.99

4(3) Men are From Mars, Women

are from Venus John Gray (Thorsons) 3,601 pounds 9.99

5(4) My 1998 World Cup Story Glenn Hoddle (Deutsch) 2,740 pounds 17.99

6(-) East and West Chris Patten (Macmillan) 2,376 pounds 22.50

7(7) The Little Book of Stress Rohan Candappa (Ebury) 2,142 pounds 1.99

8(6) Under the Tuscan Sun Frances Mayes (Bantam) 1,546 pounds 5.99

9(-) 60 Ways to Feel Amazing Linda Field (Element) 1,528 pounds 1.99

10(9) The Little Book of Dreams Joan Hanger (Penguin) 1,322 pounds 1.99

HISTORY AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1 Longitude Dava Sobel (4th Estate) 2,854 pounds 5.99

2 East and West Chris Patten (Macmillan) 2,376 pounds 22.50

3 Made in America Bill Bryson (Minerva) 1,329 pounds 6.99

4 The Calendar David Ewing Duncan (4th Estate) 1,052 pounds 12.99

5 The Last Governor Jonathan Dimbleby (Warner) 638 pounds 9.99

6 In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great Michael Wood (BBC) 584 pounds 17.99

7 Stalingrad Antony Beevor (Viking) 400 pounds 25

8 News of a Kidnapping Gabriel Garcia Mrquez (Penguin) 301 pounds 6.99

9 The Chancellors Roy Jenkins (Macmillan) 291 pounds 25

10 Cold War Jeremy Isaacs (Bantam Press) 201 pounds 22