Books: Bestsellers

Self-improvement is the order of the day at the top of the non- fiction list. The top seven titles tackle the inner and outer man and woman, as well as their surroundings. And it has been argued this week that a fair proportion of the phenomenal 150,000 copies sold of Ted Hughes's multi-award-winning Birthday Letters has been purchased by aspirational readers, rather than by dyed-in-the-wool poetry lovers.

Patricia Cornwell's avid fans have ensured that Southern Cross, her latest thriller, goes straight in at number two, denied the top slot by Patricia Scanlan's tale of the lives and loves of three young women.

Compiled from sales over seven days ending 25 January 1999

Bookwatch Ltd, 1999

ORIGINAL FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1 (2) City Girl Patricia Scanlan (Bantam) 2,839 pounds 5.99

2 (-) Southern Cross Patricia D Cornwell (Little, Brown) 2,171 pounds 16.99

3 (1) Tiffany's Secret Diary Kate Lock (BBC) 1,940 pounds 4.99

4 (3) Tom Clancy's Powerplays Tom Clancy (Penguin) 1,430 pounds 5.99

5 (4) Ramses 5: Under the Western Acacia Christian Jacq (Simon & Schuster) 1,175 pounds 9.99

6 (10) Glamorama Bret Easton Ellis (Picador) 989 pounds 16

7 (5) Churchill's People Mary Jane Staples (Corgi) 933 pounds 5.99

8 (8) This United State Colin Forbes (Macmillan) 882 pounds 16.99

9 (6) Archangel Robert Harris (Hutchinson) 841 pounds 16.99

10 (-) Miracle Cure Michael Palmer (Hutchinson) 760 pounds 5.99

ORIGINAL NON-FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1(3) Men are from Mars... John Gray (Thorsons) 3,529 pounds 8.99

2(1) Delia's How to Cook Delia Smith (BBC) 3,386 pounds 16.99

3(2) Little Book of Feng Shui Lillian Too (Element) 2,784 pounds 1.99

4(4) The Little Book of Calm Paul Wilson (Penguin) 2,116 pounds 1.99

5(7) Seafood Odyssey Rick Stein (BBC) 1,990 pounds 18.99

6(8) Low Fat Cookbook Rosemary Conley (Century) 1,841 pounds 16.99

7(6) Fighting Fat, Fighting Fit Janette Marshall (BBC) 1,584 pounds 4.99

8(9) Birthday Letters Ted Hughes (Faber) 1,554 pounds 14.99

9(5) Notes From a Big Country Bill Bryson (Doubleday) 1,499 pounds 16.99

10(-) Station X: the codebreakers Michael Smith (Channel 4) 1,219 pounds 14.99

SCIENCE

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1 Longitude Dava Sobel (Fourth Estate) 1,661 pounds 5.99

2 Station X: the codebreakers Michael Smith (Channel 4) 1,219 pounds 14.99

3 The Mars Mystery G Hancock & R Bauval (Penguin) 687 pounds 6.99

4 Fermat's Last Theorem Simon Singh (Fourth Estate) 306 pounds 5.99

5 The Calendar David Ewing Duncan (Fourth Estate) 280 pounds 12.99

6 Earth Story Simon Lamb & David Sington (BBC) 200 pounds 19.99

7 How the Mind Works Steven Pinker (Penguin) 190 pounds 9.99

8 Unweaving the Rainbow Richard Dawkins (Allen Lane) 176 pounds 20

9 Between Silk and Cyanide Leo Marks (HarperCollins) 103 pounds 19.99

10 Dragonfly Bryan Burrough (Fourth Estate) 101 pounds 17.99