Books: Bestsellers

The non-fiction chart features a much-loved star who broke up with a group of quarrelsome, talentless bitches and took revenge in a feisty memoir. (Oh, and Geri Halliwell's there as well, one place above John Major.) Fiction goes into festive party mode as it rounds up the decade's top mass-market names. The list will be complete when Bridget Jones's comeback, The Edge of Reason, joins them. In travel, Bill Bryson is still eating all the pies himself. Compiled on sales over seven days ending 13 Nov

Bookwatch Ltd & Whitaker BookTrack 1999

TRAVEL

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY PRICE

SALES

1 Notes From a Big Country Bill Bryson (Black Swan) 5,667 pounds 6.99

2 Notes From a Small Island Bill Bryson (Black Swan) 1,981 pounds 6.99

3 Driving Over Lemons Chris Stewart (Sort of Books) 1,825 pounds 6.99

4 Around Ireland with a Fridge Tony Hawks (Ebury) 1,312 pounds 6.99

5 Neither Here Nor There Bill Bryson (Black Swan) 870 pounds 6.99

6 A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson (Black Swan) 650 pounds 6.99

7 The Lost Continent Bill Bryson (Black Swan) 560 pounds 6.99

8 Passage to Juneau Jonathan Raban (Picador) 373 pounds 16.99

9 Lost Continent and Neither... Bill Bryson (Secker) 359 pounds 9.99

10 In Siberia Colin Thubron (Chatto) 355 pounds 17.99

ORIGINAL FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY PRICE

SALES

1 The Fifth Elephant Terry Pratchett (Doubleday) 12,900 pounds 16.99

2 Adrian Mole... Sue Townsend (M Joseph) 9,717 pounds 14.99

3 Harry Potter and... J K Rowling (Bloomsbury) 6,820 pounds 10.99

4 Last Chance Saloon Marian Keyes (M Joseph) 4,957 pounds 9.99

5 Crisis Four Andy McNab (Bantam) 4,231 pounds 16.99

6 Net Force 3 Tom Clancy & Steve Piecenik (Headline) 4,041 pounds 6.99

7 Irresistible Forces Danielle Steel (Bantam) 3,555 pounds 16.99

8 Hannibal Thomas Harris (Heinemann) 2,812 pounds 16.99

9 Second Wind Dick Francis (M Joseph) 2,712 pounds 16.99

10 Our Kid Billy Hopkins (Headline) 2,641 pounds 5.99

ORIGINAL NON-FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY PRICE

SALES

1 Guinness Book of Records 2000 (Guinness) 26,703 pounds 18

2 Beano Book 2000 (D C Thomson) 12,586 pounds 5.99

3 Walking with Dinosaurs Tim Haines (BBC) 9,675 pounds 19.99

4 New British Classics Gary Rhodes (BBC) 6,470 pounds 20

5 If Only Geri Halliwell (Bantam) 6,455 pounds 16.99

6 The Autobiography John Major (HarperCollins) 5,941 pounds 25

7 How to Cook, Book 1 Delia Smith (BBC) 5,748 pounds 16.99

8 Managing My Life Alex Ferguson (Hodder) 5,547 pounds 18.99

9 The Friendship Book Francis Gay (D C Thomson) 4,735 pounds 4.99

10 'Tis: a memoir Frank McCourt (Flamingo) 4,130 pounds 17.99