One to Ten and Two by Two

Some new entries in the Top Ten fiction paperbacks this week, although Hilary Mantel is obviously aiming to be the Bryan Adams de nos jours.....
At number one - The Lacuna. Barbara Kingsolver still selling well.
2 A new entry - New York by Edward Rutherfurd
3 Family Album, Penelope Lively
4 Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel, hanging in there....
5 Ordinary Thunderstorms, by William Boyd (v. good book)
6 The Earth Hums in B flat, by Mari Strachan
7 One Moment, One Morning, by Sarah Rayner
8 Notwithstanding, by Louis de Bernieres -slipped out of the top ten, now back in again
9 Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith
10 The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

Did you notice? NO Stieg Larsson. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest has dropped off the chart, but as people are still coming in to buy the first two titles in the trilogy we may well see it again.
Of course what people are buying most of is pretty meaningless when it comes to choosing reading matter for your summer holidays, weekend afternoons or long train journeys, but it is interesting to see what is popular week by week.
Well, I think it is, anyway.

We're still pairing books, in case you're wondering what to read next. So our selection of similar or complementary titles at the moment has Border Songs next to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and Simon Schama's Citizens paired with Hilary Mantel's (there she is again!) A Place of Greater Safety, her novel of the French Revolution and the ensuing Terror. Then we've put Dudley Green's biography of Patrick Bronte:Father of Genius next to Jane Eyre, one of the products of that genius (though for those who have read J. Eyre and don't want to go back to it I urge you to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). We've also put Brideshead Revisited (a perfect summer read, or re-read) beside Madresfield, Jane Mulvagh's study of the house and family who so influenced Evelyn Waugh. Lastly, Antonia Fraser's Robin Hood, a fairly tradtional re-telling of the ballads is parked beside Adam Thorpe's Hodd who is shown as a venal and violent felon - a novel about the creation of myth and legend.

Let us know if there are any pairings, connections, or natural literary affinities that you can recommend.