Name↕ | Book↕ | Author(s)↕ | Original language↕ | First published↕ | Approximate sales↕ | Genre↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Tale of Peter Rabbit | The Tale of Peter Rabbit | Beatrix Potter | English | 1902 | 45 million | Children's literature |
Jonathan Livingston Seagull | Jonathan Livingston Seagull | Richard Bach | English | 1970 | 44 million | Novella, self-help |
The Very Hungry Caterpillar | The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Eric Carle | English | 1969 | 43 million | Children's literature, picture book |
A Message to Garcia | A Message to Garcia | Elbert Hubbard | English | 1899 | 40 million | Essay/literature |
To Kill a Mockingbird | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | English | 1960 | 40 million | Southern Gothic, Bildungsroman |
Flowers in the Attic | Flowers in the Attic | V. C. Andrews | English | 1979 | 40 million | Gothic horror, family saga |
Cosmos | Cosmos | Carl Sagan | English | 1980 | 40 million | Popular science, anthropology, astrophysics, cosmology, philosophy, history |
Angels & Demons | Angels & Demons | Dan Brown | English | 2000 | 39 million | mystery-thriller |
Alcoholics Anonymous | Alcoholics Anonymous | William Griffith Wilson | English | 1939 | over 37 million | Self-help |
Kane and Abel | Kane and Abel | Jeffrey Archer | English | 1979 | 37 million | Novel |
Fear of Flying | Fear of Flying | Erica Jong | English | 1973 | 37 million | Romantic novel |
How the Steel Was Tempered (Как закалялась сталь) | How the Steel Was Tempered (Как закалялась сталь) | Nikolai Ostrovsky | Russian | 1932 | 36.4 million copies in USSR | Socialist realist novel |
War and Peace (Война и мир) | War and Peace (Война и мир) | Leo Tolstoy | Russian | 1869 | 36 million copies in Russia | Historical novel |
The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) | The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) | Carlo Collodi | Italian | 1881 | 35 million | Fantasy, children's fiction |
The Diary of Anne Frank (Het Achterhuis) | The Diary of Anne Frank (Het Achterhuis) | Anne Frank | Dutch | 1947 | 35 million | Historical non-fiction, autobiography, memoir, bildungsroman / coming of age, Jewish literature |
Your Erroneous Zones | Your Erroneous Zones | Wayne Dyer | English | 1976 | 35 million | Self-help |
The Thorn Birds | The Thorn Birds | Colleen McCullough | English | 1977 | 33 million | Romantic family saga |
The Kite Runner | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | English | 2003 | 31.5 million | Bildungsroman, historical fiction |
Valley of the Dolls | Valley of the Dolls | Jacqueline Susann | English | 1966 | 31 million | Novel |
How to Win Friends and Influence People | How to Win Friends and Influence People | Dale Carnegie | English | 1936 | Over 30 million | Self-help |
The Great Gatsby | The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | English | 1925 | 30 million ("around") | Novel, tragedy |
Gone with the Wind | Gone with the Wind | Margaret Mitchell | English | 1936 | 30 million (est.) | Historical fiction |
Rebecca | Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier | English | 1938 | 30 million (est.) | Gothic novel |
The Revolt of Mamie Stover | The Revolt of Mamie Stover | William Bradford Huie | English | 1951 | 30 million | Fiction |
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor) | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor) | Stieg Larsson | Swedish | 2005 | 30 million | Fiction |
The Lost Symbol | The Lost Symbol | Dan Brown | English | 2009 | 30 million | Fiction |
The Hunger Games | The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | English | 2008 | 29 million in US | Young adult fiction |
James and the Giant Peach | James and the Giant Peach | Roald Dahl | English | 1961 | 28 million | Children's novel |
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ | Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ | Lew Wallace | English | 1880 | 26 million in 1946 | Novel |
The Young Guard (Молодая гвардия) | The Young Guard (Молодая гвардия) | Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeyev | Russian | 1945 | 26 million copies in USSR | Young adult historical novel |
Who Moved My Cheese? | Who Moved My Cheese? | Spencer Johnson | English | 1998 | 28 – 30 million | Self-help, motivational, business fable, psychology, leadership, parable |
A Brief History of Time | A Brief History of Time | Stephen Hawking | English | 1988 | 25 million | Popular science |
Paul et Virginie | Paul et Virginie | Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre | French | 1788 | 25 million | Novel |
Lust for Life | Lust for Life | Irving Stone | English | 1934 | 25 million | Biographical novel |
The Wind in the Willows | The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | English | 1908 | 25 million | Children's literature |
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People | The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People | Stephen R. Covey | English | 1989 | 25 million | Self-help |
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (窓ぎわのトットちゃん) | Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (窓ぎわのトットちゃん) | Tetsuko Kuroyanagi | Japanese | 1981 | 25 million | Autobiographical novel |
Virgin Soil Upturned (Поднятая целина) | Virgin Soil Upturned (Поднятая целина) | Mikhail Sholokhov | Russian | 1935 | 24 million copies in USSR | Novel |
The Celestine Prophecy | The Celestine Prophecy | James Redfield | English | 1993 | 23 million | New-age spiritual novel |
The Fault in Our Stars | The Fault in Our Stars | John Green | English | 2012 | 23 million | Young adult romantic novel |
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