What are people reading around the world? In May when we took a look at the bestseller lists in Germany, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, and Russia, we discovered a lot of love for Jojo Moyes, as well as for homegrown authors, some of whom are not available in English. This month, from bestseller lists in France, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, and Sweden, we saw that The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante are popular reads in other languages, and the love of crime novels and thrillers, translated or in the original language, is international. And Han Kang’s acclaimed novel, The Vegetarian, is still a bestseller in her native South Korea.

The Girl on the Train is currently available to borrow from NYPL in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, French, Polish, Italian, and Hebrew, and as an e-book in German.

My Brilliant Friend [L’amica geniale] the first book in Italian author Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan cycle, is currently available to borrow in the original Italian, in English, French, Spanish, and Polish.

More bestsellers from France, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, and Sweden below:

France

These bestsellers for the week of July 18 were reported on the fiction & paperback lists in Livres Hebdo.

Works by French author Guillaume Musso (L’Instant présent, La fille de Brooklyn) topped the fiction and paperback lists last week according to Livres Hebdo. Several of Musso’s thrillers, such as Central Park, are set in New York, but few of his books have been translated into English. His popular page-turners are currently available to borrow from the library in many other languages, however, including the original French, Russian, Korean, Polish, Italian, Arabic, and Spanish.

Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend [L’amie prodigieuse] is on the French list. Other works translated into French include The Lightkeeper’s Wife [La mémorie des embruns]  by Australian author Karen Viggers, and The Lion Tamer [ Lejontämjaren /  Le dompteur de lions], the ninth entry in Camilla Lackberg’s Fjällbacka crime series. NYPL has El domador de leones in Spanish, but it has not yet been translated into English. Various Camilla Läckberg novels are available to borrow in English, Spanish. Polish, Italian, Russian, and Albanian.

Mexico

Paula Hawkins and Jojo Moyes were also bestsellers at the bookseller Librerías Gandhi this month as reported in Dinero en Imagen on July 16. The Girl on the Train [La Chica del tren] and Me Before You [Yo antes de ti] were among the top fiction titles, along with Laura Esquivel’s latest, El diario de Tita [Tita’s Diary] and classics by Julio Cortázar and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

In El diario de Tita, Laura Esquivel returns to the world of Like Water for Chocolate / Como agua para chocolate. El diario de Tita was published in Spanish in May 2016. It has not been translated into English yet. Como agua para chocolate is available to borrow in the original Spanish, in English,and in Russian, as are other novels by Esquivel in Spanish and English.

Rayuela [Hopscotch] by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar (1914–1984), originally published in Spanish in 1963 and in English translation in 1966, is also high on Librerías Gandhi’s list of bestsellers this month. Rayeula is available to borrow in Spanish and English from NYPL. Many other works by Cortázar are available to borrow in Spanish and English, as well as a couple in Russian.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s beloved classic Cien años de soledad [One Hundred Years of Solitude], originally published in Spanish in 1967 and in English in 1970, can also be found on Mexico’s bestseller list this month. Cien años de soledad has been translated into more than 30 languages, and is currently available to borrow from the library in the original Spanish, English, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Gujarati.

Singapore

The bookseller Kinokuniya’s Singapore division lists its bestselling books in three languages: English, Japanese, and Chinese. Some of the titles listed last week are described here.

The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye presented by Sonny Liew, a graphic novel looking back at the career of a (fictional?) comic book artist and 50 years of Singapore’s history, topped Kinokuniya’s English bestseller list last week. You can borrow this in print or as an e-book from NYPL.

Other English language bestsellers at Singapore’s Kinokuniya last week were Me Before You and After You by JoJo Moyes, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, winner of this year's International Man Booker Prize, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which won the Pulitzer Prize this year, and The Course of Love by Alain de Botton. The Vegetarian, translated from the Korean, is currently available to borrow from NYPL in English, The Sympathizer and The Course of Love are also avaialble in English.

Kinokuniya’s Japanese and Chinese bestseller lists include many authors whose work has not been translated into English. The bestselling book on the Japanese language list is Tax Haven [Takkusu heivun] by Akira Tachibana. The Chinese translation of this "business novel”—避稅天堂 / Bi shui tian tang—is available at NYPL. If Cats Disappeared from the World [Sekai kara Neko ga Kieta nara] by Genki Kawamura, which was adapted into a film this year, is in the second spot on the list. 

Award-winning Japanese crime fiction writer Keigo Higashino is also on the top ten list of Kinokuniya Singapore’s Japanese language bestsellers. Mugen Hana [Dream Flower] has not been translated into English, but many other books by Higashino can be borrowed from NYPL in the original Japanese, in English, Chinese, Korean, and a few in Russian, and Spanish.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang is on the list of Chinese language bestsellers.

South Korea

These fiction bestsellers from July 16–22 were listed on the Kyobo Books website.

The Vegetarian topped the bestseller list in author Han Kang’s home country last week. Another notable fiction entry on the list is The Origin of Species, a crime novel by Yu-Jeong Jeong, whose previous novel Seven Years of Darkness was included on the German newspaper Die Zeit’s list of 10 best crime novels of 2015. Yu-Jeong Jeong’s work has not yet been translated into English.

Authors in translation are also popular. Jojo Moyes is a bestseller in South Korea, too. The library currently has Me Before You [Mi bip'o yu] in Korean. Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki [Miracle in the Grocery Store] by Japanese author Keigo Higashino is also on the Kyobo Books bestseller list. This title is currently available in Japanese and Korean at NYPL. It has not been translated into English.

Sweden

Looking at the bestseller list at Sweden’s Akadmibokhandeln site, we find a mixture of Swedish authors and authors in translation. The Girl on the Train  [Kvinnan på tåget], After You [Arvet efter dig], and My Brilliant Friend [Min fantastiska väninna] are in the top twelve with the latest by Swedish author, Mats Strandberg at the top of the list.

Farjan [The Ferry], a horror novel set on a cruise ship, has not been translated into English yet. Some titles in Strandberg’s Engelsfors fantasy trilogy, co-written with Sara B. Elfgren, are available to borrow in English and Spanish.

The first novel by Swedish author Lars Myttin, Simme med de drunknade [Swim with the Drowned], is also near the top. Mytting’s previous book, the nonfiction bestseller Norwegian Wood, a guide to “chopping, stacking, and drying wood the Scandinavian way,” is available to download as an e-book.

German crime fiction author Nele Neuhaus and Swedish crime writing team Roslund and Hellström are also in the top twelve. Crime novels by Neuhaus are available to borrow in English, Spanish, Korean, and Russian. You can find novels by Roslund and Hellström in English, Russian, and Italian.

We’ll take a look at bestseller lists from five other countries in our next International Fiction Bestsellers post in September. Do you check the bestseller lists from any other countries? Let us know in the comments.