Ten Best Selling Fiction Books

Here are the 10 best selling fiction for this week from Amazon.ca. Bracketed figures indicate position the previous week:

1 (6) Remember Me? – Sophie Kinsella (hardcover)

2 (2) The Pillars of the Earth (Oprah Edition) – Ken Follett (paperback)

3 (1) A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini (hardcover)

4 (3) The Appeal – John Grisham (hardcover)

5 (-) The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory (paperback)

6 (-) The Road (Oprah Edition) – Cormac McCarthy (paperback)

7 (8) The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini (paperback)

8 (-) Atonement – Ian McEwan (paperback)

9 (-) The Shack – William P. Young (paperback)

10 (-) World Without End – Ken Follett (hardcover)

Fox 2000 Adapts “Wimpy Kid” Books

Fox 2000 is bringing Jeff Kinney’s bestselling “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series to the big screen as a live-action family film and potential franchise.

The studio purchased all rights to the five novels, composed of handwriting and animation, chronicling the daily indignities faced by middle school student Greg Heffley. Former Buena Vista president Nina Jacobson will produce the first feature, with more to possibly follow. Carla Hacken is overseeing the film’s development for the studio.

Author/illustrator Kinney’s first two books, last spring’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and February’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules,” both hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list, with the first book staying there for 45 weeks. The author launched his underdog hero’s story on Funbrain.com in 2004, attracting more than 50 million visits from fans.

Are Spys Gearing Up for The Summer Olympics?

As athletes train for the summer Olympics in China, a new book claims that the country’s vast spy network is gearing up for a different challenge – keeping an eye on journalists and potential troublemakers.French writer Roger Faligot, author of some 40 intelligence-related books, has penned ‘The Chinese Secret Services from Mao to the Olympic Games’, due out February 29.

His findings claim that special teams are being formed at the country’s embassies abroad “to identify sports journalists … and to define if they have an ‘antagonistic’ or ‘friendly’ attitude in regards to China.”

Potential foreign spies who may seek to enter China by posing as journalists or visitors will be subject to special surveillance.

Monster, 1959 by David Maine

In “Monster, 1959” David Maine invites readers into the pea-sized brain of a 40-foot “monstrous smorgasbord” known as K. Described as “something to cause Darwin to burn his notebooks and run shrieking to the nearest monastery,” K. lacks lips but is a kissing cousin to Godzilla.

He is a hapless, guileless, rampaging creature straight out of B-movie science fiction. In light of Mr. Maine’s flair for domesticating larger-than-life subject matter, his new book’s premise seems hard to resist.

Campbell To Publish Novel

Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell is to publish his first novel later this year. All in the Mind is described by Campbell’s publisher, Random House, as “the compelling story of a psychiatrist, his patients and family, and the pressures they bring to bear upon each other”.

Campbell, who has previously spoken about his struggles with depression, said that although he has himself required psychiatric treatment “this is a book by me, not about me”. He first started to write a novel in 1986 but his partner Fiona accidentally deleted it from their computer, which Campbell reflected “in hindsight is perhaps for the best”.

He said that writing a novel was “something I have always wanted to do”. Caroline Gascoigne, the director of Hutchinson Publishing (part of the Random House group), said that Campbell had not told anyone he was working on a novel until it was finished. She described it as a book that would “surprise, intrigue and fascinate everyone who reads it”.

Penguin Goes Mobile With Mobifusion

Publishing major Penguin Books India has joined hands with Mobifusion Inc., developer and distributor of mobile technologies, to deliver books to mobile phone users across India.The partnership will begin with a focus on the Indian consumer base, and look at a global roll-out in time, expanding to include Penguin’s global brand and an array of international products.

The first three books on offer by Penguin-Mobifusion are – “The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living with Mother Teresa” complied by Jaya Chaliha and Edward Le Joly, “The Path to Tranquillity” by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and “The Book of Prayer” edited by Renuka Narayanan.

The mobile providers to be involved in the venture has not been finalised yet. Mobile users will get to read chapters of the books on their phones.

Five Easy Decades by Dennis McDougal

Dennis McDougal paces his excellent biography of Jack Nicholson, who recently became a septuagenarian, with the command of an experienced marathoner. Nicholson’s constant pursuit of success demands a writer who can keep up.

The theme of the story is Nicholson’s compulsion to escape his impoverished childhood in Neptune, N.J., and the low-paying Roger Corman films he cut his teeth on.

Top Childrens’ Books

The fantasy novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has been named the best children’s book of all time in a new poll.

CS Lewis’s masterpiece, first published 58 years ago, beat The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle’s hugely popular picture book first published in 1969, into second place.

Enid Blyton’s Famous Five adventure books, which date back to 1942 and fell out of fashion some years ago before enjoying a resurgence, are third in the poll of 4,000 people, carried out for the charity Booktrust.

Eminem To Write AutoBiography

It has been announced that the rapper, Eminem, will be writing his autobiography this year.

According to a report in Britain’s New Musical Express published Tuesday, British publisher Orion Books and Em will partner to release the Detroit hip-hop star’s memoirs, titled “Eminem: The Way I Am,” which will include hand-drawn sketches, lyrics and journal notes, along with rare photos of the rapper. A rep for the publisher confirmed an October 16 U.K. release date for the book with the N.M.E.

Death At Intervals by Jose Saramago

Portuguese Novelist Jose Saramago enjoys disorientating readers with his fable-like novels. He places unnamed characters in unnamed countries, then shatters their lives with bizarre events, such as a plague of blindness. His latest book, “Death at Intervals,” depicts a nation where death has suddenly and inexplicably ceased to exist — at least for humans.

Saramago, 85, opens with a satirical treatise on how immortality might affect society. The church would be superfluous, he writes. Ditto life insurance and undertakers. Retirement homes, by contrast, would be horrifically overcrowded.

The public is initially ecstatic, yet eternal life soon shows its sinister side. For people who were formerly at death’s door, there’s no hope of release, only suffering without end.