Rotorua's favourite books revealed

TOP READ: Sue Heke, of the Rotorua Library, with some books that are popular with readers. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

Books written by Dan Brown, Khaled Hosseini and Jeffrey Archer are among some of the favourites in Rotorua.

Rotorua book retailers and the Rotorua Library have revealed their best sellers as the Whitcoulls' reveals its Top 100 list.

Topping Whitcoulls' bestseller list is The Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. It's followed by George RR Martin's series, A Song of Fire and Ice, which has been made into the television series, A Game of Thrones. J R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings remains popular, taking the bronze medal.

Whitcoulls' book manager, Joan Mackenzie, said the popularity of sci-fi and fantasy was closely matched by the revival of classical titles.

"Classics are certainly prominent again, perhaps due to the tendency of film producers reviving them for the big screen."

Jemma Pirrie, from McLeod's Booksellers, said the books they sold were more specialist than those sold in chain stores.

McLeod's bestsellers were mostly children's and young adult books, including Tahoe, by Chris Szekely, and the teen fiction book, Into the River, by Ted Dawe.

Miss Pirrie said if books were made into movies and television series, such as The Life of Pi and A Game of Thrones, sales of those titles would improve.

She also said sales of adult fiction had decreased since the rise in popularity of e-readers.

Retail assistant Raleen Evans, from Rotorua's Paper Plus, said sales of books temporarily decreased with the arrival of e-readers. But she found that "true bookies liked to have the feel of a real book in their hands" and were reverting to paper books.

Ms Evans said people who shopped at Paper Plus in Rotorua enjoyed crime, thriller and suspense novels.

Paper Plus and the Rotorua Library shared some popular books. They included Brown's latest book, Inferno, and Hosseini's Echoes of the Mountain. Marketing and promotions liaison for the library, Sue Heke, said Jeffrey Archer's books were always popular and were often booked well in advance, even before they were released.