Books: Best-sellers

Enthusiasm for Louis de Bernieres' Captain Corelli's Mandolin remains as high as ever. Published nearly three and a half years ago, it continues to outsell all other mass-market fiction by a massive margin. Surprisingly, this week Stephen King's new novel Bag of Bones has dropped off the bottom of the original fiction list after only five weeks. Those who enjoy reading their fiction with all the lights in the house on, and all the doors and windows locked, will welcome the arrival of Patricia Cornwell's new thriller Point of Origin. It is the ninth outing for her feisty forensic pathologist, Dr Kay Scarpetta.

Compiled by Bookwatch from sales over seven days ending 27 September

Bookwatch Ltd, 1998

ORIGINAL FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1 (1) Tara Road Maeve Binchy (Orion) 6,198 pounds 16.99

2 (- ) Point of Origin Patricia D Cornwell (Little, Brown) 5,597 pounds 16.99

3 (8) Net Force Tom Clancy (Headline) 3,854 pounds 6.99

4 (6) Field of Thirteen Dick Francis (M Joseph) 3,375 pounds 16.99

5 (7) Jemima J Jane Green (Penguin) 3,227 pounds 5.99

6 (3) Filth Irvine Welsh (Cape) 3,133 pounds 9.99

7 (4) The Tesseract Alex Garland (Viking) 2,936 pounds 9.99

8 (5) Rainbow Six Tom Clancy (M Joseph) 2,904 pounds 16.99

9 (9) Love Song Charlotte Bingham (Bantam) 2,753 pounds 5.99

10 (2) Charlotte Gray Sebastian Faulks (Hutchinson) 2,689 pounds 16.99

ORIGINAL NON-FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1(-) Heaven's Mirror Graham Hancock & Santha Faiia (M Joseph) 3,961 pounds 20

2(1) Addicted Tony Adams & Ian Ridley (CollinsWillow) 3,750 pounds 16.99

3(5) Losing My Virginity Richard Branson (Virgin) 3,703 pounds 20

4(3) The Little Book of Calm Paul Wilson (Penguin) 3,306 pounds 1.99

5(4) Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus John Gray (Thorsons) 2,689 pounds 9.99

6(6) The Guv'nor Lenny McLean (Blake) 2,285 pounds 16.99

7(2) East and West Chris Patten (Macmillan) 2,253 pounds 20

8(-) Buster's Diaries Roy Hattersley (Little, Brown) 1,273 pounds 9.99

9(7) The Little Book of Stress Rohan Candappa (Ebury) 1,127 pounds 1.99

10(8) My 1998 World Cup Story Glenn Hoddle & David Davies (Deutsch) 1,030 pounds 17.99

GENRE FICTION: ROMANCE

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY SALES PRICE

1 Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernieres (Vintage) 11,282 pounds 6.99

2 Tara Road Maeve Binchy (Orion) 6,198 pounds 16.99

3 The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans (Corgi) 5,634 pounds 5.99

4 The Desert Crop Catherine Cookson (Corgi) 4,772 pounds 5.99

5 Love Song Charlotte Bingham (Bantam) 2,753 pounds 5.99

6 Land Girls Angela Huth (Abacus) 1,871 pounds 6.99

7 Special Delivery Danielle Steel (Corgi) 1,790 pounds 5.99

8 Fire Over London Mary Jane Staples (Corgi) 1,677 pounds 5.99

9 Riley Catherine Cookson (Bantam Press) 1,063 pounds 16.99

10 Hitched Zoe Barnes (Piatkus) 1,047 pounds 5.99