Dan Purjes is a well known investment specialist. Based in both NYC and Rockwood, he often features in a main story in the New York Times, alongside such people as McTague and Barrons. However, Dan also has a personal life and he is interested in a variety of things other than the next big asset or investment fund. In fact, one of his personal favorite things is reading. Every year, he peruses over the final lists of bestselling books but, by the time the year is half over, those lists have become static and sludgy. He also feels they don’t change enough as time goes on. As an avid reader, they simply aren’t enough, which is why he has created his own list of bestselling books.
Dan Purjes’ List of Bestselling Books
The latest list of bestsellers was full, once again, with repeat books in the fiction category and political titles in the nonfiction category. Because Dan grew tired of this and wanted to find something new and exciting, he started to read lists provided by other countries, moving away from his New York Times favorite.
Looking first at Canada, he found that there were a lot of similarities with those of this country. The top of the nonfiction list in the Toronto Star was “Educated” by Tara Westover. The bestselling novel in the country was “The Other Woman” by Daniel Silva. Clearly, in Canada, people want to move away from politics over the summer and that is something that Purjes wholeheartedly agrees with! However, one book did also mention Donald Trump, which is “The Death of Truth” by Michiko Kakutani, reaching number 10. Dan had already read that one.
He then looked at Germany, where there were some political titles on the nonfiction list, including “Fascism” (Madeleine Albright) and “A Higher Loyalty” (James Comey). However, the biggest bestseller in Germany was The Diet Compass, a nutrition book by journalist Bas Kast. He had suffered a heart attack, which he believed to be because of his poor eating habits, including eating chocolate for breakfast. “The Field” (Robert Seethaler) hit number 1. This is a book about a graveyard in a small town and certainly worth a read.
Next was Italy. “The Catalanotti Method”, which chronicles Inspector Montalbano’s cases, written by Andrea Camilleri, hit top place in fiction. In the Netherlands, meanwhile, “Pieces of Her” by Karin Slaughter came in first and “Live and Let Live” by Hendrik Groen came second. Hendrik Groen, which is a pseudonym, first broke through with his book “The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen”, a story of a care home resident who forms the “Old but Not Dead Club” with his friends. The book “Live and Let Live” is the continuation of that. Nobody knows who Hendrik Groen really is. He, or she, has revealed to not be a 46 year old hairdresser or a 24 year old model. However, the author has stated to not want to achieve fame and therefore won’t reveal who they really are.