Taiwan’s largest online bookstore, Books.com.tw, on Wednesday announced its top 10 best-seller list for the first half of the year, and analyzed popular topics and genres among readers.
The bookstore said that the COVID-19 pandemic greatly increased the demand for reading, as more people stayed home, and children’s books, books on financial management and manga topped sales charts.
Books.com.tw attributed the growth in sales of children’s books to parents trying to keep their children occupied while cooped up at home, and financial management sales rose as global finances have gone for a roller-coaster ride during the pandemic, it said.
Photo courtesy of books.com.tw via CNA
Manga, particularly the series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅之刃), have seen increased sales throughout the pandemic, the bookstore said.
At the top of the best-seller list, under the self-help genre, is The World’s a Drag, But You Shouldn’t Be (這世界很煩，但你要很可愛), which the bookstore said showed that readers required a motivational boost to weather the dullness of staying at home.
Second on the list is Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (原子習慣) by James Clear, followed by books for the new Test of English for International Communication, it said.
Fourth on the list is a book about an Internet-streamed reality TV show, followed by a book on astrological signs by astrologist Jesse Tang (唐綺陽).
From Nos. 6 to 10, in descending order, are Me, and Everything Not Me, (我與我之外) written by Japan’s top male host Roland; How I made NT$4 Million With ETFs in Five Years After Graduation (我畢業五年用ETF賺到400萬); The Mamba Mentality: How I Play (曼巴精神), written by the late Kobe Bryant; The Old Days (後來的你，好嗎); and Learn FQ with ZRBros — Be Your Own ATM (跟著柴鼠學FQ做自己的提款機).
People under the age of 30 were the largest group buying the top four best-selling books, indicating a spike in young book buyers, Books.com.tw said.
It also shows that younger people are anxious during the pandemic and are seeking a distraction by learning how to invest, learning languages or reading motivational books, it said.
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