John Gordon Ross

A Times article last week included a less-than-scientific Top Ten of the UK’s most shoplifted books (and I’ve got most of them. The titles, I mean, not the shoplifted ones). It’s the kind of story that when you actually get to the list, it makes you think, “Oh yes, of course,” so I’ll leave the list for the bottom of this post. And, as the headline reads, my idol Terry Pratchett is the most shoplifted author, at number 3 (the top two being anonymously written reference works of a sort).

I’m really pleased for Terry Pratchett, not for his lost revenue, evidently, but for that kind of standing – in fact, only Neil Gaiman’s inclusion could have made me feel happier. And I was delighted to see how popular fiction is, albeit among the light-fingered literate: five of the ten are works of fiction. Even more pleasing are the absences of a) anything related with cooking, and b) anything derived from any kind of TV show.

The list, compiled by consultation with independent bookstores, is as follows:

1. London Street Atlas
by Geographers’ A-Z Map Co.

2. Ordnance Survey maps:
Exmoor Explorer Map
by Ordnance Survey.

3. The Colour of Magic
by Terry Pratchett.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J.K. Rowling.

5. Great Britain – a Lonely Planet Country Guide
by David Else.

6. The Lord of the Rings trilogy: 50th Anniversary Edition
by J.R.R. Tolkien.

7. Faces
by Martina Cole.

8. Secrets
by Jacqueline Wilson.

9. The Oxford English Dictionary
by Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (editors).

10. The Official Highway Code
by the Department for Transport and the Driving Standards Agency.

Found through WordOrigins.