Jordan Bardella against Philippe de Villiers, a duel in bookstores – L’Express

Nearly 25,000 copies in one day. Without doubt, the What I’m looking for by the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, published by Fayard on Saturday November 9, had a very good take-off, in particular thanks to pre-sales (and a first print run of 155,000 copies). It is whispered that the royalist Philippe de Villiers, whose latest work, Memoricideis published by this same publishing house, would not be delighted with this “unfair” competition. In the lead until then, it has now been demoted to 2nd place (with almost 77,000 copies still on the counter). There are worse situations…

Behind these two tenors of the extreme right, Salomé Saqué is putting up resistance. Resist (Payot), this is the title of his book which deals precisely with this extreme right “at the gates of power”. The 29-year-old journalist, author in 2023 of Be young and shut up : Response to those who criticize youth, alerts on the rise of the extreme right and on its vocabulary and its themes which impose themselves on people’s minds. “There is still time to reverse this trend,” she said, “provided we understand the workings of this progression and react quickly.”

Another author in touch with politics, the former minister and TV presenter Roselyne Bachelot, who draws up a series of portraits with Plon Holy monsters! Macron, Le Pen, Mélenchon, Chirac, Sarkozy… and which goes from 11th to 17th place in our test list. But there’s not only politics in life, there’s also money. In fact, Charles Gave links the two, since this eurosceptic and ultraliberal financier once supported the candidacy of Eric Zemmour in the 2022 presidential election. He now slips into 9th place with Stop being fooled. Take care of your savings! (Pierre de Taillac). Last speakers of the week, one of the pillars of the Corsican National Liberation Front, Jo Peraldi, and the journalist Frédéric Ploquin who publish Confessions of a Corsican patriot. From the French secret services to the FLNC (Fayard) and place themselves in 19th place; finally, closing the ban, the neuroscientist specializing in cognitive psychology, Stanislas Dehaene, with An idea in my head. 40 delightful nuggets about the brain and learning (Odile Jacob/France Inter).

A quick glance at the fiction prize list which wonderfully reflects the hierarchy of literary prizes with, primus inter pares, the Goncourt Kamel Daoud Prize (HourisGallimard), then the Renaudot Gaël Faye prize (JacarandaGrasset), then, in 7th place, the double of the year, grand prize for the novel of the French Academy and Femina prize, Miguel Bonnefoy (The Jaguar’s DreamShores). Just in front of him infiltrated the very recent winner of the Quai des Orfèvres prize, Olivier Tournut, with Post Mortem (Fayard), while Olivier Norek, also just crowned with the Jean Giono prize, sandwiches him with his Winter Warriors (Michel Lafon). For the rest, see you next week.