I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 530 Let the Emperor Go Home!
The Shadow of the Wind has joined the battle.

Nine-member alliance vs. six-brother axis.

The North American book market was fiercely competitive, and apart from J.K. Rowling and Liu Jin, almost all books published during this period disappeared without a trace.

It's not that sales are bad.

Instead, not a single ripple appeared.

Furthermore, fans on both sides got carried away, leading to various arguments and making the battle between the two increasingly intense.

Liu Jin and J.K. Rowling both shut up!

There's absolutely no need for them to fan the flames.

Meanwhile, the European book market was in complete chaos.

Both of them lived in Europe, one in France and the other in England.

There were already many contradictions between Britain and France.

In the UK, J.K. Rowling has a clear advantage, after all, it's a story set in Britain.

However, Liu Jin was more popular in the countries on the mainland.

Liu Jin's works are particularly popular in France and Spain.

As mentioned earlier, the European book market allows the sale of multilingual works.

English is the most widely spoken language in the world outside of China. Therefore, there are many English speakers in European countries, and also many Spanish speakers. However, with readers in both countries and considerable popularity in Germany and Italy, Liu Jin, as a Chinese person, has managed to rival J.K. Rowling.

Liu Jin is more popular in Spain, France, Germany, and Italy.

J.K. Rowling has a large following in other countries.

The entire northwestern Shanxi... oops, I mean the whole of Europe, was in a complete mess over two books.

On July 29, the German Foreign Minister visited Spain.

During a media interview, he suddenly said, "Recently I've become obsessed with a book that has given me a new perspective on Spain."

"Mr. Foreign Minister, may I ask what book it is?"

"The Shadow of the Wind, I want to say that this is an incredibly captivating work, and I can't wait to know what happens next."

This is absolutely the most brilliant work I've ever read in my life, besides *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*.

The German Foreign Minister's name is Joshka Fisher.

(This is his original quote from the 2004 Frankfurt Book Fair. Of course, he didn't mention Notre Dame Cathedral. (*^▽^*))

It is extremely rare for a foreign minister to make such remarks.

In fact, Joshka Fisher is a fan of Liu Jin's books.

He himself admitted that after The Old Man and the Sea, he began to read Amos's works like crazy.

Notre Dame Cathedral, The Old Man and the Sea, and Life Is Beautiful were his favorites.

Now, we need to add "The Shadow of the Wind".

Later, when interviewing the Spanish Foreign Minister, the reporter inquired about the work "The Shadow of the Wind".

As it turns out, the Spanish Foreign Minister hadn't even seen it...

Of course he's very busy!
But Germans are busy too. Everyone else has seen it, so why haven't you?

That's a work depicting Spanish history...

Foreign journalists are really something else; they made the Spanish Foreign Minister blush and spit out his anger.

You can't get angry, but instead say very sincerely, "When I get back, I will definitely buy this book as soon as possible and read it carefully."

As you know, I like Amos's work.

Similarly, I know that Amos loves Spain; otherwise, he wouldn't have spent a year studying in Spain and creating this work.

The following day, when Barcelona Mayor Joan Clos was interviewed and asked about "The Shadow of the Wind," he smiled and said, "I bought it the day it was published."

I spent a week reading this book.

I know that Amos loves Barcelona just as much as he loves Sophie Marceau!
Haha, just kidding. I rediscovered Barcelona and Catalonia through this book.

I love Barcelona, ​​and I'm proud of Catalonia!

This one sentence alone increased Hoan's approval rating by three percent.

For a long time afterward, whenever Huo An traveled, he would always bring a few copies of "The Shadow of the Wind" as gifts for his friends.

In his words: The Shadow of the Wind is a specialty of Barcelona and a gift that Catalonia has made the best.

This is the bond of friendship between Barcelona and China...

That's why I say, he's the mayor!

In short, it elevated "The Shadow of the Wind" to an unattainable political height.

So much so that when the Spanish DSG ambassador reports back home, he mentions "The Shadow of the Wind" and Liu Jin.

I never imagined that a Chinese writer could create such a miracle in Spain while traveling for his studies!
……

Of course, these are all things for later.

After entering August, Liu Jin also started to get busy.

He first sent the first volume of "Amos's Fantastic Journey," which consisted of five short stories totaling 270,000 words, to Meera.

This novel brings together elements from *The Chorus*, *The Béliès* (a heavily adapted version combining the best of the films *The Béliès* and *The Hearing Girl*, an Americana adaptation of *The Béliès* that won the 2022 Academy Award for Best Picture), *I Am Legend*, *The Hunt*, and *On the Garonne River* (a Toulouse version set in Manchester by the sea). It's called *On the Garonne River* because Liu Jin lived in this city for seven years, across his past and present lives.

The Garonne River is the mother river of Toulouse.

"On the Banks of the Garonne River" also reflects his deep affection for Toulouse.

Well, that's what he wrote in the preface anyway...

Mela didn't believe a single word!
"If you have such deep feelings for Toulouse, why are your girlfriends from Paris and Ajaccio, but not from Toulouse?"

Liu Jin was speechless!

Ottilie and Chloe, on the other hand, were laughing especially happily.

On August 2nd, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" entered its third week of release.

"Nemo 1/2" remains firmly at the top of the North American bestseller list.

However, its translations in various countries have also been published.

It took second place in Spain, behind "The Shadow of the Wind," and even pushed the original "Harry Potter" to third place.

Fourth on the list is The Hunger Games.

The number two best-selling book in North America is still "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince".

The third place went to "Night at the Museum".

The fourth place goes to "The Hunger Games".

The academic group is winning big!
Three of the top five best-selling books in North America were published by them.

Fifth place: The Da Vinci Code.

In fact, apart from Nemo 1/2 which was far ahead of the competition, the sales of the other four books were not much different, all exceeding one million copies.

Harry Potter sold 1.6 million copies.

The fifth-ranked book, *The Da Vinci Code*, sold 1.52 million copies.

In terms of ratings, The Da Vinci Code ranks first.

This left Random House feeling like they'd eaten a bitter pill wrapped in honey—sweet on the tongue, but bitter in their heart.

The above is a ranking of the North American book market.

Spain has already said that, so I won't repeat myself.

In France, Harry Potter finally won the championship, but only by a mere ten thousand copies, surpassing Nemo 1/2.

The third place is Museum Wonders.

The fourth place is The Da Vinci Code.

Fifth place...

You probably can't believe it, but it's not "The Hunger Games," but "The Girl Who Played with Fire," published last year.

The French have no interest in works like The Hunger Games.

However, the sequel to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which was a hit in France last year, "The Girl Who Plays with Fire," has become popular again.

As a result, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Man Who Will Disappear" also became popular.

So much so that Ms. Elena from Midnight Publishing called Mela and asked her to urge Liu Jin to stop neglecting his duties and hurry up and finish writing the third part of "Millennium".

"I guarantee that this will be a record-breaking work in French-speaking regions."

Mela could only say that she would urge Liu Jin to hurry up!

In Germany, the champion title was won by "Shadow of the Wind".

Thanks to Foreign Minister Ryder's promotion, many people have become curious about this book.

Some even urged the German publisher to quickly purchase the copyright and find the best translator to translate the book.

That's right, Germany is a country where novels are published in multiple languages.

However, only a minority of people are fluent in Spanish, so most people prefer the German version.

But something interesting happened in Britain.

Surprisingly, the top-selling book in the homeland of Harry Potter last week was not "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince".

Night at the Museum!
It is said that the British Museum has received twice as many visitors in the past two weeks.

People want to see the Moai statues, the Yongle sword, and the Yongle Encyclopedia, and so on...

As a result, there are vacancies among the guides at the British Museum.

Not enough, not nearly enough!
Even more interestingly, according to a survey by The Sun, one-third of visitors to the British Museum believed that the Chinese collection should be returned to China.

Why ask?

One tourist said: "The most touching part of the book 'Night at the Museum' is when the Yongle Sword says after the battle: 'I want to go home!'"

I don't know how I felt when I saw that sentence.

But I was deeply moved. I felt that perhaps they really wanted to go home...

The Sun ran a sensational headline: This is a war!
The subtitle is: Amos is coming, the writing madman is coming... He will take over Great Britain, are you ready?

……

(End of this chapter)