1. Best Selling Novel of All Time
“Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes is the best-selling novel of all time, with over 500 million copies sold.
2. Novel, Refused to be Adapted
Gabriel Garcia Marquez refused to allow “One Hundred Years of Solitude” to be made into a film. He wanted his readers to form their own image of his characters, not the borrowed faces of actors.
3. Most Adapted Writer of All Time
Charles Dickens is the Most Adapted Author of All Time. “A Christmas Carol” has been filmed over 50 times. Many other adaptations have also borrowed the narrative of this novella.
4. The Most Destructive Criticism Ever
A US Senator once remarked about D. H. Lawrence‘s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”: “It is most damnable! It is written by a man with a diseased mind and a soul so black that he would obscure even the darkness of hell!”
(These are the most destructive remarks ever made about any writer)
5. World’s First Novel
A Japanese novel “The Tale of the Genji” by Murasaki Shikibu is widely considered the World’s First Novel written in 1008.
6. Most Nobel Laureates in Literature
Top 3 countries with highest number of Nobel Laureates in Literature are:
1. France (16)
2. United States (10)
3. United Kingdom (10)
7. Most Read Books in the World
“Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung” & “Harry Potter” are among The World’s Top 5 Most Read Books.
8. Female Roles Performed by Young Boys
All of the roles in Shakespeare’s plays were originally acted by men and boys. In England of that time, it wasn’t proper for females to appear on stage.
The 1st woman appeared on the English stage during Restoration.
9. One of the Expensive Books
A British billionaire and philanthropist John Paul Getty Jr. bought the 1477 edition of ‘Canterbury Tales’ for 7.5 million dollars in 1998.
10. The Longest Continuously Published Novel of All Time
“Devta” by Muhiyuddin Nawab is the longest continuously published novel of all time. It was started in 1977 and ended in 2010.
11. World’s only Billionaire Writer/Author
J. K. Rowling, the writer of “Harry Potter”, is the world’s only billionaire author. She’s also one of only five self-made female billionaires.
12. Writer who was Born & Died in a Hotel
Eugene O’Neill, the author of “Long Day’s Journey into Night”, was born in a hotel room in New York and died in a hotel room in Boston.
13. Death of Three Great Men on the Same Day
Three great men C. S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley & John F. Kennedy died on the same day, November 22, 1963.
These coincidental deaths inspired Peter Kreeft to write “Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, & Aldous Huxley”.
14. Henry Fielding’s Hatred towards ‘Pamela’
Henry Fielding, the author of “Tom Jones”, often expressed his hatred for Samuel Richardson’s novel "Pamela” by consistently calling it “Shamela”.
15. The Greatest Libraries of the World
‘The Library of Alexandria’ was the greatest library of the ancient world while ‘United States Library of Congress’ is the greatest library of the modern world.
