"Britain is racing to address the fact that only 4% of Britons have read War and Peace," the Guardian noted in reporting that BBC's "racy adaptation" of Leo Tolstoy's classic work has propelled the novel "into the Bookseller's top 50 for the first time since Nielsen BookScan's records began in 1998.... The strong sales follow YouGov's recent survey, which found that only 4% of Britons have read War and Peace, although 14% wish they had."
"Judging by our recent sales... an awful lot of people have finally crossed this classic off their must-read list. Four different editions of the book have hit our bestseller list, shifting an almost equal number of copies each,” said Waterstones buyer Joseph Knobbs.
Helen Trayler, managing director at Wordsworth Editions, said, "We saw similar sales increases on Dickens thanks to the BBC's Dickensian series; also with Lady Chatterley's Lover a few months ago. We raise our hats to the BBC--and other broadcasters--who bring these incredible classic literary works to the mass market. Although sometimes sniffed at by the academics, these adaptations are encouraging more people to read the classics. And that can only be a good thing."
