At the Au vent des mots bookstore, in Lorient, 2024 will remain a rather complicated year after the good figures for 2023. “At the end of the year the magic of Christmas was missed, the customers were not very enthusiastic, regrets Danhong Shen, director of Vents des mots, the largest bookstore in Lorient. People spent less. This can be explained by the general situation… while the month of December usually represents almost 30% of our sales. But this is an observation that many traders have made.”
Successes
In terms of success, among the best sellers we find “Jacaranda” by Gaël Faye at the top followed by the graphic novel by Riad Sattouf “Me, Fadi, the stolen brother”. Follows “With the fairies”, by Sylvain Tesson (visiting the bookstore last February), comes in 4th position “Houris” by Kamel Dahoud (“Usually the Goncourt prize comes in first place in sales”, underlines the bookseller) , then “The Eyes of Mona” by Thomas Schlesser (5th), “A Wild Animal” by Joël Dicker (6th), “Tata” by Valérie Perrin (7th) and “The Winter Warriors” by Olivier Norek (8th).
Favorites
“We are also very satisfied to see that our favorites and discoveries are also among the best sellers. Our booksellers like to share their emotions, says the bookseller. 2025 will still offer moments of exchange. A literary breakfast will take place with customers at the beginning of February which will allow us to discuss the winter literary season. We will accommodate 25 people (by reservation).”
-Among the books noticed by Roméo (the book-devouring bookseller): “The Glutton” by AK Blakemore (at Globe), “Le lit clos” by Sophie Brocas (Mialet-Barrault), “It was never too late” by Lola Lafon (Stock), Gaëlle Josse “From our wounds, a kingdom” (Babelio)…
A year which will also celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the great bookstore (still known by many Lorient residents under its original name: la Bouquinerie) in June. “We are already working on bringing in well-known authors. There will also be games on an escape game,” concludes the director.
