Four Irish books are among the hundred bestselling paperbacks released by British publishers last year, and two of them - Maeve Binchy's Evening Class and Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes - make it into the top three, beaten only by John Grisham's The Runaway Jury.
The sales achievement of these two books is even more impressive when you consider that both of them weren't published in paperback until last May - if they had come out earlier in the year, they probably would have outstripped the Grisham.
For the record, the Grisham had total sales (both home and export) of 1,015,256 for a gross sum of £6,081,383, the Binchy sold 1,002,676 for a gross sum of £7,008,705 (it was a dearer book than the Grisham), while McCourt's sold 723,559 copies for a gross sum of £5,781,236.
Of the other two Irish books, Roddy Doyle's The Woman Who Walked into Doors is 28th on the list with 290,892 copies sold for a sum of £2,033,335, and Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark is 86th, selling 128,994 copies for a sum of £901,668.
Apart from Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace (45th), the Deane is the most "literary" book in the top hundred, having won prestigious prizes and been garlanded with praise from eminent critics - unlike Catherine Cookson, who figures three times in the list (in ninth, eleventh and twentieth place), and who has always been ignored by the critical establishment.
Incidentally, I mention Cookson because (a) she's one of the best-selling novelists in the world, (b) UTV screened a fascinating documentary about her last Sunday night, (c) she doesn't even merit a mention in any of the many literary reference books in my possession, and (d) though I haven't read her, I'm told by those who have that she's very good and that only the most ridiculous snobbery about the kind of novel she writes is preventing her recognition. Well, after that documentary, I intend to read her. I'll report back.
Alex Hamilton, who has been compiling this end-of-year Top 100 since 1979, points out that only books which appeared for the first time in the particular calendar year are considered eligible, and that Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones's Diary: fourth place) and Frank McCourt are the only two writers in the top twenty-five who have not been there before.
Some books which entered the list in previous years are still selling remarkably well - notably Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient which, boosted by the movie, sold 487,367 copies in 1997, and Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island, whose 1997 sales of 350,000 copies demonstrates what an extraordinary and continuing fascination his gently droll ruminations on England have for English people.
Among other factors noted by Mr Hamilton is the upswell in self-help, sport and cookery books, as well as fiction for the "chemical generation" - though Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy only makes it to 88th on the list. Well, young people don't read any more anyway.
John McGahern and Roy Foster are among the eminent writers and scholars taking part in an impressive series of Thursday night lectures starting in Kilkenny next week.
The venue is the city's splendidly revitalised Butler House, in whose basement restaurant I had a very good meal recently, and the title of the series, organised by Co Kilkenny VEC, is The Furious Words, the underlying theme being "History, Memory and Their Interpretation."
Dr Mairin Nic Eoin of St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, leads off next Thursday night with a lecture entitled "Critical Misconceptions of the Role of Women in Irish Literature and Society", followed the next Thursday by John McGahern, who will read from his work, and the series ends on February 26th with Roy Foster ruminating on "Theme Parks and Stories: History and Identity".
In between there will be talks by the Taoiseach's special adviser Martin Mansergh, Professor Gabriel Lipshitz of Israel's Balilan University, and Professor Hugh Kearny, who will be "contesting the memory of Daniel O'Connell".
If you want more details, contact the South-East's arts education organiser, Proinsias O Drisceoil, who describes this wellestablished annual lecture series as "one of the principal events in the intellectual life" of the area. He's contactable at (056) 65103.
Having read my bemused remarks about Medbh McGuckian's treatise on the role of the motor car in the work of Seamus Heaney, management consultant Roy Clements of Hampton, Middlesex, sends me a similarly startling treatise of his own.
His 24-page booklet is called The Alternative Wisden on Samuel Barclay Beckett and its theme is enshrined in the fourth paragraph: "For some time I had been searching for a key to Beckett's work and just after his death it came to me like an express delivery: cricket is the answer."
Well, we all know about Beckett's early prowess at and lifelong passion for what Neville Cardus termed the summer game, but Mr Clements strives to make a case for its centrality in Beckett's work.
Having read his amiable little treatise (which should have been called Something Wicket This Way Comes) I can't say I'm entirely convinced. I was frankly stumped by much of it and in general it didn't bowl me over, but it certainly makes as much sense as some other Beckett commentaries I've come across. If you want a copy of it, Ray is at 114 High Street, Hampton, Middlesex, TW12 2ST.