Copies Sold
A Thousand Splendid Suns went back to press almost daily its first week on sale, building to 1,255,000 copies in print in the U.S. Rolling into its second week, the book continued to fly out of stores, with another 150,000 more copies printed. The paperback of A Thousand Splendid Suns has spent seventy-five weeks on The New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list. The two novels have sold more than 37 million copies.
A Thousand Splendid Suns debuted as the #1 book in the nation, and it held the top position for 4 straight weeks. In addition to being #1 on The New York Times hardcover fiction list, it was also #1 on nearly every national bestseller list, including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Publishers Weekly, and Fort-Wayne Journal-Gazette. It was also #1 on the overall Book Sense list as well as #1 on regional Book Sense lists across the nation.
After five years The Kite Runner is still on The New York Times paperback fiction list.
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The Kite Runner Paperback - on the bestseller list for 219 weeks (#1 for 4 of those weeks) |
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A Thousand Splendid Suns Hardcover - on the bestseller list for 75 weeks (at #1 for 15 of those weeks) Paperback - on the bestseller list for 23 weeks |
Accolades
The Kite Runner
Book Sense Bestseller List Sensation
Boeke Prize
Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award
ALA Notable Book
Alex Award
Borders Original Voices Award, 2003
Entertainment Weekly's Best Book, 2003
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, 2003
Literature to Life Award
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Amazon’s #1 book of the year, 2007
Nominated for ALA’s Best Book for Young Readers Award, 2008
Book Sense Picks Highlights, 2007
Best of Lists: A Thousand Splendid Suns was featured in numerous end-of-year wrap-ups and best-of lists, such as:
#1 Worldwide Bestselling title in 2008
Washington Post, best books of 2007
San Francisco Chronicle, Notables of 2007
Miami Herald
People Magazine, Top Ten Books
Time, Ten Best Books: Fiction
BN.com, Top Ten
Hudson News, Best Books of the Year
Booklist Editor's Choice 2007