Reflecting the downbeat mood in Japan, book sales continue to be sluggish, especially of hardcover books and serious fiction.
This year there have been few literary best sellers other than the Japanese translation of the German novel "The Reader" by Berhard Schlink.
One prominent trend has been inspirational autobiographies, and the Yomiuri (Sept. 9) notes that associated with such titles has been the emergence of a new type of book jacket featuring a large photo of the author on the front.