Flavorwire

We know what we’re reading in America, but what about the rest of the world? Next week, Indonesian writer Andrea Hirata’s first novel The Rainbow Troops, will be published in English for the first time. The novel, which with over five million copies sold is Indonesia’s best-selling book of all time, got us thinking about the books topping the charts around the world — that we may have never even heard of. After the jump, some potentially surprising — or just illuminating — best-sellers from India to the UK. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Indonesia

The American edition of Andrea Hirata’s The Rainbow Troops comes emblazoned with its credentials: “A literary phenomenon: Indonesia’s best-selling book of all time; more than five million copies sold.” That figure is worldwide, of course — but the autobiographical novel, which was first published in 2005, has still sold over a million copies in Indonesia, where, according to the book’s publisher Bentang Pustaka, a book that sells 3,000 copies in a year is considered a smash hit. Will it do as well in the English-language book market? Only time will tell.