It appears that bloggers have the power to push a book written by a previously unknown author to the number one spot on the New York Times bestsellers list. And in three weeks no less! Or at least according to this article in the Times Online which credits bloggers for The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield reading the number one spot.

The Thirteenth Tale had few reviews in conventional media and seems to have taken off because bloggers recommended it. “I suppose it’s a new form of word of mouth,” said Setterfield, who tomorrow leaves for a book tour of America.

I first heard of this book in a blog. Heather at A High and Hidden Place was the first blogger I can remember to review it. She had managed to get her hands on an advance copy and her excitement was contagious. Who could resist comments like this:

So. I finished it. The Thirteenth Tale. And now I am bereft and alone. And very very sad. Because said wonderful book is over and I will never read it for the first time again. Please, if you read this book, treasure every moment because they go by so fast. So very, very fast.

As Heather plunged into a reading funk (for the nonreaders among you that's when you read a really good book that ruins for all others...at least temporarily) the rest of the book bloggers were running around trying to get their hands on a copy. Because we simply cannot resist a book that throws one into a funk. I just got mine last week. It's sitting patiently waiting for me to pick to it up and get lost in its pages. I'm waiting for a dark, windy, rainy night and then I will curl up under some blankets with a cup of hot tea and lose myself.