Melville House Books

In 2003, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix topped the bestseller lists in Germany — in its English-language edition. Several more Potter titles have repeated the feat since then, and currently, Stephanie Meyer‘s “Twilight” series is up there, too.

What the? “People’s ability and willingness to read English-language novels is growing,” says Thomas Wilking, editor-in-chief of buchreport, Germany’s version of Publishers Weekly. According to a report at Deutsche Welle – a German news site that’s written in, er, English — the phenomenon is driven by women, and people trying to develop English-language skills, which are “essential to career success in Europe.”

But the article also cites another, fascinating reason: “some German readers also choose the original version when the topic has a strong connection to the language.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.