1. First day sales for Prince Harry’s book Spare were over 1.4 million copies on Tuesday, January 10 — a record for publisher Penguin Random House. The same company published Michelle Obama’s Becoming, which took a week to sell 1.4 million copies when it was released in 2018.
2. The sales figures for Spare include hardcover books, audiobooks and e-books sold in the US, Canada and the UK. “Readers clearly agree, Spare is a book that demands to be read, and it is a book we are proud to publish,” said Gina Centrello, President and Publisher of the Random House Group.
(1)Do you know much about Britain’s royal family? Do you know anyone who does?
(2)Does your country have a royal family? How often are they in the news?
3. Spare is Harry’s personal account of his life in the British royal family and his relationship with his wife, American actress Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. The couple stepped down from royal duties in 2022.
4. Harry writes about his relationship with his brother, Prince William, and the death of their mother, Princess Diana. He says he has never forgiven the British media after she died in a car crash in Paris while being chased by photographers.
(1)Have you read any bestsellers that you didn’t think were very good?
(2)Are there any topics or subjects you’d like to read more about?
5. But the book also includes details about things like Harry’s time in the military. Before the book was even published, it was reported that in it, Harry writes about killing 25 Taliban fighters when he was a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan in 2012-2013.
6. He also talks about taking drugs as a teenager and young adult and ends the book by describing Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. He says he walked beside his brother at their grandmother’s funeral, but they didn’t speak.
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