Oxfam benefits from Dan Brown fatigue

Although the author of the Da Vinci Code is one of the world's top-selling writers, his novels are also among the most-donated to charity shops.

Books by the blockbuster fiction author Dan Brown may fly off of shop shelves, but readers are not as enthusiastic to keep them at home once they have finished them.

When the charity Oxfam, which has more than 685 stores globally, released its annual top 10 most-donated books, the Da Vinci Code author topped the list for the third time in a row. The Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin and the Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson rounded up the top three.

Fans of the popular Swedish author Steig Larsson like to hold on to his books - the author is absent from the donated list, but topped the list of books purchased from the charity.

Many of the authors also appear on another jointly released Oxfam list of the top 10 books purchased from the charity, with Dan Brown coming third and Stephenie Meyer fourth on both lists.

Other hot commodities at Oxfam shops include the authors Sophie Kinsella (third), Joanna Trollope (eighth) and James Patterson (tenth).

While the British author Trollope does not receive any royalties from book sales in the charity shops, she was pleased that her books were popular with second-hand readers.

"Their bookshops are most impressive - for the careful condition of the books as well as for the huge range of titles," she said.

According to Oxfam, the sale of two books from its shops is enough to pay for one day's home-based care for a chronically ill person in South Africa, while the sale of three books could provide 10 days of basic food rations for a family in an emergency.