The pulp-heavy fiction bestseller list published by the New York Times Book Review is often held up as proof of the bad taste and low intellectual level of American readers. But they are not necessarily alone. A glance at the list of August's Russian


bestsellers published by Knizhnoye Obozreniye (Book Review) proves that Americans are not the only ones who have a passion for sex romps and melodrama in print:


1. Russia In Bed by Eduard Topol. The fictionalized recollections of personal erotic adventures by a popular author of Russian political thrillers who emigrated from Moscow to New York in the 1970s.


2. The Kremlin Cardinal by Tom Clancy.


3. The Kaisho by Eric Lustbader.


4. Collected Novels by the sci-fi writer Robert Sheckley.


5. Goryachev and Others. The popular Russian television series compiled in novel form.


6. Wild Rose. Another television novel, based on the Mexican soap opera of the same name.


7. Eight historical romances by Victoria Holt (a set).


8. Maggy by D. Caroline. The locally produced sequel to "The Thorn Birds," which is enormously popular with Russian readers.


9. The Treasure Is Love by romance novelist Barbara Cartland, her 24th novel published here this year.


10. Cannibal's Daughter. The first novel by Mikhail Guskov, who has recently been hailed as the "new Mikhail Bulgakov for poor people."