The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: August
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
Fiction
Johnny Appleseed, Joshua Whitehead, Arsenal Pulp Press
Home of the Floating Lily, Silmy Abdullah, Dundurn Press
Butter Honey Pig Bread, Francesca Ekwuyasi, Arsenal Pulp Press
We Want What We Want, Alix Ohlin, House of Anansi
Ridgerunner, Gil Adamson, House of Anansi
Midland, Ross Breithaupt, Porcupine’s Quill
Even So, Lauren B. Davis, Dundurn Press
The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales, Emily Brewes, Dundurn Press
Scarborough, Catherine Hernandez, Arsenal Pulp Press
Seven, Farzana Doctor, Dundurn Press
Non-fiction
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City, Tanya Talaga, House of Anansi
Her Name Was Margaret: Life and Death on the Streets, Denise Davy, Wolsak and Wynn
All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward, Tanya Talaga, House of Anansi
Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations, Richard Wagamese, Douglas & McIntyre
The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir, Joseph Auguste (Augie) Merasty, University of Regina Press
Indigenous Toronto: Stories that Carry this Place, edited by Denise Bolduc, Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere, Rebeka Tabobondung and Brian Wright-McLeod, Coach House Press
I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World, Kai Cheng Thom, Arsenal Pulp Press
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality, Bob Joseph, Page Two Books, Inc.
Economics For Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism, Jim Stanford, Fernwood Publishing
On Decline: Stagnation, Nostalgia and Why Every Year is the Worst One Ever, Andrew Potter, Biblioasis
Kids
Treaty Words: For as Long as the Rivers Flow, Aimée Craft and Luke Swinson, Annick Press
My Heart Fills with Happiness, Monique Gray Smith and Julie Flett, Orca Books
When We Were Alone, David A. Robertson and Julie Flett, Highwater Press
Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox, Danielle Daniel, Groundwood Books
I am Not a Number, Dr. Jenny Kay Dupuis, Kathy Kacer and Gillian Newland, Second Story Press
Special Mentions
Poetry: Call Me Home, John Terpstra, Gaspereau Press
Plays: carried away on the crest of a wave, David Yee, Playwrights Canada Press
How I Built This List:
I am very grateful for all the bookstores who generously shared their sales data with me. The information used to create this list was drawn from the August sales of Another Story Bookshop in Toronto, The City and the City Books in Hamilton, Epic Books in Hamilton, Hunter Street Books in Peterborough and Wordsworth Books in Waterloo. As a result, this list is more of an Ontario Independent Bestseller list than a Canadian Independent Bestseller list, but I hope to add more stores over time to the process and create a more wide-ranging list.
Many of the authors on this list will be new to readers, but what I’ve done here is create a bestseller list drawn only from those books published by Canadian owned independent presses. Most of the books in the top half of both the fiction and the nonfiction bestseller lists sold well in several of the stores on the list and many of the other titles are books that sold well in only one or two stores who shared information. Sometimes these were strongly regional titles. While neither poetry nor plays did quite well enough to make the general lists, I did want to draw attention to those books which almost made it on.
I acknowledge that this list is not at all perfect. It is only a small sampling of the data out there, but it is a fascinating look at what independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores. I feel this is probably a reasonable reflection of what Ontario readers are reading across the province, if not a strong representation of what we are reading across Canada.
My deep thanks to Hamilton Review of Books for publishing this Independent Bestseller List. I’m looking forward to seeing the data for our September list, as the fall books are starting to fill our bookstore shelves. Please, if you’re looking for something wonderful to read this fall, visit your nearest independent bookstore and ask them what they suggest. The people who work in these stores know an amazing amount about books and will find you your next best possible read.
Noelle Allen