The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: June 2022
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
Fiction
Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez, Arsenal Pulp Press
Good Girl by Anna Fitzpatrick, Flying Books
Shimmer by Alex Pugsley, Biblioasis
Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel, Arsenal Pulp Press
Shelterbelts by Jonathan Dyck, Conundrum Press
The Singing Forest by Judith McCormack, Biblioasis
(M)othering: An Anthology by Anne Sorbie and Heidi Grogan (Eds.), Inanna Publications
The Full Catastrophe by Méira Cook, House of Anansi Press
Going to Beautiful by Anthony Bidulka, Stonehouse Publishing
Grin Reaping by Rod Carley, Latitude 46 Publishing
Nonfiction
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph, Indigenous Relations Press
305 Lost Buildings of Canada by Raymond Biesinger and Alex Bozikovic, Goose Lane Editions
White Benevolence: Racism and Colonial Violence in the Helping Professions edited by Amanda Gebhard, Sheelah McLean and Verna St. Denis, Fernwood Publishing
A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators by Lorraine Johnson, Sheila Colla and Ann Sanderson, Douglas & McIntyre
Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female by Tanis MacDonald, Wolsak and Wynn
Field Notes on Listening by Kit Dobson, Wolsak and Wynn
Only in Saskatchewan: Recipes and Stories from the Province’s Best-Loved Eateries by Naomi Hansen and Garrett Kendal, TouchWood Editions
Fishing with Tardelli: A Memoir of Family in Time Lost by Neil Bresner, ECW Press
Through a Changing Landscape: Photographing Place and Community in Waterloo Region by Philippe Elsworthy and Adam Crerar, Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Calgary’s Best Bike Rides: 50 Urban Cycle Tours and Pathway Pedals by Lorrie Beattie, Fit Frog Adventures
Kids
Be A Good Ancestor by Leona Prince, Gabrielle Prince and Carla Joseph, Orca Publishing
Siksikaitsitapi: Stories of the Blackfoot People by Payne Many Guns, Crystal Many Fingers, et al., Durvile Publications
Welcome to the Cypher by Khodi Dill and Awuradwoa Afful, Annick Press
Urgent Message from a Hot Planet: Navigating the Climate Crisis by Ann Eriksson and Belle Wuthrich
The Queen of Junk Island by Alexandra Mae Jones, Annick 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 June sales of Another Story Bookshop in Toronto, Biblioasis Bookshop in Windsor, The City and the City Books in Hamilton, Epic Books in Hamilton, McNally Robinson Booksellers (both the Grant Park and the Forks locations in Winnipeg), McNally Robinson in Saskatoon, Shelf Life Books in Calgary and Wordsworth Books in Waterloo. We’re covering a fair amount of Canada, but I hope to add more stores over time to the process and create a more wide-ranging list. If you are a bookstore who would like to contribute to the list, please get in touch with us; we’d love to have more information.
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. This month I was delighted to see books by presses that hadn’t appeared on the list before.
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 across a reasonable amount of Canada.
My deep thanks to the Hamilton Review of Books for publishing this Independent Bestseller List. I’m looking forward to seeing the data for our July list, as the spring and summer books continue to fill our bookstore shelves. Please, if you’re looking for something wonderful to read this season, 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