The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: July 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
Her First Palestinian by Saeed Teebi, House of Anansi Press
At Last Count by Claire Ross Dunn, Invisible Publishing
Buffalo Is The New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel, Arsenal Pulp Press
Out of Mind by David Bergen, Goose Lane Editions
Going to Beautiful by Anthony Bidulka, Stonehouse Originals
Shelterbelts by Jonathan Dyck, Conundrum Press
Finding Edward by Sheila Murray, Cormorant Books
Plenitude by Daniel Sarah Karasik, Book*hug
Nonfiction
A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators by Sheila Colla, Lorraine Johnson and Ann Sanderson, Douglas & McIntyre
Disarm, Defund, Dismantle: Police Abolition in Canada by Shiri Pasternak (ed), Kevin Walby (ed), Abby Stadnyk (ed), Between the Lines Press
21 Things You Might Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph, Indigenous Relations Press
Our Voice of Fire: A Memoir of a Warrior Rising by Brandi Morin, House of Anansi Press
Good Mom on Paper: Writers on Creativity and Motherhood by Stacey May Fowles (ed.) and Jen Sookfong Lee (ed.), Book*hug Press
Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female by Tanis MacDonald, Wolsak and Wynn
White Benevolence: Racism and Colonial Violence in the Helping Professions by Amanda Gebhard, Sheelah McLean, Verna St. Denis, Fernwood Publishing
Only in Saskatchewan: Recipes and Stories from the Province’s Best-Loved Eateries by Naomi Hansen, Garrett Kendel, TouchWood Editions
Tumblehome: One Woman’s Canoeing Adventures in the Divine Near-Wilderness by Brenda Missen, Inanna Publications
Manitoba Birds, 2nd Edition by Andy Bezener and Ken De Smet, Lone Pine Publishing
Kids
Little Book: Story Reader for a Free Ukraine by Mykola Matwijczuk and Lorene Shyba, UpRoute
My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith and Julie Flett, Orca Book Publishers
The Girl and the Wolf by Katherena Vermette and Julie Flett, Theytus Books
Lost on the Prairie by MaryLou Driedger, Heritage House
Bharatanatyam in Ballet Shoes by Mahak Jain and Anu Chouhan, 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 July 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 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. Please, if you’re looking for something wonderful to read this summer, 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