The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: June 2023
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
July 18, 2023
Fiction
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, Drawn & Quarterly
Leaving Wisdom by Sharon Butala, Thistledown Press
The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan, ECW Press
Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr, Coach House Books
Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah, Véhicule Press
To Track a Traitor: A Lane Winslow Mystery by Iona Whishaw, TouchWood Editions
Livingsky by Anthony Bidulka, Stonehouse Publishing
Garden of Lost Secrets by Kelly Bowen, Forever Publishing
And the Walls Came Down by Denise Da Costa, Dundurn Press
Chrysalis by Anuja Varghese, House of Anansi
Nonfiction
The Tenant Class by Ricardo Tranjan, Between the Lines
On Class by Deborah Dundas, Biblioasis
The End of this World: Climate Justice in So-Called Canada by Angele Alook, Emily Eaton, David Gray-Donald, Joël Laforest, Crystal Lameman, and Bronwen Tucker, Between the Lines
Mushrooming: The Joy of the Quiet Hunt: An Illustrated Guide to the Fascinating, the Delicious, the Deadly and the Strange by Diane Borsato (author), Kelsey Oseid (illustrator), Douglas & McIntyre
1934: The Chatham Coloured All-Stars' Barrier-Breaking Year by Heidi LM Jacobs, Biblioasis
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls by Angela Sterritt, Greystone Books
Tipiskawi Kisik: Night Sky Star Stories by Wilfred Buck, Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre
Leave Some for the Birds: Movements for Justice by Marjorie Beaucage, Kegedonce Press
Wanda’s War: An Untold Story of Nazi Europe, Forced Labour, and a Canadian Immigration Scandal by Marsha Faubert, Goose Lane Editions
River in an Ocean: Essays on Translation by Nuzhat Abbas ed., Trace Press
Kids
Sometimes I Feel Like a River by Danielle Daniel (author) Josée Bisaillon (illustrator), Groundwood Books
Gordie’s Skate by Bill Waiser (Author), Leanne Franson (Illustrator), Thistledown Press
Forever Our Home/kâkikê kîkinaw by Tonya Simpson (author), Jean Okimasis (translator), Carla Joseph (illustrator), Orca Books
Serge, the Snail Without a Shell by Harriet Alida Lye (Author), Rosa Rankin-Gee (Author), Andrea Blinick (Illustrator), Nimbus Publishing
Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte-Marie (author), Julie Flett (illustrator) Greystone Kids
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 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 we’re seeing some new titles, even as last year’s bestsellers hold onto their top spots. But there is a lot of change from month to month, particularly in the non-fiction list, which is very driven by current events.
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, 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