The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: July 2023
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
August 15, 2023
Fiction
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt, House of Anansi
The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan, ECW Press
Lump by Nathan Whitlock, Dundurn Press
Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr, Coach House Books
Leaving Wisdom by Sharon Butala, Thistledown Press
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice, ECW Press
The School of the Haunted River by Colleen Gerwing, Endless Sky Books
To the Forest by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (author) and Rhonda Mullins (translator), Coach House Books
Wait Softly Brother by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Wolsak and Wynn
It Begins With the Body by Hana Shafi, Book*hug Press
Nonfiction
The Tenant Class by Ricardo Tranjan, Between the Lines
1934: The Chatham Coloured All-Stars' Barrier-Breaking Year by Heidi LM Jacobs, 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
A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators: Ontario and Great Lakes Edition by Lorraine Johnson, Sheila Colla, et al., Douglas & McIntyre
On Class by Deborah Dundas, Biblioasis
The Mother of All Degrassi: A Memoir by Linda Schuyler, ECW Press
Saskatchewan Birds, 2nd edition by Alan Smith, Lone Pine Publishing
Indigenous Resistance and Development in Winnipeg: 1960-2000 by Shauna MacKinnon (editor) and Kathy Mallett (editor), ARP Books
Mirror Horse: A Memoir by Tamara Williamson, Douglas & McIntyre
Calgary’s Best Bike Rides: 50 Urban Cycle Tours and Pathway Pedals by Lori Beattie, Fit Frog Adventures
Kids
Fox and Bear by Miriam Körner, Red Deer Press
Whirl by Deborah Kerbel (author) and Josée Bisaillon (illustrator), Owlkids
The Woman and Her Bear Cub by Jaypeetee Arnakak (adapter) and Dayna B. Griffiths (illustrator), Inhabit Media
Be a Good Ancestor by Leona Prince (author), Gabrielle Prince (author) and Carla Joseph (illustrator), Orca Book Publishers
The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel by Drew Hayden Taylor, 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 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, while some beloved older titles creep back in. But there is a lot of change from month to month, particularly in the nonfiction 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