The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: December 2023
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
January 17, 2024
Fiction
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice, ECW Press
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt, House of Anansi Press
The Captain of the Pole-Star by Arthur Conan Doyle, Biblioasis
Semi-Detached by Elizabeth Ruth, Cormorant Press
Roaming by Jillian Tamaki (Author), Mariko Tamaki (Author), Drawn & Quarterly
The House by the Poppy Field by Marjorie Bowen, Biblioasis
Chrysalis by Anuja Varghese, House of Anansi Press
Her First Palestinian by Saeed Teebi, House of Anansi Press
The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society by Christine Estima, House of Anansi Press
A Room in a Rectory: A Ghost Story for Christmas by Andrew Caldecott, Biblioasis
Nonfiction
The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart by Astra Taylor, House of Anansi Press
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, Drawn & Quarterly
On Community by Casey Plett, Biblioasis
Imagining Imagining: Essays on Language, Identity and Infinity by Gary Barwin, Wolsak & Wynn
The Tenant Class by Ricardo Tranjan, Between the Lines
Garden Inventories: Reflections on Land, Place and Belonging by Mariam Pirbhai, Wolsak & Wynn
Our Little Farm: Adventures in Sustainable Living by Peter Wohlleben (Author), Miriam Wohlleben (Author), Jane Billinghurst (Translator), Greystone Books
Manipulating the Message: How Powerful Forces Shape the News by Cecil Rosner, Dundurn Press
On the Road to Abandoned Manitoba: Taking the scenic route through historic places by Gordon Goldsborough, Great Plains Press
Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death by Deana J. Driver, DriverWorks Ink
Kids
Skating Wild on an Inland Sea by Jean E. Pendziwol (Author), Todd Stewart (Illustrator), Groundwood Books
The Girl and the Wolf by Katherena Vermette (Author), Julie Flett (Illustrator), Theytus Books
Alone: The Journeys of Three Young Refugees by Paul Tom (Author), Mélanie Baillairgé (Illustrator), Arielle Aaronson (Translator), Groundwood Books
Ontario ABCs by Jocey Asnong, Rocky Mountain Books
The Disability Experience: Working Toward Belonging by Hannalora Leavitt (Author), Belle Wuthrich (Illustrator), Orca Book Publishers
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 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 the impact of the holiday sales of December, which pushes more giftable titles up the list, along with some of the biggest books of the previous year. We’re also seeing the impacts of the news cycle as people search for ways to understand current events through books.
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