The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: October 2024
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
November 14, 2024
Fiction
All You Can Kill by Pasha Malla, Coach House Books
The Dark King Swallows the World by Robert G. Penner, Radiant Press
Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim by Jacob Wren, Book*hug Press
Beirut by Barrack Zailaa Rima (Author, Illustrator), Carla Carlagé and Alexandra Gueydan-Turek (Translators), Invisible Publishing
This Report is Strictly Confidential by Elizabeth Ruth, Dagger Editions (Caitlin Press)
An Astonishment of Stars: Stories by Kirti Bhadresa, ECW Press
I Feel That Way Too by jaz papadopoulos, Nightwood Editions
Chrysalis: Stories by Anuja Varghese, Astoria (House of Anansi Press)
Heliotropia by Manahil Bandukwala, Brick Books
She Falls Again by Rosanna Deerchild, Coach House Books
Nonfiction
What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in our Time by Ian Williams, House of Anansi Press
52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life for Caregivers, Activists and Helping Professionals: A Workbook of Emotional Hacks, Self-Care Experiments and Other Good Ideas by Farzana Doctor, Douglas & McIntyre
When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance by Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel (Author), Pamela Palmater (Foreword), Audra Simpson (Afterword), Sean Carleton, Between the Lines
The Social Safety Net: Canada in Decline by Nora Loreto, Dundurn Press
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen, Biblioasis
The Nail That Sticks Out: Reflections on the Postwar Japanese Canadian Community by Suzanne Elki Yoko Hartmann, Dundurn Press
The Art of Making: Rediscovering the Blackfoot Legacy by Jared Tailfeathers, UpRoute
I Don't Do Disability and Other Lies I've Told Myself by Adelle Purdham, Dundurn Press
Because Somebody Asked Me To: Observations on History, Literature, and the Passing Scene by Guy Vanderhaeghe, Thistledown Press
Shifting Gears: Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labour Politics by Stephanie Ross (Author), Larry Savage (Author), UBC Press
Kids
Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp, Annick Press
The Beauty of Us by Farzana Doctor, ECW Press
Getting Us to Grandma’s by Nadia L. Hohn (Author), TeMika Grooms (Illustrator), Groundwood Books
Between the Pipes by Albert McLeod (Author), Elaine Mordoch (Contributor), Sonya Ballantyne (Contributor), Alice RL (Illustrator), Kielamel Sibal (Letterer), Highwater Press
I Hear You, Mountains by Kallie George (Author), Carmen Mok (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, 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 October we’re seeing an interesting mix, as many strong new titles are released and as we don’t see the usual agreement among the national awards.
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