The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: December 2024
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
January 21, 2025
Fiction
Podolo: A Ghost Story for Christmas by L. P. Hartley, Biblioasis
The Amethyst Cross: A Ghost Story for Christmas by Mary Fitt, Biblioasis
Captain Dalgety Returns: A Ghost Story for Christmas by Laurence Whistler, Biblioasis
Chrysalis by Anuja Varghese, House of Anansi
Satellite Image by Michelle Berry, Wolsak and Wynn
Bad Houses by John Elizabeth Stintzi, Arsenal Pulp Press
This is It: A Novel in Stories by Matthew Fox, Enfield & Wizenty
What I Know About You by Éric Chacour (Author), Pablo Strauss (Translator), Coach House Books
An Astonishment of Stars: Stories by Kirti Bhadresa, ECW Press
El Ghourabaa: A Queer and Trans Collection of Oddities by Samia Marshy (Editor), Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch (Editor), Metonymy Press
Nonfiction
What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time by Ian Williams, House of Anansi Press
Dangerous Memory: Coming of Age in the Decade of Greed by Charlie Angus, House of Anansi Press
40 Days & 40 Hikes: Loving the Bruce Trail One Loop at a Time by Nicola Ross, ECW Press
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen, Biblioasis
Going to Seed: Essays on Idleness, Nature, and Sustainable Work by Kate Neville, University of Regina Press
Vantage Points: On Media as Trans Memoir by Chase Joynt, Arsenal Pulp Press
Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravities, and More Lesser Known Histories by Darren Bernhardt, Great Plains Press
What A Farmer Wants You to Know About Food by Dennis Bulani, Ultimate Yield Press
Making Space for Indigenous Feminism, 3rd Edition by Gina Starblanket (Editor), Fernwood Publications
The Art of Making: Rediscovering the Blackfoot Legacy by Jared Tailfeathers, UpRoute
Kids
Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp, Annick Press
The Animal People Choose a Leader by Richard Wagamese (Author), Bridget George (Illustrator), Douglas & McIntyre
Nutcracker Night by Mireille Messier (Author), Gabrielle Grimard (Illustrator), Pajama Press
Let's Get Creative: Art for a Healthy Planet by Jessica Rose (Author), Jarett Sitter (Illustrator), Orca Book Publishers
The Beauty of Us by Farzana Doctor, ECW 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, 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 December we’re seeing the shift to holiday purchases as the Christmas gift books appear on the charts in the fiction and kids list, while the nonfiction is still very topical.
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