On this week’s bestsellers lists: The five books shortlisted for this year’s CBC’s Canada Reads competition was announced on Jan. 26, and four of them have already seen a nice sales bump: Michelle Good’s “Five Little Indians” is No. 7 on the Original Fiction list and No. 2 on the Canadian list; Clayton Thomas-Muller’s “Life in the City of Dirty Water” is No. 9 on the Original Non-Fiction list and No. 4 on the Canadian list; Omar El Akkad’s 2021 Giller Prize winner “What Strange Paradise” is No. 7 on the Canadian fiction list; and Catherine Hernandez’s “Scarborough” is No. 9 on the Canadian fiction list. Missing from the bestseller list is Esi Edugyan’s “Washington Black,” which won the 2018 Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker prize. The big winner since the Canada Reads announcement is “Scarborough,” which was published in 2017 (by Arsenal Pulp Press, the only indie publisher represented on the shortlist) and hasn’t registered on the bestseller list for years.
And speaking of excellent sales, consider Heather O’Neill’s “When We Lost Our Heads,” which is No. 6 on this week’s Canadian fiction list. Not bad for a book that was published on Feb. 1, a day before we compiled the list — a result of good buzz and advance sales. Expect to see it ranked even higher on next week’s list.
The bestseller lists are compiled by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited from information provided by BookNet Canada’s national sales tracking service, BNC SalesData.
ORIGINAL FICTION
1. Reminders of Him, Colleen Hoover, Montlake Romance (2)*
2. The Maid, Nita Prose, Viking (4)
3. It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria (22)
4. Verity, Colleen Hoover, Grand Central (5)
5. Ugly Love, Colleen Hoover, Atria (5)
6. The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood, Berkley (5)
7. Five Little Indians, Michelle Good, Harper Perennial (16)
8. The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, Harper Avenue (28)
9. Greenwich Park, Katherine Faulkner, Gallery (1)
10. Something to Hide, Elizabeth George, Viking (3)
ORIGINAL NON-FICTION
1. Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown, Random House (8)
2. The Betrayal of Anne Frank, Rosemary Sullivan, Harper Collins (2)
3. How to Be Perfect, Michael Schur, Simon & Schuster (1)
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed (57)
5. Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard, Allen Lane (9)
6. Enough Already, Valerie Bertinelli, Harvest (1)
7. 12 Rules for Life, Jordan B. Peterson, Random House (106)
8. Will, Will Smith, Mark Manson, Penguin (11)
9. Life in the City of Dirty Water, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Allen Lane (5)
10. Red-Handed, Peter Schweizer, Harper (1)
CANADIAN FICTION
1. The Maid, Nita Prose, Viking
2. Five Little Indians, Michelle Good, HarperCollins Canada
3. State of Terror, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Louise Penny, Simon & Schuster
4. Find You First, Linwood Barclay, William Morrow
5. Lucky, Marissa Stapley, Simon & Schuster
6. When We Lost Our Heads, Heather O’Neill, HarperCollins Canada
7. What Strange Paradise, Omar El Akkad, McClelland & Stewart
8. The Strangers, Katherena Vermette, Hamish Hamilton
9. Scarborough, Catherine Hernandez, Arsenal Pulp
10. The Apollo Murders, Chris Hadfield, Random House
CANADIAN NON-FICTION
1. The Betrayal of Anne Frank, Rosemary Sullivan, HarperCollins Canada
2. Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard, Allen Lane
3. 12 Rules of Life, Jordan B. Peterson, Random House Canada
4. Life in the City of Dirty Water, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Allen Lane
5. Talking to Canadians, Rick Mercer, Doubleday Canada
6. 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act, Bob Joseph, Indigenous Relations
7. No One Wins Alone, Mark Messier, Jimmy Roberts, Simon & Schuster
8. No Time Like the Future, Michael J. Fox, Flatiron
9. From the Ashes, Jesse Thistle, Simon & Schuster
10. Indian in the Cabinet, Jody Wilson-Raybould, HarperCollins Canada
CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT
1. Wings of Fire: The Brightest Night, Tui T. Sutherland, Mike Holmes, Graphix
2. Cat Kid Comic Club Perspectives, Dav Pilkey, Graphix.
3. Karen’s School Picture (Baby-Sitters Little Sister #5), Ann M. Martin, Katy Farina, Graphix
4. Good-Bye Stacey, Good-Bye, Ann M. Martin, Gabriela Epstein, Graphix
5. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson, Ember
6. Big Shot (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 16), Jeff Kinney, Abrams
7. They Both Die at the End, Adam Silvera, Quill Tree
8. Mobs Rule! (Minecraft Stonesword Saga), Random House, Random House
9. Little Blue Truck’s Valentine, Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry, Clarion
10. The Inheritance Games, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
COOKING
1. Skinnytaste Air Fryer Dinners, Gina Homolka, Heather K. Jones, Clarkson Potter
2. Half Baked Harvest Super Simple, Tieghan Gerard, Clarkson Potter
3. Joshua Weissman: An Unapologetic Cookbook, Joshua Weissman, Alpha
4. The Step-By-Step Instant Pot Cookbook, Jeffrey Eisner, Voracious
5. Vegan, at Times, Jessica Seinfeld, Sara Quessenberry, Gallery
6. Salt, Fat, Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat, Wendy MacNaughton, Simon & Schuster
7. Yum and Yummer, Greta Podleski, One Spoon
8. Ramsay in 10, Gordon Ramsay, Grand Central
9. Together, Jamie Oliver, HarperCollins Canada
10. Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love, Noor Murad, Yotam Ottolenghi, Appetite by Random House
* Number of weeks on list
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