American author Harper Lee, who died in 2016, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2007 (Photo: Eric Draper, The White House).

Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, July 5, 2020.

The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books in Edmonton and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton.

ALBERTA FICTION BESTSELLERS

1. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (Grand Central Publishing)
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey (Penguin Classics)
3. American Dirt – Jeanine Cummins (Flatiron Books)
4. The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead (Anchor Canada)
5. Normal People – Sally Rooney (Vintage Canada)
6. Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo (Black Cat)
7. Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
8. Dune – Frank Herbert (Ace Books)
9. The Mirror & the Light – Hilary Mantel (HarperCollins)
10. The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett (Riverhead Books)

ALBERTA NON-FICTION BESTSELLERS

1. Me and White Supremacy – Layla Saad (Sourcebooks)
2. How to Be an Antiracist – Ibram X. Kendi (One World)
3. White Fragility – Robin Di Angelo (Beacon Press)
4. The Skin We’re In – Desmond Cole (Doubleday Canada)
5. So You Want to Talk About Race – Ijeoma Oluo (Basic Books)
6. Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions)
7. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge (Bloomsbury)
8. The Room Where It Happened – John Bolton (Simon & Schuster)
9. Policing Black Lives – Robyn Maynard (Fernwood Publishing)
10. Stamped from the Beginning – Ibram X. Kendi (Bold Type Books)

* Alberta Author + Alberta Publisher

The independent bookstores contributing to the weekly lists are: Audreys Books, Edmonton; Cafe Books, Canmore; Drawn to Books, Edmonton; Glass Bookshop, Edmonton; Monkeyshines Books, Calgary; Owl’s Nest Books, Calgary; Pages on Kensington, Calgary; Shelf Life Books, Calgary; The Next Page, Calgary; Three Hills Books, Three Hills.

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4 Comments

  1. I guess people who read books are “woke”. Note to politicians: people who read are influencers in the real world. Fair warning!

  2. There is definitely a ‘race-concerned’ theme to these top sellers. I thought it was ironic, as I am personally working my way through Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

    As I read the slavery discussion (pro/con) between two of Ms. Stowe’s characters I was struck by how one of the main arguments for slavery was that ‘our economy is structured on slavery and we can’t get on without it’, and realized it is the same argument we hear today with regards to doing something about climate change.

    1. This was the fundamental point of Andrew Nikiforuk’s “Energy of Slaves,” which caused the Wildrose Party in particular to go completely off its rocker in 2012 and 2013. You will remember, of course, the screeching about how people were comparing OUR BELOVED OIL INDUSTRY with SLAVERY! The point of comparison being, as you just noted, the supposed fact we couldn’t get on without either. DJC

  3. I have a recommendation for fictional reading, BUT it comes with the Caveat that it was written in the late 60’s early 70’s and is not politically correct, but it did win a Pulitzer. Try “Confederacy of Dunces”, but only pick it up if you are not easily offended, as it would not cut the mustard in today’s PC world.

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