Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, May 9, 2021.
The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books in Edmonton and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton.
Interesting to note that at No. 4 on the fiction list is a young-adult novel, Lightfinder, written and illustrated by Edmonton City Councillor Aaron Paquette. Mr. Paquette is an accomplished young person. Young, leastways, by your blogger’s standards. He’s not quite 50. Lightfinder was published in 2015 and won the Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature. In 2017 he was elected to Edmonton City Council, where he has been a rare voice for Indigenous issues and for the arts. He is running again in this October’s municipal election.
ALBERTA FICTION BESTSELLERS
1. The Rose Code – Kate Quinn (William Morrow)
2. The Midnight Library – Matt Haig (HarperCollins)
3. Jonny Appleseed – Joshua Whitehead (Arsenal Pulp Press) *
4. Lightfinder – Aaron Paquette (Kegedonce Press) *
5. Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro (Knopf Canada)
6. Circe – Madeline Miller (Little Brown and Company)
7. Anxious People – Fredrik Backman (Atria Books)
8. Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
9. Hamnet and Judith – Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf Canada)
10. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V. E. Schwab (Tor Books)
ALBERTA NON-NON-FICTION BESTSELLERS
1. The Rez Sisters – Tomson Highway (Fifth House Publishers)
2. Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions)
3. Take Me Outside – Colin Harris (Rocky Mountain Books) * +
4. The Prairie Gardener’s Go-To for Small Spaces – Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau (Touchwood Editions) *
5. The Bushman’s Lair – Paul McKendrick (Harbour Publishing) *
6. Goodbye, Again – Jonny Sun (Harper Perennial)
7. Forever Terry – edited by Darrell Fox (Viking)
8. World Travel – Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever (Ecco)
9. Wild Roses Are Worth It – Kevin Van Tighem (Rocky Mountain Books) * +
10. Emergent Strategy – adrienne maree brown (AK Press)
* Alberta Author + Alberta Publisher
The independent bookstores contributing to this weekly list 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