Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021.
The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton.
Since former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s fictional arrival (if you don’t count American politics, I suppose) with the able assistance of Louise Penny, the well-known Canadian author of police procedurals, I have had the opportunity to read her effort, as well as that of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, The Apollo Murders.
Now, as readers might have sensed from my last comments on this topic, I am suspicious of celebrity mysteries, by which I mean mysteries, thrillers, police procedurals and the like, a genre I enjoy, by people whose celebrity is in fields other than literature. That said, I am not willing to rule them out entirely. After all, why would a person talented in one branch of the arts necessarily be a bust in another? (I thought Pete Townshend’s The Age of Anxiety, for example, was a delight. Just to be clear, though, it is not a mystery.)
Because I have some regard for Ms. Penny, I had some hope for State of Terror. Thanks, presumably to the Canadian half of the team, the writing is workmanlike and, in one early chapter, even rises to mild excitement. The plot, alas, is frighteningly bad. Bad, because it is lame, and also because it appears to be based on an understanding of what motivates such powers as Russia and Iran that is cartoonish verging on ignorant. Frightening because the co-author was once U.S. Secretary of State and came that close to becoming President of the United States. Reading her caricature of Russia and its leadership – all evil, all the time – is genuinely scary considering how close the author came to having her finger on the proverbial nuclear button.
Well, Mr. Clinton, Bill that is, is said in an afterword to have muttered at various points in the novel that “no American president would have done that.” One can only hope that is so.
My advice: Save your money and buy something else. If you must read State of Terror, get it from the public library, as I did.
As for Mr. Hadfield’s effort, it was unexpectedly good. Despite its title, I’d call this one a thriller, not a mystery, as we are tipped fairly early to just who the bad guy is, and like many recent TV dramas the only drama is whether or not he’ll get away with the crime. But at least some of the time the plot’s believable, even believable enough considering the present conspiratorial zeitgeist to make one wonder for a moment if it actually happened and got covered up. It’s not set in the present, but an engaging moment in recent history – the tail end of the U.S. moon-landing program. Even the Russians aren’t strictly one-dimensional boogiemen as in Ms. Clinton’s effort. And there’s a very engaging Russian cosmonaut – who made me think of the committed orbiting Communist Svetlana Savitskaya – who has a big role in the excitement on the moon. You wouldn’t be wasting your money on this one if entertainment is your goal.
I guess the Canadian astronaut and orbiting musician is a bit of a renaissance man! Who knew?
ALBERTA FICTION BESTSELLERS
1. State of Terror – Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster)
2. What Strange Paradise – Omar El Akkad (McClelland & Stewart)
3. The Apollo Murders – Chris Hadfield (Random House Canada)
4. Tainna – Norma Dunning (Douglas & McIntyre) *
5. The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman (Viking)
6. The Strangers – Katherena Vermette (Hamish Hamilton)
7. Five Little Indians – Michelle Good (Harper Perennial)
8. Fight Night – Miriam Toews (Knopf Canada)
9. The Sentence – Louise Erdrich (Harper)
10. Dune – Frank Herbert (Ace Books)
ALBERTA NON-FICTION BESTSELLERS
1. Atlas of the Heart – Brené Brown (Random House)
2. Indigenous Relations – Bob Joseph (Page Two Books)
3. Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions)
4. Talking to Canadians – Rick Mercer (Doubleday Canada)
5. Economics for Everyone – Jim Stanford (Fernwood Publishing)
6. No One Wins Alone – Mark Messier (Simon & Schuster) *
7. “Indian” in the Cabinet – Jody Wilson-Raybould (HarperCollins)
8. The Storyteller – Dave Grohl (HarperCollins Canada)
9. Ottolenghi Test Kitchen – Noor Murad and Yotam Ottolenghi (Appetite By Random House)
10. Whitewater Cooks Together Again – Shelley Adams (self-published)
* 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
Perhaps Ms. Clinton’s simple-minded caricatures are a reflection of the great systole and diastole of imperial America. The Republicans typically create an economic depression and social unrest which is “cured” by war and military adventures started by the Democrats. Socialism of the military variety has been alive and well in the United States almost from its inception. Anything but spending on social programs. Opposing social programs that might benefit the “deplorables” in the lessor classes and breeds is what truly unites most American politicians and too much of their population.
I borrow almost all of my books from the library systems because the cost of books are too expensive and I am not very keen on reading books on screen given how we all spent on screens as it is. I am sure that I will read Hillary’s book but it won’t because I have any animosity toward Hillary Clinton as a person(although I have a lot of disagreements with her political views and issues with her not beating Donald Trump)but these books are seldom of interest. The involvement of Louise Penny might change that as I have read that she has managed to become a good mystery writer. I am not surprised that David C liked the Pete Townshend book because he is a great writer. Even though he has turned more to the right than I would have liked, he is one of the best rock and roll songwriters to come out of the British Invasion.