The bestselling Canadian books of the week

Here are the bestselling Canadian books from Jan. 22-30, 2023.

Bestseller lists are compiled by Bookmanager using weekly sales stats from over 260 Canadian independent stores.

Canadian fiction | Canadian nonfiction | Canadian Kids

Canadian fiction

The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr is the #1 Canadian fiction book this week.

The Sleeping Car Porter tells the story of Baxter, a Black man in 1929 who works as a sleeping car porter on a train that travels across the country. He smiles and tries to be invisible to the passengers, but what he really wants is to save up and go to dentistry school. On one particular trip out west, the train is stalled and Baxter finds a naughty postcard of two gay men. The postcard reawakens his memories and longings and puts his job in jeopardy. 

The Sleeping Car Porter won the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

• Suzette Mayr explores Black queerness & joy in The Sleeping Car Porter — and won the Giller Prize for it

See the full Canadian fiction list below.

1. The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
2. Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
3. Greenwood by Michael Christie
4. Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
5. A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
6. Women Talking by Miriam Toews
7. Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah
8. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
9. Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
10. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Canadian nonfiction

Ducks by Kate Beaton is the #1 Canadian nonfiction book this week.

Ducks is an autobiographical graphic novel that recounts author Kate Beaton's time spent working in the Alberta oil sands. With the goal of paying off her student loans, Beaton leaves her tight-knit seaside Nova Scotia community and heads west, where she encounters harsh realities, including the everyday trauma that no one discusses. 

Ducks will be defended by Jeopardy! superchampion Mattea Roach on Canada Reads 2023.

• Kate Beaton's affecting Ducks dives into the lonely life of labour in Alberta's oilsands

 See the full Canadian nonfiction list below.

1. Ducks by Kate Beaton
2. The Myth of Normal by Dr. Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté
3. True Reconciliation by Jody Wilson-Raybould
4. Where to From Here by Bill Morneau
5. Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
6. 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act by Bob Joseph
7. Healing Through Words by Rupi Kaur
8. Embers by Richard Wagamese
9. Permanent Astonishment by Tomson Highway
10. Superfan by Jen Sookfong Lee

Canadian kids

The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson is the #1 Canadian kids book this week.

The Barren Grounds is the first book of Robertson's new middle-grade series. It is set in Winnipeg where two Indigenous kids, Morgan and Eli, are placed in a new foster home. The pair feel out of place and disconnected in their new surroundings — until they uncover a secret portal in the attic that opens up to a magical reality. The frozen barren grounds they find set the pair on a mission of survival and self-determination.

• How David A. Robertson manages to write as much as he does

See the full Canadian kids book list below.

1. The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson
2. Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte-Marie, illustrated by Julie Flett
3. Be a Good Ancestor by Leona Prince and Gabrielle Prince, illustrated by Carla Joseph
4. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
5. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw
6. Enemies by Svetlana Chmakova
7. The Kindest Red by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali, illustrated by Hatem Aly
8. Paws: Mindy Makes Some Space by Nathan Fairbairn, illustrated by Michele Assarasakorn
9. Carson Crosses Canada by Linda Bailey, illustrated by Kass Reich
10. Ride On by Faith Erin Hicks