From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle is the #1 bestselling Canadian print book of 2020 so far
CBC Books | | Posted: October 20, 2020 4:29 PM | Last Updated: October 20, 2020
BookNet Canada tracked sales of Canadian books from Jan. 1 to Sept. 26 to create the list
Jesse Thistle's memoir From the Ashes is the #1 bestselling Canadian print book so far in 2020, according to BookNet Canada.
BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization that tracks Canadian book sales. Their data represents approximately 85 per cent of overall Canadian sales.
They looked at sales of print books from Jan. 1 to Sept. 26 to create the list.
From the Ashes is a memoir told through prose and poetic fragments that details how Thistle's issues with abandonment and addiction led to homelessness, incarceration, and shares his eventual redemption through higher education.
He is now an academic specializing in Indigenous homelessness, addiction and intergenerational trauma.
The top fiction title was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Released in 1985, The Handmaid's Tale was Atwood's breakthrough book on an international scale. The modern classic tells the story of a Handmaid known as Offred who is trapped in a society where her only purpose is to conceive and bear the child of a powerful man.
The novel has had surprising cultural and political resonance in recent years, which has brought it back to bestseller lists. A television adaptation of the novel starring Elisabeth Moss and airing on Bravo has garnered 13 Emmy nominations, including outstanding drama series.
Atwood released a sequel, The Testaments, in 2019.
The top kids title was the classic picture book Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw. Love You Forever was first published in 1986.
The full top 10 is:
- From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
- Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Skin We're In by Desmond Cole
- All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny
- The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham
- Fraiche Food, Full Hearts by Jillian Harris and Tori Wesszer
- Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
- The End of Her by Shari Lapena
- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson
You can see the top 10 lists for fiction, nonfiction and kids on the BookNet Canada website.