CBC Radio Specials54:00CBC Books Holiday Countdown Special
CBC Booksis counting down the top 10 bestselling Canadian titles of 2024! These are the 10 bestselling Canadian titles of the year, as determined by book sales from over 250independent Canadian bookstores, courtesy ofBookmanager.
You can listen to the holiday countdown special hosted byAli Hassanbelow — or keep scrolling to see which Canadian books made this year's list!
10.Meet Me at the Lakeby Carley Fortune
Meet Me at the Lakefinds 32-year-old Fern Brookbanks stuck— she can't quite stop thinking about one perfect day she spent in her 20s. By chance, she met a man named Will Baxter and the two spent a romantic 24 hours in Toronto, after which they promised to meet up one year later. But Will never showed up. Now, instead of living in the city like she thought she would, Fern manages her mother's Muskoka resort by the lake, a role she promised herself she'd never take on.
Disillusioned with her life, Fern is shocked when Will shows up at her door, suitcase in hand, asking to help. Why is he here after all this time and more importantly, can she trust him to stay? It's clear Will has a secret but Fern isn't sure if she's ready to hear it all these years later.
Fashion influencer Mirian NjohchampionedMeet Me at the LakeonCanada Reads2024.
- Blockbuster Canadian romance writer Carley Fortune dives into summer love at the lake
Fortuneis a Toronto-based journalist who has worked as an editor for Refinery29, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine and Toronto Life.Meet Me at the Lakeis her second novel. Her debut wasEvery Summer After, a romance about childhood summer friends who reunite years later and her most recent book isThis Summer Will Be Different.
LISTEN | Miran Njoh and Carley Fortune meet for the first time on The Next Chapter: The Next Chapter17:47Canada Reads panellist Mirian Njoh and Meet Me At The Lake author Carley Fortune meet for the first time
9.Moon of the Turning Leavesby Waubgeshig Rice
Moon ofthe Turning Leavestakes place 10 years after the events of the post-apocalyptic novelMoon of the Crusted Snowand depictsan epic journey to a forgotten homeland. With food supplies dwindling, Evan Whiteskyand his band of survivorsneed to find a new home. Evan volunteers to leada group — including his daughter Nangohnsand a great archer and hunter — to their ancestral home, the "land where the birch trees grow by the big water."Along the way, they come across other survivors — not all of whom can be trusted.
- Waubgeshig Rice continues his Anishinaabe-inspired vision for the future with novelMoon of the Turning Leaves
Rice is an Anishinaabe author, journalist and radio host originally fromWasauksing First Nation. Rice's first short story collectionMidnight Sweatlodge,which was about his life growing up in his Anishinaabe community, won an Independent Publishers Book Award in 2012. Moon ofthe Turning Leaves is the Sequel toMoon of the Crusted Snow, which was ontheCanada Reads2023 longlist.
LISTEN | Waubgeshig Rice on telling truth through fiction: The Current24:09Waubgeshig Rice on telling truth through fiction
8.The Futureby Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou
The Futureis set in an alternate history of Detroit where the French never surrendered the city to the U.S. Its residents deal with poverty, pollution and a legacy of racism. When Gloria, a woman looking for answers about her missing granddaughters, arrives in the city, she finds a kingdom of orphaned and abandoned children who have created their own society.The Futureis the translation of Leroux'sFrench-language novelL'Avenir.
- Heather O'Neill, championing The Future by Catherine Leroux, wins Canada Reads 2024
Lerouxis a writer, translator and journalist from Montreal. She was shortlisted for the2016 Scotiabank Giller PrizeforThe Party Wall, which is an English translation of her French-language short story collectionLe mur mitoyen.Leroux won the 2019 Governor General's Literary Award for English to French translation for her translation ofDo Not Say We Have Nothingby Madeleine Thien.
Ouriouis a French and Spanish to English translator, a fiction writer and a playwright. She has previously won the Governor General's Literary Award for translation for her work. She lives in Calgary.
LISTEN | Heather O'Neill and Catherine LerouxdiscussThe Future: The Next Chapter24:50Canada Reads panelist Heather O’Neill and The Future author Catherine Leroux discuss the annual battle of the books
7.Fire Weatherby John Vaillant
In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada's oil industry and America's biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighbourhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon.
Fire Weatherexplores the legacy of North American resource extraction, the impact of climate science and the symbiotic relationship between humans and combustion.
- John Vaillant's Fire Weather looks at the Fort McMurray wildfire and a 'new century of fire'
Fire Weatherwon the2023 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfictionand theShaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writingand was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, the 2023 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2023 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
LISTEN | John Vaillant wins 2024 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Ottawa Morning9:01John Vaillant wins 2024 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing
6.Claudia and the Bad Joke by Ann M. Martin, illustrated by Arley Nopra
Claudia and the Bad Jokeis the 15th book in the series of graphic novel adaptations ofthe iconic Baby-Sitters Club books. When Claudia babysits a young girl who is a practical joker, she thinks it won't be that bad. But when a joke results in Claudia breaking her leg, she wonders if babysitting is worth it after all.
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Aparita Bhandari recommends books for fans of The Baby-Sitters Club
Arley Nopra is aFilipinocomic creator who lives in Toronto.Claudia and the Bad Jokeis her first Baby-Sitters Club book.
LISTEN | Why are The Baby-Sitters Club books still so popular?: Ottawa Morning141:06:40Why are The Baby-Sitters Club books still so popular?
5.
Set in Toronto's Chinatown and Kensington Market,Denison Avenueis a moving portrait of a city undergoing mass gentrification and a Chinese Canadian elder experiencing the existential challenges of getting old and being Asian in North America. Recently widowed, Wong Cho Sum takes long walks through the city, collecting bottles and cans and meeting people on her journeys in a bid to ease her grief.
Denison Avenuewas championed by former Calgary mayor Naheed NenshionCanada Reads2024.
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How important are happy endings?Canada Readscontenders weigh in
Wong is a Toronto writer, playwright and multidisciplinary artist who also works in sound installation, audio documentaries and photography.
Innes is a multidisciplinary artist from Toronto. He works in painting, installation, graphic and textile design, illustration, sign painting and tattooing.
LISTEN | Naheed Nenshi and Christina Wong meetonThe Next Chapter: The Next Chapter20:07Canada Reads Panellist Naheed Nenshi and Denison Avenue author Christina Wong meet for the first time
4.This Summer Will Be Differentby Carley Fortune
Vacationing one summer on Prince Edward Island, Lucy meets Felix in an electric, chemistry-filled night. Only one problem: Felix is her best friend Bridget's younger brother. On her annual return trips to P.E.I., Lucy vows to avoid Felix and his bed, thatThis Summer Will Be Different— easier said than done. When Bridget rushes home to P.E.I. in crisis a week before her wedding, Lucy can only follow and remind herself to protect her heart, but finally wonders if she really wants to do that after all.
- How Carley Fortune's buzzy romance books are making beloved Canadian locations seem ... sexy
Fortuneis a Toronto-based writer and journalist who has worked as an editor for Refinery29, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine and Toronto Life. Her previous books areEvery Summer AfterandMeet Me at the Lake, whichwas a contender forCanada Reads2024,championed by Mirian Njoh.
LISTEN | Carley Fortune on leaving journalism to become a romance novelist: 385:50:00Carley Fortune: On leaving journalism to become a romance novelist
3.Bad Creeby Jessica Johns
Bad Creecentres around a young woman named Mackenzie, who is haunted by terrifying nightmares and wracked with guilt about her sister Sabrina's untimely death. The lines between her dreams and reality start to blur when she begins seeing a murder of crows following her around the city — and starts getting threatening text messages from someone claiming to be her dead sister.
Looking to escape, Mackenzie heads back to her hometown in rural Alberta where she finds her family still entrenched in their grief. With her dreams intensifying and getting more dangerous, Mackenzie must confront a violent family legacy and reconcile with the land and her community.
Athlete and CBC Sports broadcaster Dallas Soonias championedBad CreeonCanada Reads2024.
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'It's not like you can put it on the doorstep': Dallas Soonias talks trauma in the subtext ofBad Cree
Johns is a queer nehiyaw aunty with English-Irish ancestry and a member of Sucker Creek First Nation. Johns won the2020 Writers' Trust Journey Prizefor the short storyBad Cree, which evolved into the novel of the same name.Bad Creealso won the MacEwan Book of the Year prize. Johns is currently based in Edmonton.
LISTEN | Dallas Soonias and Jessica Johns discussBad Cree: The Next Chapter19:53Canada Reads Panellist Dallas Soonias and Bad Cree author Jessica Johns meet for the first time
2.The Grey Wolfby Louise Penny
In the 19th instalment of the Armand Gamache series,The Grey Wolffollows Chief Inspector Gamache and his allies as they pursue a deadly threat from Three Pines, Quebec, across the province and beyond. What starts as one murder evolves into a desperate mission to track a creature that has the potential to devastate cities and towns including Three Pines. Dealing with betrayal, suspicion and loyalty, Gamache must rely on his instincts to unravel the mystery before it's too late.
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Louise Penny shares 5 books that inspired her to write the Armand Gamache mystery series
Louise Pennyis a former CBC broadcaster and journalist. She is now the author of the Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series andrecipient of the 2020 Agatha Awardfor best contemporary novel for the 16th installment in the series,All the Devils are Here. She collaborated with former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton to write the political thrillerState of Terror. Penny was named to theOrder of Canada in 2013.
LISTEN | Louise Penny on her unlikely journey to becoming a bestselling thriller writer: CBC Books7:34Bestselling crime writer Louise Penny on finding her voice as an author
1.Moon of the Crusted Snowby Waubgeshig Rice
Moon of the Crusted Snowis a dystopian drama involving a protagonist named Evan Whiteskyanda northern Anishinaabe community facing dwindling resources and rising panic after their electrical power grid shuts down during a cold winter. While the community tries to maintain order, forces from outside and within threaten to destroy the reserve.
- 'I can create the future I want to see': Why Canada Reads-longlisted author Waub Rice loves the writing life
Riceis an Anishinaabe author andjournalist originally from Wasauksing First Nation. He is also the author of theshort story collectionMidnight Sweatlodgeand the novelsMoon of the Turning LeavesandLegacy.He used to be the host of CBC Radio'sUp North.
LISTEN | Waubgeshig Rice on his dystopian novel: Unreserved12:28'Blew my mind': How Waubgeshig Rice's post-apocalyptic plot became a reality