The bestselling books in Canada for the week ending Oct. 19, 2022

The Toronto playwright and novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald moves onto the fiction lists this week with her fourth novel, “Fayne.” It has all the trappings of success, including an immersive gothic plot set in the late 19th century in a remote manse on the English-Scotland border and a heroine with a tangled family history and a mysterious disorder. Add in themes of identity and feminism and you have a book with a gravitational pull to book clubs everywhere. It debuts at No. 9 on the Original Fiction list and No. 1 on the Canadian list.

Maggie Knox, the pen name of Toronto writers Karma Brown and Marissa Stapley, has a double entry on the Canadian list this week, first with her breezy new romance “All I Want for Christmas (No. 5) and a new edition of last year’s “The Holiday Swap” (No. 6), both set during the festive season.

“The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series” joins the Original Non-Fiction list at No. 5. It’s written by Glamour senior editor and superfan Jessica Radloff (the publisher says she’s written 150 stories on the show and appeared in the finale).

There have maybe too many articles, books and documentaries about Anthony Bourdain since he died by suicide in 2018. “Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain,” by Charles Leerhsen, is the first I’m aware of that hasn’t been mediated by the entourage that surrounded the celebrity cook and traveller. This sure isn’t the sanitized version: Leerhsen’s account is deeply researched and succeeds in capturing the unauthorized Bourdain. I’m just reading the section on his high school years; there are so many interviews with old friends and teachers that I now know more about Bourdain’s youth than I can remember of mine. It debuts on the Original Non-Fiction list at No. 8.

— Sarah Murdoch

The bestseller lists are compiled by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited from information provided by BookNet Canada’s national sales tracking service, BNC SalesData.

ORIGINAL FICTION

1. It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria (59)*

2. Long Shadows, David Baldacci, Grand Central (1)

3. Fairy Tale, Stephen King, Scribner (6)

4. The Winners, Fredrik Backman, Simon & Schuster (3)

5. The High Notes, Danielle Steel, Delacorte (1)

6. Verity, Colleen Hoover, Grand Central (42)

7. Mad Honey, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Random House Canada (2)

8. Dreamland, Nicholas Sparks, Doubleday Canada (4)

9. Fayne, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Knopf Canada (1)

10. Healing Through Words, Rupi Kaur, Simon & Schuster (3)

ORIGINAL NON-FICTION

1. Guinness World Records 2023, Guinness World Records (7)

2. Confidence Man, Maggie Haberman, Penguin (2)

3. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster (9)

4. Live Wire, Kelly Ripa, Dey Street (3)

5. The Big Bang Theory, Jessica Radloff, Grand Central (1)

6. A Little Bit Broken, Roz Weston, Doubleday Canada (3)

7. The Daughter of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant, Hanover Square (6)

8. Down and Out in Paradise, Charles Leerhsen, Simon & Schuster (1)

9. Beyond Order, Jordan B. Peterson, Random House Canada (15)

10. An Encyclopedia of Tolkien, David Day, Canterbury Classics (2)

CANADIAN FICTION

1. Fayne, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Knopf Canada

2. Healing Through Words, Rupi Kaur, Simon & Schuster

3. A Ballet of Lepers, Leonard Cohen, McClelland & Stewart

4. Five Little Indians, Michelle Good, Harper Perennial

5. All I Want for Christmas, Maggie Knox, Viking

6. The Holiday Swap, Maggie Knox, Penguin Canada

7. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood, McClelland & Stewart

8. Every Summer After, Carley Fortune, Viking

9. The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, Bianca Marais, MIRA

10. The Maid, Nita Prose, Viking

CANADIAN NON-FICTION

1. A Little Bit Broken, Roz Weston, Doubleday Canada

2. Beyond Order, Jordan B. Peterson, Random House Canada

3. 12 Rules for Life, Jordan B. Peterson, Random House Canada

4. No Bootstraps When You’re Barefoot, Wes Hall, Random House Canada

5. The Future Is Now, Bob McDonald, Viking

6. Namwayut: We Are All One, Chief Robert Joseph, Page Two

7. Ducks, Kate Beaton, Drawn & Quarterly

8. 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act, Bob Joseph, Indigenous Relations

9. The Series, Ken Dryden, McClelland & Stewart

10. The Save of My Life, Corey Hirsch, Sean Patrick Conboy, Collins

CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling, Jim Kay, Neil Packer, Bloomsbury Children’s Books

2. InvestiGators: Heist and Seek, John Patrick Green, First Second

3. The Babysitters Club: Jessi’s Secret Language, Ann M. Martin, Chan Chau, Graphix

4. Leaves!, Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko, Scholastic

5. Little Blue Truck’s Halloween, Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry, Clarion

6. The Bad Seed Presents: the Good, the Bad, and the Spooky, Jory John, Pete Oswald, HarperCollins

7. Narwhalicorn and Jelly (Book #7), Ben Clanton, Tundra

8. The First to Die at the End, Adam Silvera, Quill Tree

9. Little Blue Truck Makes a Friend, Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry, Clarion

10. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson, Ember

BUSINESS AND PERSONAL FINANCE

1. Atomic Habits, James Clear, Avery

2. The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel, Harriman House

3. Discipline is Destiny, Ryan Holiday, Portfolio

4. Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert T. Kiyosaki, Plata

5. Dare to Lead, Brené Brown, Random House

6. Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, Ray Dalio, Avid Reader

7. Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink, Leif Babin, St. Martin’s

8. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey, Sean Covey, Jim Collins, Simon & Schuster

9. The Intelligent Investor (Rev. Ed.), Benjamin Graham, Harper Business

10. The Coaching Habit, Michael Stanier Bungay, Page Two

* Number of weeks on list

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