Bestsellers Around the World: Canada and Australia

A couple of months ago I came up with an idea to start a regular feature where I take a look at the bestseller lists for a particular country and compare them to the Australian one! The first month I looked at the British bestseller list, and then last month it was France.  This month I am taking a look at a Canadian bestseller list.

Here is the Top 10 Fiction list from the Toronto Star for the week ending August 19:

1. The Book of Lost Names, Kristin Harmel Gallery 
2. American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins, Flatiron 
3. The Silent Wife, Karin Slaughter, William Morrow 
4. The End of Her, Shari Lapena, Doubleday Canada 
5. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens, G.P. Putnam’s 
6. The Midwife Murders, James Patterson, Richard DiLallo, Grand Central 
7. The Woman Before Wallis, Bryn Turnbull, Mira 
8. The Guest List, Lucy Foley, William Morrow 
9. Their Last Secret, Rick Mofina, Mira 
10. The Order, Daniel Silva, HarperCollins Canada 

And here is the Top 10 for Australia as at 15 August from BetterReading.com

1. When She Was Good by Michael Robotham (Hachette)
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Hachette)
3. The Yield by Tara June Winch (Hamish Hamilton)
4. 1st Case by James Patterson (Century)
5. The Order by Daniel Silva (HarperCollins)
6. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (Harper Collins)
7. Say No More by Karen Rose (Hachette)
8. A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville (Text Publishing)
9. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Affirm Press)
10. The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)

The last time I looked at the Australian bestsellers list was in mid June. Of the books on this current list Boys Swallows Universe, The Dictionary of Lost of Words and Where the Crawdad Sing were there two months ago.  I still need to get around to reading the first two of these books. I own Dictionary of Lost Words having bought it when it first came out, but I haven't quite managed to crack it open yet.

The two other books on this list that call to me are both Australian authors, and I heard them speaking at Melbourne Writers Festival. I am very interested in reading The Yield by Tara June Winch  and the other is A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville. I have read Grenville's previous historical novels so I will get to this one eventually.

It is interesting that Where the Crawdads Sing is still appearing on lists around the world even thought the book was released two years ago. I don't see this book disappearing off the lists any time soon given that there is now going to be a movie made of it.

When I look at the Canadian list, the two historical fiction novels are the two that I am drawn to the most. The Book of Lost Names is a WWII novel based on a true story. The title of The Woman Before Wallis is kind of self explanatory if you have any knowledge of 20th century English history but it also includes links to American "royalty", the Vanderbilts. It sounds like quite a read.

The two Canadian authors are Shari Lapena and Rick Mofina. Both of these novels are crime novels, with Shari Lapena's appearing to be a twisty turny suspense novel. It turns out that Mofina has written around 25 novels, and won multiple writing prizes, and he has a very interesting life story.

Are there any of these titles that you find interesting? Have you read any of these books or authors?

Next month, I am planning to take a look at the bestsellers list in South Africa!

I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon, which is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz