100 of the most popular Canadian books of all time
Ah, Canada Day… with the BBQ prepped, the cottage decked out in red and white, it’s time to celebrate our country’s birthday, but also to unwind, relax and read. Why not mark the occasion with Canada’s most beloved books?
Over the years, authors from our very own backyard as well as authors who found inspiration in the Canadian mosaic have been regaling us with stories and enthralling us with ideas fueled by creativity and passion, winning the hearts of bookworms not only here in Canada, but around the world.
To determine which Canadian books Kobo readers loved most, we looked at sales volume, the rate at which readers actually got around to reading these books, and finally we factored in which were read all the way to the end. Here is our list of Kobo fan favourites:
- The Book Of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
- Still Life by Louise Penny
- The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre
- The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
- The Birth House by Ami McKay
- Ru by Kim Thúy
- Bone and Bread by Saleema Nawaz
- February by Lisa Moore
- The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King
- A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena
- The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O'Neill
- The Party by Robyn Harding
- Annabel by Kathleen Winter
- The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
- The Break by Katherena Vermette
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
- Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill
- Parting Shot by Linwood Barclay
- Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
- Goodnight from London by Jennifer Robson
- A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
- Rituals by Kelley Armstrong
- Sweetland by Michael Crummey
- Canada by Richard Ford
- The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew
- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson
- Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers
- Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie Macdonald
- Rush Home Road by Lori Lansens
- Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
- Birdie by Tracey Lindberg
- Heart of the City by Robert Rotenberg
- Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
- The Imam of Tawi-Tawi by Ian Hamilton
- Immortally Yours by Lynsay Sands
- The Complete Anne of Green Gables Collection by L.M. Montgomery
- One Brother Shy by Terry Fallis
- The Boat People by Sharon Bala
- First Snow, Last Light by Wayne Johnston
- This Fallen Prey by Kelley Armstrong
- Brother by David Chariandy
- The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
- The Promise of Canada by Charlotte Gray
- Cataract City by Craig Davidson
- Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley
- The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal
- In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje
- Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
- No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
- Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
- Feeding My Mother by Jann Arden
- Twice Bitten by Lynsay Sands
- The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart
- Until It Fades by K.A. Tucker
- Two Solitudes by Hugh Maclennan
- Cockroach by Rawi Hage
- Trumpocracy by David Frum
- The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie Macdonald
- No Is Not Enough by Naomi Klein
- A Good House by Bonnie Burnard
- A Student of Weather by Elizabeth Hay
- All The Way by Jordan Tootoo
- Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
- The Dutch Wife by Ellen Keith
- The Colony Of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
- Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
- The Outlander by Gil Adamson
- Surrender to the Highlander by Lynsay Sands
- Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
- A Newfoundlander in Canada by Alan Doyle
- Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga
- Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
- Bear by Marian Engel
- Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright
- The Time in Between by David Bergen
- The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe
- Skitter by Ezekiel Boone
- Deafening by Frances Itani
- The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence, Adele Wiseman
- The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
- River Thieves by Michael Crummy
- Offside by Sean Avery, Michael McKinley
- Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings
- Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat
- I Hear She's a Real Bitch by Jen Agg
- The Trickster's Lullaby by Barbara Fradkin
- Is Canada Even Real? by J.C. Villamere
- Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
- The Canadaland Guide to Canada by Jesse Brown, Vicky Mochama, Nick Zarzycki
- Wildwood by Elinor Florence
- The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
- Christmas at the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean
- Last Seen by Rick Mofina
- The Game: 30th Anniversary Edition by Ken Dryden
- Kit's Law by Donna Morrissey
- The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore by Kim Fu
- Beautiful Scars by Tom Wilson
- Reckless Daughter by David Yaffe
- Game Change by Ken Dryden
- Fifth Business by Robertson Davies