What books did Canadian library patrons love in 2023? In this blog post, we share lists of the most circulated books by Canadian contributors in the Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Juvenile & Young Adult subject categories.
The following lists were created based on data from January 1, 2023, to December 3, 2023, using LibraryData, BookNet’s national library collection and circulation analysis tool.
A quick note about the Juvenile and Young Adult lists: LibraryData uses ISBN clusters to track circulation, holds, etc. in the system. (This differs from SalesData, which reports data at a per-ISBN level.) We do this because of how libraries report their collection data to us — their data is broken out by their Catalog ID or record. Each record can contain multiple ISBNs, often all of the editions of a single work. When you use the library, you put a hold on a copy of Pride and Prejudice, for example, and you usually don't mind which particular edition or ISBN you receive — just that you get the first available copy! Some clusters may contain ISBNs for different but related works. For example, occasionally all of the titles in a series or set may be clustered as a single work.
Top 10 most circulated Canadian Fiction books of 2023
The Maid by Nita Prose 🍁
The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny 🍁
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good 🍁
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr 🍁
Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall 🍁
Fayne by Ann-Marie MacDonald 🍁
Women Talking by Miriam Toews 🍁
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel 🍁
The Push by Ashley Audrain 🍁
Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood 🍁
You can see all of these titles in this CataList catalogue: Most Circulated Titles in Canada in 2023 – Canadian Fiction
The Maid by Nita Prose is, for the second year in a row, the most circulated Canadian Fiction title. Other authors who were also present in last year’s list are Louise Penny, Michelle Good, Emily St. John Mandel, and Ashley Audrain.
Top 10 most circulated Canadian Non-Fiction books of 2023
The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté 🍁 and Daniel Maté 🍁
Ducks by Kate Beaton 🍁
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry 🍁
Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley 🍁
Pageboy by Elliot Page 🍁
From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle 🍁
Outlive by Peter Attia 🍁 and Bill Gifford
12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson 🍁
Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson 🍁
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell 🍁
You can see all of these titles in this CataList catalogue: Most Circulated Titles in Canada in 2023 – Canadian Non-Fiction
Canadian authors, Sarah Polley, Jesse Thistle, Jordan B. Peterson, and Malcolm Gladwell are back this year with the same titles. The Myth of Normal and Outlive also made it to the overall bestselling Non-Fiction books of 2023.
Top 10 most circulated Canadian Juvenile and Young Adult books of 2023
Guinness World Records collection
Sonic the Hedgehog series by Ian Flynn 🍁
Adventure Time series by Pendleton Ward, Kate Leth 🍁, et al.
Robert Munsch collection
Sparks! series by Ian Boothby 🍁; Illustrated by Nina Matsumoto 🍁
Jon le Bon series by Alex A. 🍁
Besties series by Kayla Miller and Jeffrey Canino; illustrated by Kristina Luu 🍁
Scaredy Squirrel series by Mélanie Watt 🍁
Whatever After series by Sarah Mlynowski 🍁
Minecraft, Graphic Novel series by Sfé R. Monster 🍁; illustrated by Sarah Graley
You can see all of these titles in this CataList catalogue: Most Circulated Titles in Canada in 2023 – Canadian Juvenile & Young Adult
The Guinness World Records collection leads this list for the second year. Surprisingly, Robert Munsch's books, while still popular, face some competition and are not dominating this year's lists as they did in 2022.
Are you a library staffer or publisher who wants to see more data like this? Check out LibraryData, BookNet’s national library collection and circulation analysis tool. Do you have questions about any of our products, services or this list? Contact us!
The BISAC to Thema translator has been updated.