Canadian booksellers pick top LGBT books of 2012

When asked about the top LGBT books of the year, Canadian booksellers offered many thought-provoking choices.

Scott Dagostino, manager of Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop, says, “I could go on and on about the great books we have in stock. And the great taste of our customers, who have rewarded these authors for their talent and risk-taking.”

Click the thumbnails below to read more about booksellers’ picks.

Canadian booksellers pick top science fiction and fantasy books of 2012

Q&Q contacted independent booksellers across Canada to get their picks for the top science fiction and fantasy titles of 2012.

Chris Szego, manager of Toronto’s BakkaPhoenix Books, says sci-fi and fantasy are becoming mainstream genres. She speculates the appeal is a byproduct of big-budget film franchises such as Harry Potter, Batman, and Lord of the Rings.

Over the past year, Walter Bruce Sinclair, co-owner of Vancouver’s White Dwarf Books, has observed the waning of Twilight-style fiction. “There has been a glut of paranormal romance and zombie novels, which have crowded out other genres,” he says. “This seems to be running its course, and we’re starting to see a resurgence of hard science fiction.”

Click on the thumbnails below to read more about the year’s biggest books.

Canadian booksellers pick the top crime and mystery books of 2012

Q&Q contacted booksellers across Canada to uncover the most popular crime and mystery titles of 2012.

Click on the thumbnails to discover the booksellers’ top titles.

Canadian booksellers pick the top non-fiction books of 2012

Among Canadian booksellers contacted by Q&Q, there was a general consensus that 2012 was a conservative year for non-fiction.

David Worsley, co-owner of Words Worth Books in Waterloo, Ontario, observed: “The big titles are spread out across genres. But there has been lots of interest in biographies, especially rock ’n’ roll biographies.”

Mike Hamm, manager of Bookmark in Halifax, found his customers gravitating toward more austere non-fiction narratives. “This year featured strong sales for titles that were very contemplative and ultra-serious in tone,” he says.

Click on the thumbnails to view booksellers’ picks for the top non-fiction titles of 2012.

Canadian booksellers pick the top graphic novels of 2012

According to booksellers contacted by Q&Q, graphic novels continue their move into the mainstream.

Jason Grimmer, manager of Montreal’s Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, says, “People are starting to look at graphic novels as literature.”

Calum Johnston, owner of Halifax’s Strange Adventures, observes: “Libraries, bookstores, schools, and universities keep adding comics to their curriculum and shelves. So the chance of people coming into contact with graphic novels is improving.”

Click on the thumbnails below to explore booksellers’ picks for best graphic novels of the year.

Canadian booksellers pick the top cookbooks of 2012

According to booksellers contacted by Q&Q, cookbooks that focus on ingredient-based specialty cooking have made a major resurgence.

Mika Bareket of Toronto’s Good Egg says, “Some of the biggest and best books of the year have been very focused on regional authenticity, some as specific as to a particular province or region within a nation. This trend replaces the more worldly chef-driven trends of previous years, which tend to yield culturally broad cookbooks.”

Click the thumbnails below to explore booksellers’ picks for the top cookbooks of 2012.

Early Christmas present for Random House employees, Mo Yan comments on censorship, and more

• Random House employees receive $5,000 Christmas bonus
• Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan says censorship is necessary
• Is the book always better than the film?
• New Whitney Houston biography tells the story of her rise to stardom
• Brain Pickings’ Maria Popova selects best picture books of 2012
• Roberto Calasso’s new book on Baudelaire is an “analogical history” of the poet’s career

Drawn & Quarterly’s recipe for success, fake deaths in literature, and more

• Drawn & Quarterly’s success in a tough publishing market
• Comedy writer David Nobbs on faked deaths in literature
• Great novels that received terrible reviews
• The book that taught Kurt Vonnegut about sex
• Hachette Book Group develops new ebook terms
• Amazon and Google start ebook sales in Brazil

Harlequin and Cosmopolitan partner to create erotic ebook series, David Foster Wallace’s personal dictionary, and more

• Harlequin and Cosmo team to create bi-monthly erotic short-story series
• Fragments from David Foster Wallace’s personal dictionary
  
• Charles Dickens Museum reopens after £3 million restoration
• How to give and wrap ebooks and apps
• Ayana Mathis’ The Twelve Tribes of Hatti is Oprah’s next book-club pick

J.K. Rowling’s Casual Vacancy to be adapted for television, the legality of selling used books, and more

• The Casual Vacancy to be dramatized for a BBC television series
• Could selling a used book become illegal in the U.S.?
• Writer Elisabeth de Mariaffi shares her favourite erotic reads
• Powell’s Books in Portland creates beer inspired by Moby-Dick
• A tribute to Oxford American magazine
• Zoë Heller writes scathing review of Salman Rushdies’ Joseph Anton