Toronto Star bestsellers for Sept. 4, 2024

A week after its release, Tanya Talaga’s “The Knowing” takes the top spot in both the overall non-fiction list and the Canadian list. It’s a retelling of Canadian history from a First Nations standpoint and its popularity attests to the popularity of books by Indigenous authors.
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass,” published in 2015, and Bob Joseph’s “21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act,” which came out in 2018, are evergreen bestsellers, this week at No. 6 and 7 respectively. On the Canadian list, 2019’s “Indigenous Relations,” also by Bob Joseph, Niigaan Sinclair’s recent “Wînipêk” and Michelle Good’s 2023 “Truth Telling” also hold down spots on this week’s Canadian non-fiction list.
Thus, eight out of 20 spots on the two non-fiction lists represent the Indigenous world.
The other strong showing this week is the debut of Roxana Spicer’s “The Traitor’s Daughter,” a memoir of growing up in small-town Saskatchewan with her mysterious Russian mother. The subtitle gives us an intriguing glimpse of what to expect: “Captured by Nazis, Pursued by the KGB, My Mother’s Odyssey to Freedom from Her Secret Past.” It debuts on the non-fiction list at No. 3, on the Canadian list at No. 2.
ORIGINAL FICTION
1. Daydream, Hannah Grace, Atria (2)
2. It Ends With Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria (97)
3. It Starts With Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria (33)
4. What Have You Done?, Shari Lapena, Doubleday Canada (5)
5. The Pumpkin Spice Café, Laurie Gilmore, One More Chapter (2)
6. The Dark Wives, Ann Cleeves, PAN (1)
7. The Housemaid, Freida McFadden, Grand Central (10)
8. The Briar Club, Kate Quinn, William Morrow (9)
9. Talking to Strangers, Fiona Barton, Penguin Canada (1)
10. By Any Other Name, Jodi Picoult, Random House Canada (2)
ORIGINAL NON-FICTION
1. The Knowing, Tanya Talaga, HarperCollins Canada (2)
2. The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt, Penguin Press (23)
3. The Traitor’s Daughter, Roxana Spicer, Viking (1)
4. I Heard There Was a Secret Chord, Daniel J. Levitin, Allen Lane (1)
5. Imminent, Luis Elizondo, William Morrow (2)
6. Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions (147)
7. 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act, Bob Joseph, Indigenous Relations (37)
8. At War With Ourselves, H.R. McMaster, Harper (1)
9. Autocracy Inc., Anne Applebaum, Signal (5)
10. What This Comedian Said Will Shock You, Bill Maher, Simon & Schuster (14)
CANADIAN FICTION
1. What Have You Done?, Shari Lapena, Doubleday Canada
2. When the World Fell Silent, Donna Jones Alward, One More Chapter
3. In Winter I Get Up at Night, Jane Urquhart, McClelland & Stewart
4. This Summer Will Be Different, Carley Fortune, Viking
5. Fall With Me, Becka Mack, Simon & Schuster
6. Till Death Do Us Part, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, Simon & Schuster
7. Butcher and Blackbird, Brynne Weaver, Zando
8. Consider Me, Becka Mack, Simon & Schuster
9. Play With Me, Becka Mack, Simon & Schuster
10. Unravel Me, Becka Mack, Simon & Schuster
CANADIAN NON-FICTION
1. The Knowing, Tanya Talaga, HarperCollins Canada
2. The Traitor’s Daughter, Roxana Spicer, Viking
3. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry, Flatiron
4. I Heard There Was a Secret Chord, Daniel J. Levitin, Allen Lane
5. 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act, Bob Joseph, Indigenous Relations
6. The War We Won Apart, Nahlah Ayed, Viking
7. Wînipêk, Niigaan Sinclair, McClelland & Stewart
8. The Beautiful Dream, Atiba Hutchinson, Dan Robson, Viking
9. Indigenous Relations, Bob Joseph, Page Two
10. Truth Telling, Michelle Good, Harper Perennial
CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT
1. Bluey: Awesome Advent Book Bundle, Penguin Young Readers
2. Powerless, Lauren Roberts, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
3. The Wild Robot, Peter Brown, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
4. Reckless, Lauren Roberts, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
5. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson, Ember
6. First Day Jitters, Julie Danneberg, Judy Love, Charlesbridge
7. The New Girl (#1), Cassandra Calin, Graphix
8. Bluey’s Halloween Mix-and-Match, Penguin Young Readers
9. The Night Before Kindergarten, Natasha Wing, Julie Durrell, Grosset & Dunlap
10. Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder (#12), Dav Pilkey, Graphix 
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
1. The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene, Joost Elffers, Penguin
2. The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk, Penguin
3. The Mountain Is You, Brianna Wiest, Thought Catalog
4. The Courage to Be Disliked, Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga, Simon & Schuster
5. 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think, Brianna Wiest, Thought Catalog
6. The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills, Amber-Allen
7. The Creative Act, Rick Rubin, Penguin
8. The Pivot Year, Brianna Wiest, Thought Catalog
9. How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie, Gallery
10 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Mark Manson, Harper
* Weeks on list.