Kobo has just released their annual Book Report, and they primarily focus on the Canadian market, since their main office is located in Toronto. They have found that in 2023, Canadians’ reading increased 13%. The most popular books this year were drawn to page-to-screen adaptations, including American Prometheus and A Man Called Ove. Additionally, Canadian interest in the Biography and Memoir genre spiked by 20%, with blockbusters like Spare, as well as Matthew Perry’s Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing among the top best-sellers for the year.
In terms of audiobooks, Prince Harry’s Spare, Britney Spears’s The Woman in Me, and Matthew Perry’s Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing emerged as the three most popular audiobooks of 2023. Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights and Michelle Obama’s The Light We Carry were also among the most popular audiobooks of the year.
This year, Canada’s most popular reading day was January 8, 2023, while the most popular reading months were July and August. The most-read days of the week were Sunday and Monday. Overall, Canadians spent the most time reading in the late evening, with users across the country opting to enjoy their books between 10:00 and 11:00 PM.
“In troubled times, when people feel uncertain, they turn enthusiastically to reading. We’ve seen groundbreaking new releases and outstanding page-to-screen adaptations take the world by storm,” said Michael Tamblyn, CEO of Rakuten Kobo. “We are delighted to note that our Canadian readers are reading more and more often – everything from memoirs, romance, self-help to fantasy.”
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.