Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte - “a map of the official policies and societal pressures that are shredding our leisure into useless bits of time confetti, fragmenting our humanity and, perhaps most disturbing, putting our children at risk,” as our Star reviewer described it, and how to claw back some of that time - made the top spot an ironic choice for a holiday read. The criteria for the lists, according to Amazon.ca, is “developed based on Amazon Book Editors’ favourite books” and do not necessarily reflect sales data.

Online retailer Amazon.ca also asked its book editors to put together a list of their top 25 books overall. The Troop by Nick Cutter and This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki also made the Canadian top five. Up, Up & Away by Jonah Keri, a history of the Montreal Expos, made the list for baseball fans. As close as it gets to autobiography, the Star said, “It’s about two sisters, Elfrieda, a beautiful, accomplished, world-famous pianist who wants to die, and Yolandi, her younger sister, who really wants her to stay alive.” Next is All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, which has been garnering accolades and creating buzz as much for Toews’ writing as for the topic she tackles. Pigeons atop a restaurant sign are ‘crammed together like a group of teenagers making trouble on a bench.’”

The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O’Neill, whose writing in this book was, the Star said, “like a sort of demented angel with an uncanny knack for metaphor. If you’re looking for some holiday reading this summer, Amazon.ca has released three lists of its top books of 2014 so far.

All my puny sorrows amazon