Revealing Indigo’s Best Books of the Year is our Oscar moment. It’s what readers eagerly await year after year. And to find the titles that truly stand out, our expert booklovers read hundreds of stories (sometimes 2.5 books a day!). They round up a list of the top 50, then top 10, and then—drumroll—number one. But what makes a winning book? We spoke to Brandon Forsyth, committee chair and category manager, and Amanda Gauthier, category director, to bring you inside the review committee and find out how the lists get made.

What do you consider when selecting titles?

Amanda: We start in April, looking at everything we’ve been reading, what our customers are talking about, what’s getting reviewed, and trends to follow. Over the summer, our committee leader creates the longlist. From there, we build out a shortlist of about 100 titles. We look for representation across genres, ensuring we’re thinking about Canadian writers and BIPOC writers.

How do you begin narrowing down the list?

Amanda: The first job is to narrow down those 100 books, and the only way to do that is to read them. We host a reading week for everybody on the committee, where all we do is read. It’s a lot! And we have a lot of fun doing it. Afterward, the debates begin.

How are the debates structured? Do they ever get heated?

Amanda: They do! We try to diversify the committee so that we get people with different reading backgrounds, different jobs at the company, and lots of perspectives. Everybody gets a chance to say why they think a book is the right book. We go into this with the understanding that there’s going to be some candour. The books are delivered to each committee member’s house, and they can start anywhere, so it’s really interesting if everyone felt drawn to pick up the same book first. We ask questions like: Was this compelling enough? Will it stand the test of time? Was it a good read from the opening page?

Brandon: It’s literature, it touches you, and, in a way, it is deeply personal. So, it’s hard when someone disagrees with you. This year we tried very consciously to keep it grounded and understand that not everyone is going to have the same experience with each book.

What does “the best” mean to the committee?

Amanda: We want anybody to be able to walk into one of our stores and pick up any book from the list and not regret it. We want the list to capture what it meant to be a reader that year. We take into consideration #BookTok, politics, what’s happening in the world, and conversations we’re having. For example, Fourth Wing is on our top 10 list. It’s a sci-fi fantasy book about a disabled girl who goes to a dragon training school. And it’s very spicy. It was a huge sensation on #BookTok and it’s bringing readers together across many genres. That would not have happened 10 years ago.

Brandon: We make sure all perspectives are represented so that our top 10 list has something for everybody. Hello Beautiful is this wonderful, literary play on Little Women that we think will speak to a wide array of customers.