Popular books from 2017 – Library borrowing lists

Canny library users know that one of the best places to find inspiration for their next read is the ‘Returned Books’ shelf in any library; in fact we often have a display of ‘Recently returned books’ as this effectively serves as recommendations from fellow students and staff.

I enjoyed browsing the titles of most popular books borrowed from the New York Public Library over the Christmas holidays – interesting to see how they differ from the most popular and talked about books in the UK.

Top 10 Books Systemwide (NYPL)

• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Underground Railroad: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
• The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett​

Some of my favourite books from 2017 were:

Fiction:

• La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume 1 by Philip Pullman – The first book in the planned fantasy trilogy this time set when protagonist Lyra is a baby. Beautiful writing with wonderful characters and plot. A treat for all ages after many years waiting!
• My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal. Funny and touching story of a little boy with themes of adoption, fostering and sibling love.
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• Instructions for a heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell
• The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
• The Power by Naomi Alderman
• Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
• Mom and Me and Mom by Maya Angelou
• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
• Heresy by S.J. Parris

Graphic novels:

We have an ever expanding collection of graphic novels in the library – many of them on history and a great way to absorb lots of information quickly and in an enjoyable format.

• Hostage by Guy DeLisle
• Illegal by Eoin Colfer
• How to understand Israel in 60 days or less by Sarah Glidden

Young Adult Fiction:

• Moonrise by Sarah Crossan
• We come apart by Sarah Crossan
• Beck by Mal Peet

Most borrowed fiction from Wellington College Library during the Michaelmas Term  (September to December 2017)

• The woman in black by Susan Hill
• The outsiders S.E Hinton
• One by Sarah Crossan
• Moonrise by Sarah Crossan
• The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
• She is not invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
• Gone by Michael Grant
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
• The husband’s Secret Moriarty by Liane Moriarty
• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
• Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
• Big little lies by Liane Moriarty

Top non-fiction last term:

• Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden  by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
• Periodic tales : the curious lives of the elements by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
• Other minds : the octopus, the sea and the deep origins of consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith