December 18, 2024, 2:26pm
Today, NYC’s public library systems—The New York Public Library (which serves Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island), Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Public Library—released their lists of the books New Yorkers checked out of the library the most in 2024.
The stats compile checkouts in all formats, and are broken down by library system, borough, and book demographic. There aren’t a ton of big surprises, but it’s a varied and interesting window into what people are reading.
Topping the citywide list was Gabrielle Zevin’s perennially popular Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, followed by two newer books, Happy Place by Emily Henry and Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. Overall, this seems like a pretty representative cross-section of what people are reading: book club darlings, romance, and romantasy. A couple of big prize winners cracked the top ten too: Pulitzer Prize winner Demon Copperhead and National Book Award winner The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
There were a number of new releases that made these top-tens—The Women, James, Crosshairs, Anita de Monte Laughs Last, Never Too Late — but I noticed just as many if not more books from 2023 on these lists. I wonder if people are borrowing the newish, buzzy books that they want to read, but that have been available for just long enough that they no longer feel pressed to plunk down for the hardcover?
The kid book lists are much more homogenous and expected, to my eye. Romantasy and dystopia-for-kids mainstays Sarah J. Maas and Suzanne Collins dominated the YA lists, while Jeff Kinney of Captain Underpants fame commanded the kids’ top tens. With The Hunger Games series, it’s interesting to me that only the first and last books in the series are cracking the top ten — might be related to a fifth Hunger book coming next year?
I’d be curious to see a list that sorts what people are checking out by age range, because I have to imagine a lot of these YA readers are old enough to have bought their first album on CD. I was, however, glad to see that kids/kids-at-heart are still reading A Wrinkle in Time!
There is a throughline to at least one library system’s lists; Queens Public Library Chief Librarian Nick Buron noticed an interesting trend in two out of their three top tens:
While our readers’ adult and young adult choices span a variety of genres, including thrillers, fantasies, historical fiction and romance, they have one interesting thing in common—all of the authors are women.
Queens for queens!
Overall, these are fun lists! As a big fan of the library, I was delighted to see the variety of books that people are checking out — it seems like a lot of us are using the library. And a celebration of a resilient and vital public service, that is open to all and not trying to make money, is exactly the kind of shot in the arm I need at the end of this year.
Here are the lists, in full!
TOP 10 ADULT TITLES
Citywide:
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
2. Happy Place by Emily Henry
3. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
4. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
5. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
6. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
7. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
8. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
9. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
10. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
The New York Public Library Systemwide:
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
2. Happy Place by Emily Henry
3. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
4. The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson
5. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
6. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
7. Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
8. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
9. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
10. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
The Bronx:
1. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
2. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
3. The Women by Kristin Hannah
4. Happy Place by Emily Henry
5. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
6. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
7. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
8. The Exchange: After the Firm by John Grisham
9. Crosshairs by James Patterson and James O. Born
10. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Manhattan:
1. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
3. The Women by Kristin Hannah
4. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
5. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
6. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
7. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
8. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
9. James by Percival Everett
10. Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Staten Island:
1. The Women by Kristin Hannah
2. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
3. Upside Down by Danielle Steel
4. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
5. TIE Happy Place by Emily Henry
6. TIE The Exchange: After The Firm by John Grisham
7. Never Too Late by Danielle Steel
8. The Teacher by Freida McFadden
9. TIE The Coworker by Freida McFadden
10. TIE Never Lie by Freida McFadden
Brooklyn Public Library
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
2. Yellowface: A Novel by R.F. Kuang
3. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
4. Demon Copperhead: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
5. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
6. Hello Beautiful: A Novel by Ann Napolitano
7. Tom Lake: A Novel by Ann Patchett
8. The Fraud by Zadie Smith
9. The Guest: A Novel by Emma Cline
10. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Queens Public Library
1. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
2. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
3. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
5. Babel: An Arcane History by R. F. Kuang
6. The Teacher by Freida McFadden
7. Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
8. Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
9. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
10. It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
TOP 10 YOUNG ADULT TITLES
The New York Public Library
1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
2. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
3. Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
4. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
7. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
8. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
9. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
10. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Brooklyn Public Library
1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
3. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin
7. Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotoge
8. Divine Rivals: A Novel by Rebecca Ross
9. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
10. Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Queens Public Library
1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
2. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
3. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
4. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
5. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
7. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
8. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
9. Lightlark by Alex Aster
10. Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen
TOP 10 CHILDREN TITLES
The New York Public Library
1. No Brainer by Jeff Kinney
2. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
3. Big Shot by Jeff Kinney
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End by Jeff Kinney
6. Cat Kid Comic Club #5: Influencers by Dav Pilkey (words, illustrations, and artwork), with digital color by Jose Garibaldi & Wes Dzioba
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down by Jeff Kinney
9. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney
Brooklyn Public Library
1. Diary of A Wimpy Kid: No Brainer by Jeff Kinney
2. Cat Kid Comic Club #5: Influencers by Dav Pilkey (words, illustrations, and artwork), with digital color by Jose Garibaldi & Wes Dzioba
3. Dog Man: Unleashed by Dav Pilkey
4. Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey
5. Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Diper Överlöad by Jeff Kinney
6. Guts by Raina Telgemeier
7. Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties by Dav Pilkey
8. Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
9. Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild by Dav Pilkey
10. Dog Man: Mothering Heights by Dav Pilkey
Queens Public Library
1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Diper Överlöde by Jeff Kinney
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot by Jeff Kinney
3. Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End by Jeff Kinney
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer by Jeff Kinney
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney
7. Dog Man: Fetch-22 by Dav Pilkey
8. Dog Man: Mothering Heights by Dav Pilkey
9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown by Jeff Kinney
10. Dog Man: Grime and Punishment by Dav Pilkey
