Christie Starnes is the branch manager for the downtown Express Library.
Typically the end of the year brings ‘Best Of Lists’ by critics and booksellers alike, but how many library end-of-year book lists have you seen? We thought you would like to know what Wake County public library patrons have deemed most popular, popular meaning the number of times they were checked out.
There were a couple of surprises that Wake County Public Libraries Acquisitions Department were not quite expecting, such as the growing interest in debut novels. It happens that the most checked-out book of 2010 in the library system was Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel The Help (2009).
In case you haven’t read it, Stockett’s novel unfolds in Jackson, Miss. during the Civil Rights Movement. I understand it aims to make us think about racial lines, but I also read that it is “button-pushing” when dealing with the tones of the South during the 1960s. Wake County owns 365 copies of The Help and it was checked out 4,710 times, beating Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol by 457 check-outs.
It seems young-adult titles for adult readers, most popularized by Harry Potter books and the Twilight saga, continue to grow in popularity. A lot of these books are written by writers who established themselves writing for adults. One well-known author that made a transition from adult to young-adult is James Patterson.
Patterson began several young adult series last year, the most popular being Witch & Wizard and Maximum Ride. The books belonging to these series made it to the New York Best Selling Children’s Series list in 2010. However, it is interesting to note that the most popular of his series with library patrons was his manga, a Japanese graphic novel, typically intended for adults, characterized by highly stylized art, title, Daniel X.
In 2010, book one of Daniel X: Dangerous Days of Daniel X was checked out more than the first books of Patterson’s other best-selling series.
Top 5 Most Popular Adult Books
The Help (2009) by Kathryn Stockett, The Lost Symbol (2009) by Dan Brown, I Alex Cross (2009) by James Patterson, Worst Case (2010) by James Patterson, The 9th Judgment (2010) by James Patterson
Top 5 Most Popular New Adult Fiction Books
Private by James Patterson, Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich, The Postcard Killers by James Patterson, Storm Prey by John Sanford, Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
Top 5 Most Popular NEW Adult Non-Fiction Books
Eat This Not That by David Zinczenko, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris, Decision Points by George Bush, In a Heartbeat by Leigh Anne Tuohy, Angelina, an Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton
Top 5 Most Popular Young-Adult Fiction Books
The Last Olympian (2009) by Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief (2005) by Rick Riordan, Eclipse (2007) by Stephenie Meyer, Witch and Wizard (2009) by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Most Popular E-Book & E-Audio
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) by Stieg Larsson
Independent publishers and booksellers seem to get a raw deal when national newspapers and even public libraries highlight the more widely-known and top-publishing authors, so here is a list of the most popular independent titles from 2010 found at your local Wake County library:
The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman
The Tower, The Zoo, And The Tortoise by Julia Stuart
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
It’s a Book by Lane Smith (Children’s Book)
What Is Left The Daughter by Howard A. Norman
