The six most popular fiction books checked out last year at the D.C. Public Library.
For all that D.C.’s public libraries have become a home for other things—laser printers, passport applications, a memory lab, a rooftop garden, punk archive, even speed dating—their heart is still books.
And this year, Washingtonians checked out—or downloaded—more than three million items, including books, magazines, movies, and music. These were the most popular titles across the city, according to the library’s figures.
Fiction books:
1. The Girl on the Train; Paula Hawkins
2. All the Light We Cannot See; Anthony Doerr
3. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao; Junot Díaz
4. Americanah; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
5. Fates and Furies: A Novel; Lauren Groff
6. All Aunt Hagar’s Children; Edward P. Jones
7. The Sympathizer: A Novel; Viet Thanh Nguyen
8. Go Set a Watchman: A Novel; Harper Lee
9. The Nest; Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
10. Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice; Curtis Sittenfeld
Non-fiction books:
1. Between the World and Me; Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. Modern Romance; Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg
3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing; Marie Kondo
4. When Breath Becomes Air; Paul Kalanithi and Abraham Verghese
5. Why Not Me?; Mindy Kaling
6. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics; Daniel James Brown
7. GED Connection Language Arts: Writing & Reading; Lisa Moore and The Kentucky Network
8. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End; Atul Gawande
9. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business; Charles Duhigg
10.Thinking, Fast and Slow; Daniel Kahneman
Fiction e-books:
1. Fates and Furies: A Novel; Lauren Groff
2. The Goldfinch: A Novel; Donna Tartt
3. The Martian: A Novel; Andy Weir
4. All the Light We Cannot See; Anthony Doerr
5. Americanah; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
6. The Girl on the Train: A Novel; Paula Hawkins
7. Station Eleven: A Novel; Emily St. John Mandel
8. A Little Life: A Novel; Hanya Yanagihara
9. My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Series, Book 1; Elena Ferrante
10. The Nightingale; Kristin Hannah
Non-fiction e-books:
1. Between the World and Me; Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. Why Not Me?; Mindy Kaling
3. Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg
4. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing; Marie Kondo
5. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania; Erik Larson
6. Alexander Hamilton; Ron Chernow
7. Yes Please; Amy Poehler
8. When Breath Becomes Air; Paul Kalanithi
9. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear; Elizabeth Gilbert
10. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking; Susan Cain
Fiction audiobooks:
1. The Girl on the Train; Paula Hawkins
2. All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel; Anthony Doerr
3. My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Series, Book 1; Elena Ferrante
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Harry Potter Series, Book 1; J. K. Rowling
5. Fates and Furies: A Novel (unabridged), Lauren Groff
6. Go Set a Watchman (unabridged); Harper Lee
7. The Goldfinch; Donna Tartt
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Harry Potter Series, Book 2; J. K. Rowling
9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Harry Potter Series, Book 3; J. K. Rowling
10.To Kill a Mockingbird; Harper Lee
Non-fiction audiobooks:
1. Modern Romance; Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg
2. Between the World and Me; Ta-Nehisi Coates
3. Why Not Me?; Mindy Kaling
4. Yes Please; Amy Poehler
5. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing; Marie Kondo
6. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (unabridged); Brené Brown
7. Bossypants; Tina Fey
8. Alexander Hamilton; Ron Chernow
9. H Is for Hawk; Helen Macdonald
10.Hamilton: The Revolution; Lin-Manuel Miranda
Rachel Sadon