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NYC Libraries Release Their Top Checkouts Of 2020 Lists

By

Jen Carlson

Published Dec 21, 2020

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Brooklyn Public Library's central branch at Grand Army Plaza

 

Paul O / Flickr

By

Jen Carlson

Published Dec 21, 2020

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What were New Yorkers reading during this year of solitude? While the city's libraries had to close their doors in March as the pandemic took hold of New York, they reopened for grab and go service in July, allowing card holders to come by and pick up physical copies of books once again.

The libraries have now released their annual top 10 checkouts list, the most popular titles giving some insight into the literary appetites of New Yorkers during a time of historic change and, as their press release notes, "unprecedented isolation, issues of social justice, and a country divided." Here's the breakdown by library system:

Brooklyn Public Library

  1. How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
  2. White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
  3. Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney
  4. Becoming by Michelle Obama
  5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  6. Educated by Tara Westover
  7. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
  8. The Nickel Boys: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
  9. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
  10. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The New York Public Library (The Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island)

  1. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
  2. White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
  3. The Glass Hotel: A Novel by Emily St. John Mandel
  4. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  5. The Dutch House: A Novel by Ann Patchett
  6. The Nickel Boys: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
  7. Educated by Tara Westover
  8. Becoming by Michelle Obama
  9. Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney
  10. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

Queens Public Library

  1. The Guardians by John Grisham
  2. Moral Compass by Danielle Steel
  3. Becoming by Michelle Obama
  4. Lost by James Patterson
  5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  6. A Minute to Midnight by David Baldacci
  7. Educated by Tara Westover
  8. Criss Cross by James Patterson
  9. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
  10. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Here's last year's list for comparison.

Didn't check out anything this year? Head to bklynlibrary.org, nypl.org, or queenslibrary.org to get a library card — it's gonna be a long winter. (Bonus: they've all extended fine-free borrowing through June 2021.)

Tagged

queens public library

nypl

brooklyn public library

Jen Carlson

Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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