New York City’s libraries have released their most popular books of the year.
It’s the first time that the separate systems — New York Public Library (which has 92 locations in the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan), Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library — have combined their data and jointly announced their top checkouts as a single list.
The separate systems — New York Public Library (which has 92 locations in the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan), Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library — for the first time have combined their data and jointly announced their top checkouts as a single list.
Gabrielle Zevin’s “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,” a novel about love, friendship and video games, took the gold for the most in-demand library book in New York City, across all formats, including e-books, audiobooks and physical books.
It was followed by Emily Henry’s novel “Happy Place,” Rebecca Yarros’ fantasy “Fourth Wing” taking third.
“Demon Copperhead” was among the most popular books in the library system for the second year in a row.
Courtesy Harper Collins
When broken down borough by borough, however, “Tomorrow” was only number one in Brooklyn — in Manhattan and the Bronx, first place went to James McBride’s “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.” In Queens, the winner was “Fourth Wing,” and on Staten Island, it was Kristin Hannah’s “The Women.”
Chief Librarian Brian Bannon said he noticed a number of differences in genre preference by borough while scanning NYPL’s list.
“The Bronx is more like thriller, memoir, historical fiction. Manhattan — literary fiction, social contemporary, relationship driven. Queens, I saw fantasy, thriller, diverse voices, and then Staten Island — thriller, family drama, comfort reads.”
Also notable is the citywide list’s lack of self-help and memoir titles, despite the genres being generally “among the top sold books nationally,” Bannon said, adding “New York City has its own unique taste.”
“The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride was a selection from the library’s virtual book club, Get Lit, in partnership with WNYC. (Gothamist, like WNYC, is owned by New York Public Radio.)
Here’s the full list of this year’s top checkouts:
Citywide
- “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
- “Happy Place” by Emily Henry
- “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
- “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride
- “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver
- “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
- “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano
- “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt
- “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang
- “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese
Manhattan
- “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride
- “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
- “The Women” by Kristin Hannah
- “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang
- “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
- “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray
- “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
- “Tom Lake” by Ann Patchett
- “James” by Percival Everett
- “Good Material” by Dolly Alderton
Brooklyn
- “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
- “Yellowface: A Novel” by R.F. Kuang
- “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride
- “Demon Copperhead: A Novel” by Barbara Kingsolver
- “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
- “Hello Beautiful: A Novel” by Ann Napolitano
- “Tom Lake: A Novel” by Ann Patchett
- “The Fraud” by Zadie Smith
- “The Guest: A Novel” by Emma Cline
- “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray
Queens
- “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
- “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros
- “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver
- “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt
- “Babel: An Arcane History” by R. F. Kuang
- “The Teacher” by Freida McFadden
- “Home Is Where the Bodies Are” by Jeneva Rose
- “Yellowface” by R. F. Kuang
- “I’m Glad My Mom Died” by Jennette McCurdy
- “It Starts With Us” by Colleen Hoover
The Bronx
- “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride
- “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
- “The Women” by Kristin Hannah
- “Happy Place” by Emily Henry
- “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano
- “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
- “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden
- “The Exchange: After the Firm” by John Grisham
- “Crosshairs” by James Patterson and James O. Born
- “I’m Glad My Mom Died” by Jennette McCurdy
Staten Island
- “The Women” by Kristin Hannah
- “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden
- “Upside Down” by Danielle Steel
- “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride
- TIE “Happy Place” by Emily Henry
- TIE “The Exchange: After The Firm” by John Grisham
- “Never Too Late” by Danielle Steel
- “The Teacher” by Freida McFadden
- TIE “The Coworker” by Freida McFadden
- TIE “Never Lie” by Freida McFadden
Check out the most popular NYC library checkouts in 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020.
You can also find lists of top children and teen titles, at the websites for the Queens, Brooklyn and New York public libraries.