Our Top Checkouts, and Year-End Book Lists 2024

Hopkinton Town Library's Top Check Outs in 2024

Compare our list to the New York Public Library's www.nypl.org/spotlight/top-checkouts-2024 (We have one building and about 6,000 residents; they have 92 branch libraries across Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island!)

 

The value of year-end book lists. 

Lately, as I've been generating the lists above and planning our "what's the best thing you read in 2024" meeting, I've been reading about year-end book lists. If you're also into that kind of thing, here are some interesting reads:

  • Book critic and blogger Jan Harayda talks about being wary of anything titled "best books": jansplaining.substack.com/p/why-you-cant-trust-years-best-book  Please do read the whole post, but here's a brow-raising quote: It’s also striking that eight of 10 books¹ on the Times list come from Penguin Random House imprints. Is PRH really issuing 80% of America’s best books?
  • Similarly, this piece by NPR questions the value of "top ten" type book lists, specifically library checkout records. www.npr.org/2024/12/29/nx-s1-5234258/most-borrowed-library-books-2024 To me, this was an important point from this article: Year-end lists are fun to parse, but it's important to keep perspective, said Brian Bannon, the Meryl and James Tisch Director at the New York Public Library. He oversees the 88 neighborhood branches of the nation's largest library system. "Even though we published our top ten, none of these books made up more than 1% of our overall circulation," he said.
  • And this post by blogger "Modern Mrs. Darcy" explores the book influencer's own distinction between favorite and best and the natural subjectivity of both labels: I gather my “favorite” books, which aren’t necessarily the “best” ones, and either way those assessments are personal and subjective. When I call a book a favorite, I mean that it delivered a memorable, enjoyable reading experience. I’m drawn to books with emotional resonance, I like discussion-starters, I appreciate craft. I’m also inclined to value a book that meets the moment: when I read the right book at the right time, it’s likely to end up here. On the flip side, I read many very good books that might have deserved a place on a “best of” list, but not on my list of personal favorites. (HTL's previous blog post gave pointers on reflecting on your own reading journey, so I won't repeat that here.)

Thoughts?

If, like I do, you find best of lists still valuable, albeit with the above caveats, here are a few:

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