Self-help and royal gossip crack Vancouver Public Library's 2023 list of most borrowed books
VPL releases lists of top 10 books for adults, teens and kids
If you're looking for book club inspiration for the new year, the Vancouver Public Library's list of most borrowed books in 2023 may be a good place to start.
The annual reveal is actually three lists of the top 10 books for adults, teens and kids. This year, the themes are varied. While there are some returning champs, there are also some new contenders to consider curling up with in 2024.
Clinching the top spot on the adult reading list is 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest.
First published in 2016, the book features short essays and listicles focus on the pursuit of happiness and includes tips on how to embrace negative thinking and the benefits of a daily routine.
"Vancouverites continue to be interested in self-help, self-reflection, and personal health," said Kay Cahill, VPL's director of information technology, in a statement.
The top five reads on the adult list are all non-fiction books, with the tell-all memoir Spare by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, coming in at number two.
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The book made headlines for its shocking details about Harry and the Royal Family, including Harry's recount of a physical altercation with his elder brother, Prince William, and how the younger prince begged his father, now King Charles, not to marry Camilla who is now the Queen Consort.
Rounding out the top three is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plant by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a scientist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
Kimmerer's 2013 book was number one on VPL's list of borrowed adult books in 2022 and is still going strong a year later.
Braiding Sweetgrass explores the role of plants and botany in Indigenous and Western cultures and has also been adapted into a young adult version by award-winning Indigenous author Monique Gray Smith, who is based in Victoria, B.C.
Top 10 borrowed adult books
- 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest.
- Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
- I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy.
- The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté.
- A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny.
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.
- Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.
- It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover.
Teen reads
A Court of Thorns and Roses, the first book in a fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas, took the number one spot on the teen list for the second year in a row.
Other books that were popular in 2022 continued to resonate in 2023, including The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline, Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley and Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins, with the latter coming in as number two on the list.
Maas dominates the list, taking not just the top spot, but also placing third and sixth for A Court of Mist and Fury and Throne of Glass respectively.
Her works are fantasy fiction and the two court novels are part of a romantic trilogy involving fairies, magic and adventure. Throne of Glass is the first book in another Maas series centred around the adventures of a teenage assassin.
"A dark theme runs through many of the titles on this year's list, perhaps speaking to the challenge of being a teen in current times as well as the escapism that fantasy titles offer," wrote Cahill.
Top 10 borrowed teen books
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.
- Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games novel) by Suzanne Collins.
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.
- The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han.
- The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.
- Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.
- Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley.
- A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson.
- The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
What the kids dig
When it comes to the top 10 borrowed children's books, two authors continue to reign supreme.
Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books took every spot in 2022 and they dominated again this year, with one exception.
Sneaking into third place for 2023 was Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye: A Graphic Novel by Gabriela Epstein.
The book is part of the graphic novel reboot of the The Baby-Sitters Club series, which was first published in 1986 with more than 190 million books in print.
Kinney has the number one borrowed book for kids, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Diper Överlöde, as well as six other novels in the top 10. Rowling and Epstein round out the remaining spots.
Top 10 borrowed children's books
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Diper Överlöde by Jeff Kinney.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot by Jeff Kinney.
- Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye: A Graphic Novel by Gabriela Epstein.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End by Jeff Kinney.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown by Jeff Kinney.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School by Jeff Kinney.