Women's fiction among most-borrowed books at some Canadian libraries in 2024
Books by Carley Fortune, Kristin Hannah, Rebecca Yarros among borrowed items in 2024
The year's most borrowed books at some of Canada's biggest libraries include international titles such as The Women by Kristin Hannah, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and Canadian books such as This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune.
The Toronto Public Library (TPL) says many of its most-borrowed books for 2024 centre on strong female characters.
Fourth Wing and its sequel Iron Flame top the list at the TPL, which is the nation's largest and busiest library system.
The books, which were both published last year, are part of the Empyrean series, fantasy romance novels about a heroine named Violet Sorrengail who attends a war college for dragon riders.
Hannah's The Women, which was released in February, is No. 2 on Toronto's list, but it tops lists at the Halifax Public Library and the Saskatoon Public Library.
The 2022 novel Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was also popular at all three libraries, coming in second in Toronto, third in Halifax and fifth on Saskatoon's list of adult fiction books.
Top-performing non-fiction titles at the three libraries include Atomic Habits by James Clear, a self-help book published in 2018 that argues tiny changes can have a big impact.
The Toronto Public Library also released its most-borrowed Canadian titles, and Carley Fortune features prominently. Fortune is a Toronto-based writer and journalist who has worked as an editor for Refinery29, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine and Toronto Life.
Two of her romance novels top the list: This Summer Will Be Different, published this year, and last year's Meet Me at the Lake — which was a contender for Canada Reads 2024, championed by Mirian Njoh — while her 2022 debut Every Summer After comes in 10th.
- With files from CBC Books
