New York City, you’re a woke town according to the public library’s year-end tally of popular books.
“Between the World and Me,” the award-winning bestseller by Ta-Nehisi Coates, was the most checked-out book of 2017 after debuting at No. 2 last year. Good job on keeping your heads out of the sand, because we’ve got more work to do than ever in recent history about equality.
The social justice theme holds for several more entries on the list. At No. 2 was Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad,” while “Hillbilly Elegy” by J. D. Vance landed at No. 3. More than 30 years after its original release, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” climbed the charts up to No. 9, while another older book that saw a surge was George Orwell’s “1984,” which was also adapted for Broadway this year.
Last year’s top book “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins hung onto No. 4.
Millennials are killing everything but libraries, because free is the only way to get by in this city anymore, and because of their enthusiasm circulation among the New York Public Library system was up 7 % at about 24 million items checked out.
Libraries literally aren’t just a place to obtain books for free. They’re one of the few public spaces left in our society where you’re allowed to exist without the expectation of spending money.
— long tweets mcgee (@_Amanda_Killian) December 21, 2017
Reject capitalism, kids — read a book for free.
Here’s the full list of top checkouts by borough, including print books and e-books, accessible via the library’s e-reader app SimplyE:
1. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
3. Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
4. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
5. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
6. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
7. The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis
8. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
9. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
10. Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett
Here are the top 10 books in the three boroughs served by the New York Public Library system:
The Bronx: TASC: Test Assessing Secondary Completion by Kaplan
Manhattan: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Staten Island: The Award by Danielle Steel
And here’s the breakdown by borough. First up, the Bronx:
1. TASC: Test Assessing Secondary Completion by Kaplan
2. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
3. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
4. Kill or Be Killed: Thrillers by James Patterson
5. 1984 by George Orwell
6. Killer Dolls by Nisa Santiago
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
8. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
9. Private by James Patterson
10. Murder Games by James Patterson
Manhattan:
1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
2. Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
3. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
4. The Sellout by Paul Beatty
5. The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis
6. 1984 by George Orwell
7. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
8. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
9. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
10. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Staten Island:
1. The Award by Danielle Steel
2. Against All Odds by Danielle Steel
3. Murder Games by James Patterson
4. Kill or Be Killed: Thrillers by James Patterson
5. Come Sundown by Nora Roberts
6. The Duchess by Danielle Steel
7. Private by James Patterson
8. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
9. The Store by James Patterson
10. Dangerous Games: A Novel by Danielle Steel
