Detroiters were on the case this year. Or at least, they were reading about the cases.
Mysteries lead this year’s top books at the Detroit Book Library with 22 Seconds by James Patterson as the most checked-out physical book.
John Grisham and Britt Bennet followed, with books near the top of this year’s list of physical book checkouts.
Christine Peele is a manager of the Edison branch of the Detroit Public Library.
"A lot of younger people will say to me they want the physical sensation of reading the book and turning the pages. But a lot of people have — they learned to love listening to books or reading books online. They never thought they would. That's [what] the pandemic taught a lot of people," Peele said.
The Maid: A Novel by Nita Prose rose to the top of the ebooks list.
The Detroit Public Library has waived late fees for books since 2019 and only charges borrowers if a book is never returned.
Read on for the full top-10 lists of physical books and ebooks checked out at Detroit Public Libraries this year:
Physical print:
- 22 Seconds by James Patterson
- The Judges List by John Grisham
- The Noise by James Patterson
- The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
- Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
- The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
- Will by Will Smith
- As the Wicked Watch by Tamaron Hall
- Harlem Shuffle by Colsen Whitehead
E-books
- The Maid: A Novel by Nita Prose
- Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry
- Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
- Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown
- The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama
- The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
- Our Missing Hearts: A Novel by Celeste Ng
