Book borrowers on Salt Spring Island were entranced by art design, engaged by mysteries and enthralled by historical fiction in 2022, judging by the library’s list of most-circulated titles.
Salt Spring Island Public Library information technician Sophia vom Bauer Jackson said the full lists for the year were broken down into several categories, and represented the books — and graphic novels — that were in and out the doors most often.
In adult fiction, Claire Keegan’s 2021 debut novel Small Things Like These topped the list, followed by Amor Towles’ 1950’s Nebraska-set adventure The Lincoln Highway: A Novel. Rounding out the top three was Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence.
Nonfiction readers picked the first volume of Jim Gilbert’s Learning by designing: Pacific Northwest Coast Native Indian Art, along with biologist Merlin Sheldrake’s book on the world from a fungal perspective, Entangled Life. Number three in 2022 was fitness expert Oonagh Duncan’s bestselling self-helper Healthy as f*ck.
Mystery fans checked out The Benefit of Hindsight most often last year, the 10th Simon Serrailler crime novel by Susan Hill, followed by Martin Walker’s The Coldest Case and Susan Juby’s Mindful of Murder. The graphic novel list was, perhaps unsurprisingly, dominated by Neil Gaiman, whose Dream Country, The Doll’s House and Sandman books took the top three.
Young adult nonfiction was fully invaded by Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks, with Strixhaven: a Curriculum of Chaos, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and the Dungeon Master’s Guide taking top spots. Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter, Karen M. McManus’ One of Us is Lying, and Neal Shusterman’s Scythe held the top three in YA fiction.
The youngest readers — and those reading to them — checked out Gary Weitzman’s cat training guide Pounce! and Mary Pope Osborne’s Dinosaurs Before Dark most often under children’s nonfiction and fiction, and the top children’s picture book was Alison Farrell’s lyrical journey through the natural world, The Hike.
Follow each month’s Top Reads at Salt Spring Library; here are the full Top 25’s in each category.