Books

These were the most borrowed books from the Boston Public Library in 2019

Some familiar titles remain as popular as ever.

The bookshelves at the Boston Public Library. John Tlumacki/Boston Globe, File

By Dialynn Dwyer

2 minutes to read

Celebrated titles from years past dominated the circulation desk at the Boston Public Library in 2019. 

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The library released a list of the 25 most frequently borrowed books from the last year, and not one title published in 2019 could compete with the demand for older, popular favorites. Seven of the books, including last year’s most borrowed book “Little Fires Everywhere” by Cambridge author Celeste Ng, are returning darlings from 2018. “Into the Water” by Paula Hawkins, “The Woman in the Window” by A.J. Finn, “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead, “Origin” by Dan Brown, “Small Great Things” by Jodi Picoult, and “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles also continued to make the reading lists for library patrons in 2019.

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In 2019, “Little Fires Everywhere” remained widely popular among Boston readers, coming in behind Michelle Obama’s memoir “Becoming” as the second most frequently borrowed book of the year. 

According to the library, “Becoming” had over 9,700 checkouts in 2019, “Little Fires Everywhere” had more than 6,900, and another popular memoir from last year, “Educated” by Tara Westover, was the third most frequently circulated title with more than 6,000 borrows. 

Below, the library’s full list of most borrowed books of 2019 below:

  1. “Becoming” by Michelle Obama (2018)
  2. “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng (2017)
  3. “Educated” by Tara Westover (2018)
  4. “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens (2018)
  5. “Nine Perfect Strangers” by Liane Moriarty (2018)
  6. “The Woman in the Window” by A.J. Finn (2018)
  7. “The Great Alone” by Kristin Hannah (2018)
  8. “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt (2013)
  9. “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones (2018) 
  10. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling (1998)
  11. “Into the Water” by Paula Hawkins (2017)
  12. “Bad Blood” by John Carreyrou (2018)
  13. “Origin” by Dan Brown (2017)
  14. “Before We Were Yours” by Lisa Wingate (2017)
  15. “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles (2016)
  16. “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood (1998)
  17. “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” by Mark Manson (2016)
  18. “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” by Heather Morris (2018)
  19. “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil deGrasse Tyson (2017)
  20. “Small Great Things” by Jodi Picoult (2016)
  21. “Circe” by Madeline Miller (2018)
  22. “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee (2018) 
  23. “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr (2014)
  24. “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead (2016)
  25. “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas (2017) 

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