Although we have entered a whole new year, it’s not too late to catch up on the most popular and beloved titles of 2022.
Well, it’s never too late to read books from the past, books have no expiration date. Read a book published this morning, books from your youth, some Shakespeare, Sun Tzu, we’ve got them all. But let’s get back to 2022.
The most commonly checked-out books from San Diego County Library this year were: children’s books.
It makes sense, those books are much shorter, and kids definitely have more free time to read than you do. Sometimes they’re even forced to read books by teachers and lit-loving parents. If there are children in your life, you might be familiar with popular series like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dog Man, and Wings of Fire. And if you’re not, feel free to give any of those a look to see what is captivating the kids of today.
But we have plenty of grown-up titles that were exceptionally popular as well, you adult you.
This year’s One Book, One San Diego title, Brit Bennet’s The Vanishing Half, was one of the most checked-out books at our library. This title is a provocative, decades-long tale of two twin sisters, separated in their teens who live wildly different lives due to history, geography and race.
Another popular title from this year was the witty romantic comedy Book Lovers by Emily Henry.
Anyone with access to the Hallmark Channel is familiar with the “big city girl finds love in a small town” trope, and this book embraces some parts of it, while subverting others. When this overworked big-city literary agent reunites with a jaded big-city book editor in a small town a prickly relationship ensues. The author doesn’t force characters to abandon their complexities, or deeply-held beliefs in the name of feel-good kisses.
And finally, we have a couple of titles that prove that everyone still loves a good mystery.
Lucy Foley’s The Paris Apartment is a Hitchcockian tale about down-on-her-luck Jess Daniels, who accepts an invitation to get a fresh start on her life by moving in with her brother in Paris. On her arrival, Ben is gone, the apartment empty, and a building full of unfriendly neighbors have no light to shed on his disappearance. Looks like Jess will have to unravel this mystery herself!
And Liane Moriarty’s Apples Never Fall combines a complicated family saga with another disappearance. The intricate and passionate lives of the famed tennis stars of the Delaney family are told in flashback, as matriarch Joy Delany has gone missing. Is her absence something sinister or years of dysfunction coming to roost?
The La Mesa Library has many programs returning from a holiday break.
Chair Yoga on Wednesday mornings, Tech Help on Tuesday and Sunday afternoons, Storytimes for kids on Thursday mornings, and much more.
Check sdcl.org/events and click “La Mesa” for all the details.
Photo credit: Pixabay.com
