Library members opted for a suspenseful narrative last year with Australian Jane Harper’s newest thriller, The Survivors, topping Wollongong City Libraries loans list for 2021.
The libraries top loans list provides an insight on which stories kept our members entertained in 2021 – a year that undoubtedly saw us at home more than ever.
Among the list include titles by well-known authors Lee Child, Trent Dalton, and Michael Connelly as well as newcomer Delia Owens with her debut novel Where the crawdads sing.
Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said it comes as no surprise that homegrown authors continue to be the most popular choice, as they make up most of the lists across all genres.
“For our young readers, Anh Do has unsurprisingly secured not only the top spot for the most loaned book for Junior Fiction, but also the proceeding nine spots too. This is not the first time we’ve seen this and anticipate it won’t be the last. He is certainly a popular author with our young readers and it’s fantastic his work engages so many kids to pick up books and read,” he said.
“The Pig the Pug series by Aaron Blabey is undeniably the most popular children’s picture book to read, with four making the Children’s Picture Book list including the first and second spots.
“But it was Jane Harper’s latest novel that was the highly sought-after title. In fact, it was physically loaned 414 times, downloaded 439 times as an eBook and was listened to 398 times as an eAudio – totalling to more than 1,251 ‘reads’ in all these formats.”
The magic of Hogwarts in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series and Suzanne Collins’ dystopian world in Hunger Games, have proved to stand the test of time making the loans list for another year.
Australian authors continue to lead the lists with Julia Baird’s Phosphorescence: on awe, wonder & things that sustain you when the world goes dark , the top loaned Non-Fiction title and Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture by Bruce Pascoe coming in second. Both Barack and Michelle Obama’s each respective autobiographies also made the list.
