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Arlington Public Library

Library Communications Officer

The Library Director’s 2022 Reading List.

“Every reader his or her book. Every book its reader.”
— S.R. Ranganathan

If you have space in your life to read one more year-end list, I made one too. Books that will stay with me and I will recommend to others. Books that changed my thinking. Books by authors I had never heard of and could not believe I had not. The books I wanted to go on and on and on, the best kind of books. Here’s my list.

2022 Reading List

My tastes are eclectic.  

My guilty pleasure is the police procedural (the more noir, the better) followed closely by the coming-of-age novel. I read both fiction and non — have a fondness for memoir — although not biography.

I read “classics” I believe I should have read. I read author debuts. I am an occasional completist (Elizabeth Strout and Ann Patchett). Reading fantasy novels are still on my to-do list (Octavia Butler is on my bookshelf but has not yet made it into my hands) and authors from outside the United States. I am discovering Graphic Novels (“Black Hole” by Charles Burns is on my nightstand). I have occasionally judged a book by its cover (“Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus) and been pleasantly surprised – in a good way. 

Is reading one of your resolutions for 2023? Have you ever been a reluctant reader but want to read more?  

Here are some tips for creating and sustaining a reading habit. 

  • Try an eAudiobook. I’ve become an avid audiobook consumer which has the additional benefit that your listening skills improve as well.  
  • Ask a friend, coworker, family member or neighbor, “What are you reading?” It’s a great conversation starter. 
  • Frequent our Friends of Arlington Public Library bookstores, each purchase supports the library. 
  • Join a Library book club or the Winter Reading Challenge. 
  • And my favorite tip from Ron Charles, Book Critic at The Washington Post, “Dedicate this year to reading only works in translation. You’ll permanently expand your horizons.” 

If you are like me and have recommitted to a year of reading more, my final tip: there is no harm in setting aside a book and not finishing it. The library has the next one just for you.

Keep reading.

Signatue of Library Director Diane Kresh.

Diane Kresh
Director, Arlington Public Library

Arlington’s Top 25 Reads in 2022

Composite of 8 book covers with the top Arlington reads of 2022.

Are you curious what books our Arlington readers checked out the most this year?

It’s no secret that Arlington is a community of readers. Here is a breakdown of combined adult eBook, eAudiobooks and print checkouts that made the top 25 list this year.

In 2022, we saw six titles rising above the 2,000-checkout mark starting with “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr; “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid; "The Paris Apartment" by Lucy Foley; "Malibu Rising" by Taylor Jenkins Reid; “The Last Thing He Told Me" by Laura Dave; and our most in-demand title, "The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles.

Arlington loves books by Taylor Jenkins Reid and Emily Henry and both adults and teens can’t get enough of Sarah J. Maas.

“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins made our young adult readers #1 spot for the most checked-out book in 2022 and our young readers continued to get mesmerized by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

As we look forward to many new, wonderful releases in 2023, from big titles like Prince Harry’s “Spare” to exciting debuts like “Moonlight Over New Jessup” by Jamila Minnicks, we are grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve you — with our exciting book services, programs and diverse collections.

Curious which releases you might have missed this year? We have put together a curated list from our 2022 catalog of gems we believe should be on everybody’s reading list.

Always free. Always open. Always books!

Books You Might Have Missed

Adult Top 2022 Circulated Titles (eBook, eAudiobooks, print)

  1. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
  2. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
  3. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  4. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
  5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  6. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
  7. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
  8. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
  9. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
  10. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
  11. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
  12. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
  13. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  14. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
  15. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
  16. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
  17. The Maid by Nita Prose
  18. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
  19. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
  20. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
  21. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
  22. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
  23. Verity by Colleen Hoover
  24. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
  25. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Young Adult, ages 11-18, Top 2022 Circulated Titles (all formats)

  1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
  2. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
  3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  4. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
  5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Children, ages 2-10, Top 2022 Circulated Titles (all formats) 

  1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
  2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
  3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
  4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
  5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney

 

You Brought Holiday Joy to Arlington.

Full of Gratitude for the Holiday Gift Nook: Free, Festive and Fun.

Library patrons at Central Library taking advantage of the free holiday shopping event.

The public enjoyed the free holiday shopping experience on Dec 10-11 at Central Library.

Last weekend, Arlington Public Library hosted the "Gift Nook," a free holiday market developed from thousands of items donated by the community.

Nearly a thousand children and adults participated in this free holiday shopping experience.

This successful initiative would not have happened without the generosity and goodwill of our caring Arlington community who donated thousands of quality re-giftable items at our Gift Nook drop-off boxes this fall. This economical and sustainable approach to holiday shopping for people on a tight budget exceeded all our expectations and put smiles on patron and Library staff faces.

Our Library staff and volunteers are thankful to all of you for playing a vital role in this wonderful initiative. Some of the positive feedback we received:

  • "You had the exact item I was looking for my son. This means so much to me."
  • "Love the selection of items."
  • "Will this happen again next year? Please come back!"

Always open. Always free. Always thankful.

Yours at Arlington Public Library.

Season’s Greetings From Arlington Public Library

We loved spending 2022 with you.

We have much to be thankful for. We:

  • Created the "Gift Nook," a free and festive holiday market made from thousands of donated items by the community.
  • Launched the free Teleconnect Space at Columbia Pike Library, for online social service appointments and job interviews.
  • Hosted playful, educational storytimes at every location, multiple times a week.
  • Renovated the library inside the Arlington County Detention Center and held several conversations with Arlington Reads authors inspired by Reginald Dwayne Betts' "Freedom Reads" project.
  • Partnered with the Washington Nationals for Summer Reading. Nearly 8,000 readers participated in our community Summer Reading program and thousands more attended events and to support the Potomac Conservancy in their mission to safeguard the lands and waters of the Potomac River.
  • Brought you 11 outstanding Arlington Reads author talks, thanks to the support of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library.
  • Reduced wait times for popular eBooks and eAudiobooks and expanded popular book services with the one-time Arlington County budget increase of $543,000.

Thank you to the Friends of the Arlington Public Library and all our County and community partners.

Make the Library part of your 2023.

Always free. Always open. Always there for you!

New December Releases

Get Your Hands On These New And Upcoming Titles

Finish 2022 off strong by reading a few of these new books!

"Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion" by Bushra Rehman is a fierce examination of female friendship, queer love and navigating family expectations with self-discovery that takes place in the Pakistani-American community of Queens in the 1980s. Award-winning author Jane Smiley has a new book out. "A Dangerous Business" features two women in 1850s California who use detective skills learned from Edgar Allen Poe stories to hunt a serial killer the police aren’t interested in pursuing.

Explore the ways humans have tried to harness the cold throughout history and the effects it’s had — from preserving food to melting ice caps — in "Of Ice and Men" by Fred Hogge. Enjoy famed Maître D’ Michael Cecchi-Azzolina's dishy memoir "Your Table is Ready" which is full of stories about what really goes on at New York’s trendiest restaurants.

Young readers will pour over the illustrations in Jason Chin’s "The Universe in You" that keeps taking a deeper and deeper look at what makes up our body, that looking through an ever more powerful microscope.

Teen readers will be drawn in by Tessa Brunton’s graphic novel memoir "Notes from a Sickbed," a painfully real look at her life living with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Place Your Holds Now

Director’s Message

End-of-Year Reflections

"The word 'understand' … means 'to stand in the midst of.'"
— Andrea Elliott, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City."

Photo of Arlington Public Library Director Diane Kresh.

Arlington Public Library Director Diane Kresh.

Arlington Reads hosted Andrea Elliott in late November and since her visit, I have been thinking a lot about what “to understand” means to me in my role as director of Arlington Public Library. At a minimum, “to understand” means actively listening to others and putting one’s ego and preferences aside.

Easy, right? What’s harder — for me, anyway — is looking for and finding common cause in unexpected places and hearing from people I might not agree with. It is tempting to cut oneself off from deeper relationships based on biases and assumptions, be they political, cultural or historical in nature. And we must try to set them aside if we are to live in community with one another.

Over the past year, how has Arlington Public Library tried to understand the Arlington community better? 

The pandemic made more visible inequities in income, housing, education, and technology for many of our residents, inequities we sought to address through programs and services.

For example, we hosted six Kindergarten kickoff events in which we joined with parents and educators to prepare their children for Kindergarten. More than 400 children and families from across the County participated, with waitlists suggesting significant interest and a role for libraries in learning readiness.

Our "Arlingtown" play community at Central Library — think re-purposed Amazon boxes, designed and decorated to look like the streets and neighborhoods of Arlington — hosts nearly 2,500 of our youngest readers per month. It is a joy for our staff to see what a little paper, scissors, paint and glue can do to spark the imagination of children.

We designed a community gifting project and collected gently used (and sometimes new) items for a free holiday shopping experience. We launched the Teleconnect Space at Columbia Pike Library to provide a free, private room for telehealth, social service appointments, job and college interviews.

We fully refreshed the collections and the spaces of the library inside the Detention Center and hosted programs featuring Arlington Reads authors. The free indoor and outdoor WiFi hot spots were used 1,600,000 times, nearly double from the year before. For the first time, we joined a nationwide effort to celebrate "Welcoming Week," announced by a proclamation by Board Chair Katie Cristol, which offered activities to bring together neighbors of all backgrounds.

How have we begun to train ourselves to listen to the stories around us and to increase our understanding of others?

There are many ways we come together as a community. By joining our weekly storytimes, signing up for a sewing class, attending a U.S. Citizenship or foreign language or English conversation class, participating in our Community Quilt project or joining our Summer and Winter Reading programs. You could also submit materials for the REAL Archives Project, or el Re-Encuentro de Arlington Latinos, designed to illustrate the rich, vibrant history of the Latino community in Arlington County.

We have stood "in the midst" of challenging social issues with our signature author talk program Arlington Reads. We have been doing this since 2006 with our first book "Digging to America" by Anne Tyler in which we had conversations on adoption, immigration and what it means to be "other," an "outsider."

So, the question remains, are we there yet?

During our event with Andrea Elliott, she said that to understand "does not mean that we have reached an ultimate truth. Rather it means that we have experienced enough of something new and something formerly unseen to be provoked, humbled, awakened, or even changed by it."

Not a destination, a journey.

As we close this year and anticipate the next, all of us at Arlington Public Library leave you with a promise:

We will keep paying attention. We will keep showing up. We will keep listening. And we will continue to stand in the midst of others.

Will you join us?

Signatue of Library Director Diane Kresh.

Diane KreshDirector, Arlington Public Library

Too Cool for Yule: #15

Photo of a vintage cassette and cover on a wooden surface.

For most of the years I have worked with Arlington Public Library, I have created a holiday playlist variously known as “Don’t Touch that Dial” or "Too Cool for Yule."

This annual tradition is deeply personal. It reminds me of the hundreds (thousands?) of hours I’ve spent over the years making mixtapes for friends, siblings, work colleagues, and often, just for me. Granted, with the likes of Spotify and iTunes, it’s a lot easier these days to put together a mixtape. No more painstaking searches through LPs, careful dropping of the stylus onto the correct groove, long waits by the radio to capture the perfect tune to fit the mood, person or occasion.

Like all art, holiday mixtapes tell a story. The best ones contain an eclectic blend of edgy and whimsical, happy and sad, a little silly, a little snappy, and occasionally, a little sappy. I had fun putting it together and I hope you have fun listening.

Open on Spotify

Every year I honor a few of the musicians who have left us. Norma Waterson, Loretta Lynn, Ronnie Spector, Jerry Lee Lewis … gone and not forgotten. And I close each list with a song I hope speaks to all of us. This year’s selection is Woody Guthrie’s "This Land" sung by the Staple Singers.

As 2022 winds down, take a break, grab a beverage, and give a listen to "Too Cool for Yule 2022." And don’t be shy about singing along. It will make you feel great.

From all of us at Arlington Public Library. Always Free. Always Open.

Diane Kresh
Director
Arlington Public Library

Scrawled signature of Diane Kresh

Read Outside the Lines

New Subscription Service

In 2023, let us help you expand your reading horizons! Explore new genres, subjects and voices with our new subscription service.

Have you thought about exploring a new genre or literature from a different culture but have no idea where to start? We have you covered.

Every month, two adult books will be placed on Central’s hold shelf for you to pick up. The books will be a surprise chosen by our biblio-experts on that month’s topic. Topics will include different genres, subjects and authors’ voices.

You’ll also get a monthly email full of further reading and resources, and even upcoming programs.

Don’t read what everyone else is reading — dare to read outside the lines. Always Free. Always Open. Always Personalized!

Learn More

Arlington Reads Engages Arlington And Beyond

Did you wish you had attended Arlington Reads with George Saunders last week? You still can! Watch his amazing author talk on YouTube, available through November 4.

While the event with Barbara Kingsolver has a waitlist, you can still RSVP for Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Andrea Elliott on Nov. 17.

Arlington Reads: Andrea Elliott

Thursday, Nov. 17, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Central Library

Join us for a conversation between Pulitzer Prize-winning author Andrea Elliott, Library Director Diane Kresh, and Department of Human Services Director Anita Friedman to discuss Elliott's book "Invisible Child."

The conversation will be followed by audience Q&A and a book signing. Books will be available for purchase during the event, courtesy of One More Page Books.

The free event will be livestreamed for registered attendees. There will be no recordings after the event has concluded.

RSVP

Arlington Reads: Barbara Kingsolver

On Tuesday, One More Page Books will present a conversation between acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver and Library Director Diane Kresh. The author will discuss her new book, "Demon Copperhead."

The event registration is full, but One More Page Books has a waitlist.

Click here to see all our titles by Barbara Kingsolver in our catalog.

2023 Arlington Reads

In 2023, we are looking forward to a new Arlington Reads season, "Get Graphic," featuring an incredible lineup of graphic novel authors: Alison Bechdel (Mar. 9), Jerry Craft (Apr. 27), Gene Luen Yang (May 4), Art Spiegelman (Sep. 21) and Liana Finck (Oct. 19). Stay tuned for more details coming soon!

Arlington Reads is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library.



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