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Top Books

The Top Books of 2020

Published: December 28, 2020

The Books That Made Us Think and Feel This Year

Books helped Arlington readers feel a little more normal this year.

In the words of skilled writers we sought safe spaces in a year of unpredictability. We embraced calm in a year of upheaval and reached for learning in a year of strife. And we found company in a year of solitude.

These are the books Arlington readers turned to the most in 2020. Unsurprisingly, many top fiction titles were part of a series, and many top nonfiction titles reflect a yearning for social justice and a desire for human connection.
Looking for something new? We also put together lists of well-reviewed books that might have flown under your radar in 2020.

December 28, 2020 by Web Editor Filed Under: App, Collection, News, Top Books

What Was Most Popular in 2019?

Published: December 11, 2019

Our Annual List of the 100 Top Titles In Arlington

It's safe to say that Arlington is a reading town - and you have excellent taste!

The 100 most popular titles in 2019 include memoirs, thrillers, history, mythology, dystopia, romance and adventure, as well as magazines, DVDs and a whole lot of Elephant and Piggy!

Which of the Top 100 Have You Read (or Watched)?

The list is organized from left to right, in descending rows: "Educated" had the most checkouts in 2019, "Becoming" had the second most checkouts, etc. Use the genre/format/audience buttons to limit the list to only items within that genre, format or audience.

Please note: As in previous years, the Top 100 of 2019 list only tracks borrowing data for physical materials at all Library locations between January and November.

December 11, 2019 by Web Editor Filed Under: News, Top Books

What Was Most Popular in 2018?

Published: December 19, 2018

The Most Popular Titles of the Year

We're declaring it official - Arlington is a book town.

How do we know? Library patrons borrowed more than 3 million items from the Library and placed more holds and read more eBooks in 2018 than ever before. See the 2018 Impact Report

So which titles had Arlington turning pages, and staying up way past bed time?


100 book, dvd and magazine covers in a 10x1- grid. click or tap to go to the catalog list.

Top 100 Books (plus DVDs and Magazines too)

Arlington loves politics, thrillers, literary fictions... and Elephant and Piggy! We read and watched our way through these top 100 titles for adults, kids and teens.


Top 100 Most Popular


50 book covers in a 10x5 grid. click or tap to go to the catalog list.

Top 50 Fiction Books for Adults

We love historical fiction, literary fiction, speculative fiction, spy thrillers, southern odysseys, sweeping sagas, coming of age tales, dystopian nightmares - and everything in between.


Top 50 Fiction


50 book covers in a 10x5 grid. click or tap to go to the catalog list.

Top 50 Nonfiction Books for Adults

Arlington read about politics, class, education, leadership, eviction, more politics, code breaking, science, the FBI, cleaning, dying, art, and so much more.


Top 50 Nonfiction

December 19, 2018 by Web Editor Filed Under: App, Collection, News, Top Books

Your Top 25 Checkouts of 2017

Published: December 27, 2017

What Did You Love This Year?

What were the most popular books, audiobooks, and DVDs checked out in Arlington this year?

And what were the most popular holds?

Take a look at Arlington's Top-25 lists in 2017 (click or tap to expand the graphics):

Top 25 Checkouts in Adult Collections


Top 25 Audiobooks for Adults Checked Out in 2017

Top Audiobooks

  1. Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow
  2. The Whistler, by John Grisham
  3. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
  4. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
  5. Rogue Lawyer, by John Grisham
  6. Spanish (Latin American), the complete course. I, beginners, part A
  7. Commonwealth, by Anne Patchett
  8. How to Listen To and Understand Great Music, by Robert Greenberg
  9. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
  10. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
  11. Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee
  12. The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel Brown
  13. French. Part B: the complete course I, Beginners
  14. Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
  15. The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough
  16. French. Complete course I, Beginners
  17. A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin
  18. The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling
  19. Spanish (Latin American), the complete course. I, Beginners, part B
  20. Gray Mountain, by John Grisham
  21. Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty
  22. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
  23. The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson
  24. Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly
  25. Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult

Top 25 Nonfiction books checked out in 2017

Top Nonfiction

  1. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
  2. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: The Official Script, by Jack Thorne, Tiffany Thorne and J.K. Rowling
  3. When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
  4. Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly
  5. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
  6. Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  7. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, by Amy Schumer
  8. The Undoing Project: a Friendship that Changed Our Minds, by Michael Lewis
  9. Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen
  10. Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
  11. Scrappy Little Nobody, by Anna Kendrick
  12. Thank You for being Late, by Thomas Friedman
  13. Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren
  14. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
  15. Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
  16. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
  17. Spark Joy, by Marie Kondo
  18. Modern Romance, by Aziz Ansari
  19. Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
  20. Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain
  21. Strangers in their Own Land, by Arlie Russell Hochschild
  22. The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living, by Meik Wiking
  23. The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel Brown
  24. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
  25. Option B, by Sheryl Sandberg

Top Books for Adults Checked Out in 2017

Top Fiction

  1. Commonwealth, by Anne Patchett
  2. The Whistler, by John Grisham
  3. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
  4. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
  5. Truly Madly Guilty, by Liane Moriarty
  6. The Trespasser, by Tana French
  7. The Wrong Side of Goodbye, by Michael Connelly
  8. A Man Called Ove, by Fedrik Backman
  9. A Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny
  10. Today Will be Different, by Maria Semple
  11. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
  12. Night School, by Lee Child
  13. The Nest, by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
  14. The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware
  15. The Girls, by Emma Cline
  16. Before the Fall, by Noah Hawley
  17. The Hopefuls, by Jennifer Close
  18. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
  19. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
  20. My name is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout
  21. No Man's Land, by David Baldacci
  22. Swing Time, by Zadie Smith
  23. Into the Water, by Paula Hawkins
  24. Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult
  25. Turbo Twenty-Three: a Stephanie Plum novel, by Janet Evanovich


Top 25 DVDs for Adults checked out in 2017

Top DVDs

  1. Bridge of spies*
  2. Manchester by the Sea
  3. Arrival*
  4. The Martian*
  5. The Big Short*
  6. Moonlight
  7. La La Land
  8. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot*
  9. The Revenant
  10. Loving
  11. Brooklyn*
  12. Sully*
  13. A Man Called Ove*
  14. Hidden Figures*
  15. Hacksaw Ridge
  16. Ghostbusters
  17. Hell or High Water
  18. Deadpool
  19. Logan
  20. Florence Foster Jenkins*
  21. Jason Bourne*
  22. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*
  23. The Accountant*
  24. Fences*
  25. Inception

*Based on a book


Top 25 YA DVDs Checkouts of 2017

Top YA DVDs

  1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children*
  2. Allegiant: Part 1*
  3. Pitch Perfect 2
  4. Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens
  5. The Hunger Games*
  6. Insurgent*
  7. The Maze Runner*
  8. The Scorch Trials*
  9. Paper Towns*
  10. Captain America: the First Avenger*
  11. Ant-Man*
  12. Doctor Strange*
  13. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind*
  14. Mockingjay: Part 1*
  15. The Duff*
  16. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice*
  17. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  18. Marvel's The Avengers*
  19. Captain America: Civil War*
  20. Guardians of the Galaxy*
  21. The Simpsons: Season 3
  22. Divergent*
  23. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl*
  24. Spider-Man
  25. The Karate Kid

*Based on a book


Top 25 holds of 2017

Top Holds

  1. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
  2. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
  3. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
  4. A Man Called Ove: a novel, by Fredrik Backman
  5. The Underground Railroad: a novel, by Colson Whitehead
  6. Hidden Figures (DVD)
  7. Lincoln in the Bardo: a novel, by George Saunders
  8. Arrival (DVD)
  9. Into the Water: a novel, by Paula Hawkins
  10. Commonwealth: a novel, by Ann Patchett
  11. La La Land (DVD)
  12. Manchester by the Sea (DVD)
  13. Moonlight (DVD)
  14. Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty
  15. Camino Island: a novel, by John Grisham
  16. Fences (DVD)
  17. Moana (DVD)
  18. Little Fires Everywhere: a novel, by Celeste Ng
  19. Hacksaw Ridge (DVD)
  20. What Happened, by Hillary Rodham Clinton
  21. Loving (DVD)
  22. Hidden Figures: the American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black women Mathematicians who Helped win the Space Race, Margot Lee Shetterly
  23. Lion (DVD)
  24. Homegoing: a novel, by Yaa Gyasi
  25. Al Franken, Giant of the Senate, by Al Franken

We cut the lists off at 25 for the sake of space and attempted readability in the graphs, but of course there were many more very popular books and films this year...

We look forward to finding out what makes your most-read and most-watched lists in 2018!

 

December 27, 2017 by Web Editor Filed Under: App, News, Top Books

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