And The Seattle Public Library’s Most Popular Book in 2023 Was …

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Now that we’ve turned the page on another year, it’s intriguing to look back and see which titles captured the interest of Seattle’s readers in 2023. Below are The Seattle Public Library’s top 10 checkouts in adult fiction and nonfiction (both print and e-books) and e-audiobooks for the year. How do these titles stack up against your favorites?

Here are a few observations from the list:

Seattle loves its local authors! Former Seattle resident Bonnie Garmus’ bestselling “Lessons in Chemistry” was the most popular adult fiction e-book and print book in 2023, and Seattle author Timothy Egan’s “A Fever in the Heartland,” was the Library’s most checked-out print nonfiction book. Three other print nonfiction titles with a local connection were also in the top 10: Michelle Tartaglia’s  Pasta for All Seasons; Pacific Northwest Native Plant Primer, by Kristin Currin and Andrew Merritt; and Megan Asaka’s Seattle from the Margins.

Patrons pick Peak Picks: All of the top 10 most popular adult fiction and nonfiction physical books were part of the Library’s very popular Peak Picks program, a hand-curated, rotating collection of high-interest print titles that patrons can check out right away from any Library location, for two weeks with no holds and no wait. (Look for the Peak Picks display!)

The city that reads together: It was fun to see that the third most popular fiction e-book was Julie Otsuka’s “The Swimmers,” the 25^th anniversary selection for our annual Seattle Reads program.

Always available means often read: The Library’s Always Available collection of e-books and e-audiobooks – digital books that an unlimited number of patrons can check out through OverDrive – also played a role in the popularity of certain titles. For example, the most popular e-audiobooks in 2023 — “Braiding Sweetgrass” and “101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think”  — have been Always Available for the past couple of years.

10 most popular adult fiction print books

1. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
3. Foster, by Claire Keegan
4. Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano
5. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
6. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
7. Yellowface, by R. F. Kuang
8. Romantic Comedy, by Curtis Sittenfeld
9. I Have Some Questions For You, by Rebecca Makkai
10. “The Guest,” by Emma Cline

10 most popular adult fiction e-books

1. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
3. The Swimmers, by Julie Otsuka
4. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
5. Happy Place, by Emily Henry
6. Verity, by Colleen Hoover
7. Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
8. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
9. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
10. Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng

10 most popular adult nonfiction print books

1. A Fever in the Heartland, by Timothy Egan
2. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, by David Grann
3. Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals, by Melissa Clark
4. Spare, by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
5. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
6. I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy
7. Pasta for All Seasons: Dishes that Celebrate the Flavors of Italy and the Bounty of the Pacific Northwest, by Michela Tartaglia
8. The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, by Michelle Obama
9. Pacific Northwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden, by Kristin Currin and Andrew Merritt, 1,804
10. Seattle from the Margins: Exclusion, Erasure, and the Making of a Pacific Coast City, by Megan Asaka

10 most popular adult nonfiction e-books

1. I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy
2. Spare, by Prince Harry
3. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, by Lori Gottlieb
4. Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover
5. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah
6. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, by Michelle Zauner
7. Atomic Habits, by James Clear
8. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, by David Grann
9. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann
10. When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi

10 most popular adult e-audiobooks

1. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Kimmerer
2. 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think, by Brianna Wiest
3. I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy
4. Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
5. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
6. Spare, by Prince Harry
7. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
8. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
9. Wool, by Hugh Howey
10. You Shouldn’t Have Come Here, by Jeneva Rose

Curious what the kids are reading? We’ll post a recap of most popular checkouts for kids and teens soon.

Note that these lists were compiled from anonymous checkout data and covered the period from Jan. 1, 2023 through Dec. 31, 2023, which is why it varies slightly from the Seattle Times’ list of most popular checkouts for 2023, which covered Jan. 1, 2023 through Dec. 12, 2023.