On subways and buses, on park benches, and curled up in chairs in our homes, New Yorkers read millions of books this year. We read literary fiction, memoirs, mysteries, thrillers, romances and more. Curious which books and e-books your fellow users of The New York Public Library were checking out the most? Below are the top 10 checkouts systemwide, as well as the 10 most popular checkouts in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. You can also use an interactive map to find the top checkout at branches across the system. Topping the list is Michelle Obama’s Becoming, a memoir of her childhood, education, early career, and her historic role in the White House.

If you’re ready for another year of reading and not sure where to start, take a look at these lists to see which titles resonated with readers across the city in 2019.

Top 10 Books Systemwide

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama
2. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
3. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
4. A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
6. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
7. Circe by Madeline Miller
8. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
9. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
10. Milkman by Anna Burns

Top 10 Books in the Bronx

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama
2. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
3. Ambush by James Patterson and James O. Born
4. The Chef by James Patterson
5. A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
6. Liar Liar by James Patterson and Candice Fox
7. The 18th Abduction by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
8. Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci
9. Target: Alex Cross by James Patterson
10. The House Next Door by ​James Patterson, Tim Arnold, Max DiLallo, and Susan DiLallo

Top 10 Books in Manhattan

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama
2. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
3. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
4. Circe by Madeline Miller
5. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
6. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
7. Milkman by Anna Burns
8. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
9. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
10. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Top 10 Books in Staten Island

1. A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
2. Ambush by James Patterson and James O. Born
3. The Reckoning by John Grisham
4. Target: Alex Cross by James Patterson
5. Liar Liar by James Patterson and Candice Fox
6. The Chef by James Patterson
7. Turning Point by Danielle Steel
8. The House Next Door by ​James Patterson, Tim Arnold, Max DiLallo, and Susan DiLallo
9. Unsolved, Book 2 by James Patterson and David Ellis
10. Juror No. 3 by James Patterson and Nancy Allen

--

Make 2020 your best reading year yet. Sign up for The New York Public Library's Book of the Day e-newsletter, and you'll get a daily book-recommendation email delivered to your inbox each morning of 2020. This pop-up e-newsletter is one of many ways we’re celebrating the Library's 125th anniversary in 2020. 

Sign up at nypl.org/bookoftheday