The View From Circulation - What's Trending, Unique, & Informational

Tis the season for many of us to enjoy comfort holiday season reads and movies.   Duxbury Free Library pulls out many of the holiday books, movies, and music  in a display for easy browsing and selection. Some of these just take place during the holidays and some are filled with Christmas spirit. You will find many fiction favorites to enjoy, such as, S kipping Christmas by John Grisham,  classics by Richard Paul Evans and Charles Dickens, and romantic favorites by authors Jenny Colgan , Debbie MacComber and  Elin Hildebrand . You'll also find a wide variety of cozy mysteries with holiday themes. Authors Anne Perry , Joanne Fluke, and Donna Andrews have a number of selections that are favorites with our patrons.  Looking for the newest in contemporary romance for the holidays? Always in December by Emily Stone , Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer and A Season for Second Chances by Jenny Bayliss have received a lot of press. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren ,  The Twelve Dates of Christ

If you have visited our library lately you have seen that we have moved our Staff Picks, Patron Picks, and Lucky Stars to where the Hot Summer Reads are located in the summer. We are calling it our Hot Reads Corner.  A new featured area that contains selections popular with our patrons is our Popular Books of 2021 Display located in the alcove in our Fiction area. These books are no longer considered "new releases" , but have proven to be continually checked out or they continue to be "talked about" in the book reviews, publishing magazines, and selected by book clubs. The selection is diverse and most genres are represented.  Here are some of my favorites from 2021. Many of these are debut authors. I enjoy a book with a great sense of place, interesting imperfect characters with inherently good qualities, and a redemptive plot. One of my most memorable reads of the year is The Reading List   by Sara Nisha Adams. This novel, set in London England, was a surprising d

The staff welcomes many of you back to the library as we fall into a new rhythm. Spring has brought an abundance of great reading choices and we can't wait to share our favorites with you. When the "ready for release book" cart comes up from technical services we are hoping, along with some of you, that our name comes up when we check it in. Anticipated reads are "talked about" months before they are released, therefore, often we have forgotten to place a hold on them and have to wait until many of you have read and pressed them into our hands. Here are a couple off the good reads off of recent carts that our staff we are eager to press into your hands: Brood by Jackie Polzin   This is a sweet read as the narrator leads us through a year of change and reflection along with the interesting challenges and joys raising and caring for her chickens. Although the premise sounds a bit strange, the Goodread's description captures this novel:   " Brood  is a da

Our book clubs have been active throughout the pandemic. Most are meeting via zoom.  The book clubs are reading a variety of selections, although, most are historical or literary fiction. Most popular selections include general patron favorites such as,  The Dutch House , Where the Crawdads Sing,  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine  , Beneath the Scarlet Sky, and The Silent Patient . But what really makes a good book club book? A lot of book clubs choose books they think everyone is going to enjoy. We find some book club leaders struggle with selecting options that might not appeal to everyone. However, if everyone likes the book, does that make for good discussion? As a member of a book club for over 20 years some of our best discussions are based on books where opinions were divided. Also, books where the character's experiences are foreign to us stimulate interesting discussion. What about size of the book? This is definitely something to consider so that all book club members

Enjoying these cozy reading days of winter?  The mini-library is open for browsing and if you are wondering what to read next we have staff pick and popular books from 2020 selection carts, as well as, our newest releases ready for check-out.  This months reading recommendations include : The Chicken Sisters by K.J. Dell'Antonia  : A delightful story that entertains with old family feuds, a reality tv food competition, friendships, love, and the messiness of family. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz: If you haven't read Magpie Murders I recommend starting with that book and then enjoying continuing with this inventive mystery that uses another author's (fictional)  mystery book to solve a crime.  Filled with twists and suspense and especially recommended for anyone who enjoys good British crime fiction or clever cozy mysteries. Can't Even: How Millenials Became the Burnout Generation   by Anne Helen Peterson: This book resonated with two of our librarians. "

Publisher’s weekly sent out the bestselling print books of 2020. The report indicates that print books still outsell ebooks, but ebooks have definitely gained popularity in 2020. Interestingly, Amazon (the largest seller of ebooks) does not report its ebook sales to any major industry sources. The top 25 include: 1. Barack Obama, A Promised Land (2,574,531 copies sold) - Memoir / Political 2. Stephenie Meyer, Midnight Sun (1,311,147 copies sold) - Fiction YA Series 3. Dav Pilkey, Dog Man (1,240,277 copies sold) - Children’s book; 2019 top selling series 4. Mary L. Trump, Too Much and Never Enough (1,235,924 copies sold) - Biographical / Political 5. Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (1,235,099 copies sold) - Fiction YA series  6. Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing (1,132,973 copies sold) - Fiction published in 2018; #1 in 2019 7. Glennon Doyle, Untamed (1,018,536 copies sold) - Memoir/ Personal Development 8. Jeff Kinney, The Deep End (920,709 copies sold)