Are book clubs making a comeback? It might be for folks on the North Shore.
The three North Shore public library systems have revealed their most borrowed titles from 2024, with nearly three-quarters of the chart-topping titles being book club selections.
“People crave social connection and learning through their hobbies, and this isn’t a trend going away for our libraries,” said Shideh Taleban, library services co-ordinator at the North Vancouver City Library in a press release. “Book clubs help people make meaning of stories, turning reading from a solitary activity into a shared journey of ideas, perspectives and connection.”
The three library systems noted the top three books in several categories including Adult Fiction, Adult Downloadable Audiobooks and Adult Ebooks, with several titles appearing on multiple lists. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett and The Woman by Kristin Hannah became staples across the North Shore libraries, carrying rich themes of love, resilience and family dynamics.
“Romantasy” – a mix of romance and fantasy – was a big hit genre across the libraries last year, with Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass topping several lists, along with Rebecca Yarro’s Fourth Wing.
The non-fiction category was topped by Canadian journalist Brett Popplewell’s Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain, and the Search for a Hidden Past – a quest to find the story behind a former stuntman who lived alone inside a school bus on a mountain.
Readers also sought health and wellness perspectives in The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, and urgency and insight from John Vaillant’s Fire Weather giving a thought-provoking look at environmental challenges reshaping our world.
For the kids, Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man series and Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney consistently dominated the lists in 2024. The Hunger Games made its way to the top spot for the second year in a row in Teen Fiction, while mysteries and summer romances made waves throughout the year.
Graphic novels and manga also made a staple for teen readers last year, with Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper, the One Piece series by Eiichiro and Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z topping the Teen Graphic Novels/Manga lists.
Jumping to the DVD section, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and the thriller/crime hit Anatomy of a Fall came out on top, alongside the Dune series, Barbie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Holdovers.
Tara Matsuzaki, head of customer and community experience at West Vancouver Memorial Library, predicts this year readers can expect non-fiction to tackle urgent topics and fiction that is a little different than last year.
“Non-fiction titles will delve into climate change and artificial intelligence, exploring how they reshape work, life and the environment,” Matsuzaki said in a press release.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
