It seems that Coffs Harbour’s readers love a good murder, judging by the top ten most-borrowed titles of 2017.
When checking the figures for last year, the most popular novels were almost all American thrillers with author Lee Child taking out the two top spots for ‘Night School’ and ‘Make Me’.
Library, Museum and Gallery Team Leader, Roslyn Cousins, expressed some surprise at the lack of Australian authors. “Usually we can depend on Di Morrissey or Judy Nunn to hit the top 10, but even last year’s big début – ‘The Dry’ by Jane Harper – didn’t knock out the Americans.”
The good news is that Australian books were better represented in the top 10 for both non-fiction and children’s books with half of both lists being claimed by Australian authors.
“Now that the busiest time of the holidays is behind us, why not take advantage of the slower January pace to pick up a book?” added Ms Cousins. “Local libraries provide a wide range of reading options, across a wide range of topics and all are free of charge.”
Night School book cover
| Top Reads 2017 | ||
| Fiction | Times borrowed | |
| 1 | Night School by Lee Child | 125 |
| 2 | Make me by Lee Child | 93 |
| 3 | No man’s land by David Baldacci | 81 |
| 4 | The wrong side of goodbye by Michael Connelly | 79 |
| 5 | Killer look by Linda Farstein | 74 |
| 6 | The stranger by Harlan Coben | 71 |
| 7 | This was a man by Jeffrey Archer | 70 |
| 8 | Alert by James Patterson | 69 |
| 9 | Memory man by David Baldacci | 68 |
| 10 | Last mile by David Baldacci | 68 |
| Non Fiction | ||
| 1 | Woolgoolga the history of a village by Neil Yeates | 20 |
| 2 | Road users handbook | 15 |
| 3 | Boy behind the curtain by Tim Winton | 12 |
| 4 | Journeys to abstraction: 100 contemporary paintings and their secrets revealed | 12 |
| 5 | The house on the hill by Susan Duncan | 12 |
| 6 | The plant based cookbook by Trish Sebben-Krupka | 11 |
| 7 | The long way home by Saroo Brierley | 10 |
| 8 | The Rough Guide to Thailand’s beaches & Islands | 10 |
| 9 | And the sea will tell by Vincent Bulgiosi | 9 |
| 10 | Ukulele for dummies by Alastair Wood | 9 |
| Children’s Books | ||
| 1 | Are we there yet by Alison Lester | 49 |
| 2 | Giraffes can’t dance by Giles Andreae | 45 |
| 3 | Too many elephants in this house by Ursula Dubosarky | 38 |
| 4 | The BFG by Roald Dahl | 34 |
| 5 | Piranhas don’t eat bananas by Aaron Blabey | 32 |
| 6 | Double down by Jeff Kinney | 31 |
| 7 | Bed tails by Meredith Costain | 30 |
| 8 | Can I cuddle the moon by Kerry Brown | 30 |
| 9 | Russell the sheep by Rob Scotton | 29 |
| 10 | Book with no pictures by B. J. Novak | 29 |
| eBooks | ||
| 1 | Black Widow by Daniel Silva | |
| 2 | All that is lost between us by Sara Foster | 6 |
| 3 | Our souls at night by Kent Haruf | 5 |
| 4 | 78 Storey treehouse by Andy Griffths | 5 |
| 5 | Absolute power by David Baldacci | 5 |
| 6 | The dry by Jane Harper | 4 |
| 7 | Any day now by Robyn Carr | 4 |
| 8 | As time goes by by Mary Higgins Clarke | 4 |
| 9 | Black water by Louise Doherty | 4 |
| 10 | Talking to my country by Stan Grant | 4 |
