Regina Public Library names top pandemic page turners of 2020
The Regina Public Library (RPL) recently released a list of its most popular books of 2020. Many people curled up with a good book amid the pandemic, whether for sheer escapism or just a break from Netflix and doom scrolling. Mysteries and thrillers topped the list of crowd pleasers, and the use of e-books increased 30 per cent. Here are some of the readers' favourites and trends the RPL saw:
WHODUNIT
Page-turners such as The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell, The Silent Patient by Alex Michalides, and The Guest List by Lucy Foley flew off the digital shelf as the pandemic forced residents into isolation.
FROM PRINT TO SCREEN
Reginans stocked up on books made popular by TV and movies. Readers followed Beth Harmon's journey into competitive chess in The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis, witnessed the world of the Richardson family upended in Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, and fell in love with Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset in Bridgerton, based on The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. The Queen's Gambit and Bridgerton became run away hits on Netflix this year, while the miniseries Little Fires Everywhere burned up Hulu.
BLM, TRUMP AND OBAMA
World events also dictated reader interest, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, which inspired interest in such books as How To Be an Antiracist and Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X
Kendi, and Me & White Supremacy by Layla Saad. Books about U.S. politics were also in high demand, most notably Mary Trump's Too Much and Never Enough, and Barack Obama's A Promised Land.
MADE IN SASK.
Closer to home, the top circulating Saskatchewan books included Five Little Indians, a novel about residential school survivors by Michelle Good; When the Trees Crackle with Cold, an illustrated picture book exploring a Cree calendar by Bernice Johnson-laxdal;
and A Geography of Blood a historical memoir set in the Cypress Hills area by Candace Savage.
TRENDS FOR 2021
According to the RPL, psychological thrillers continue to be in demand in early 2021. With the inauguration of a new American president following the riot at the U.S. Capitol, it also expects politics and social justice will remain high on readers' to-do list. The RPL says it's also clear that digital resources will remain popular.