#Popular Books

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Sybil Leek - The Astrological Guide to Beauty - Popular - 1973

[hannahs-quirky-moments]

“All humans make mistakes. What determines a person's character aren't the mistakes we make. It's how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.”

— Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

[lakecountylibrary]

LCPL WRAPPED 2024

Ok DON'T PANIC, this post is still true - it just broke containment a bit so we don't know how many people saw the original tags and might therefore be a little concerned to see THIS post.

We don't know what you, personally, checked out.

We have to track total circulation stats to make sure we're doing our job correctly and keeping a healthy collection (and to defend our budget), but these stats are anonymous!

Is one person responsible for every single One Piece check out? Is James Patterson artificially inflating his numbers by visiting our library constantly? Who knows! The only thing we know is that kids(?) really, really like Jeff Kinney books.

And so without further ado, here are the most checked-out items of 2024:

Want to compare to 2023? Here's 2023 wrapped

(ID: Images are lists of books; each list is typed out in the post under the image. /ID)

Most Checked-Out Adult Books:

Adult Fiction:

James Patterson was #3 last year, too, though with a different book.

1: The Women by Kristin Hannah 2: First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston 3: The #1 Lawyer by James Patterson 4: A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci 5: The Exchange by John Grisham

Adult Nonfiction:

Prince Harry and Matthew Perry dropped a rank from 2023 to make way for Britney!

1: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears 2: Spare by Prince Harry 3: Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry 4: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson 5: I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Adult eBooks & eAudiobooks:

Format doesn't matter - people were reading The Women however they could!

1: The Women by Kristin Hannah 2: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 3: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros 4: Funny Story by Emily Henry 5: First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Most Checked-Out YA Books:

Teen Fiction:

Welcome back reigning champ Suzanne Collins!

1: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 2: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins 3: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling 4: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling 5: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Teen eBooks & eAudiobooks:

Major gains from Sarah J. Maas in this format - she didn't make the list with teens last year!

1: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas 2: If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin 3: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins 4: Powerless by Lauren Roberts 5: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

Teen Manga:

This is the first year we're sharing the top check-outs in this category!

1: One Piece by Eiichiro Oda 2: Bleach by Tite Kubo 3: Skip Beat! by Yoshiki Nakamura 4: Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto 5: My Hero Academia by Kōhei Horikoshi

Most Checked-Out Kids' Books:

Kids' Fiction:

AKA Mr. Kinney's House

1: No Brainer by Jeff Kinney 2: Diper Överlöde by Jeff Kinney 3: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney 4: Big Shot by Jeff Kinney 5: Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories by Jeff Kinney

Kids' Graphic Novels:

Return of Babymouse! It was popular in 2022 but didn't rank in 2023. (Though, we also didn't separate out kids' graphic novels in 2023.)

1: Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm 2: Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland 3: Dog Man: The Scarlet Shredder by Dav Pilkey 4: Cat Kid Comic Club: Influencers by Dav Pilkey 5: Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey

Kids' eBooks & eAudiobooks:

Rick Riordan with the steel chair?? I suspect we have Disney to thank for this revival.

1: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 2: Claudia and the Bad Joke by Ann M. Martin 3: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey 4: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling 5: No Brainer by Jeff Kinney

[thebestbrunettee]

cardan x jude pt 1.

so i mentioned in a previous post (here) that cardan is seemingly obsessed with with mortals/mortality in itself or at the very least is fascinated with pretty much anything to do with humans and their world, literature, artifacts, etc. in that post, i mentioned that this could be cardan’s method of escapism considering he despises faerie, lacking virtually any interest in his role in the court or as the high king. but i think this appeal towards mortals could be what led cardan to take notice of jude and eventually fall desperately in love with her.

in tcp, cardan’s favorite book is alice in wonderland, a story where a regular human girl is thrown into this magical and dangerous world so very different from her own. it’s there that she relies on her wits and own strengths to survive. is this not what happened to jude and taryn? so it makes sense that this could be another reason cardan takes interest in jude. (see this post)

also in tcp, it’s mentioned that one of the first things cardan noticed about jude were her ears and their roundness, how different they were from cardan and his friends’. i highlight this specifically because what jude sees as a massive insecurity, cardan is intrigued by and even takes a liking to.

part of the reason i think jude is so alluring to cardan is that she has the one thing cardan can never know, mortality. see, in faerie, cardan can have anything he wants, and if it isn’t already given to him he takes it. this is not the the case with mortality. cardan can never have it no matter how hard he tries, so in a way couldn’t he be partly jealous of jude? in tcp, cardan views her as a weakling, dirt. he and his friends called them the circle of worms- and even that isn’t a low enough ranking in his eyes. however, it’s later revealed that cardan would free the mortal servants at hollow hall and would even take beatings for protecting them. so could cardan’s initial hatred for jude stem from the fact that she is born with something over him? maybe he begins to hate her (i mean before she starts to stand up to him) because she has something he might deep down long to become familiar with.

[thetypedwriter]

The Grandest Game Book Review

The Grandest Game Book Review by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I feel like I’m writing about Jennifer Lynn Barnes constantly. 

Thankfully, this is not a case of diminishing returns. 

In fact, this might be Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ best novel yet, which is astounding to me. 

The Grandest Game is now the…fifth book in the Inheritance Games series which is insane, but it’s also the first installment in a spinoff series.

So related but not a direct sequel, although you would be lacking in a significant amount of understanding if you had not read the first four books of the Inheritance Games.

At this point, Jennifer Lynn Barnes is becoming the new Cassandra Clare.

But back to The Grandest Game, one of the key differences is instead of focusing on Avery and the Hawthorne brothers, this novel focuses on other players that have either been invited to play or won themselves a nomination. 

The Grandest Game itself is not that noteworthy, but the plot essentially boils down to this: Avery has set up a competition game where the prize money is $26 million.

Most of the game includes the players getting involuntarily put into teams and trying to solve a series of riddles and puzzles while attempting escape-room antics. 

Avery and the Hawthrone brothers are in the novel, but they’re in the periphery and largely unimportant other than the history they have with the players and the fact that they have masterminded the game. 

However, I can not emphasize enough how much better the book is by not focusing on them. Avery was never much more than a Mary-Sue from the get go and the Hawthorne brothers were all largely one-dimensional cliches.

The side characters who take center stage in this novel are a huge improvement, personality and interest wise. 

Rohan we know from the last book, The Brother Hawthorne, and his POV is fascinating. I’ve always had a soft spot for characters who are selfish and conniving, two characteristics Rohan has in droves. 

However, he also has a good motivation for playing the Grandest Game—getting money to take over the Devil’s Mercy, a secret club that he’s been a part of since he was a child. His penchant for winning always makes his POV fun to read. 

His relationship with Savannah, while predictable, was also really charming. I love relationships that are fierce and fiery, have cat-and-mouse banter, and are between two very stubborn people who don’t want to admit defeat. Every chapter with them working as a team was titillating. 

The POV I enjoyed the most was Gigi’s. Her fun, bubbly personality and bright way of connecting with people and seeing the world was fresh, fun, and authentic.

Her interactions with Knox and Brady were hilarious, but also strangely deep and intriguing, as they were both new characters with a sordid and complicated past with each other. 

Gigi’s intellect shone through while others constantly underestimated her, a plot point that never got old. Gigi trying to piece together what happened with Knox and Brady, while at the same time learning she’s bugged and trying to untangle the larger mystery of who’s on the island, was the most riveting part of the story for me. 

The last POV was for a character named Lyra Kane. Essentially, she’s Avery 2.0. I disliked her POV the most, especially as her motivation to win–saving her childhood home—while nice, was boring.

She also had the hackneyed story arc of being attracted to Grayson Hawthorne while incessantly telling herself to stay away from him (without success). 

The most interesting part of this POV was Grayson’s and Lyra’s interaction with their third teammate, Odette, an older woman who was once involved with Tobias Hawthorne.

I liked Odette’s backstory and the diversity of having an older character, but she was too cryptic throughout the whole novel and then decided to give up her spot at the end, a choice that riddled me with frustration and made her character dip in the favorite department. 

That being said, these three POV’s were still a huge improvement from the banality of Avery’s mind and the vapid love triangle she found herself in of the previous books. 

Instead, we have two interesting perspectives (plus Lyra) to carry this new spinoff series forward, a journey I am wholeheartedly ready to embark on.

Plus, all the riddles are a lot of fun to try and piece together as a reader. It may not be the most complicated of plots, but it’s entertaining and the characters propel it forward with their intersecting relationships and personal motivations. 

Recommendation: The best Jennifer Lynn Barnes novel yet. Read it and try to solve as many of the puzzles as you can (I got two of them!).

Score: 8/10

[books-and-strawberry-tea]

Holiday Book Haul✨ This is everything I got. This will be my last haul for a while. I have a lot of physical books to read now. And once I read them all I want to sell some that I didn’t like, or give them away, maybe donate them. There’s a library near me, but I’ve never donated before so I’m going to sus that out for my own knowledge.

꒰ა ˚₊ ✧・┈・╴﹕꒰ ᐢ｡- ༝ -｡ᐢ ꒱﹕╴・┈・𐑺 ‧₊˚໒꒱

[your-mommy-ems]

Kenji: Self care is actually getting in fist fights with randoms in dark alleys.

Juliette: No, self care is stuff like taking a bubble bath, or putting on a lot of makeup if you like it, or taking a nice warm nap!

Aaron: Self care is the burning heat when rage washes over you!! Self care is when you feel the bones crack under your powerful fists!! Self care is the fear in your enemies’ eyes!!!

Nazeera: Lmao self care is taking your birthday cake just so I can eat the frosting.

Kenji : If you touch my birthday cake I’ll make you eat your hands.

[madebytaylorursula]

I have been rebinding books for the last six months or so as a hobby, and as much as I love doing it - I don’t actually collect books myself. I’m trying my hand at selling some of my rebinds on Etsy! I’m not sure how successful it will be (rebinding is so time consuming and pricey to start out in, so finished products are fairly expensive due to the time, practice, and energy that has to go into them) but I at least wanted to give it a go! This is one of many I have finished in the last couple of months that I am going to put on my Etsy shop. I’ll be adding more as I make them, and I am very open to custom orders, if by chance someone is interested in one ☺️ I’m just starting all of these pages out, so they are pretty bare bones for now

[bookishlyives]

I’m a TikTok refugee coming back to my roots. For those that need to know: yes I like your shoelaces. I stole mine from the president.

I will be yapping about books so please follow me if you like books.

[shy-tidal-waves]

"Isn’t it awfully convenient,” Harry added, “that when men make the rules, the one thing that’s looked down on the most is the one thing that would bear them the greatest threat? Imagine if every single woman on the planet wanted something in exchange when she gave up her body. You’d all be ruling the place. An armed populace. Only men like me would stand a chance against you. And that’s the last thing those assholes want, a world run by people like you and me."

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid

[wakingupnexttoyou]

I gotta live read this one... Because I'm 5% in and this shit is WILD already. Soooooo. Spoiler warning obviously.

This girl's parents died. She goes home to deal with their house..... It's FULL OF DOLLS.... And the attic hatch is boarded shut..... I would have walked right back out of that house you guys 😂😂😂😂😩😭

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

David Paul Lyday - Come Die For Me - Popular - 1977

[ismahanescorner]

The Apothecary Diaries | Gush!! 🩷

heya!! so i’ll prolly be doing more of these gush-y review-esque posts about stories that i’m consuming in multiple media formats!

if you’ve been following along with my wrap-ups, you’d know that i binged the apothecary diaries manga in december (i’m currently waiting on vol. 11 to be released). i’m also watching the anime weekly (i can’t wait for temple rescue coming up!!). i also have the light novel on hold from my library so i can read ahead!! 😅

the story isn’t all that new or innovative if you’re an avid enjoyer of historical chinese (east asian) court dramas. however, it is very compelling and intriguing, and the pacing of reveals is pretty good as well!

the characters are instantly loveable and are the reason for my current -tiny- hyperfixation with the story. i just adore maomao and jinshi!!! 😍😍😍

if you’re in the same camp of being swept by your overwhelming love for these two idiots, please let me know so we can gush together!! 🤭🤍

🖼️ collage by me! 😊

[fairy-peculiar]

It hit me pretty hard. How there’s no kind of sad in this world that will stop it turning. People will keep on wanting what they want and you’re on your own.

Demon Copperhead / Barbara Kingsolver

[bigheartedbibliophile]

Happy Saturday! Wanna play a game? 😈

Post your guesses in the replies/reblogs!

[thetypedwriter]

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Book Review

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Book Review by Gabrielle Zevin

This book fell into my lap. I usually don’t put much stock into other people’s opinions on books, but I had sooooo many people tell me to read this book—people I admire and look up to. So, of course, when my fiance procured a copy for himself, I decided to join him. 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a book by author Gabrielle Zevin about a boy and a girl who make games together. That’s it, that’s the whole plot. It always amazes me when authors can take such a simple narrative and turn it into a beautifully crafted tale. 

The book itself is exquisitely written, with elegant prose, tasteful pacing, enchanting characters, and a rich timeline that starts with the characters’ childhoods and follows them well into their late thirties. 

The two characters are the creative, yet self-deprecating Samson Masur and the lovely and brilliant Sadie Green. The two meet as children in the hospital where Sam is recovering from a horrific car accident and bond over playing video games.

Little does Sadie know that Sam hasn’t spoken to a single person since the accident. Not one word—until Sadie. 

Following these two characters well into their adulthood makes you feel like you really know them. They’re complicated and messy, traumatized and hopeful. They have likes, dislikes, annoyances, flaws, struggles, and dreams. 

The gift of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is getting to know these two characters as well as you could know a real life person—an almost unimaginable task for a writer to do.

Because the plot is so simple (albeit still fascinating to see the progress and evolution of video games from the 1990’s to the 21st century) Zevin can focus wholeheartedly on Sam and Sadie’s characters, a literary choice that pays off in droves.

The way Sam and Sadie’s relationship changes over time makes the reader reminisce on their own friendships, especially childhood ones. As a book, it highlights the beauty and nuances of having someone you can call a best friend–emotions and ties that can mean more than romance.

The way Zevin portrays their relationship is nothing less than art. That isn’t to say that Sadie and Sam don’t fight or have their issues because oh boy, do they ever. But that’s life. Life is messy and unpredictable and as human beings we are vulnerable to insecurities and mistakes. 

Having double POV’s isn’t always my favorite, but in this case it was crucial. Seeing both sides allowed you, as a reader, to see how perception plays a role in us all.

A situation from Sadie’s POV points Sam as uncompassionate and unfeeling. From Sam’s POV you gain understanding and empathy—you piece together why he is doing what he’s doing, altering your omniscient perspective on the whole situation. 

It was splendidly crafted. 

As I’ve stated many many times before, I am a character driven reader. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a character driven narrative all the way through.

More than magic battles or surprising plot twists, I found myself moved by the daily lives of two individuals trying their best. I was encouraged by their success and heartbroken by their losses. I felt like Sam and Sadie were my friends and I loved their story as if it were my own. 

If I were to have any criticism of this book it would be that all the problems could have been avoided if the characters just communicated with each other.

This isn’t a new issue. I have this problem with TV shows, other books, movies, etc. If people properly communicated, you wouldn’t have the challenges that arise (you also wouldn’t have a plot). 

While in some cases I can understand why Sadie and Sam would keep things from each other, for two people who spend an inordinate amount of time together you would think that they would…you know, talk more about their thoughts and feelings. 

I do think that Zevin took some liberties with how often Sadie and Sam kept each other in the dark while still proclaiming the other person to be the only soul on the planet who “really knows them” but it’s a forgivable error and one easily forgiven. 

Recommendation: If you like character driven stories as much as me (and video games to boot), then Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow will be your next addicting read. Like a video game, you’ll start it up, hit the next level, and be consumed until you reach the boss fight at the end. 

Score: 8/10