Top Checkouts of 2021
As we celebrate the end of 2021 and the beginning of the new year, let’s take a look back at the year’s most popular books!
December 21, 2021
Want to know what your fellow Berlin-Peck patrons were reading this year? We’ve crunched the numbers for a list of the top checkouts in fiction, genre fiction, non-fiction, and biography. The list includes checkout numbers from the library catalog, as well as our downloadable services like OverDrive and hoopla.
This list includes:
Top Fiction
At #1 on our list, Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds was read over 170 times this year—wow!
Elin Hilderbrand, John Grisham, and David Baldacci all appear multiple times on the list.
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- The Guest List by Lucy Foley
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- The Return by Nicholas Sparks
- 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
- Troubles In Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
- A Time For Mercy by John Grisham
- The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
- Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
- Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- Sooley by John Grisham
- Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
- The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
- Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
- The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher
- The Law Of Innocence by Michael Connelly
- The Russian by James Patterson
- Daylight by David Baldacci
- Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner
- A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
Genre Fiction
Check out the top books in in fantasy, mystery, romance, and science fiction.
Top Fantasy
Books with a little magic (or a lot!)
- The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
- Last Guard by Nalini Singh
- Dark Illusion by Christine Feehan
- Lover Unveiled by J. R. Ward
- Rhythm Of War by Brandon Sanderson
- The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
- The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
- The Rise Of Magicks by Nora Roberts
- Year One by Nora Roberts
- The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik
- Down Among The Sticks And Bones by Seanan McGuire
- The Girl And The Stars by Mark Lawrence
- Dark Song by Christine Feehan
- A Master Of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
- Battleground by Jim Butcher
Top Mystery
Everyone loves a mystery! Everyone must love James Patterson, too… he appears on this list eight times.
- The Guest List by Lucy Foley
- The Russian by James Patterson
- Deadly Cross by James Patterson
- 21st Birthday by James Patterson
- Fair Warning by Michael Connelly
- Camino Winds by John Grisham
- The Coast-To-Coast Murders by James Patterson
- The 20th Victim by James Patterson
- Serpentine by Jonathan Kellerman
- The Searcher by Tana French
- The Summer House by James Patterson
- Three Women Disappear by James Patterson
- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
- Blindside by James Patterson
Top Romance
Steamy beach reads, sexy royals, old exes and new flings—there’s a romance novel for everyone.
- The Duke And I by Julia Quinn
- People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry
- Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks
- Beach Read by Emily Henry
- Its Better This Way by Debbie Macomber
- Nine Lives by Danielle Steel
- The Wish by Nicholas Sparks
- Winter Solstice by Elin Hilderbrand
- Because Of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
- The Bookshop On The Corner by Jenny Colgan
- Whispering Rock by Robyn Carr
- Seven Days In June by Tia Williams
- Much Ado About You by Samantha Young
- Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
- The Bookshop Of Second Chances by Jacky Fraser
- Under The Southern Sky by Kristy Woodson Harvey
- Winter Storms by Elin Hilderbrand
Top Science Fiction
Discover another world!
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Elsewhere by Dean Koontz
- Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
- The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
- Bewilderment by Richard Powers
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen
- The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
- A Psalm For The Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
- Power Challenges by Ben Bova
- Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
- Foundation by Isaac Asimov
- The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
- The Arrest by Jonathan Lethem
Top Non-Fiction
From cooking, to history, to self-help, to political theory—discover something new and interesting!
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
- Killing The Mob by Bill OReilly
- The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Gift: 12 Lessons To Save Your Life by Edith Eger
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- The Best Of Me by David Sedaris
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel A. Van der Kolk
- Catch And Kill by Ronan Farrow
- Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta
- Walk In My Combat Boots by James Patterson
- Dewey by Vicki Myron
- Inferno by Joe Pappalardo
- The Splendid And The Vile by Erik Larson
- So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
- Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
- The Princess Spy by Larry Loftis
- The Day The World Came To Town by Jim DeFede
- Eat Better, Feel Better by Giada De Laurentiis
- Breath by James Nestor
- The Warmth Of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
- Forgiving What You Can’t Forget by Lysa TerKeurst
- Wintering by Katherine May
- The Gifts Of Imperfection by Brené Brown
- Thinking, Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Top Biography
- Educated by Tara Westover
- A Promised Land by Barak Obama
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- Group by Christie Tate
- No Time Like The Future by Michael J. Fox
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett
- Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper
- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
- The Answer Is by Alex Trebek
- Maid by Stephanie Land
- The House Of Kennedy by James Patterson
- Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
- Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
- The Choice by Edith Eva Eger
- Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
- A Woman Of No Importance by Sonia Purnell
- The Last Days Of John Lennon by James Patterson
- This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay
- From Scratch by Tembi Locke
- The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
- A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost
- Eleanor by David Michaelis