This was the most checked-out adult book at Phoenix libraries in 2024
Residents went with a new historical fiction novel at a time when national numbers show that adults who read books continues to decline
(Independent Newsmedia/Steve Stockmar)
Patrons read selections in the popular fifth floor reading room on Jan. 7 at Burton Barr Central, the state’s biggest library, located at 1221 N. Central Ave., in Phoenix.
(Book cover from kristinhannah.com)
“The Women” by Kristin Hannah was the most checked out adult book among physical circulation items in the Phoenix Public Library system in 2024.
Read any good books lately? The answer among Phoenix residents in 2024 was a resounding “yes.”
There’s no shortage of selections within the Phoenix Public Library’s system of 16 branch libraries, the state’s biggest library, Burton Barr Central, and the Bookmobile. The system’s collection includes nearly 2 million books, DVDs, CDs, and a wide variety of digital resources.
Phoenix Public Library Community Relations Director Lee Franklin notes that total physical checked-out items in the system between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 3, 2024, numbered around 4.5 million.
All Maricopa County residents are eligible for a free Phoenix Public Library card, not just those who live in the city of Phoenix.
Franklin even shared her own favorite read from 2024: “James,” a novel by author Percival Everett (Doubleday; First Edition; March 2024), is a clever reimagining of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” but told from the perspective of Huck's companion Jim along the Mississippi River in 1861. The novel is already in development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg.
“I will say it was probably one of the hands-down best books I've read,” Franklin said. “The storytelling and the character development and the different lens. It's so rich and really engaging and it really lingers.”
Valley residents, though, made a different selection their top pick among adult books in the Phoenix Library System in 2024.
Before we get to that pick, consider the numbers of adults reading books continues to decline.
According to the National Endowment for the Arts’ 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 48.5% of adults reported having read at least one book in the past year, compared with 52.7% five years earlier, and 54.6% 10 years earlier.
Meanwhile, in 2022, only 37.6% reported reading a novel or short story, compared with 41.8% in 2017 and 45.2% in 2012.
“As we said at the time,” Sunil Iyengar with the NEA reported this past October, “the fiction-reading rate was the lowest in the history of the SPPA, a survey that goes back more than three decades.”
The Phoenix Public Library’s system uses a number of categories to chart those selections checked out across all branches. Data are itemized by adult and children’s, plus there’s a distinction between physical materials versus e-resources.
Looking strictly at the adult category of books physically checked-out in 2024, the top five are all fiction. Leading the way this past year among Valley patrons in the Phoenix Public Library system was “The Women,” by Kristin Hannah, published by St. Martin's Press in February 2024.
The historical fiction novel set in 1965 tells the story of a nursing student who follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America. The book spent 49 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has acquired the rights for a potential movie.
“The Women” by Kristin Hannah was the most checked out adult book among physical circulation items in the Phoenix Public Library system in 2024.
(Book cover from kristinhannah.com)
An excerpt of a Q&A with the author about her latest novel is available at kristinhannah.com:
Q: What inspired you to write a novel set during the turbulent era of the Vietnam War?
A: The Vietnam War cast a big shadow over my childhood. I remember the turbulence of the era, the unrest. When I was in elementary school, my best friend’s father was MIA; he’d been shot down in 1967. I remember wearing his POW bracelet for decades. As a result, his name was burned into my memory. Because of him, I remember vividly the sense of waiting for the warriors to come home, and I remember how they were treated upon return. Even as a young girl, I knew how wrong it was. These feelings have stayed with me for years, and I have wanted to write about this pivotal moment in American history. I am so grateful to be able to shine a light on the veterans who were forgotten for too long.
Q:The country is currently polarized politically and socially with an intensity not seen or felt since the 1960s. Did today’s extreme divisions between people influence your novel?
A: Absolutely. I first pitched this novel in the late 1990s and ended up deciding that I wasn’t ready to dig into this era. I think I needed to be older, hopefully wiser, and absolutely certain of what I had to say. And then came the pandemic. In the midst of the lockdown, with all of the attendant fear and division in America and abroad, I realized that it was the perfect moment to delve into another terrible, politically divided time in our country. One of the things I love about historical fiction is its ability to illuminate the modern world. Now, more than ever, we need to find a way to come together and have civil, informed conversations.
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Other most popular selections among adult readers in the Phoenix Public Library system in 2024:
Adult books
“Eruption” by Michael Crichton (Little, Brown and Company; June 2024)
“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride (Riverhead Books; Aug. 2023)
“First Lie Wins: A Novel” by Ashley Elston (Pamela Dorman Books; Jan. 2024)
“The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden (Grand Central Publishing; Aug. 2022)
“Three-Inch Teeth” by C. J. Box (G.P. Putnam's Sons; Feb. 2024)
“Southern Man: A Novel” by Greg Iles (William Morrow; First Edition; May 2024)
“A Calamity of Souls” by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing; First Edition; April 2024)
“The Woman in Me” by Britney Spears (Gallery Books; First Edition; Oct. 2023)
“Resurrection Walk” by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company; May 2024)
Adult ebooks:
“Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco; May 2022)
“The Eight” by Katherine Neville (Ballantine Books; Reprint edition; Jan. 1990)
“Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial; Aug. 2024)
“Yellowface” by R. F. Kuang (William Morrow Paperbacks; Jan. 2025)
“Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors” by Piers Paul Read (Harper Perennial; Illustrated edition; July 2005)
“It Starts With Us” by Colleen Hoover (Atria; Oct. 2022)
“Don't Believe It” by Charlie Donlea (Kensington; June 2022)
“Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by Lori Gottlieb (Harper; First Edition; April 2019)
“The Women” by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's Press; Feb. 2024)
“Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros (Entangled: Red Tower Books; Sept 2024)
Adult eAudiobooks:
“Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros (Entangled: Red Tower Books; Sept. 2024)
“Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros (Entangled: Red Tower Books; Nov. 2023)
“A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury Publishing; Reprint edition; June 2020)
“You Shouldn't Have Come Here” by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone Publishing Inc; Paperback edition; March 2024)
“The Teacher” by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press; Feb. 2024)
Meet Steve Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.
Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.
Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.
Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.
Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.
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