LYNN — Mass-market thrillers and mysteries were the most popular library books of 2020 in Lynn, as readers looked to escape the mundane horror of the global pandemic.
The Lynn Public Library released its most popular books of the year this week — a list topped by “The Inn” by James Patterson and Candice Fox, “Killer Instinct” by James Patterson and Howard Roughan, and “The Warning” by — surprise — James Patterson.
David Baldacci got two of his thrillers on the top 10 list: “A Minute to Midnight” and “One Good Deed.“
Big names such as romance author Sandra Brown (“Outfox”) and the prolific John Grisham (“The Guardians”) were also represented.
An outlier in this list of veteran authors includes “Where The Crawdads Sing,” a debut novel from Delia Owens about a young woman named Kya Clark from rural North Carolina, who lives alone in nature, drawn into contact with the greater world.
“Where The Crawdads Sing,” was also the No. 1 book on the audiobook list, where there was a more diverse variety of popular titles, including Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” and “Little Fires Everywhere,” a story about race and class in a wealthy suburb of Ohio, written by Celeste Ng.
The Lynn Public Library on 5 North Common Street closed for in-person services on March 16, but its catalogue has still been made available for curbside pickup at points during the year.
Even this curbside service was recently suspended, but the library hopes to continue the service on Jan 19.
The library’s top movies include “Dora: The Lost City Of Gold,” “Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark,” “The Angry Birds Movie: 2,” “47 Meters Down,” and “Ready or Not.“
The list of top childrens’ books was dominated by Dave Pilkey’s “Dogman” series (five titles in the top 10) and Jeff Kinney’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series” (three titles). The top 10 was filled out by “Guts and Sisters,” two books by cartoonist Raina Telgemeier.
In Swampscott, “Where The Crawdads Sing” topped the list with 85 circulations, followed by “How To Be An Anti-Racist,” by Ibram X. Kendi (59 circulations), “Bezuprechnaia Retutatzia,” by Marinina Aleksandra (54 circulations), “The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett (52 circulations), and “A Good Neighborhood” by Therese Fowler (51 circulations).
The presence of “How To Be An Anti-Racist” was likely a result of the library’s “One Topic One Town: A Journey Towards Dismantling Racism” book series designed in partnership with Swampscott Unites, Respects, Embraces (SURE), which recommended Kendi’s book along with five other titles related to race.
The series offered the town’s residents a set of race-conscious book recommendations, along with programs around the books, including discussions, lectures, movies, history podcasts and presentations.
Swampscott Public Library remains open for window-side pickup from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. through 1 p.m. Saturday.
