Jessica Green is a book addict and library card holder since the age of 3. She’s a librarian at the Ottawa Public Library and Apt613’s Librarian-in-Residence.

Looking for the freshest reads this holiday season? I have some lists for you based on the top books checked out this year at the Ottawa Public Library. Numbers were crunched, experts were consulted and databases double-checked to discover what Ottawa loves to read. The adult reads are in this post, with the top children and teen reads coming in a following post.

Adult Fiction

You can see this list features books about the dark secrets ordinary people may be hiding, to literary award winners, to popular thrillers like The Woman in Cabin 10, The Girl Before and Into the Water. We can see that appearing on the shortlist for a major Canadian literary award can positively affect a book’s popularity, like with Do Not Say We Have Nothing and The Best Kind of People. Humour makes a brief appearance to round out the list, with My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella.

Adult Mystery

This list has no real surprises as these are all well-established names in the mystery genre, with many superstars like Michael Connolly, JD Robb, and Ian Rankin. The numbers for these checkouts are pretty close to those on the Adult Fiction list, so it’s safe to say Ottawa adores mysteries just as much as the rest of fiction.

Adult Nonfiction

This is a fascinating list of books. I was surprised to see this wide range of memoirs on this list but then I recalled that many had favourable reviews! I am pleased to see the Hidden Figures book as well as the latest from Neil deGrasse Tyson. I am also not surprised to see a book about hygge on the list as that was a major trend in 2017 and will likely continue well into 2018.

Adult Graphic Novels

There are many comics here with movie or show tie-ins like the Walking Dead, Star Wars and Old Man Logan. We also have the perhaps too true observations on Trump over the years from the Doonesbury strip, as well as Saga, perhaps the greatest ongoing series currently being written, and a Sarah’s Scribbles collection, which are brilliant.

Looking for teen fiction and children’s books? The list continues here.