These Are The Brooklyn Public Library's Top Checkouts Of 2020

BROOKLYN, NY — The Brooklyn Public Library has released its list of this year's top checkouts.

In 2020, bookworms in Brooklyn turned to everything from Sally Rooney novels to self-help books on racial justice and white privilege as they tackled a particularly transformative year.

"2020 was a year of devastation but also transformation, which is reflected in the books we reached for," said BPL President Linda E. Johnson. "Our top titles reflect a city seeking to uproot the long legacies of racism and sexism, to understand how we arrived here and how we might imagine a more equitable future. They reflect a city that has fought to sustain its sense of community despite the distance.”

The top titles were primarily borrowed digitally, as libraries closed for several months due to the pandemic. Select branches reopened for to-go services starting in July.

Here's a look at Brooklyn's top titles:

1. How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
2. White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
3. Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney
4. Becoming by Michelle Obama
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
6. Educated by Tara Westover
7. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
8. The Nickel Boys: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
9. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
10. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The city's public library systems also released the top 2020 checkouts for the Queens Public Library and New York Public Library, which covers the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.

Looking for more reading?

The Brooklyn Public Library also put out a list of its own 50 favorite books of the year.

"Here's our end-of-year gift to you: a list of our absolute favorite reads from 2020, in every genre, including literary fiction and nonfiction, graphic novels, romance, nature writing, sci-fi, young adult novels, picture books and more," the library said in an email to its subscribers.

Check out the list here.

Patch reporter Maya Kaufman contributed to this report.