A year in review: CMLibrary's Top Reads of 2022

This blog was written by Ed McDonald, librarian at SouthPark Regional Library.

2022 is over so let's take a look at which books were most popular with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library readers this year. We pulled circulation data for our adult fiction (both print and digital), adult nonfiction, young adult fiction and graphic novels.

A few listings stood out this year:

• There were a few returns to the top fiction lists this year. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave was a contender last year and this year her novel was #1 on both the print and digital lists. 
• Digital usage dominated again this year.  The top print novel’s circulation number wouldn’t even have made the digital list. The top print nonfiction book would have been #7 on the digital list.
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb returns to the top of the digital nonfiction list this year. This is the fourth year the book has appeared on this list and the second year in a row where it was #1.
• For the second year in a row Sisters by Raina Telgemeier was the most popular graphic novel.

We hope you enjoy going through this year’s lists and be sure visit your local library branch and our webpage and get started on reading the books for this year’s list.

Print Adult Fiction

• The Last thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
• Judges List by John Grisham
• The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• The Maid by Nita Prose
• Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
• Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
• Verity by Colleen Hoover
• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Digital Adult Fiction

1. The Last thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
2. Verity by Colleen Hoover
3. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
4. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
5. The Maid by Nita Prose
6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Reid Jenkins
7. The People we Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
8. The Book Lovers by Emily Henry
9. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
10. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab

Print Adult Nonfiction

1. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
2. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner
3. These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
4. Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. Van derkolk
5. 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
6. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brene Brown
7. Guinness World Records 2022
8. Finding Me by Viola Davis
9. Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron
10. Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper

Digital Adult Nonfiction

1. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
2. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
3. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brene Brown
4. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
5. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner
6. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
7. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
8. The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor – The Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown
9. Finding me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
10. Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper

Print Young Adult Fiction

1. Sisters by Raina Telgemeier
2. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman
3. A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
5. One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
6. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
7. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
8. Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
9. They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
10. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Digital Young Adult Fiction

1. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
3. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
4. Heartstopper, Volume 4 by Alice Oseman
5. It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
6. Heartstopper, Volume 3 by Alice Oseman
7. Heartstopper, Volume 1 by Alice Oseman
8. A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
9. We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
10. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Fiction & Nonfiction Audio Books (Digital and Physical)

1. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
3. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
5. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
6. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
7. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
8. 101 Essays that will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest
9. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
10. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Reid Jenkins

#1 African American Novel

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

#1 Graphic Novel

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

#1 Mystery Novel

The Maid by Nita Prose

#1 Science Fiction Novel

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir