Community Corner

Top 2011 Books from Wheaton Library

Dianne Whitaker, manager at the Wheaton Regional Library, reveals the most popular books from 2011 and a few of her own recommendations.

 

If your list of resolutions for the new year includes reading more books, the manager at the Wheaton Regional Library has some ideas for you.

Dianne Whitaker knows what people in Wheaton like to read and she has her own recommendations as well.

Mysteries tend to be very popular at the Wheaton library, Whitaker said. Here are the top four from 2011:

1. The Litigators. By John Grisham.

Whittaker said this best-selling legal thriller is very close to topping the most popular list for the Wheaton area right now. A little over 400 names are on the waiting list for the Montgomery County Public Libraries system.

2. Explosive Eighteen. By Janet Evanovich.

This new book is the eighteenth (surprise!) in a series featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.

3. 11/22/63. By Stephen King.

King takes his readers back to a fatal day in U.S. history: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

4. Locked On. By Tom Clancy.

The bestselling author revives his tried-and-true cast from previous books: Jack Ryan, his son, Jack Jr., John Clark Ding Chavez and other members of the Campus team.

Whittaker said that pre-2011 books like The Help and the trilogy that forms Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series remain popular among Wheaton readers.

In non-fiction, Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs appears to top the popularity list, with over 400 people on the holds list at the library.

The Swerve, which won the National Book Award for History, also deserves a mention, Whittaker said, although she has not read it yet. The book by Stephen Greenblatt has 83 holds.

A new biography by Robert K. Massie, Catherine The Great: Portrait of a Woman, has 170 holds, Whitaker said.

Whittaker’s list of 2011 fiction recommendations:

1. The Paris Wife. By Paula McLain.
2. State of Wonder. By Ann Patchett.
3. Caleb’s Crossing. By Geraldine Brooks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

“I’ve read them personally, and I’d recommend them,” she said.

What is on Whitaker’s must-read list for herself? The Art of Fielding, a novel by Chad Harbach. “I haven’t gotten to it yet, but I want to,” she said.

What's on your own reading list for the new year? Tell us in the comments.

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