Cairns Library reveals top books and magazines being borrowed
Cairns residents borrow around 840,000 books and magazines annually but there has been a surprising change in reading habits thanks to Covid. Find out what we’re really interested in.
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GRUESOME murders with a twist, an epic story of love and war between gods and humans and a family saga set during apartheid in South Africa are among the top 10 books Cairns readers are checking out from their local library.
There’s nothing like curling up with a good book and new data from Cairns Regional Council Libraries shows what locals are choosing to read – with escapist titles topping the borrowing charts.
Cairns Library’s co-ordinator library services, Marina Speziale, said between January 1 and March 10, 2022, the books and magazines leading the popular borrowing lists indicated their members wanted an alternative to the seemingly relentless “doom scrolling” of bad news.
She said while crime and mystery novels “always feature strongly for adult readers,” the big surprise was New Scientist appearing as the fourth most borrowed magazine, behind Who Weekly, Woman’s Day and New Idea while the rest of the magazine top 10 comprised home decor and gardening titles.
“Maybe we have lots of scientists in Cairns,” she said with a smile.
“I think the pandemic has been really stressful for a lot of people who use the library in person or online.
“Normally in the top nonfiction titles there’s more on wellness and finance, now there’s more of a focus on biographies.”
The adult fiction top 10 comprised four crime novels, three fantasy novels and the rest a mix of romance and family drama titles.
Ms Speziale said there were “no surprises,” with the children’s and young adult top reads.
With eight libraries across the Cairns Library service there was around 850,000 items borrowed annually across all branches, Ms Speziale said.
“Of the 70,000 checked out each month, 62,000 are physical items such as books and journals and Cairns has acquired a new range of audio and online books offering no waits or holds so multiple people can use them concurrently.
“This will come online in the next month or so and magazines are already available online via the Libby app.”
Ms Speziale said she believed “libraries hold quite a sacred place in people’s hearts”.
“As the world becomes a different space, libraries have become a safe space during the pandemic,” she said.
“We can provide resources to help people find a job or be that quiet place where they can feel safe.”
Top 10 Loans – Cairns Libraries physical borrowings January 1 to March 10
Adult Fiction
1. Autopsy / Patricia Cornwell
2. The becoming: The dragon heart legacy, Book 2 / Nora Roberts
3. Cold blood: Lorraine Page Series, Book 2 / Lynda La Plante
4. The long weekend / Fiona Palmer
5. Myrren’s gift / Fiona McIntosh
6. The promise / Damon Galgut
7. The younger wife / Sally Hepworth
8. Net Force: Threat Point / Jerome Preisler
9. Abandoned in death / JD Robb
10. Eternal / Lisa Scottoline
Young Adult Fiction
1. City of the dead: A Maximum Ride novel / James Patterson & Mindy McGinnis
2. One piece, Vol. 97. / Eiichiro Oda
3. Rise to the sun / Leah Johnson
4. Sway with me / Syed M Masood
5. Batman, Vol 4: The Cowardly Lot / James Tynion IV; Jorge Jiménez (Illustrator)
6. Haikyu!!, Vol. 6: Setter Battle! / Haruichi Furudate
7. My hero academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 11. / Furuhashi Hideyuki; Betten Court (Illustrator)
8. My hero academia, Vol. 29 / Kohei Horikoshi
9. Small town monsters / Diana Rodriguez Wallach
10. Under the Milky Way / Vanessa Barneveld
Junior Fiction
1. Animal train: Wolf Girl 6 / Anh Do; Lachlan Creagh (Illustrator)
2. Pokemon adventures collector edition: Vol. 10 / Hidenori Kusaka; Satoshi Yamamoto
(Illustrator)
3. Christmasaurus and the Naughty List / Tom Fletcher; Shane Devries (Illustrator)
4. Dog diaries / James Patterson & Steven Butler; Richard Watson (Illustrator)
5. Jayda the snowboarding fairy / Daisy Meadows
6. The memory thieves / Darren Simpson
7. The nerd herd: Outfoxed / Nathan Luff; Chris Kennett (Illustrator)
8. Max Einstein: World champions! / James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein; Jay Fabares
(Illustrator)
9. Sky Pirates: The dragon’s gold / Alex English; Mark Chambers (Illustrator)
10. Garfield livin’ the sweet life / Jim Davis
Picture Books
1. Wonky Donkey’s big surprise / Craig Smith; Katz Cowley (Illustrator)
2. Look & find in the ocean / Anastasia Druzhininskaya
3. Croc o’clock / Huw Lewis-Jones; Ben Sanders (Illustrator)
4. The night before Christmas in Wonderland / Carys Bexington; Kate Hindley (Illustrator)
5. The very hungry worry monsters / Rosie Greening, Lara Ede (Illustrator)
6. 5 more sleeps ‘til Christmas / Jimmy Fallon; Rich Deas (Illustrator)
7. Animal stories for little children / Rosie Dickins; Richard Johnson (Illustrator)
8. Boss of your own body / Byll & Beth Stephen; Simon Howe (Illustrator)
9. The boy whose head was filled with stars: A life with Edwin Hubble / Isabelle Marinov;
Deborah Marcero (Illustrator)
10. Chatterpuss: In deep water / Josh Pyke; Daron Parton (Illustrator)
Adult Nonfiction
1. Another day in the colony / Chelsea Watego
2. Rebel wid’out a quid / Sean Scullin
3. I saw the dog: How language works / Alexandra Aikhenvald
4. Operation Pedestal: the fleet that battled to Malta 1942 / Max Hastings
5. Petal: The world of flowers through an artist’s eye / Adriana Picker with Nina Rousseau
6. A woman’s shed: She sheds for women to create, write, make, grow, think, and escape /
Gill Heriz
7. Breath: The new science of a lost art / James Nestor
8. Everyday Wellness: 12 steps to a healthier, happier you / MaryRuth Ghiyam with Sarah
Durand
9. The Game: A portrait of Scott Morrison / Sean Kelly
10. Harrier 809: Britain’s legendary jump jet and the untold story of the Falklands War /
Rowland White.
Magazines
1. Who Weekly.
2. Woman’s Day.
3. New Idea.
4. New Scientist.
5. Marie Claire.
6. Better Homes and Gardens.
7. Australian Women’s Weekly.
8. Inside Out.
9. Australian Home Beautiful.
10. Gardening Australia.
DVDs
1. Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings (Film)
2. PAW patrol: The Movie (Film)
3. Joe Bell (Film)
4. Infinite (Film)
5. Stillwater (Film)
6. No time to die (Film)
7. Reminiscence (Film)
8. Smother (Series)
9. Whitstable Pearl (Series)
10. Ainbo: Amazon Princess (Film)
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