Here’s what Wollongong was reading in 2022!

It’s been another big year for book lovers here in the ‘Gong and to celebrate our city’s love of reading, we’re sharing the topmost borrowed books (and ebooks) for 2022.

The results are in, and we can confirm that best-selling authors Liane Moriarty, Hannah Kent, Sally Rooney, Delia Owens, and of course Junior Fiction superstar Anh Do, have taken out the top spots as the most popular reads for Wollongong City Libraries’ members.

As a city, this year we fell in love with some great titles such as ‘The Dictionary of Lost Words’ by Australian author Pip Williams, book turned movie-blockbuster ‘Where the crawdads sing’ by Delia Owens, and global sensation ‘Apples never fall’ by Liane Moriarty.

Wollongong City Council Manager Library and Community Services Jenny Thompson said that what was particularly exciting to see, was that library members are voting with their library card for books written by women.

“Of our top ten Adult Fiction titles that whizzed off the bookshelves in 2022, 8 out of 10 were written by women! Australian authors also dominated the list as Liane Moriarty, Hannah Kent, Dervla McTiernan, Pip Williams and Hayley Scrivenor were recognised as firm favourites for our readers,” Ms Thompson said.

“Anh Do has once again knocked out the competition with 9 out of 10 of the topmost borrowed Junior Fiction titles. Andy Griffiths, another favourite among our young readers, snuck in and pinched one spot with his 2021 book ‘The 143-storey treehouse’.

“It’s great to see so many great Australian titles capture the imagination of our young and older readers. We’ve had more than 1,1 million loans across our seven libraries in 2022.

“If you’re looking for book ideas for 2023, we’d love to help match you to a book! Have a chat to a librarian, check out the library online catalogue or pop into your local library and browse the collection.”

The results are in for 2022*

Most borrowed Adult Fiction

• Apples never fall / Liane Moriarty - 1,658
• Devotion / Hannah Kent – 924
• Beautiful world, where are you / Sally Rooney – 648
• Where the crawdads sing / Delia Owens – 555
• The murder rule/ Dervla McTiernan – 533
• Still life / Sarah Winman – 489
• The Dictionary of Lost Words / Pip Williams – 480
• Better off dead / Lee Child – 455
• Dirt town/ Hayley Scrivenor - 447
• Treasure & dirt / Chris Hammer – 443

Most borrowed Australian Adult Fiction

• Apples never fall / Liane Moriarty - 1,658
• Love stories / Trent Dalton – 924
• The murder rule/ Dervla McTiernan – 533
• The Dictionary of Lost Words / Pip Williams – 480
• Treasure & dirt / Chris Hammer – 443
• Dirt town/ Hayley Scrivenor - 447
• The survivors / Jane Harper – 439
• When you were mine / Michael Robotham – 414
• Wild place / Christian White – 283
• Lying beside you / Michael Robotham – 254

Most borrowed Adult Non-Fiction

• Becoming / Michelle Obama – 354
• Love stories / Trent Dalton – 336
• Atomic habits : tiny changes, remarkable results / James Clear  - 285
• The happiest man on Earth / Eddie Jaku – 280
• It wasn’t meant to be like this / Lisa Wilkinson – 271
• Your own kind of girl / Clare Bowditch – 262
• So you think you know what’s good for you / Norman Swan – 237
• Phosphorescence : on awe, wonder & things that sustain you / Julia Baird – 235
• Sapiens / Yuval Noah Harari – 227
• My year of living vulnerably / Rick Morton – 215

Junior Fiction

• WeirDo 13 : Weirdomania! / Anh Do – 201
• WeirDo 9 : spooky weird! /Anh Do – 199
• WeirDo 10 : messy weird! /Anh Do - 199
• WeirDo 12 : hopping weird! /Anh Do – 190
• WeirDo 15 : Planet weird! /Anh Do – 190
• WeirDo 16 : tasty weird! /Anh Do – 182
• HotDog 4 : Game time! / Anh Do – 181
• The 143-storey treehouse / Andy Griffiths – 180
• WeirDo 14 : vote WeirDo! /Anh Do – 166
• Skydragon 2 : Fly free / Anh Do – 155

Junior Picture Book

• Pig the star / Aaron Blabey – 174
• Pig the tourist / Aaron Blabey  - 138
• Bluey : Fruit bat - 131
• Bluey : The pool - 119
• Macca the backpacker / Matt Cosgrove - 118
• Bluey : The beach - 113
• Pig the grub / Aaron Blabey - 110
• Give me some space / Philip Bunting - 110
• Alpacas with maracas / Matt Cosgrove - 108
• Llamas in pyjamas / Matt Cosgrove – 108

*As of December 2022.