Local library systems are sharing their most popular books of 2024, and it was a big year for historical fiction titles The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (James McBride) and Lessons in Chemistry (Bonnie Garmus). Local readers were also checking out David Grann’s nonfiction book-turned-blockbuster Killers of the Flower Moon.
Topping DC Public Library’s most-loaned fiction list was Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, telling the story of two friends who start a video game company. Humor and satire books were also popular, including Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, and Emily Henry’s romantic hit Funny Story.
According to data shared by Alexandria Library, the top fiction books included the tale of a friendship between a human and a giant octopus (Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt) and the story of a Vietnam War nurse (Kristin Hannah’s The Women). Alexandrians also displayed curiosity about their neighbor: J.D. Vance’s autobiography Hillbilly Elegy cracked the most popular nonfiction books of the year.
Meanwhile, nonfiction readers in Prince George’s County Memorial Library System gravitated towards books about racial identity and injustice. Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste, Antonia Hylton’s Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum, and Ed Gordon’s Conversations in Black: On Power, Politics, and Leadership were among the top nonfiction books of 2024.
In Arlington, the popular nonfiction titles followed a different theme. According to Rebecca Case, Arlington Public Library’s Acting Division Chief for Collections and Access, the top reads are typically related to what’s happening in pop culture. She points to Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me, which has sustained popularity since the success of the #FreeBritney movement, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which was turned into a Martin Scorsese film in 2023.
Here’s a look at the most popular library books of the year. Add them to your bedside table if you want to catch up on your reading in 2025.
DC Public Library
Top 10 print fiction titles:
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
- The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
- Funny Story by Emily Henry
- North Woods by Daniel Mason
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Top 10 print nonfiction titles:
- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
- The Wager by David Grann
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
- I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
- Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Alexandria Library
Top 10 fiction titles:
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
- Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Hunter by Tana French
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
- Funny Story by Emily Henry
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Top 10 nonfiction titles:
- Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
- The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson
- Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Man’s search for Meaning by Viktor Emil Frankl
- Framed: Astonishing True stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham
- Cooking in Real Life: Delicious & Doable Recipes for Every Day by Lidey Heuck
- Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
Prince George’s County Memorial Library System
Top 10 fiction titles:
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
- The Exchange: After The Firm by John Grisham
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- Crosshairs by James Patterson
- Happy Place by Emily Henry
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Top 10 nonfiction titles:
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
- Algebra, the Easy Way by Douglas Downing
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- Pre-algebra: the Easy Way by Caryl Lorandini
- The Wager by David Grann
- The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
- Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton
- Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
- Conversations in Black: On Power, Politics, and Leadership by Ed Gordon
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
Arlington Public Library
Top 20 fiction and nonfiction titles:
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- Funny Story by Emily Henry
- Happy Place by Emily Henry
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
- First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
- The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
- Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
- Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
- Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarak J. Mass
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
