Pratt Library’s book checkouts are at a 12-year high. What was Baltimore reading?

If you read a book about Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library, you might learn about the emergence of ebooks and disruptions during the beginning of the pandemic. But there’s one plot twist you might not see coming — book checkouts are way up.

The library system set a 12-year high with 1.9 million first-time borrows, the equivalent of about 3.4 per resident, based on census estimates. The count reflects all checkouts of physical books, excluding renewals.

The 22-branch system’s ranks of active card holders are also rising. As of this month 124,000 people had used their library card within the past year, roughly 10,000 more than before the pandemic, according to Meghan McCorkell, Pratt’s chief of marketing, communications, and strategy, who credits marketing with increasing engagement. In recent years the system also eliminated fines and started renewing items automatically.

Baltimoreans seem to be reading a lot. But what have they been seeking out? For calendar 2023, here’s a look at the system’s top five books across categories for adults and young adults, including for ebooks and audiobooks.

Adult fiction

Published in 2022, “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus came in as the most popular adult nonfiction book in 2023. Its popularity carried over from its release year, when it was named the Barnes and Noble 2022 book of the year and won second for best debut novel in the Goodreads Choice Awards. The novel boasts 4.3-stars with over 1.1 million ratings on Goodreads, a popular book rating website and app.

The other four most checked out novels were also award-winners. A novel by Annapolis-born Barbara Kingsolver set in southern Appalachia, “Demon Copperhead” — a play on Dickens’ “David Copperfield” — won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction alongside “Trust” by Hernan Diaz.

Also making the top five was “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang, which won the 2023 Goodreads Choice award for best fiction, and “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano, which was nominated in the same contest category.

Adult nonfiction

The Duke of Sussex’s memoir, released in early 2023, came in at No. 1. In second was “Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner of the band Japanese Breakfast.

Also featured is “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” which had a movie adaptation released last year that is nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Lily Gladstone’s nomination for Best Actress.

Young adult fiction

Among the top five young adult fiction books last year were two from the Hunger Games series, including the 2020 prequel released as a movie in November last year — “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” — from the point of view of Coriolanus Snow, the antagonist of the original trilogy.

The three others were novels from Sarah J. Maas— two from “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series plus the first in another series, “Throne of Glass.” “A Court of of Mist and Fury” and “A Court of Wings and Ruin” were banned from Carroll County Public Schools libraries this month.

Young adult nonfiction

Three of the top five young adult nonfiction books come from the “Big Fat Notebook” series that features study guides for various subjects at the middle and high school levels.

Also featured are the visual-heavy “Ain’t Burned All the Bright” and “They Called Us Enemy.” While these lists don’t include graphic novels, these two were included because of the categorization the library receives from booksellers.

Adult fiction & nonfiction ebooks and audiobooks

Libby, the new app for OverDrive, and Hoopla are apps readers can upload a library card to and check out ebooks and audiobooks anytime. Before the pandemic, roughly 6% of active cardholders at Enoch Pratt were digital users. Now, it’s about 17%.

Readers can also apply for an eCard online toaccess ebooks, audiobooks, streaming media, and databases, according to the library’s website.

Below are highlights from most-checked-out fiction and nonfiction ebooks and audio books last year.