T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY A display at the Marshalltown Public Library shows some of the most popular fiction and nonfiction titles of 2023, including Prince Harry’s memoir “Spare” and the works of Colleen Hoover.

It was another busy year at the Marshalltown Public Library, and as she has done the past few years, Director Sarah Rosenblum recently sat down with the T-R to share some of the top titles and reading trends of 2023.

Unsurprisingly, mainstay authors like James Patterson, David Baldacci, Nora Roberts, Lee Child, Sandra Brown and John Grisham continued to be some of the top draws for patrons who checked out books in any format, but Colleen Hoover, who Rosenblum mentioned previously as benefiting from the “BookTok” trend on the app TikTok, had several books near the top of the list.

“We had a lot of people come in who have not read her books. I’ve actually met her a couple times, and she’s great. And her background mirrors a lot of her books,” Rosenblum said. “She came from a very disadvantaged background as a social worker, so you see a lot of that in her writing.”

Hoover, she added, doesn’t confine herself to one specific genre and jumps “all over the map.” The most popular nonfiction title of the year at the MPL was “Spare,” the much-anticipated memoir from the somewhat prodigal son of the British royal family, Prince Harry. Another book that Rosenblum said “came out of nowhere” was “Lessons in Chemistry,” the debut novel from Bonnie Garmus about a woman who becomes a beloved cooking show host in 1960s southern California after being fired as a chemist a decade earlier. Like “Slow Horses,” another popular 2023 title that has drawn comparisons to the late, great John Le Carre, it may have benefited from a high profile Apple TV adaptation starring Brie Larson. “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam was another title that saw something of an adaptation bump thanks to the Netflix film starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali.

Minnesota-based author William Kent Krueger made an appearance at the MPL back in November, and his novel “This Tender Land,” the story of two orphans who go on the run in central Minnesota in hopes of reaching St. Louis. In addition to his recent standalone books, Krueger is known for his Cork O’Connor detective series set around reservations in northern Minnesota.

“I think he’s just got this solid fan base where people tell other people. I think that’s an author that somebody says ‘Oh, you have to read him,'” Rosenblum said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosenblum and MPL Public Service and Tech Manager Katie Fink started buying more large print books, and Rosenblum remarked that they’ve hardly been able to keep up with the demand. Audiobooks are also continuing to increase among those with extensive commutes, like long-haul truckers driving across the country.

As for off the beaten path recommendations, the director said she greatly enjoyed onetime librarian Terah Shelton’s debut novel “One Summer in Savannah.”

“(It’s) a really great tale about you can’t go home again, that type of story,” Rosenblum said. “I really loved it, and I emailed her and she emailed me right back. So that was really fun.”

Anyone with a library card is also able to access the MPL’s extensive collection of movies and TV shows on DVD, although Rosenblum said there has been some frustration among people who wish to watch hit shows like “Ted Lasso” that are only available by subscribing to streaming services and haven’t been released in any sort of physical media format.

Heading into 2024, Rosenblum anticipates more use of digital services, and she hopes the MPL can continue to stack up against libraries in cities with much larger populations around the country.

“I think we do an outstanding job, and we don’t always get it right but I’d like to think that we do. We have a lot of support. I love when people how much they enjoy the library, what it means to them, how Joa (LaVille) helped them, how Katie helped them,” she said. “Local history continues to be very popular, and we love introducing people to books… It’s always fun when somebody comes back and says ‘Oh, I really love that book and can you recommend something else?'”

On the kids side of the library, Youth Services Director Joa LaVille also enjoyed a busy year, with many of the top checkouts like the work of Raina Telgemeier and the Dog Man series remaining highly popular.

“One of the things that really jumped out to me when I looked at our numbers is that our beginning readers — both our English beginning readers and Spanish beginning readers — jumped up 40 percent for English and 300 percent for Spanish,” she said. “COVID really gave a big punch to literacy nationwide, and I think the fact that our beginning readers are going out so well really means that parents are doing (a good job). Parents are their kids’ best and first teachers, and I think that’s something that they’re recognizing and wanting to support their kids’ reading journey by checking out beginning readers.”

Earlier in the year, new outward facing, bin-style shelving was placed in the youth section, and LaVille believes that has also had a positive impact on readership. Wonderbooks, which are hard copies with an audio player built in, and playaways have seen dramatic increases in popularity — a 64 percent jump for the former and a 23 percent increase in checkouts for the latter.

“The reason that has jumped isn’t because they weren’t going out last year. It’s because we’ve been able to add so many more,” LaVille said. “What’s really significant about that is that you can only check out two at a time per library card, so that means that people are really motivated to be checking them out if they check out that many more.”

Otherwise, graphic novels remain popular among younger readers, but LaVille was happy to report that checkouts of chapter books — both teen and youth — also went up.

“So that means, to me, that those books are complementing chapter books, not replacing them,” she said. “I sometimes think when I retire, the shelves might be swapped, but it’s good to look at statistics sometimes because it gives you a different picture.”