People checked 11.7 million books and book-related items out of the Cincinnati Hamilton County Public Library last year. If they had one favorite author, it may have been Colleen Hoover.
The library's regional manager says they couldn't keep her books on the shelves. Tara Kressler says Hoover released two books, It Starts with Us, and Reminders of Him, last year.
"She's hard to put on a shelf because she writes different styles of books," Kressler says. "There's historical in there; she's most known for romance; there’s some drama. She just doesn't quite fit into a certain genre and she's really appealed to all different kinds of our customers."
Local readers couldn't get enough romance stories last year. And Kressler says that trend will probably continue in 2023. She says readers really liked Emily Henry's Book Lovers.
"I've never been a romance reader. I’m usually historical fiction, but I kind of wanted to see what the hubbub was about, so I did read Emily Henry and thought she was really good," Kressler says.
She adds Henry has another highly anticipated novel, Happy Place, coming out this year.
"One that I’m kind of personally looking forward to in the spring is by Curtis Sittenfeld," Kressler says. "She has local ties to Cincinnati and she wrote Rodham, and Eligible and Prep. But she has one coming out in the spring called Romantic Comedy and she's just so good, I'm just interested in seeing what she's going to say."
One non-fiction book at the Cincinnati Hamilton County Public Library seemed to get more attention than any other last year. Kressler says Braiding Sweetgrass is still popular.
“And that was by Robin Wall Kimmerer. That book is about climate change and it provided a lot of insights in between the relationship between people and the Earth.”
She says one of the most anticipated books of 2023 is Prince Harry's book, Spare. "Coupled with the Netflix show that came out recently with him and Meghan, this is going to be an explosive publication. The library is getting ready to deal with that right now."
Spare comes out later this month.
