The most checked-out books in the Richmond area in 2023
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Richmond readers devoured new fiction in 2023 — and female authors, who dominated the most read fiction lists at Richmond-area libraries (save some heavy love for local author David Baldacci in Chesterfield).
What's happening: A little look back at what locals read last year, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood public library's year-end wrapped lists.
By the numbers: Locals checked out just over 734,000 items from the Richmond Public Library in 2023.
- Chesterfield registered just over 2.7 million checkouts last year.
- But Henrico put them both to shame, with nearly 3.7 million checkouts in 2023.
Zoom in: 🤓 Here are the five most checked-out adult fiction books from Richmond-area public libraries last year:
Richmond
- "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus.
- "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin.
- "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver.
- "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
- "Carrie Soto Is Back" by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Henrico
- "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus.
- "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver.
- "Verity" by Colleen Hoover.
- "Happy Place" by Emily Henry.
- "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin.
Chesterfield
- "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus.
- "The Boys from Biloxi" by John Grisham.
- "Long Shadows" by David Baldacci.
- "Simply Lies" by David Baldacci.
- "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver.
Check out Richmond's and Chesterfield's wrapped lists online at each library to see the tops across all categories (Henrico didn't post theirs).
