What we read at San Francisco Public Library in 2023

Details: Memoirs dominated favorite nonfiction titles — led by Prince Harry's "Spare" and  "I'm Glad My Mom Died," the memoir by former iCarly star Jennette McCurdy.

• Titles that were already released or currently in production as movies or TV series topped the popular young adult fiction list, including "A Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah J. Maas and "The Summer I Turned Pretty" by Jenny Han.
• Among younger readers, "Dog Man" cartoonist Dav Pilkey took up six spots on the most popular children's books, alongside J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever" by Jeff Kinney.

The big picture: SFPL celebrates 40 years of its adult literacy program Project Read this month.

• The program, which provides one-on-one tutoring, has served more than 7,000 adult learners in the local community since its establishment in 1983.
• It's proof of the "transformative power of literacy to advance personal growth," city librarian Michael Lambert said in a press release.

Of note: In San Francisco, roughly 80,000 adults — or one in five — have some difficulty with basic reading and writing, according to SFPL.

Below are some of 2023's top titles. You can find the full list on SFPL's website.

Top print adult fiction

• "When No One Is Watching" by Alyssa Cole
• "Lessons in Chemistry"  by Bonnie Garmus
• "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver
• "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin

• "The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese
• "Our Missing Hearts" by Celeste Ng
• "When We Were Sisters" by Fatimah Asghar
• "Dry" by Neal Shusterman
• "Happy Place" by Emily Henry
• "Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano

Top print adult nonfiction

• "Spare" by Prince Harry
• "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times" by Michelle Obama
• "This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life" by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods
• "Solito" by Javier Zamora
• "I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy
• "Crying in H Mart" by Michelle Zauner
• "Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls" by T Kira Madden
• "Stay True" by Hua Hsu
• "Why We Swim" by Bonnie Tsui
• "Poverty, by America" by Matthew Desmond