Every week, I put together a list of the most read books on Goodreads this week, but now that we’re at the end of the year, I can finally set that time span to “the last 12 months” and find out what the most read books on Goodreads were in 2024. What’s interested is that Goodreads already put out a list called The 144 Most Read Books of the 2024 Reading Challenge, and there are some notable differences between the two.

The Most Read Books page is only 50 books long, so of course not all 144 titles are on that list. But more strange is that not all 50 books are on that longer list. For example, there are five Sarah J. Maas books on the 144 book list, but 16(!) on the Most Read Books page.

It’s not surprising to me that Goodreads used some editorial discretion putting together their list, because the story looking at the raw data is a lot more boring. 24 of the 50 books listed are by Sarah J. Maas or Freida McFadden—just shy of 50% of the titles are shared between only two authors.

The most read books on Goodreads this year aren’t diverse by any sense of the word. Roughly 95% are by white authors. About 85% of the books included are either romance, fantasy, or thrillers. Only one is nonfiction: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, in the 50th spot.

Before you keep scrolling, take a guess what you think the top five most read books on Goodreads were this year. If you’ve been paying attention to the bestseller lists or these weekly roundups, I think you could get 100%!

I’ve loved horror since I was a kid. So when I had the chance to breathe the same air as Nick Cutter, Tananarive Due, and Stephen Graham Jones, I was over the moon. These three titans of contemporary horror — along with paranormal investigator Steve Gonsalves — appeared in a Spotlight on Horror panel at last year’s New York Comic Con. Listening to them speak about my most favorite genre in the whole world left me feeling as if I’d ascended to a higher plane of awesomeness.

What I am excited about — and what these rad panelists acknowledged — is that there are so many new voices representing the genre. Once upon a time, I had to rely upon the old John Saul paperbacks I pulled from my father’s shelves and his collection of Stephen King doorstoppers. If I wanted to explore further, I dug deeper into the classics: Edgar Allen Poe. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Shirley Jackson. Charlotte Perkins Gilman. But these days, I feel as if we’re seeing new classics. Books and authors who, one day, will loom as large as their predecessors. To me, they already do.

In the list below, I shout out some of the contemporary horror authors (and their standout titles) who seem most notable to me, alongside the classic authors who preceded them.

What are the most popular library book checkouts from 2024? This is a tough question to answer, in part because not every library reports on the books being checked out, some do but separate out genres and formats (i.e., they pull out mystery checkouts from overall checkouts or count digital and print separately), and because the reports on top checkouts might show up at different times at the end of one year or in the beginning of another. But as we count down to the end of 2024, what can we gather about popular library books from the year based on the information that can be surfaced?

Looking at over 40 different “top library book” checkout lists from big and small public libraries across the USA, here are some of the most popular books of the year. What makes looking at public library book popularity fun is that it is year-agonistic, meaning that books published this year might sit alongside books published several years ago. Genre books tend to see more top books lists in libraries than in other outlets who compile or write about the year’s best or top books.

There are a number of interesting trends in the most popular books. Many are titles that were highly decorated in the previous year, and as always, genre fiction tends to do a lot of circulation in public libraries. Certainly, there are some books that pop up that have had their moment on BookTok, but that showing is not as strong as in last year’s roundup of most popular books in US libraries.

White authors tend to dominate in these lists, but the lists across the 40 libraries surveyed are more varied than what bubbles up to the top. This is, of course, a result of how publishing is still a predominantly white industry, and the books that tend to get bigger publicity and marketing around them are by white authors—it’s also worth addressing here that some of the biggest genre writers are long-time writers, so hitting the top of the most-circulated list as a newer genre writer can be tough. Again: that doesn’t mean they aren’t here or don’t circulate in libraries. It means they’re not at the tippy top.

Another element to consider in looking at these lists is the role that the digital platforms for library ebooks play themselves. Some collections will simply have more copies of particular titles than others, allowing for more checkouts of said titles. Likewise, whatever books are being promoted on those digital platforms via book lists or readalike lists (aka, what to read if you liked a particular title or movie) can impact what people borrow. It was interesting looking through hundreds of the most popular titles and seeing some surprises bubble up on the “top ebook” checkout lists. As you’ll see below, though, the top checkouts in print and ebooks have been collapsed into single lists.

When my days get busy, and I start to feel overwhelmed, I tend to reach for science fiction and fantasy novels. Sometimes, you just need a whirlwind adventure novel. And with The Stardust Grail, Yume Kitasei delivers.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that if you leave a content creator alone with Google Analytics during one of the quietest weeks of the year, they’re going to go spelunking. Presented in no particular order, here are 10 of the news stories Book Riot readers read and shared the most in 2024.

What a year it’s been!

Martyr! came out of the gate in January as the year’s hottest debut with major book award potential, and while it didn’t win the NBA, it made the shortlist and just about every best-of list around. Jonathan Haidt sparked a new round of phone and social media concern—and some congressional hearings—with The Anxious Generation. James was indisputably the most anticipated novel of the year, and it’s ending the year as the indisputable champion. Simon & Schuster tried—and mostly succeeded—to make fetch happen with the every-genre-and-the-kitchen-sink romp The Ministry of Time. Miranda July launched a thousand midlife crises with her manic pixie perimenopause novel, All Fours (I was not a fan). Sally Rooney got adults out to midnight release parties for Intermezzo. Romantasy ruled BookTok and bestseller lists. Even Louise Erdrich got sprayed edges. A lot happened.

We are four years into this wave of book censorship. There are plenty of new folks entering the fray, discovering that at heart, none of this is about books at all. It’s about ensuring access to public goods like public libraries and public schools remain the democratic institutions of civic engagement that they are and it’s about ensuring that entire swaths of people—queer folks, people of color, and anyone else who doesn’t fit into the neat and tidy image of the cishet able-bodied Christian white male—aren’t erased.

It is great to see continued growth in wanting to learn and engage in the fight to protect the First Amendment rights of all and especially young people. There are plenty of guides for what to do and how, including throughout the four years’ worth of Literary Activism newsletters. There will be another guide coming next week that serves as a year-long plan for understanding the past, present, and future of book bans.

But this week, to wrap up 2024, let’s take a look back at a few of the most popular and most urgent posts about censorship this year. The news roundup itself will be short as well, given that most schools are out for the holidays and public library boards are not scheduling their meetings during this time, either.

This is the time to catch up, to reflect, and to refill your cup in preparation for what will be a longer, harder, darker battle in 2025.

Louisiana HB 777 Would Criminalize Librarians and Libraries Who Join the American Library Association

What’s happening in libraries as we start to close out the year? Let’s find out.

Library Updates

The Urban Libraries Council released its annual “Library Insights” survey, showing positive trends and challenges for its member libraries.

Could AI help catalog thousands of digital library books in the Library of Congress? (To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum, your librarians were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they never stopped to consider if they should.)

Hoopla has announced a BingePass partnership with Impactful Group to bring mental health literacy resources to libraries.

Speaking of health, libraries are offering free health and wellness classes across the US.

Between social media bans, the slow destruction of Twitter, and the fight over the Kids Online Safety Act (which promises to deliver just the opposite), news about the dangers of technology is everywhere. No matter how technology itself changes, though, it’s not going away, so it’s important that we teach children how to use it safely and to remind ourselves of best practices as well.

That is the goal of (Be Smart About) Screen Time, Rachel Brian’s latest comic book. While aimed at children, the book’s simple yet cute art and digestible advice about how to enjoy the perks of modern technology while avoiding its many pitfalls speak to everyone. There are, in fact, perks, no matter how scary the headlines are. Brian, founder of the educational animation company Blue Seat Studios, went out of her way to emphasize this in her book.

“Adults often feel a lot of anxiety about kids being online, but we also have to recognize that technology is a huge and exciting part of kids’ lives,” she told me in an email interview. “The goal is to encourage caution and thoughtfulness without instilling fear.”

It’s never too early to start. According to her book, the American Academy of Pediatrics says that children can start enjoying limited, supervised screen time when they are between three and five years old. Brian believes that lessons on-screen safety should begin at the same time:

It’s never too early to start modeling good habits! Even if you’re co-watching content with a toddler, you can talk about the choices you’re making: why you’ve picked a certain app or video and how you’re using screens thoughtfully and intentionally….When kids start using screens independently, they’ll ideally already be familiar with these habits because you’ve modeled them early on.

The holidays are here, and I’m just finishing up my Christmas shopping. A lot of my family are huge food nerds—just like me—so I have assembled an all-star collection of food-related books that will end up in my family’s stockings.

There’s just something about sharing my favorite food books with people I love. Plus, we love making the same recipes from the books and comparing notes.

Last week, I highlighted several big-picture trends that we’ll see happening in book censorship in 2025. Those are far from the only trends emerging as we move forward, especially as a new administration amenable to revocation of human rights takes over. Here are several more censorship trends to prepare for in the coming year.

This list is not comprehensive. Instead, it’s meant to highlight a small number of things to pay attention to and to take action on when they arise. It’s also a reminder that personally stocking up on banned books or giving them away as gifts, while nice, is not actually doing anything to help stop the attacks on the democratic institutions of public libraries and public schools.

Taking that personal action with the belief that it is a solution to book banning is to not only not understand what book censorship looks like right now, it’s playing right into the very mentality of those seeking to destroy these institutions of access. Books will never go away, even if many of the themes or topics in them may; books will simply be because the luxury item is only accessible by those with the privilege and wealth to get them. This ongoing fight has not stretched out nearly half a decade because of fears around getting the books at the bookstore or online. It’s stretched out because the people who need access most are those who are most marginalized and who most benefit from strong institutions that have public support. Handing Nana a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird for Christmas does nothing to help ensure the lower-class queer Brown kid in Idaho has access to books with characters like them…or access to any books, to classes that strengthen their literacy, to experts in various subject fields, or to actual factual information at all.

That’s what is at stake here.

Read the first part of this two-part series here. If this is your starting place on book censorship, take the time to read through this guide to explaining book censorship to those who want to understand—there’s been a huge swell of interest in the last few weeks and dispelling a lot of common assumptions is crucial to make forward progress. If you work in a library or care deeply about your local school and public libraries, here’s your reminder of what you’ll want to do in these next several weeks to ensure your library is as protected as possible.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

How the New York Times Picks the Best Books of the Year

Ever wondered how the New York Times makes it lists of 100 notable books and the 10 best books of the year? Times book editor Gilbert Cruz stopped by the Book Riot Podcast to take us behind the scenes of the year-long process. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your other podcatcher of choice.

Children’s Booksellers Share Their Holiday Highlights

When you’re in need of a great book for a hard-to-shop-for reader of any age, you can’t do better than asking an indie bookseller. When you want to get beyond the current kids’ bestsellers, reach for some of these tried-and-true handselling highlights.

The Hallmark-Movie-to-Romance-Novel Pipeline is Real

The Venn diagram of people who like Hallmark holiday movies and people who read romance novels isn’t a circle, and it really should be. Good romance books have everything you love about a Hallmark movie and then some. The dialogue is better. The tropes are deployed more creatively. Some of them are spicy! Here’s a nice, short list of holiday romances for Hallmark movie fans, with something for everybody. Season’s readings!