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Popular books at New York's libraries
The Brooklyn Public Library's Fritzi Bodenheimer said reading and talking about books is a good way for people to stay connected, especially when they're stuck at home. And NYPL's Lynn Lobash said seven of the 10 top picks from her library system were selected by book clubs, including Oprah's book club.
NEW YORK - Books like Klara and the Sun, The Guest List, Malibu Rising, Mexican Gothic and Where the Crawdads Sing are among some of the most popular books New Yorkers checked out of the New York Public Library this year.
"They're great books to talk about," NYPL Director of Readers Services Lynn Lobash said. "These books are super-entertaining. They're like watching TV."
Lobash said seven of the 10 top picks from the city's library system were selected by book clubs, including Oprah's book club.
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"What it tells me is that New Yorkers are maybe over all the isolation and want to come together around books and be social and talk about books," Lobash said.
The Brooklyn Public Library's Fritzi Bodenheimer said reading and talking about books is a good way for people to stay connected, especially when they're stuck at home. She said about half of the most popular books readers borrowed provide plenty of escape. Others deal with racial issues such as The Vanishing Half about racial identity in the segregated South, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, The Other Black Girl, and A Promised Land by former President Barack Obama.
"People are really trying to understand this world that we're living in," Bodenheimer said.
And NYPL's Lobash noted that publishers are "starting to publish so many authors of color and they're bringing their perspectives to literature."