2023 Summary and More

​By Audrey Estebo, Library Committee, originally published in the February 2024 issue of the 1666 Coffman Newsletter

Ever been asked: “What do you do now that you’re retired?” Many of you should answer: “I read!” In spite of more forums, more potlucks, more music, more get-togethers, and more traveling in 2023, Coffman residents checked out 1,457 books—an eye-popping 23% increase over 2022. By comparison, loans didn’t reach the 1,000 mark until 2020, the first year of COVID. In 2023, books were checked out by 68 units, with roughly 80% of the checkouts by women and 20% by men.

​Our Library Committee is committed to keeping our Library up-to-date with books selected to match your tastes. Monthly, we research, suggest, and vote on new titles to be purchased— generally two or three each month. We look for a mix of fiction and nonfiction, focus on authors we know you like to read, and fill gaps in the collection so the Thoreau or Austen or Cather you decide to read is on the shelf. Each fall, we host BookFest. In preparation, we set up teams to select books. This year 

BookFest introduced 15 nonfiction, 2 children/YA,19 fiction, 2 large print, 14 mystery/spy, and 3 poetry for a total of 55 volumes. And we gratefully receive donations from you throughout the year.

Coffman reading habits in 2023 mirrored prior years. General fiction made up 38% of the loans; mystery/spy made up 35%: biography/memoir, 7%; and general history, 4%. The remainder ranged from poetry to essays to travel to children/YA.

At year end, some libraries publish their “Top 10 Checkouts.” A quick and quite unscientific review of our checkout sheets shows the 2023 Coffman Top 5:

1. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
2. A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
3. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
4. So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon
5. Give Unto Others by Donna Leon

Having Lessons in Chemistry as our top checkout puts us in good company. It was the top checkout at both the New York Public Library and the Hennepin County Public Library.

The author with both the most books checked out and the most total checkouts was Saint Paul’s own William Kent Krueger (Cork O’Connor) with 22 books checked out a total of 56 times. Close behind was Louise Penny (Inspector Gamache) with 51 checkouts of 18 different books. Other popular mystery series were those by Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti), Mick Herron (Slough House), Anthony Horowitz (Detective Hawthorne), and Richard Osman (The Thursday Murder Club).

As for general fiction, Coffman readers generally followed bestsellers lists and read new titles by Barbara Kingsolver, Abraham Verghese, Ann Patchett, and Kate Atkinson. One of the most popular nonfiction books was The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, by David Grann, author of the also-popular Killers of the Flower Moon.

To keep up with Library news and see suggestions for what to read next, subscribe to “What’s New at 1666 Coffman Library” (sign up on the library webpage on the 1666 Coffman website), check the Recent and Relevant shelves (on your right as you enter the second floor Library), and review the gold BookFest list of books (copies in the Library and on the Library webpage).

Thanks to you, the Coffman library had a great 2023. Help us have a great 2024–send suggestions for specific books or genres that you would like to see to the Library to [email protected]. Continue donating books. Browse the Library and keep reading!