Calgarians read, a lot—and every year hundreds of thousands take advantage of the Calgary Public Library to find their latest book.
Over 58 per cent of Calgarians have library cards, up from 56 per cent in 2022.
This year’s top 10 selections from the library included a mix of classics, modern classics, and new works across genres all chosen by readers checking out books.
Atomic Hearts, the New York Times best selling book from James Clear about breaking bad habits and building good ones, topped the adult list alongside other self-help books The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, and Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Taylor Jenkins Reid and Colleen Hoover both had two books a piece on the top 10.
Some surprise hits that readers took a liking to were Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, Mr. S by Monica Arnaldo, Bad Cree by Jessica Johns, and The Skull by Jon Klassen.
Some caveats were made by CPL for the teen category this year, as Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series of books dominated the top 10 spots. Instead, the category was expanded to a top 20 that included multi-million selling The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Barnes, and obsessed over graphic novel Heartstopper, Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman.
Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants, Aaron Blabey’s The Bad Guys in the Others?!, and a favourite for nearly 25 years, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets rounded out some of the top 10 books for kids over the past year.
Atomic Hearts once again topped the top 10 audiobooks for 2023, alongside other hits like Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose.
Prince Harry’s Spare, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, and Happy Place by Emily Henry all took top spots for Ebooks this year, with the trio still garnering hundreds of library holds over the copies available.
A full listing of the top 10 books for 2023, along with recommendations from library staff, can be found at calgarylibrary.ca/top10.
Top 10 Calgary Public Library books for adults in 2023
- Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results : An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, by James Clear
- The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave
- It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover
- It Starts With Us, by Colleen Hoover
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas
- The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in A Toxic Culture, by Gabor Maté
- A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny
- Carrie Soto Is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Top 20 Calgary Public Library books for teens in 2023
- Dairy of a Wimpy Kid series, by Jeff Kinney (top books one through 10)
- The Inheritance Games, by Jennifer Barnes
- The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black
- The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
- The Hawthorne Legacy, by Jennifer Barnes
- They Both Die at the End, by Adam Silvera
- Heartstopper, Vol. 01, by Alice Oseman
- Demon Slayer, Kimetsu No Yaiba, [vol.] 01: Cruelty, by Koyoharu Gotoge
- Rated, by Melissa Grey
- Spy X Family, [vol.] 01, by Tatsuya Endo
- The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
Top 10 Calgary Public Library books for kids in 2023
- The Bad Guys in the Others?!, by Aaron Blabey
- Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000: The Eleventh Epic Novel, by Dav Pilkey
- The Bad Guys, by Aaron Blabey
- A True Home, by K. George
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling
- Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-so-fabulous Life, by Rachel Renee Russell
- Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-boxers: The Tenth Epic Novel, by Dav Pilkey
- The Dragonet Prophecy, by Tui Sutherland
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling
- The Adventures of Captain Underpants: An Epic Novel, by Dav Pilkey
