Books that rule

Danielle Steel books were borrowed just over 900,000 times from libraries last year, according to the latest library league table from Public Lending Right, making her the UK‘s fourth most-borrowed adult writer and the only author to retain a place in every top 10 most-borrowed authors list over the last 30 years. 

Back in 1983, when PLR records began, Danielle Steel sat in the charts in eighth position. Then, her most-borrowed cohorts included Catherine Cookson, Herriot and Cartland – a very different line-up to today’s top library authors, who are nearly exclusively American thriller writers such as James Patterson, Harlan Coben and Michael Connelly. 

Last year also marked the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, so it’s interesting to take a look at PLR’s list of the most borrowed novels by the famous author. The most borrowed Dickens titles in 2011/12 were: 

1. A Tale of Two Cities

2. Great Expectations

3. Hard Times

4. Bleak House

5. Oliver Twist 

Roald Dahl sneaks into the author list in 14th position, and is the most borrowed classic author, ahead of Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer. The most borrowed classic title was JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, beating To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee to the top spot, possibly following heightened attention to the author after his death in 2010. 

PLR have also provided us with an interesting breakdown of the borrowing habits of a decade.

Here are some of the UK library chart toppers from 2002-12 from Guardian Data : 

• It won’t come as a big suprise but James Patterson is the UK‘s most borrowed author of the decade with more than 2m loans in each of the last three years

• Jacqueline Wilson is the UK‘s most borrowed children’s author of the decade. The Story of Tracy Beaker by Wilson is also crowned the most borrowed book of the decade as well as the UK‘s most borrowed children’s fiction book

• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown is the most borrowed adult fiction book of the decade

• Danielle Steel has featured in the UK‘s Most Borrowed Authors Top 10 every single year from 1992-2012

• A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer is the most borrowed biography of the decade

• Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and William Shakespeare are the most borrowed pre-20th century classic authors of the decade

• James Patterson, Jacqueline Wilson, Danielle Steel and Josephine Cox have all clocked up more than 10m library loans between 2002 and 2012 

The tables show the top 100 most borrowed books in the UK and the top loaned authors. You can find top loans by category and most borrowed book by UK region in the spreadsheet. 

Do you love to read books? Tell us on our Kidsfreesouls.com Facebook Page as to Who is your Favorite Author and best picks lying on your book shelf. 

– Kidsfreesouls News Desk