January is a time for looking forward at the promise of a fresh new 12 months – but also a time of a reflection, what happened in 2022 that we can maybe learn from? Reflection and resolution. Luckily we can look back over the most borrowed fiction of 2022, what were the ideas, what was the year, in books, in libraries?
Also, on the theme of reflection, East Sussex Libraries have Reminiscence Resources to loan, and we have partnered with Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage to deliver training on how to use them. Join a relaxed, friendly, group to learn how Reminiscence can give people with dementia a sense of confidence through using a skill they still have.
Looking forward, we have Storytelling Week in February, a perfect fit for libraries! Maybe 2023 is the year you start to write, for yourself, get those ideas out of your head and on to paper! Creative writing is good for you! It can support your wellbeing by using your imagination and connecting with others through the story and in the room. We also have stand-up poet, storyteller and lo-fi theatremaker Jonny Fluffypunk!
Top Fiction chosen by YOU!
The Thursday Murder Club / Richard Osman
The Thursday Murder Club / Richard Osman The fastest selling adult crime debut since records began! A good murder mystery in the vein of the classics, this is crime so cosy it’s like a warm blanket…of homicide! Richard Osman is a precise plotter with deliciously drawn characters and a generous helping of eccentric and just plain silly.
The top 10 most borrowed fiction was dominated by crime fiction, what does that say about East Sussex?
Top nonfiction chosen by YOU reviewed by Janine.
The Hairy Bikers’ one pot wonders – Si King & Dave Myers
I have cooked a lot of hairy bikers recipes from this collection and haven’t had one which went wrong, they have all tasted really good! Really simple, easy to follow and tasty too! Thoroughly recommend.
The majority of the most popular non-fiction was cookery, however honourable mentions go to What It Feels Like for a Girl Paris Lees ketamine-laced coming-of-age memoir and This is going to hurt : secret diaries of a junior doctor by Adam Kay.
Top Audio chosen by YOU reviewed by Julie
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Sadly, Hilary Mantel passed away this year, but her Oliver Cromwell trilogy remains a favourite with East Sussex customers. Wolf Hall is a non-frothy historical novel, complex and occasionally very funny. And if after 650 pages you are gasping for more – fear not there are two more equally huge, equally critically acclaimed tomes.
East Sussex customers also took trips to outer space (Dune) ancient Greece (Mythos) and the birth of humankind itself (Sapiens).
Top Junior NonFiction chosen YOU reviewed by Yvonne
Guinness world records 2022
So wonderful that the world can change but if you are the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the slowest, if you really go, then you are a record breaker!
The world is such a different place since I was stuck in front of the telly watching Roy Castle and Norris McWhirter but the most popular book for children in 2022 was the Guinness World Records!
Top Junior fiction chosen YOU! Reviewed by Nidhi
Octopus shocktopus! / Peter Bently ; illustrated by Steven Lenton
Written in bouncing, rhyming text and accompanied by bright and joyful illustrations with an eye-popping neon octopus at their core, this is the best sort of picture book – firm themes of friendship, acceptance and of the extraordinary and absurd. This is a story to simply delight in.
