An Australia memoir, a guide to having a tidy home, and a rumination on love by one of the world's most-read philosophers were among the top books Canberrans borrowed from libraries this year.
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Libraries ACT director Vanessa Little said actor Magda Szubanski's eye-opening and heart-warming memoir Reckoning, was one of Canberra's library networks most-borrowed books this year.
The memoir recounts Szubanski's suburban childhood and the shocking discovery of her father's espionage activities through to wrestling with her own sexuality and asking the tough questions of her own family background.
Ms Little said that some of the other popular books Canberrans reached for on the public library shelves this year included: Spark Joy: A Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo; The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood; The course of love by Alain de Botton and The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith.
She said the award-winning Australian author Geraldine Brooks' latest, Secret Chord, was also "much-loved by many Canberrans" this year.
From her own reading, Ms Little recommended Abigail Tartellin's Golden Boy, a novel about an intersex teenager, his family and its secrets.
"It has many strong themes about differences, diversity, choices, and humanity and I have been captivated by it," she said.
"This year I also read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.
"Sometimes you read a book that has you soul searching about how you would behave, given the same circumstances.
This book explores the human spirit and the choices made in the worst of times. It describes both the beauty of the French setting and the ugliness of its deprivation during the war. I was completely engrossed in the story and its conclusion."
Ms Little also recommended readers crack open a copy of Truly Madly Guilty, by Liane Moriarty, "because every summer holiday needs some dark satire".
