Press Release
Shetland Library’s most-borrowed books of 2010
Two crime authors dominated the fiction borrowed from Shetland Library during 2010. The most-borrowed book was Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves, closely followed by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The other books in Ann Cleeves’ Shetland quartet and Stieg Larsson’s Swedish trilogy took the next five places, meaning that the top seven places in the ranking were all Cleeves and Larsson.
The two top non-fiction loans were biographies, by Frankie Boyle and Dawn French. Other celebrity biographies were also popular.
Top of the children’s fiction was a local book – The Grumpy Old Sailor by Janice Armstrong and Meilo So. This new publication triumphed over perennial favourites Garfield, Where’s Wally, Jacqueline Wilson and the Mr Men.
There was a strong local showing in the music section too – the top CD was by Aly Bain, while Fiddlers’ Bid, Tom Anderson and Brian Gear also mixed it in the top twelve with the likes of Lady Gaga and Paolo Nutini.
The top-lending talking book was also a local publication – Slyde in the Right Direction, the memoir by Chrissie Sandison which was published in January 2010 by the Soond o’Shetland charity. The charity is soon to publish more Shetland talking books, to be available exclusively through the Library. Another very popular talking book was Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton, a thriller set in Shetland.
In the Shetland book section itself, the most-borrowed book was Laurence Tulloch’s On the Rocks: A Lightkeeper’s Tale. Also very popular were Noo Dan! by Douglas C. Smith, Simon King’s Shetland Diaries, Aald Papa, I’m Dine! by George P.S. Peterson, and A Pictorial ‘Daander Trowe’ Shetland’s Crofting Culture.
