The Women was among the most checked-out books in U.S. public libraries this year, making top 10 lists in library systems as far-flung as those in Clawson, Mich., Lawrence, Kan., Flathead County, Mont., and the entire state public library system of Hawaii. It was also the year's most-borrowed ebook on the public library app, Libby.
The bestselling novel by Kristin Hannah follows a U.S. Army nurse from the front lines of the Vietnam War to a family deeply divided about the war and her service. The Women, which came out in 2024, was also extremely popular among public library patrons last year, topping numerous most-borrowed lists, and included in NPR's "Books We Love."
"I shouldn't be surprised, but I kind of was, that The Women was No. 1 yet again," says Harold Escalante, the assistant director of collections and access for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in North Carolina. "[Hannah] is a powerful storyteller. She's really good. She's engaging, she sucks you in with her story, and they're big books."
As it happens, books by women dominated most-borrowed library lists in 2025. All of the top 10 books on Libby were by women. Three of the top 10 titles for the country's biggest public library system, in New York City, were part of a bestselling romantasy series by Rebecca Yarros: Fourth Wing, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. Yarros' books also showed up on most-borrowed lists from the Boston Public Library, and public libraries in Boone County, Ky. and Kern County, Calif. Other female authors with multiple titles on most-borrowed lists across the country included Freida McFadden, Holly Jackson and Emily Henry.
Liz Moore's The God of the Woods, a 2024 thriller about the disappearance of a teenager from an Adirondack summer camp showed up on numerous most-borrowed lists, including those in Island Park, N.Y., at the Timberland Regional Library in Washington state, and in Lombard, Ill. Other popular novels this year included The Wedding People by Alison Espach, Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez and Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
It wasn't all women, of course. Multiple thrillers by Michael Connelly and David Baldacci appeared on the most-borrowed list of the Washington-Centerville Public Library, serving the area around Dayton, Ohio, and the Arapahoe Libraries list in Colorado that serves communities in and around Denver. James Patterson dominated the most-borrowed list in Phoenix, with The Texas Murders, Holmes Is Missing and Raised by Wolves all on the top 10.
The most popular nonfiction book in many libraries across the country was Mel Robbins' The Let Them Theory, which numbered second on Libby's list of the most-checked out books of 2025.
Not every library releases its year-end wrap in exactly the same way. Some libraries include breakdowns of fiction, nonfiction, YA fiction and children's literature in ebook, audiobook and print formats; others simply publicize the year's top circulated print books. Brian Bannon, chief librarian at the New York Public Library, notes that bestselling genre fiction tends to have an advantage on these lists, but he's quick to point out that the most checked out books represent only a tiny fraction of the breadth of books, magazines, audiobooks and other resources people can avail themselves of, for free.
"We love all kinds of reading," he said. "We don't care how you're reading — with your eyes, with your ears, with your fingers. You know, our top circulating library is the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. … That is the top circulation library in New York City. It doesn't matter how you read. It doesn't matter what you read, as long as you're reading. And that's really what we're here for."
Edited for radio and the web by Meghan Sullivan.
Copyright 2025 NPR
