These are books which are seeing a lot of interest but haven’t necessarily stayed atop bestseller lists for months and/or books with particular interest locally. The data looks at adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and young adult books (which includes fiction, nonfiction, and comics). Panorama Picks groups public libraries by coordinating American Bookseller Association (ABA) regions, which allows for a really neat way of exploring interest on a regional level. A book might be especially popular in California but less so in the Midwest, and looking at that data provides a real opportunity for local bookstores and libraries. A major goal is to help independent bookstores identify unique opportunities to reach the unmet needs of local readers for these books. “We compile and publish Panorama Picks on a quarterly basis and we endeavor to promote our findings to local booksellers as well as to publishers and authors,” said Daniel Albohn, Panorama Project’s lead. Data for the books on these lists comes from anonymized ebook requests at libraries between April and June 2022, and books are narrowed down by their publication dates. All of the books published between April 2021 and December 2021, a nine-month window. As will be seen, some of the books included were published well before this time frame, but their ebooks became available in that window. In some cases, the ebook may be a new or updated edition. What makes Panorama Picks unique is that these books have notably longer wait lists for local library patrons, showcasing unmet demand. This is where both libraries and local booksellers come in: the opportunity to meet the demand unique to their region. The lists below showcase the most uniquely popular books in U.S. libraries, divided category and by ABA regions. The ABA regions are as follows, and yes, there are some overlapping states among them: California, Great Lakes (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan), Hawaii, Midwest (Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin), Mountains and Plains (Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming), New Atlantic (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia), New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont), Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington), and Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia). Using that methodology, these are the top 10 most popular books across the country, in order, followed by the most uniquely popular titles in each region. The full lists of 25 titles each are available on the Panorama Project website.
Bridgerton Collection, Volume 2 by Julia Quinn (9 regions) Finlay Donovan Is Killing It — A Mystery by Elle Cosimano (8 regions) Mr. Malcolm’s List by Suzanne Allain (8 regions) Neon Gods by Katee Robert (8 regions) Bridgerton Collection, Volume 3 by Julia Quinn (6 regions) The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout (5 regions) The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian (5 regions) A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout (4 regions) Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (4 regions) The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson (4 regions) The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen (4 regions) The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton (4 regions) We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin (4 regions)
Ace by Angela Chen (8 regions) We Own This City by Justine Fenton (8 regions) Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski (7 regions) Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess by Dr. Caroline Leaf (6 regions) Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner (6 regions) How to Not Die Alone by Logan Ury (6 regions) Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price (5 regions) Numbers Don’t Lie by Vaclav Smil (4 regions) ADHD 2.0 by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. (3 regions) Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen by Michelle Icard (3 regions) Nowhere Girl by Cheryl Diamond (3 regions) The Montessori Baby by Simone Davies (3 regions)
Covet by Tracy Wolff (9 regions) Spy x Family, Volume 2 by Tatsuya Endo (9 reegions) Spy x Family, Volume 4 by Tatsuya Endo (9 regions) Spy x Family, Volume 5 by Tatsuya Endo (8 regions) The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag (8 regions) Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Volume 14 by Koyoharu Gotouge (6 regions) Lobizona by Romina Garber (5 regions) Throne of Glass eBook Bundle by Sarah J. Maas (4 regions) Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Volume 16 by Koyoharu Gotouge (3 regions) Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Volume 19 by Koyoharu Gotouge (3 regions) Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco (3 regions) Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan (3 reegions)
