The Macquarie Regional Library has branches in Baradine, Binnaway, Coolah, Coonabarabran, Dubbo, Dunedoo, Mendooran, Narromine, Trangie and Wellington.

Across all the branches, the most popular novel during the year was Lee Child’s Night School, the 21^st book in the Jack Reacher series. A collection of Jack Reacher novellas – No Middle Name: the Completed Short Stories – was the third most borrowed book.

Australian author Judy Nunn came in second with Sanctuary, while fourth was Jane Harper’s The Dry.

Of the top 13 books, eight were by Australian authors.

ALSO MAKING NEWS:

Home grown writers were also popular among the non-fiction titles with seven of the top 10 written by Australian authors.

Topping the list in the adult non-fiction was The Barefoot Investor: the Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need by Pape Scott. The book was borrowed almost double the number of times as the number two book: the Guinness World Records 2018.

Jimmy Barnes and Warren Mundine were popular biographies, coming in at fourth and eighth respectively.

Acting Dubbo libraries coordinator Anne Barwick said while a lot of the most popular titles were expected, she was surprised by the number of Australian authors in the list.

Not only were people supporting Australian authors, but Ms Barwick said it was great to see local magazine Central West Lifestyle Magazine as the most borrowed for its category.

Aaron Blabey’s Pig the Pug series ruled in the picture books. The author took six of the 10 most-borrowed spots. However, the number one pick was Julia Donaldson’s classic The Gruffalo.

The 10 most popular junior fiction titles were taken up by only two authors: Jeff Kinney and Andy Griffiths. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and the Treehouse books stole the show.

JK Rowling took out the top spot in young adult fiction with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was followed by Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones and John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down in equal second.

Ms Barwick said there were usually multiple copies of the popular books. She said they were often ordered in four different formats as well: book, large print, ebook and audiobook.