According to the NYPL, New Yorkers loved social justice books in 2017
The New York Public Library’s Rose Main Reading Room, via ponafotkas/Flickr
New York City, you’re a woke town according to the public library’s year-end tally of popular books. “Between the World and Me,” the award-winning bestseller by Ta-Nehisi Coates, was the most checked-out book of 2017 after debuting at No. 2 last year.
The social justice theme holds for several more entries on the list. At No. 2 was Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad,” while “Hillbilly Elegy” by J. D. Vance landed at No. 3. More than 30 years after its original release, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” climbed the charts up to No. 9, while another older book that saw a surge was George Orwell’s “1984,” which was also adapted for Broadway this year.
