Did you resolve to read more books in 2026? We’ve got some inspiration: Now that 2025 is in the books, so to speak, local library systems are sharing their most borrowed titles of last year—which are still great reads. Below, you’ll find the top 10 fiction reading lists for four local library systems—DC, Alexandria, and Arlington and Prince George’s counties—and the top nonfiction picks in DC and PG County. Book-lovers across the Washington area spent the past year reading sweet and funny romance titles, historical fiction, and engrossing mysteries that explored family secrets. In the nonfiction stacks, readers gravitated to popular books like Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart and Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The most-loaned fiction title within the DC Public Library was a newcomer to their top-ten list: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, a family mystery set into motion by a 13-year-old’s disappearance from summer camp in 1975. Other recent favorites, like Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and James McBride’s The Heaven Earth Grocery Store, cracked the list for the second year in a row. Alexandria Library changed its catalog system last year and could only offer a glimpse of readers’ favorite fall books. According to their data, from mid-September to December, patrons cozied up with Kristin Hannah’s story of a patriotic nurse in the Vietnam War (The Women), a popular pick for the second year in a row. At Prince George’s County Memorial Library System, in both fiction and nonfiction, readers leaned toward books steeped in historical settings and social justice, including popular titles such as Percival Everett’s award-winning novel James, the political memoir and travelogue The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones’s The 1619 Project, and Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver’s retelling of the classic David Copperfield. According to data from the Arlington Public Library, romantic stories captured the hearts of many of their readers: all three books from the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros made the top 10 fiction list. And two romance books by Emily Henry, Funny Story and Great Big Beautiful Life, also ranked high. DC Public Library Top 10 print fiction titles of 2025 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin All Fours by Miranda July Funny Story by Emily Henry The Heaven Earth Grocery Store by James McBride All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry Intermezzo by Sally Rooney The Wedding People by Alison Espach Yellowface by R.F. Kuang Top 10 print nonfiction titles Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner The Wager by David Grann Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel A. van der Kolk I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell Italy (Lonely Planet) by Duncan Garwood Alexandria Library Top 10 print fiction titles (mid-September to December) The Women by Kristin Hannah James by Percival Everett Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver Funny Story by Emily Henry The Wedding People by Alison Espach The Briar Club by Kate Quinn Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros Prince George’s County Memorial Library System Top 10 print fiction titles The Heaven Earth Grocery Store by James McBride The Women by Kristin Hannah James by Percival Everett In Too Deep by Lee Child The House of Cross by James Patterson To Die For by David Baldacci The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus The Waiting by Michael Connelly Top 5 print nonfiction titles (excluding textbooks) Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (tie) Madness by Antonia Hylton; Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat Arlington Public Library Top 10 print fiction titles Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros The Women by Kristin Hannah The Wedding People by Alison Espach James by Percival Everett The God of the Woods by Liz Moore Funny Story by Emily Henry All Fours by Miranda July Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez The post The DC Area’s Most Popular Library Books first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less