NEW YORK, NY.- Between the World and Me, the award-winning bestseller by Ta-Nehisi Coates, was The New York Public Library’s most checked out title in 2017. The thought-provoking book debuted at number two on the Library’s top checkouts list last year.

Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad: A Novel secured the number two spot this year. Last year’s top title The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins earned a place at number four, and more than 30 years after its original release, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale landed at number 9.

Other books that debuted in the top 10 this year include: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance, The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis, and Commonwealth by Ann Patchett.

The full list of top system-wide check outs – which includes print books as well as e-books, accessible via the Library’s e-reader app SimplyE – is:

1. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

2. The Underground Railroad: A Novel by Colson Whitehead

3. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance

4. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

5. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

6. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

7. The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis

8. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

9. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

10. Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett

The New York Public Library – which has 92 locations across the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island -- circulated about 24 million items this year, an increase of seven percent over the prior years.

“For over 100 years, The New York Public Library has stood as a symbol of open and free access to information, offering collaborative spaces where New Yorkers of all walks of life can find opportunities to learn, evolve, and succeed,” said NYPL President Tony Marx. “As we approach the New Year, it’s important that we have the opportunity to take stock and reflect on 2017. Considering this year’s top checkouts at the Library and the increase in circulation, it is evident that New Yorkers are seeking insight and perspective into the great many changes we’ve faced as a society. It is a testament to our patrons’ capacity for learning that they are visiting their local library and reading more.”

In addition to the top 10 check outs system-wide, the Library compiled the top 10 books checked out in each of the three boroughs it serves, as well as the top title at each of its circulating libraries. Because these lists are location-based, they do not include e-materials. The top books checked out in the three boroughs were:

• The Bronx - TASC: Test Assessing Secondary Completion: Strategies, Practice, & Review, 2017-2018 published by Kaplan,

• Manhattan - The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and

• Staten Island -The Award by Danielle Steel.

Other books that saw significant check outs throughout the system include George Orwell’s 1984 and James Patterson’s Kill or be Killed.

The most popular selections at select branches highlight a diverse range of genres including popular culture, The Fix by David Baldacci at Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library; the self-help book Unplug: A Simple Guide to Meditation for Busy Skeptics and Modern Soul Seekers by Debra Goldstein and Suze Yalof Schwartz at Baychester Library; and the illustrated guide The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song from Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed by Shea Serrano at St. George Library Center.