The Second Floor Librarians

Happy new year! The City of Corvallis’ fiscal new year begins July 1st. Before the current fiscal year ends we often run reports on our collections. Using these statistics, I put together a list of the twenty most popular biographies and memoirs for July 2009 – July 2010.

All of the titles were published in 2009 or earlier, except Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest, Committed. Gilbert is enough of a draw to make our top 20 list only 6 months after publication. Interestingly, Eat, Pray, Love was still checked out more than her new book this past year.

Mary Karr’s 2009 title Lit also boosted the numbers of her previous memoir, The Liar’s Club, published in 1995. As a result, Karr is in the top 20 list for both books.

The movie Julie and Julia brought Julia Child’s 2006 book memoir up into the top 20 list as well. And the statistics also show that Augusten Burroughs’ Running with Scissors, published in 2002, remains firmly in place as one of the top memoirs of all time here at the library.

So here are the top twenty biographies and memoirs, in descending order:

	Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman Jon Krakauer 2009
	Strength in What Remains Tracy Kidder 2009
	True Compass: A Memoir Edward M. Kennedy 2009
	Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia Elizabeth Gilbert 2006
	Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage Elizabeth Gilbert 2010
	Going Rogue: An American Life Sarah Palin 2009
	My Life in France Julia Child 2006
	Lit: A Memoir Mary Karr 2009
	Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home By Rhoda Janzen 2009
	Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival Norman Ollestadt 2009
	Running With Scissors Augusten Burroughs 2002
	Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother Daughter Story Sue Monk Kidd 2009
	Lost Boy Brent W. Jeffs 2009
	The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America Douglas Brinkley 2009
	Paul Newman: A Life Shawn Levy 2009
	The Liar’s Club: A Memoir Mary Karr 1995
	Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir Christopher Buckley 2009
	Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist Michael J. Fox 2009
	American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot Craig Ferguson 2009
	Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True Story Isabel Gillies 2009

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

PS. This is a good time to remind everyone that our new library hours and other changes will be taking effect this Thursday, July 1st.