Sawyer Free Library

Sawyer Free Library Unveils the Most Checked-Out Library Books of 2022

~ Sawyer Free Library

As the page turns on 2022, the Sawyer Free Library has compiled a list of some of the year’s most popular books, sharing the top checkouts for adults, teens, and children. Of the thousands of print, digital, and audiobooks patrons borrowed, these were Gloucester’s favorite books of 2022. 

“It’s not surprising that as we slowly regained our ability to leave our homes, our reading turned to reflect on the priorities and values of our time spent in quarantine. In 2022, Gloucester seemed to want to read stories about relationships, families, and the uncertainties of modern life,” said Beth Pocock, the Library’s Assistant Director. “The Sawyer Free Library takes great pride that our beloved community continually turns to us for unparalleled access to books, knowledge, and entertainment to feed their souls, brighten their spirits and enrich their lives.”

Top Adult Fiction

1. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

2. by Amor Towles

3. Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult 

4. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

5. The Judge’s List by John Grisham

6. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

7. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

8. Never by Ken Follett

9. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart

10. State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny

The most borrowed book was Elizabeth Strout’s Oh William!, with a story full of family secrets that eventually grows into an uplifting meditation on our humanity. Taking the second spot is The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles follow-up to his blockbuster novel Gentleman from Moscow, a complex story about two brothers whom you’ll come to care as deeply about as you did Count Alexander Rostov. 

Another highlight on the list is Anthony Doerr’s celebrated novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land. A New York Times bestseller, National Book Award finalist, and Best Book of the Year by most major newspapers, Cloud Cuckoo Land follows five young dreamers through time and space from 1453 Constantinople to the future. 

The pandemic and its shared experience provided the underpinning for many of this year’s other favorites. In Wish You Were Here, Jodi Picoult tells a story about the pandemic shattering a well-planned life and providing a platform for rethinking priorities. A group of friends meeting in a country house to wait out the pandemic in isolation sets the stage for Gary Shteyngart’s book, Our Country Friends. Referred to by many as “The Great Pandemic Novel,” Shteyngart aptly captures the uncertainties of modern life we all felt so keenly during the pandemic. 

No list of Gloucester favorites is ever complete without a few good thrillers. One of this year’s most popular suspense writers, Liane Moriarty, adds Apples Never Fall to 2022’s list.  John Grisham’s latest legal thriller, The Judge’s List, and State of Terror, by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny aptly fill two other suspenseful slots.

Top Adult Nonfiction

1. The Gloucester Notebook by T.S. Eliot, 1888-1965

2. The Dawn Of Everything: A New History Of Humanity by David Graeber

3. Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson 

4. Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town by Elyssa East

5. Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric From Aristotle To Obama by Sam Leith 

6. Happy, Healthy Minds: A children’s guide to emotional wellbeing by The School Life

7. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story       

8. The Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach

9. Quick + Simple: Simply Wonderful Meals With Surprisingly Little Effort by Jacques Pepin

The top ten non-fiction titles circulated at Sawyer Free in 2022 reveal the range of demographic groups that the Library serves. For those who love Gloucester’s history and lore, the top spot went to The Gloucester Notebook by T.S. Eliot, a collection of poems the 21-year-old Eliot first began to write at Harvard.  The number two spot in local history went to Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town by Elyssa East.

Cape Ann’s long history of independent free-thinkers continues, with readers finding The Dawn of Everything and The 1619 Project appealing along with Caste The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson which remained on the list from last year. The books rewrite traditional history very differently in surprising and eye-opening ways. While many parents found a helpful tool with Happy, Healthy Minds, inspiring chefs looked for guidance from the likes of renowned cookbook author Jacques Pepin. And local students who made their way to the Sawyer Free Library for their summer reading materials found the most in demand book this summer was Words like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama. 

From familiar series to popular new releases, the Sawyer Free Library’s younger patrons read a lot in 2022. Children and young adults were browsing the Library’s shelves at record rates, in person and online, and to follow were some of their best-loved reads. 

For younger readers, Dog Man master Dav Pilkey chewed up the top spot on the most popular children’s books list. Raina Telgemeier’s Ghosts and Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid graphic novel titles were also top reads this year. The Young Adult titles with the highest circulation were Welcome to the Dark House, the suspenseful story by Laurie Faria Stolarz, and Siege and Storm, the second book in Leigh Bardugo’s popular Shadow and Bone Trilogy and the compelling tale Spice & Wolf: Volume 1 by Isuna Hasekura.

Top Children/Teens Fiction

1. Dog Man: Fetch-22 by Dav Pilkey

2. Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier

3. The Magic School Bus: Inside a Beehive by Joanna Cole

4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney

5. The Thank You Book by Mo Willems

6. The Babysitters Club: Kristy and the Snobs by Chan Chau

7. Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

8. Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

9. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

10. Spice & Wolf: Volume 1 by Isuna Hasekura

Find these and millions of other books through the Sawyer Free Library. Visit the Library in its new location at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester or sawyerfreelibrary.org, where its friendly and talented Librarians are always there to help you find a new book to read and so much more. 

Approximately 14,000 people currently possess Sawyer Free Library cards. Anyone who resides or attends school in Gloucester can obtain a Library card for free by applying in person, online, or by mail. For more information, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org or call 978-325-5500.

Open House at SFL@21 Main Street on Saturday, December 17th

~ Sawyer Free Library

EVERYONE IS INVITED TO

SFL@21MAIN STREET OPEN HOUSE

Saturday, December 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Come discover the Sawyer Free Library‘s new space and learn about all its services, both in person and digital.

Swing by to say hello to your favorite librarians and meet a few new ones.

There will be a scavenger hunt for kids, local history display and more for all to enjoy. Cookies and hot chocolate will be served too!

If you have any questions, please call us at 978-325-5500 or visit www.sawyerfreelibrary.org.

 

Author Talk with Pulitzer Prize winning historian Nicole Eustace 

~ Sawyer Free Library

On Wednesday, December 14 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., the Sawyer Free Library is pleased to invite you to explore early-American history during an online afternoon conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning historian Nicole Eustace as she discusses her 2022 award winning book Covered With Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America. This is a virtual event, for link, register at sawyerfreelibrary.org.

On the eve of a major treaty conference between Iroquois leaders and European colonists in the distant summer of 1722, two white fur traders attacked an Indigenous hunter and left him for dead near Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Though virtually forgotten today, this act of brutality set into motion a remarkable series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice in early America.

In Covered with Night, Dr. Eustace reconstructs the crime and its aftermath, bringing us into the overlapping worlds of white colonists and Indigenous peoples in this formative period. As she shows, the murder of the Indigenous man set the entire mid-Atlantic on edge, with many believing war was imminent. Isolated killings often flared into colonial wars in North America, and colonists now anticipated a vengeful Indigenous uprising. Frantic efforts to resolve the case ignited a dramatic, far-reaching debate between Native American forms of justice—centered on community, forgiveness, and reparations—and an ideology of harsh reprisal, unique to the colonies and based on British law, which called for the killers’ swift execution. As Eustace powerfully contends, the colonial obsession with “civility” belied the reality that the Iroquois, far from being the barbarians of the white imagination, acted under a mantle of sophistication and humanity as they tried to make the land- and power-hungry colonials understand their ways. 

About the Author: Nicole Eustace is a professor of history at New York University. A historian of the early modern Atlantic and the early United States, she specializes in the history of emotion. She is author of Pulitzer-Prize winning Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America, as well as Passion Is the Gale: Emotion, Power, and the Coming of the American Revolution and of 1812: War and the Passions of Patriotism as well as coeditor of Warring for America: Cultural Contests in the Era of 1812.

This virtual event is Wednesday, December 14 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. For the link, register at sawyerfreelibrary.org. If you have questions, please contact moneill@sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5562.

Ladies Night In: The Holiday Edition

~ Sawyer Free Library

Join us for LADIES NIGHT IN: The Holiday Edition on Thursday, December 15 at 5:30 p.m. at the Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester.

The Sawyer Free Library is creating a Romance Book Club and the first book we are reading is The Great Christmas Knit-Off by Alexandra Brown. The fun festive evening will be complete with cocoa, cookies, a holiday book discussion and perhaps a few knitting projects. 

Those interested should register HERE and come by SFL@21 Main Street to pick up a copy of the book!

For more information or if you have questions, visit SawyerFreeLibrary.org or call 978-325-5501. 

Sawyer Free Library Honors Long-time Volunteer with Prestigious Community Award

~ Sawyer Free Library

Each year, the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library recognize outstanding volunteers for their efforts and dedication to the Library. As a part of the Sawyer Free Library’s Annual Meeting, the Mary M. Weissblum Volunteer Award was presented to lifelong Gloucester resident Rebecca Aliberte. She was honored with the community award for her leadership, tireless dedication to the Friends of the Sawyer Free Library, and countless hours volunteering in the Library’s children’s room.


“Volunteers are essential to the work of our Library, and so every year, we seek to celebrate one of our most exceptional volunteers. This year we have chosen to honor the wonderful Rebecca Aliberte,” said Assistant Library Director Beth Pocock in presenting the award.  


Rebecca has volunteered in the Library’s children’s room for over ten years. On any given day, one might find her doing various tasks to help ease the load of the library staff from cutting out crafts to organizing books story time. In addition, Rebecca served as the President of the Friends of the Sawyer Free Library for three years. Under Rebecca’s leadership, the all volunteer group, made significant contributions to enhance the Sawyer Free Library, including purchasing equipment and funding a wide variety of library programs for all ages.


The annual volunteer award was established in 2016 by the Library’s Board of Trustees and named after Mary Weissblum, who served the Library tirelessly over four decades. 


For more information about volunteering at the Sawyer Free Library, please visit sawyerfreelibrary.org or come in and say hello at its new downtown location at 21 Main Street in Gloucester.

Rebecca Aliberte being honored by the Sawyer Free Library with the 2022 Mary M. Weissblum Volunteer Award.

Reading and Book Signing by Local Author at Sawyer Free Library on Saturday, December 3

~ Sawyer Free Library

On Saturday, December 3, from 10:00- 11:30 am, the SAWYER FREE LIBRARY will host a reading and book signing of The Tree in Dock Square. Written by author Jean Woodbury and illustrated by Bonnie Sylvester, the book was the Cape Ann Reads’ First Prize Winner.

Inspired by a true story in Rockport, this charming children’s book about a town’s holiday tradition and a child’s love for her grandfather has been described as “rich in the warmth of family and community connections.” 

The author, Jean Woodbury, will read from her book followed by the illustrator, Bonnie L. Sylvester, leading a craft activity based on themes from the holiday story. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase, or people are welcome to bring their own book to be signed. 

The Sawyer Free Library’s new downtown location is 21 Main Street in Gloucester.  

The family friendly event is free and open to the public. For questions, please visit SawyerFreeLibrary.org or call 978-350-5500. 

Cape Ann Reads: The art of children’s literature is strong throughout Cape Ann and is part of its rich cultural history. To mark the 75th anniversary of author and illustrator Virginia Lee Burton winning the Caldecott Medal for her book, The Little House, the four Cape Ann’s libraries (Sawyer Free Library in Gloucester, Manchester by the Sea Public Library, TOHP Burnham Public Library in Essex, and Rockport Public Library) launched Cape Ann Reads. The joint library project with community partners and the Cape Ann Museum aimed to highlight Cape Ann artists and writers and strengthen community connections and family literacy. Special events included a picture book contest for Cape Ann residents, with the Grand Prize being a first-edition hardcover publication by Cape Ann Reads.

Sawyer Free Library Annual Meeting next Wednesday, 11/16 at 2 Dale Avenue! All are welcome!

~ Sawyer Free Library

The Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library Corporation will be hosting its Annual Meeting on Wednesday evening, November 16, at the Sawyer Free Library located at 2 Dale Avenue in Gloucester. All are welcome.

Doors open at 6:00 pm and the meeting will begin at 6:30 pm with welcoming remarks by the President of the Board of Trustees, Mern Sibley. The public is invited to attend this informative evening, during which there will be a presentation by Matt Oudens of Oudens Ellos Architecture detailing updates of the 2025 Sawyer Free Library Capital Project. 

The annual meeting will offer the community the chance to gather at 2 Dale Avenue one more time before the Sawyer Free Library’s historic renovation and expansion project begins early next year. Attendees will be welcome to take pictures of the spaces that have special meaning to them or just sit and take it all in while learning more about the Library’s busy year.

The Sawyer Free Library recently moved its operations to 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester, in preparation for the construction of the 2025 Sawyer Free Library which is expected to be completed in early 2025. 

The meeting will be from 6:30–7:30 pm on the main floor of the Sawyer Free Library. Refreshments from Willow Rest will be served. For more information, please visit sawyerfreelibrary.org.

The Diamond Eye: Author Talk with Kate Quinn

~ Sawyer Free Library

Join the Sawyer Free Library on Tuesday, October 25 at 7:00 pm for a captivating virtual conversation with historical fiction writer KATE QUINN as she discusses her newest release, The Diamond Eye, and her other works. Quinn is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, including The Alice Network, The Huntress, and The Rose Code.

Quinn’s latest book, The Diamond Eye, offers an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.  Click HERE to register.

In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kiev (now known as Kyiv), wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son – but Hitler’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious young woman to deadly sniper – a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC – until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons, and enemy bullets, in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a woman and mother who became a soldier and who found her place in the world that changed the course of history forever.

Click HERE to register for author talk and to be sent the event Zoom link.

About the Author: Kate Quinn is a New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction.  She is a native of Southern California, and she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff, she has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, and The Rose Code. She and her husband now live in Seattle with their rescue dogs.

Click HERE to register and to be sent the event Zoom link. For questions, or to learn about other upcoming author talks please visit sawyerfreelibrary.org.

This event is brought to the community in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.

SAWYER FREE LIBRARY IS ON THE MOVE

~ Sawyer Free Library

The Sawyer Free Library (SFL) is on the move, although they are not going too far or for too long. 

The Sawyer Free Library’s 2 Dale Avenue location will close to the public at 5 p.m. on Friday, September 30.  The Library’s new temporary home will open at 8 a.m. on Monday, October 24 at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester, just a few blocks from the Library’s current location. 

During the three-week closing, library resources will be available online through the Library’s website http://www.sawyerfreelibrary.org. Due dates for physical materials that are checked out will be extended and not become overdue during the move. The Library’s outside book drops at the front entrance and in the parking lot of 2 Dale Avenue will remain open for materials to be returned.

“The Sawyer Free Library is an essential service that supports our residents to reach their full potential in manyaspects of their lives,” said Mern Sibley, President of the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library’s Board of Trustees. “This temporary location will ensure that our Gloucester community continues to have full access to the Library’s resources, including our dedicated staff, as we take another big step towards making the 2025 Sawyer Free Library a reality.”

The Library is moving in preparation for its upcoming historic renovation and expansion project. The temporary location will be in use throughout construction, which includes a renovation of the Sawyer Free’s 1976 main building at 2 Dale Avenue and an addition of 15,000 square feet toward School Street.  The construction is expected to be completed by early 2025. 

SFL will be working with professional relocation and moving services companies, National Library Relocations and Hiltz Moving and Storage, to move the library’s collections, furnishings, and equipment to the temporary location. The Saunders House will be used for library staff office space and onsite storage during the construction. 

As a part of the temporary move, the Library’s Main Floor and Friend Room A/V equipment, valued at $60,000, will be loaned to the Rose Baker Senior Center for use in their Multi-Purpose Room and the Second Floor Meeting Room. The arrangement is an opportunity for the Library’s resources to continue to benefit the Gloucester community during the construction project. 

“This moment has been a longtime coming, and we are so grateful to the Gloucester community for their ongoing patience and overwhelming support of this historic project,” said Library Director Jenny Benedict.  “In the meantime, we want to encourage everyone to visit us at 2 Dale Avenue before the move starts on October 1st. People can take pictures of places that had special meaning to them or just sit and take it all in. We realize how much this Library has meant to so many over the years, but we also want people to know that this is not a farewell to the Sawyer Free Library, but rather, see you again very soon after you get that much-needed TLC.” 

Library hours at the temporary location will remain the same, open six days a week, with the Sawyer Free Library’s staff available to assist the public. The Library phone number and emails will not change and all information is listed on the website, sawyerfreelibrary.org. The centrally located space on Main Street is handicap accessible and offers on-street and public parking in the St. Peter’s Square lot. The Library’s parking lot located on School Street will also be available until construction begins and then will be closed through the project’s duration.

In its new temporary home, the Sawyer Free Library will offer select in-person services, curbside service, outreach programming, and an enhanced level of online services. The approximately 3,600 sq. ft. at 21 Main Street will accommodate library services for both children and adults, as well as the Library’s local history research resources and Wellspring House’s client intake center. The space will have public computers, printing and copying services, Wi-Fi access, and study tables. 

A large selection of books, audiobooks, DVDs, and music CDs will be available for all ages, including adult new releases, bestsellers, magazines and newspapers. Through the hold system, cardholders can request items from the Library’s full CD, DVD and audiobook collections. While the size of the space limits the quantity of books onsite, cardholders have access to thousands of titles from other NOBLE libraries that will be delivered to Gloucester.

SFL will continue to offer a robust schedule of programs for residents of all ages throughout the community onsite at 21 Main Street and many off-site locations in Gloucester’s public schools, preschools, community centers, municipal spaces, local cultural institutions, parks, and other outdoor spaces. It will also work with its many community partners to host collaborative programming. In addition, the Library will continue to utilize and enhance its remote and online virtual programs.

“As we find new ways of providing the same service in our temporary location, it will feel a bit different and take some getting used to, but we are bringing so much with us that it will also be a lot the same,” added Benedict. “We look forward to the day we move back into 2 Dale Avenue. The current library building has so many memories from what the community has created here. It’s exciting to think how people will build new memories in the 2025 Sawyer Free Library.”

When doors open at the 2025 Sawyer Free Library, the building will exemplify what a 21st-century public library can and should be in terms of architecture, sustainability, accessibility, use of natural resources and light, wayfinding, lines of sight, air quality, and public safety. The modernized and expanded Library will double in size with the addition. It will boast new community spaces, including a 110-seat community room with state-of-the-art science presentation technology, a dedicated room for teens, and a digital maker space with a sound recording studio and film editing suite. Additional features include a Library History Center, a quiet Reading Room, and a 16-seat Conference Room. 

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners recently approved the Sawyer Free Library’s $9 million provisional construction grant toward the estimated $28 million historic project. In October, the Gloucester City Council is expected to vote on a request for a city loan to provide the financing for the project, which will allow the City to receive the state grant. Gloucester’s Public Library is owned by the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, a nonprofit corporation, which will repay the series of short-term city loans through grants, corporate and individual donations. 

The Sawyer Free 2025 fundraising campaign has over $15 million in committed funds and continues to seek funding of large and small donations through individual and corporate donors, federal, state, and municipal government grants, and nonprofit foundations. The public is encouraged to learn more about the project by visiting sawyerfree2025.org.  The specifics of Sawyer Free Library’s move to the temporary location at 21 Main Street are available at sawyerfreelibrary.org.  

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Author Talk with Simon Winchester: Tuesday, 9/20

~ Sawyer Free Library

Sawyer Free Library is pleased to host a virtual conversation with prolific British-American writer, journalist, and consummate adventurer SIMON WINCHESTER on Tuesday, September 20 at 2:00pm.

The NYT bestselling author will cover many aspects of his work across myriad fields of history, technology, and geology as well as the author’s personal expeditions, including his path to becoming the acclaimed author he is today of more than 30 titles, including The Professor and the Madman, Pacific, The Perfectionists, and most recently, Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World. 

Virtual Author Talk on Tuesday, September 20 at 2pm

About the Author: Beginning his writing career in journalism, Simon Winchester has found renowned success in the world of non-fiction and now works almost exclusively as an author.  Aside from his numerous books, Simon Winchester OBE has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, National Geographic, and Conde Nast Traveler among many others. Honored with several awards throughout  his career—Britain’s Journalist of the Year in 1971 among them—in 2006 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to journalism and literature. In addition, he received an Audie Award for Non-Fiction for The Perfectionists and was made an Honorary Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford in 2009.  

This is a virtual event, for link, register at sawyerfreelibrary.org. For questions, contact: moneill@sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5562.