Have you managed to read all of SMSA’s most popular books?
Discover our Top 10 most borrowed titles for 2023, in our Year in Review series.
We hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Click the title to see the book in the Library Catalogue
1 | So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice’s canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. As the investigation expands, Brunetti, Vianello, Commissario Griffoni, and Signorina Elettra each assemble pieces of a puzzle that appear to have little in common. | . |
2 | Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus It’s the early 1960s and Chemist Elizabeth Zott’s all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fuelled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation. Soon, a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time. | .. |
3 | Spare by Prince Harry It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow – and horror. As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling – and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. | . |
4 | The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. When refugees arrive from the devastated cities of Belgium, it sends ripples through the community and through the sisters’ lives. The Bookbinder of Jericho is a story about knowledge – who makes it, who can access it, and what is lost when it is withheld. | . |
5 | The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear This heart-stopping novel, set in Post WWII Britain in 1947, follows the coming of age and maturity of former wartime operative Elinor White—veteran of two wars, trained killer, protective of her anonymity—when she is drawn back into the world of menace she has been desperate to leave behind. Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government. | . |
6 | A Winter Grave by Peter May It is the year 2051, and warnings of climate catastrophe have been ignored. Addie, a young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station, discovers the body of a man entombed in ice. Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective, sets out on a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village; he has his own reasons for wanting to investigate a murder case so far from his beat. Brodie must face up to the ghosts of his past and to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that his investigation threatens to expose. | . |
7 | A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. But something has. As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the investigators’ lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines. But to what end? | . |
8 | Did I ever tell you this? by Sam Neill In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors. By his own account, his career has been a series of unpredictable turns of fortune. Did I Ever Tell You This? is a joy to read, a marvellous and often very funny book, the work of a natural storyteller who is a superb observer of other people, and who writes with love and warmth about his family. | . |
9 | Deadly Company by Ann Granger Superintendent Alan Markby and his wife Meredith have retired for the night when they are disturbed by a visitor. It’s not the first time someone has called at the Old Vicarage in search of a priest, but in this case, having just found a dead body in the churchyard, Callum Henderson needs the police. Accompanying Callum to the graveyard, Alan declares that this has all the hallmarks of a murder scene. As Alan and his team search for clues, Meredith becomes convinced that something must have been overlooked. | . |
10 | Limberlost by Ronnie Arnott In the heat of a long summer Ned hunts rabbits in a river valley, hoping the pelts will earn him enough money to buy a small boat. His two brothers are away at war, their whereabouts unknown. His father and older sister struggle to hold things together on the family orchard, Limberlost. Desperate to ignore it all, Ned dreams of open water. As his story unfolds over the following decades, we see how Ned’s choices that summer come to shape the course of his life, the fate of his family and the future of the valley, with its seasons of death and rebirth.
|  |
Click the title to see the book in the Library Catalogue
Most Held/Reserved Books | |
Most Popular eBook |  |
Most Popular Audiobook |  |
Most Popular Magazine |  |
Have you read something you loved this year, but it’s not part of our collection? Or maybe there’s a book you wish we had? We’re always happy to hear your suggestions! You can share your book recommendations by writing in the suggestion book at the library desk, or submit online via the library catalogue or suggest a book for the library to purchase
We are home to a unique collection of books, a highlight being our Mystery and Crime section.
We are honoured to be the home of Tom Keneally’s personal collection of books, many of which have been used as research for his own works.
Join a members group, share your passions, learn new skills, make new friends and get involved.
We provide a variety of member only events, these are relaxed social occasions to have fun and make new friends.