Suffolk library users' favourite books revealed

SUFFOLK library users have proved themselves hopeless romantics as the county’s most borrowed book title is revealed.

Romantic page-turner In Time for Christmas by Katie Flynn topped the list of readers’ ten favourite picks from the shelves of the county’s libraries.

But the historical novel is absent from the overall national list, which instead features Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol in top spot.

The Da Vinci Code follow-up was only the tenth most popular read in Suffolk’s libraries between July 2010 and June 2011, and is the only book from the national list to feature in the local run-down.

Tearjerkers occupy several positions in the region’s top ten, with crime novels filling most of the remaining places, including Ruth Rendell’s latest Inspector Wexford mystery The Monster in the Box.

Books by female authors account for six of the top ten in Suffolk, while only Liza Marklund is included nationally for a novel co-written by James Patterson, who features three times on the same list, making him the most borrowed in the UK for the fifth year running.

The lists are being revealed by the national Public Lending Right (PLR) programme on the eve of tomorrow’s National Libraries Day.

The Government funded PLR office collates data and uses it to make payments to authors on the basis of how often their books are lent out, distributing £6.5 million to 23,718 authors at a rate of 6.05 pence per loan.

Suffolk’s top ten library books are: 1) In Time For Christmas by Katie Flynn. 2) Stolen by Lesley Pearse. 3) True Blue by David Baldacci. 4) A Change in Attitude by Anita Shreve. 5) The Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell. 6) Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult. 7) The Book of Secrets by Tom Harper. 8) Soldier Girl by Annie Murray. 9) Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly. 10) The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.