The Most Circulated Art, Music & Recreation Books of SFPL-To-Go up to December 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a radical effect upon library service. At San Francisco Public Library our readers have relied eBooks and other eResources more than ever. However, many other readers either cannot or prefer not to read online, or the books they want are not yet available online. The launch of SFPL-To-Go on August 10 brought the San Francisco Public Library's print collections back into the public's hands after a nearly five month break. 

Most of the books in the subjects of Art, Music and Recreation are assigned a call number in the Dewey 700 range (Dewey Decimals numbers 700 to 799). Among the top 15 most circulated in the Dewey 700 range, seven are pre-2020 titles.

The most borrowed print book by far is Ali Wong's Dear Girls. It was already among the most popular titles a year ago. Two other books that have continued from last year's list are Trevor Noah's Born A Crime and Hamilton: The Revolution.  Some other no longer current titles that have continue to be frequently borrowed include The Mamba Mentality by the late Kobe Bryant, Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, Making Comics by Lynda Barry and Just Kids by Patti Smith.  Noah's and Smith's books are possibly the most popular arts related books of this century so far.

Naturally, most of the books that are frequently requested and checked out are current titles.  Hollywood often figures into these choices and currently The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother are hot titles.  Two new books by popular music divas Jessica Simpson and Mariah Carey are also racking up a large number of holds.

It's a great pleasure the see the positive attention our readers are giving to Marilyn Chase's biography of San Francisco's own Ruth Asawa, Everything She Touched.

The Victory Machine by Ethan Sherwood details the rise and fall of our Golden State Warriors (who are hopefully soon to rise again!)  Sanam Maher's A Woman Like Her: The Story Behind the Honor Killing Of a Social Media Star would not immediately seem like a hot title (we initially only ordered three copies for our system) but it has proven popular in its rich investigation of fame, faith gender roles and social media.

Homebody: A Guide To Creating Spaces You Never Want To Leave from 2018 by Joanna Gaines is the most apt title for our times. If the experts tell us to stay at home, then, of course, we want to make it a place that we never want to leave.

The Top 15 Titles of December 2020

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice For Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong (Random House, 2019).

Born A Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

The Big Goodbye: Chinatown And the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Wasson (Flatiron Books, 2020). 

The Mamba Mentality: How I Play by Kobe Bryant (MCD, Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2018). 

Open Book by Jessica Simpson with Kevin Carr O'Leary (Dey St., 2020). 

Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa by Marilyn Chase (Chronicle Books, 2020).

A Woman Like Her: The Story Behind the Honor Killing Of a Social Media Star by Sanam Maher (Melville House Publishing, 2020).

A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir by Colin Jost (Crown, 2020). 

Homebody: A Guide To Creating Spaces You Never Want To Leave by Joanna Gaines (Harper Design, 2018). 

Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco, 2010). 

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster, 2017). 

Making Comics by Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly, 2019)

Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs Of a Neurotic Filmmaker (Hachette Books, 2020).

The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis (Andy Cohen Books, 2020). 

The Victory Machine: The Making And Unmaking Of the Warriors Dynasty by Ethan Sherwood Strauss (PublicAffairs, 2020).

Hamilton: The Revolution: Being the Complete Libretto of the Broadway Musical, With a True Account Of its Creation, and Concise Remarks On Hip-hop, the Power of Stories, And the New America by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (Grand Central Publishing, 2016).

The Most Circulated Books - Fiscal Year 2020-2021

Often the lists of most circulated titles in the Art, Music & Recreation Center are dominated by celebrity artists and entertainers. Topping the list of the past twelve months we still have Trevor Noah's memoir Born A Crime -- a consistently very popular read for the past five years.  Other celebrity memoirs by the late Alex Trebek, embattled director Woody Allen and actor Matthew McConaughey also appear on this list of the 15 top circulating books in our department.

In this year of lock-down and limited library services our borrowers have made some other interesting reading choices.  The 99% Invisible City proved to be almost as popular as Noah's book. This volume is a companion to the 400+ episode podcast that originated in 2010 as 5 minute segments on KALW produced in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects. The series revealed design decisions embedded in the buildings and infrastructure all around us.  (One of our department's librarians was interviewed for episode #354).

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, published in 1977, complements The 99% Invisible City.  Instead of exploring an existing infrastructure, the authors of this work propose ways to make the constructed environment more livable. It covers elements of city planning, architecture plus interior design and decoration. 

Interior Design Master Class continues in this vein, collecting the thinking of one hundred designers who explore a multitude of topics and viewpoints to help the reader arrive at their own interior decorating solutions.  Further reflecting a focus on interiority brought on by our shelter in place, A Frame For Life from 2014 also explores a "human centered" approach to constructing and decorating a space.

Although it was published six years ago, the narrative art book Tales From The Loop has consistently circulated well, undoubtedly owing to the science fiction television series that it spawned.  Solutions And Other Problems is the companion Allie Brosh's 2013 humorous graphic memoir, Hyperbole And A Half.

Art critic Jerry Saltz's How To Be An Artist delivers on its title providing ideas for promoting and creating ones creative work. Maria Konnikova's memoir The Biggest Bluff describes her process of learning to master poker and through the process provide insights into achieving greater focus and self-mastery.

Happy reading.

Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide To The Hidden World Of Everyday Design by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020).

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (Crown, 2020).

A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir by Colin Jost (Crown, 2020).

Tales From The Loop, Simon Stålenhag editor (Design Studio Press, 2015).

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, Shlomo Angel (Oxford University Press, 1977).

Solutions And Other Problems by Allie Brosh (Gallery Books, 2020).

Interior Design Master Class: 100 Lessons From America's Finest Designers On The Art Of Decoration, edited by Carl Dellatorre (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2016).

The Answer Is ..: Reflections On My Life by Alex Trebek (Simon & Schuster, 2020).

How To Be An Artist by Jerry Saltz (Riverhead Books, 2020).

The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned To Pay Attention, Master Myself, And Win by Maria Konnikova (Penguin Press, 2020).

Sing Backwards And Weep: A Memoir by Mark Lanegan (Hachette Books, 2020).

Apropos Of Nothing: Autobiography by Woody Allen (Arcade Publishing, 2020).

A Frame For Life: The Designs Of Studioilse by Ilse Crawford (Rizzoli, 2014).

The Most Popular Art, Music & Recreation Center Books At The End Of 2019

As usual books by celebrities and entertainers dominate the most borrowed books in our subject.  There are new titles by Howard Stern, John Waters, Chelsea Handler, Patti Smith, Tan France, Elton John, Jonathan Van Ness, and Ali Wong. Perhaps most remarkable is the enduring popularity of Trevor Noah's memoir Born A Crime which appeared on our previous lists of January 2017, November 2017 and May 2018.  It was the most borrowed book of all by far.

Hamilton: The Revolution continues to be a sensation.  New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum's essay collection I Like To Watch is also a popular read. Michael Shnayerson's Boom, an exposé of the contemporary art market, has also found a wide readership. An older title like Barbarian Days, William Finnegan's surfing memoir has had steadily high circulation for four years.

A couple of more than titles that are more than 40 years old are also on this list.  A Pattern Language is still considered to be revolutionary approach to architecture and design.  We recently reordered multiple copies of Jim Bouton's baseball classic Ball Four and its return to many branches has been welcomed by San Francisco readers.

Happy reading.


Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

Howard Stern Comes Again (Simon & Schuster, 2019).

Hamilton: The Revolution: Being The Complete Libretto Of The Broadway Musical, with a true account of its creation, and concise remarks on hip-hop, the power of stories, and the new America by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (Grand Central Publishing, 2016).

Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom Of A Filth Elder by John Waters (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019).

Life Will Be The Death Of Me: ... And You, Too! by Chelsea Handler (Spiegel & Grau, 2019).

Year Of The Monkey by Patti Smith (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019).

Naturally Tan by Tan France with Caroline Donofrio (St. Martin's Press, 2019)

I Like To Watch: Arguing My Way Through The TV Revolution by Emily Nussbaum (Random House, 2019.

Me by Elton John (Henry Holt and Company, 2019).

Over The Top: A Raw Journey To Self-Love by Jonathan Van Ness (HarperOne, 2019).

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice For Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong (Random House, 2019).

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan (Penguin Press, 2015).

Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, And The Rise Of Contemporary Art by Michael Shnayerson (PublicAffairs, 2019).

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, Shlomo Angel (Oxford University Press, 1977).

Ball Four: The Final Pitch by Jim Bouton (Turner, 2014).

The Most Requested Art, Music and Recreation Center books in November 2017

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster, 2017).

Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury, 2017).

Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe (Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017).

We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That are Funny, Complicated, and True by Gabrielle Union (Dey St.,  2017).

Unqualified: Love and Relationship Advice From a Celebrity Who Just Wants to Help by Anna Faris with Rachel Bertsche (Dutton, 2017)

Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated by Shea Serrano with illustrations by Arturo Torres (Abrams Image, 2017).

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice: The Stories of Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim by Judith Mackrell (Thames & Hudson Inc., 2017).

Generation Wealth by Lauren Greenfield (Phaidon, 2017).

Macramé: The Craft of Creative Knotting for Your Home by Fanny Zedenius (Quadrille Publishing, 2017).

A Stash of One's Own: Knitters on Loving, Living with, and Letting Go of Yarn, an anthology edited by Clara Parkes (Abrams Press, 2017).

Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City, 2001-2011 by Lizzy Goodman (Dey St., 2017).

Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams with Jeannine Amber (Dey St., 2017).

On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor (Simon & Schuster, 2016).


By far, the current block-buster from our collection is Walter Isaacson's new work on Leonardo da Vinci.  While the wait list for this title is currently looks daunting, we have many additional copies on order.

The only holdover from our next most recent list of most requested books of January 2017 is Trevor Noah's Born A Crime.  There are also three books by actresses and comediennes, We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union, Unqualified by Anna Faris and Rabbit by Patricia Williams.

In lists from previous years we have seen memoirs by women singer-songwriters like Patti Smith, Carrie Brownstein, Viv Albertine, Carly Simon, Grace Jones, Chrissie Hynde, and Kim Gordon.  This month, Joni Mitchell is featured in the biography Reckless Daughter by David Yaffe.

The city of New York is highlighted in two titles -- Roz Chast's Going into Town and Meet Me in the Bathroom.  And luxurious living gets a little attention with The Unfinished Palazzo and Generation Wealth.

Crafting books draw steady interest and this month there is a title on Macramé and on knitting -- A Stash of One's Own.  On Trails is an outlier in terms of its subject matter, but it sounds like a fascinating meditation on hiking and nature.

All the titles except Unqualified are available as eBooks.  Many are also available as audio book.  Happy reading.

The Most Requested Art, Music and Recreation Center books in January 2017

The top three titles on our current list match well with the nonfiction bestsellers listed in last Sunday's Chronicle.  In the Bay Area, Born a Crime ranks at number 6 and The Princess Diarist ranks at number 4.  Bruce Springsteen's memoir ranks number 3 nation-wide.

Books on hollywood, show business and entertainment in general often do well on the lists of holds.  Memoirs by Anna Kendrick, Lauren Graham, Megyn Kelly as well as the oral history of the Daily Show are all very popular.  In past lists rock and pop music memoirs have also faired well, but only Born to Run and Robbie Robertson's Testimony place on this list.

One slightly surprising title is Walking Through Walls by Marina Abramović.  While Abramović has achieved great renown in performance art circles, she seems out of place among the celebrities of this list.  But, I think the book's popularity reflects San Francisco's readers who have also shown favor towards two books about fine art - How To See by David Salle and a History of Pictures by David Hockney.

Sex sells - even sex from 80 years as Mary Astor's Purple Diary shows.  And anything with the Murakami touch will do well with our readers as can be seen with his book of conversations about music with Seiji Ozawa.

If these books excite you as well, you may have get in line to read them.  Thankfully, the majority of the titles are also available in eBook formats.

Happy reading.


1. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

2. The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (Blue Rider Press, 2016).

3. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (Simon & Schuster, 2016).

4. Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick (Touchstone, 2016).

5. Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, (And Everything In Between) by Lauren Graham (Ballantine Books, 2016).

6. Settle For More by Megyn Kelly (Harper, 2016)

7. The Daily Show (The Book): An Oral History As Told By Jon Stewart, The Correspondents, Staff and Guests by Chris Smith (Grand Central Publishing, 2016).

8. The Godfather Notebook by Francis Ford Coppola (Regan Arts, 2016).

9. Kathy Griffin's Celebrity Run-Ins: My A-Z Index by Kathy Griffin (Flatiron Books, 2016).

10. Mary Astor's Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936 by Edward Sorel (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2016).

11. Testimony by Robbie Robertson (Crown Archetype, 2016).

12. Superficial: More Adventures From the Andy Cohen Diaries by Andy Cohen (Henry Holt and Company, 2016).

13. The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines, with Mark Dagostino (W Publishing, , 2016).

14. Walk Through Walls: A Memoir by Marina Abramović, with James Kaplan (Crown Archetype, 2016).

15. How To See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking About Art by David Salle (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016)

16. Absolutely On Music: Conversations by Haruki Murakami with Seiji Ozawa, translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin (Alfred A. Knopf, 2016).

17. Celebrate Everything!: Fun Ideas to Bring Your Parties To Life, written and illustrated by Darcy Miller (William Morrow, 2016).

18. Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault, written by Jody Revenson (Harper Design, 2016).

19. A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen by David Hockney & Martin Gayford (Abrams, 2016).

20. Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson (Riverhead Books, 2016).

The Most Popular Art, Music and Recreation Center books, May 2018

Highest Circulating Books March 2015

Highest Circulating Books June 2014

Highest Circulating Books June 2013

Highest Circulating Books June 2011

Because this list reflects the cumulation of an entire years circulation it does not include 2018 titles that have not had enough time to circulate as highly.  Unsurprisingly, the top three titles on the list were among the books with the largest number of holds placed in November 2017.

Given the excitement over the Golden State Warriors, it's no surprise that Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry is ending up the hands of a lot of our readers.  Memoirs by entertainers and comedians continue to be circulate well represented here with books by Tiffany Hadish, Kevin Hart, Gucci Mane, John Hodgman and Eddie Izzard.

The musical Hamilton appears twice -- both the accompanying book with the libretto and a score of the songs arranged for easy piano.  Along the lines of easy piano, the piano instruction manual Adult Piano Adventures.  This interest in musical self-learning in our community is also evident in the popularity of Music Theory for Dummies and Jake Shimabukuro Teaches Ukulele Lessons.

There are a few older titles on the list.  Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-stakes Adventure In the World of Underground Poker became a successful movie.  Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud has become a classic on the subject.

Happy reading!


Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster, 2017).

Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe (Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017).

Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry by Marcus Thompson II (Touchstone, 2017).

The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish (Gallery Books, 2017).

I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons by Kevin Hart with Neil Strauss (37 Ink; Atria, 2017).

Hamilton: The Revolution: Being the Complete Libretto Of the Broadway Musical, With a True Account of Its Creation, and Concise Remarks on Hip-hop, the Power Of Stories, And the New America by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (Grand Central Publishing, 2016).

The Autobiography of Gucci Mane (Simon & Schuster, 2017).

Music Theory For Dummies by Michael Pilhofer, MM and Holly Day (John Wiley & Sons, 2015).

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud (Paradox Press, 1999).

The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, The Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell (Simon & Schuster, 2013).

Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-stakes Adventure In the World of Underground Poker by Molly Bloom (It Books, 2014).

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, Shlomo Angel (Oxford University Press, 1977).

Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills by Craig Luebben (Mountaineer Books, 2014).

Jake Shimabukuro teaches ukulele lessons (Hal Leonard, 2017).

Vacationland: True Stories From Painful Beaches by John Hodgman (Viking, 2017).

Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard (Blue Rider Press, 2017).

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool: A True Love Story by Peter Turner (Picador, 2017).

Adult Piano Adventures: A Comprehensive Piano Course: All-in-one Lesson Book: Solos, Technique, Theory. 1 by Nancy and Randall Faber (Faber Piano Adventures, 2010).

Hamilton: An American musical; Easy Piano Selections / book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hal Leonard, 2015).

The Top Circulating Books in Art, Music & Recreation Center, 2022-2023

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (Simon & Schuster, 2022).

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner (Alfred A. Knopf, 2021).

What Shall I Wear?: The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion by Claire McCardell (Abrams Image, 2022).

We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story by Simu Liu (William Morrow, 2022).

Piano Masterworks for Teaching and Performance: A Comprehensive Anthology of Standard Literature, edited by E.L. Lancaster and Kenon D. Renfrow (Alfred Music, 2015).

Born A Crime: Stories from A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich (Phaidon, 2006).

The Interior Design Handbook: Furnish, Decorate, and Style Your Space by Frida Ramstedt, English translation by Peter Graves (Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2020.

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud (Paradox Press, 1999).

Wild: The Naturalistic Garden by Noel Kingsbury and Claire Takacs (Phaidon, 2022).

Live Beautiful by Athena Calderone (Abrams, 2020).

Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide: Advice, Plans, and Programs for Half and Full Marathons by Hal Higdon (Rodale, 2011).

Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty by Phoebe Hoban (David Zwirner Books, 2021).

Maybe We'll Make It: A Memoir by Margo Price (University of Texas Press, 2022).

The Complete Guide to Mid-Range Glazes: Glazing & Firing at Cones 4-7 by John Britt (Lark Ceramics, 2014).

Chess for Dummies by James Eade (John Wiley & Sons, 2016).

Memoirs are often the most popular titles at the Library. This time our list includes titles by child actress Jeannette McCurdy, actor Simu Liu, songwriters Michelle Zauner and Margo Price, and comedian Trevor Noah. Interior decoration books like the Interior Design Handbook and Live Beautiful are ever popular. Books of practical instruction in chess, marathons, piano, and pottery glazes also made the list of most popular titles.

An Alice Neel retrospective at the DeYoung Museum probably led to an upsurge of interest in her art. Gombrich's The Story of Art, McCloud's Understanding Comics, McCardell's What Shall I Wear are all recognized introductions to their subjects. Wild: The Naturalistic Garden takes an ecological approach to garden design. 

Happy reading!