Do you ever wonder what your fellow patrons are reading?  Or what’s getting checked out the most?  Well, welcome to our new What’s Trending feature! We’re starting off with authors: the top 10 most popular during the previous month and how many times their books circulated. Click the author’s name for a list of their books.

 James Patterson – 145 circulations.  In 2011, it was estimated that one-in-four of all hardcover suspense/thriller novels sold were written by James Patterson. He is the first author to achieve ten million ebook sales, and he holds the Guinness record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers of any author. And his success isn’t based solely on thrillers like the perennially popular Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, and Michael Bennett series. Patterson is now also the current bestselling author in the young adult and middle grade categories.

Mary Higgins Clark – 52 circulations.  An author of over thirty-five suspense novels and four collections of short stories, each one of her books has been a best seller and many of them have been made into feature films or TV movies.  She has sold over 100 million copies and has eighteen honorary doctorates!

Janet Evanovich – 49 circulations.  Although she started out as a Romance author, she now known for her contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum.  She also writes the Lizzy and Diesel series,  the Alexandra Barnaby novels, as well as the Fox and O’Hare series with co-author Lee Goldberg. Note: Go read her bio on her website. It’s hysterical.

David Baldacci – 47 circulations.  A best-selling author who writes thrilling suspense books.  He has carried over the suspense theme into several children’s books as well.  Several of his titles have been adapted for film and television.  He has over one hundred and ten million books in print.

Nora Roberts – 46 circulations.  This prolific author writes several genres within the Romance genre.  She also writes Mysteries under the pen name of J. D. Robb.  Her books are consistently on the top seller lists.  She was the first author inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.  See a previous post here.

Debbie Macomber – 44 circulations.   She is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of today’s most popular writers with more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide. In her novels, she brings to life compelling relationships that embrace family and enduring friendships, uplifting her readers with stories of connection and hope.

John Grisham – 43 circulations.   A former lawyer, he began his writing career as a hobby after hearing about a court case in 1984.  His hobby quickly became his career after he sold the film rights of his book, The Firm.  He started writing legal thrillers for children ages 9-12 in 2010.

Danielle Steel – 39 circulations.   She’s currently the best selling author alive and the fourth bestselling author of all time, with over 800 million copies sold.   Her formula is fairly consistent, often involving rich families facing a crisis, threatened by dark elements such as jail, fraud, blackmail and suicide.

Robert B. Parker – 37 circulations.   Long acknowledged as the dean of American crime fiction, he was named Grand Master of the Edgar Awards in 2002 by the Mystery Writers of America.  He was renowned for his Spenser novels, featuring the wise-cracking, street-smart Boston private-eye, which  was turned into the television series, Spencer: For Hire. He wrote 9 novels based on the character Jesse Stone and 6 novels based on the character Sunny Randall.

Clive Cussler – 35 circulations.   An adventure novelist and underwater explorer, his thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than 20 times.

How’s this list stack up against what you’ve checked out recently?  Any of your favorite authors here?  Let us know who your favorite author is.