Sam Paine from The Book Nest said their best-selling titles were a reflection of reader interests. "Mudgee is a community of readers, so it is no surprise that the most popular books of 2023 were an eclectic range," he said.

"Our biggest bestseller was the Mudgee crime novel, Rhys Gard's Four Dogs Missing. The second biggest book this year, surprisingly, is The Little Book Of Dad Jokes, a fun and silly collection that was popular at Father's Day, Christmas, and especially at our school book fair."

The Indigenous Voice Referendum had everyone reaching for The Voice To Parliament Handbook, and John Broadley's Historic Houses Of Mudgee continues to be the essential Mudgee history book.

"The Bookbinder Of Jericho was one of the year's most anticipated novels, and Pip Williams' return to Oxford also kept her earlier book The Dictionary Of Lost Words in this year's bestseller list," Sam said.

There were 61,794 items borrowed in 2023 across the region's libraries with current membership sitting at 12,913 - 50.1 per cent of the region's population.

There were 74,069 total visits to the region's libraries in 2023. Breaking that down: Mudgee had 63,450 visits, Kandos had 4,561, Gulgong had 4,222, Rylstone had 558 and the Mobile Library saw 1,278 visits.

The Prince Harry memoir Spare was the most requested book in 2023 at our libraries, capping off a year of celebrity books snapped up by eager readers. Continuing the trend, The Woman in Me by Britney Spears, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: a Memoir by Matthew Perry, Fourth Wing, and Iron Flame, by Rebecca Yarros and Wifedom by Anna Funder were the second, third, fourth and fifth most-requested books respectively.

Manager of Library Services, Rachel Gill said the library is keeping the momentum going, bolstering its services offering movie streaming and more books, audiobooks, films and more than ever. Residents can take their library with them with the free Mid-Western Regional Library app which you can download here.

She encouraged anyone looking for a particular book to log on and make a request.

"We've introduced a few new things like Kanopy so the video streaming service is probably a big one for us so that's kind of cool. If you're a library member it's a free video streaming platform, they've got lots of things on there," she said.

"We generally purchase most things that people ask for unless they're super niche that no one else would borrow - but I get a report every week and I'm finding more and more people are using that so that's really good.

"We want the community to - because it's their funds obviously - we want them to make the selections not just us all the time... take control of the collection and make it their own."

1883: a Yellowstone Origin Story was the most borrowed and reserved DVD title in 2023 while The House of Wolves by James Patterson was the most borrowed fiction title and Dog Zen: Everything You Need to Know to Transform Your Dog by Mark Vette was the most-borrowed non-fiction title.

"The love of reading is certainly alive and well - people often tell us how delighted they are to find a bookshop in Mudgee, and how much they love having a real book in their hands or on their shelf," said Sam Paine from The Book Nest.

"It's not just old-school book lovers either Some of our most fun requested titles are things that are recommended around circles of young readers on TikTok - social media can sometimes instigate a rush on an obscure book that you suddenly can't find anywhere because every teenager wants to read it.

"The Mudgee Readers' Festival brought beloved recipe blogger Nagi to town, and her RecipeTinEats Dinner book has continued to be one of our most popular. Everyone wanted A Life In Garden Design after meeting author Paul Bangay at Sculptures In The Garden, while How To Kill A Client was Emma's hot recommendation for winter reading in 2023. Local author Eila Jameson-Avey launched her rural thriller Wellworth in the shop and it has been chilling readers ever since. Finally, Trent Dalton's Lola In The Mirror arrived late in the year and was an instant hit.

"We've really loved being part of other activities and collaborations this year as we've established ourselves and events have returned to Mudgee."

Most requested books in 2023:

Popular authors in 2023:

Most reserved titles in 2023:

Most borrowed fiction titles:

Most borrowed non-fiction titles:

Most borrowed DVDs:

Most borrowed magazines:

Most borrowed young adult titles:

Most borrowed children titles:

Most borrowed eBooks:

Most borrowed eAudiobooks:

Most borrowed digital magazines: