News

Pack Memorial Library reveals community favorites from 2025

Pack Memorial Library reveals community favorites from 2025

The interior of Pack Memorial Library. Photo: Saga Communications/Pruett Norris


ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Pack Memorial Library has released lists of the six most frequently checked-out books, movies and music from 2025 on their Facebook page.

The selections reflect a wide variety of taste among the Buncombe County library community. The top fiction books alone include a literary thriller, the latest volume in a popular “roman-tasy” series and a new historical romance novel.

If you are a Buncombe County resident and don’t yet have a library card, simply visit any library branch – Black Mountain Library, Buncombe County Law Library, East Asheville Library, Enka-Candler Library, Fairview Library, Leicester Library, North Asheville Library, Oakley/South Asheville Library, Pack Library, Skyland/South Buncombe Library, Special Collections, Swannanoa Library, Weaverville Library or West Asheville Library – with a photo ID. Cards are granted free of charge and are good for up to three years.

Learn more here.

Read the Pack Library lists below:

Top fiction books

  1. “Wild Dark Shore” by Charlotte McConaghy
  2. “We Do Not Part” by Han Kang
  3. “James” by Percival Everett
  4. “Onyx Storm” by Rebecca Yarros
  5. “Great Big Beautiful Life” by Emily Henry
  6. “My Friends” by Fredrik Backman

Top nonfiction books

  1. “The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About” by Mel Robbins
  2. “Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts” by Oliver Burkeman
  3. “Be Ready When the Luck Happens” by Ina Garten
  4. “A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck” by Sophie Elmhirst
  5. “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism” by Sarah Wynn-Williams
  6. “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness” by Jonathan Haidt

Read our list of the best books of the year here.

Top movies

  1. “Dune: Part Two” (2024, directed by Denis Villeneuve)
  2. “Conclave” (2024, directed by Edward Berger)
  3. “Sasquatch Sunset” (2024, directed by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner)
  4. “Anora” (2024, directed by Sean Baker)
  5. “Mulholland Drive” (2001, directed by David Lynch)
  6. “Ran” (1985, directed by Akira Kurosawa)

Read our list of the 25 best movies of 2025 here.

Top albums

  1. “Highway Prayers” by Billy Strings
  2. “Bright Future” by Adrianne Lenker
  3. “MoonDial” by Pat Metheny
  4. “Indonesian City Sound (Panbers Psychedelic Rock and Funk 1971-1974)” by Panbers
  5. “A La Sala” by Khruangbin
  6. “Fearless Movement” by Kamasi Washington

Read our list of the best albums of the year here.

To find more books, movies and music available at Pack Library, visit www.nccardinal.org.

Read more. . .

Recent Headlines

1 day ago in Entertainment, Music

Harry Styles announces first album in 4 years, ‘Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally’

In this world, it's just him: Harry Styles has announced that his long-awaited, fourth studio album will arrive this spring.

1 day ago in Music, Trending

See the dates and ticket plans for the BTS tour that starts in April

The BTS comeback is upon us. The K-pop septet has announced a 2026 - 2027 world tour, kicking off in South Korea in April and running through March 2027 with over 70 dates across Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Europe.

1 day ago in Entertainment

Mattel and Alex Aster team up for Barbie young adult novel, ‘Barbie: Dreamscape’

The publishing arm of Mattel Inc. is teaming with million-selling novelist Alex Aster on a Barbie young adult novel in which the iconic doll embarks on a journey across "treacherous, magical lands."

1 day ago in Sports, Trending

John Harbaugh and the Giants are working on a deal to make him their coach, AP sources say

John Harbaugh and the New York Giants are working on an agreement to make him the team's head coach, three people with knowledge of the decision said Thursday.

2 days ago in Entertainment

Actor Michael Keaton is named Man of the Year by Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals

Actor Michael Keaton has been named 2026 Man of the Year by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. The theater group, which dates to 1844 and claims to be the world's third-oldest still operating, announced Wednesday that Keaton will receive his Pudding Pot award at a celebratory roast Feb. 6.