Catherine Cookson drops out of library charts

Catherine Cookson, for years the most ­borrowed writer from the UK's lending libraries, has been comprehensively overshadowed by the giants of American popular fiction, latest figures reveal.

She dominated the library charts for years – but there is no trace of her among the 100 most borrowed books of 2008-9. She is still, however, the 10th most borrowed author of the decade – largely due to the "astronomical" ­numbers in which her books were borrowed in the first half of the noughties, according to Jim Parker, the registrar of the Public Lending Right (PLR).

Instead, the top three adult authors for July 2008-June 2009 were all Americans: the thriller writer James ­Patterson, followed by the romantic novelists Nora Roberts and Danielle Steele. "She has fallen away completely," said Parker of Cookson. "It's partly down to the fact that when you stop producing books, you tend to fade away." Cookson died in 1998.

But Parker said her downfall also represents a sharp change of taste. Out are Cookson's survival tales of plucky women, rooted in the industrial north of England; in are bloodthirsty thrillers.

"Cookson's books are dark in a way, but not graphic," he said. "People now want to go into details, and the more bold the better, like Patricia Cornwell [number 12 on the list of most borrowed adult authors for 2008-9]. Cookson's books are tragic but safe – you can turn the page without risking a sex scene or a graphically described murder."

Thrillers, romance and crime novels were the most popular genres in ­libraries, according to the PLR's research. But surprisingly, although many of the top names are familiar – such as John Grisham, Joanna Trollope and Ian Rankin – the league table of books borrowed from libraries differs significantly from bestsellers.

There is no Dan Brown among the top 100 books (though his latest, The Lost Symbol, was published in the autumn, and so does not fall into the current list). Nor is there any showing from the crime novelist Stieg Larsson, or Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series of vampire books beloved by teenage girls.

Tracy Chevalier, author of The Girl With the Pearl Earring and an adviser to the PLR, said: "I'd assumed that Dan Brown and JK Rowling would be in the top 10, but they're not. I think that ­suggests libraries are a little disconnected from publishers' marketing ­campaigns, and I suspect librarians probably take a longer view of books. Bestsellers are the quick waves crashing on the shore; library books work over a longer timescale. Perhaps our reading tastes are less predictable than publishers think. Libraries seem to represent the eccentric underbelly of British life."

The library figures are also, however, revealing of who uses them. Once the figures for children's and adults' books borrowed in 2008-9 are combined, Patterson retains pole position (in raw numbers, his book Sail was borrowed 80,000 times). But in general, children's authors show their supremacy, taking second, third and fourth position and occupying 13 of the top 20 slots.

Of the children's authors, Tracy Beaker author Jacqueline Wilson, the perennial favourite, has been tipped to the top position over 2008-9 by Daisy Meadows, the pseudonym for the four authors of the Rainbow Magic series of fairy stories. But Wilson is still the most borrowed author of the decade, followed by JK Rowling and Cookson.

In the combined adult-children list for 2008-9, children's authors Francesca Simon, Mick Inkpen and Julia Donaldson came in on Wilson's heels.

Classic children's works retain a foothold: Enid Blyton comes in at 13 in the combined children's/adult list and Roald Dahl is at number 17.

"Parents come into libraries to feed the voracious reading habits of children," said Chevalier, "but then the habit dies away when children become teenagers." That might account for Meyer's absence from the list. According to Chevalier: "If you're a teenager you want to own your own copies of Meyer's books – you will read and re-read them."

Literary fiction is striking by its virtual absence on the adult league table. Sadie Jones's The Outcast is at number five and Peter Ho Davies's The Welsh Girl at 86 – both had been featured on the Richard and Judy book club. But none of the 2008 Booker prize shortlisted novels appeared.

Non-fiction is also barely represented. "The lists show why people read," said Chevalier, "and it's basically about entertainment and escapism. People don't go around killing people or having steamy adulterous affairs but they do like to read about it."

On the PLR's list of most borrowed classic titles, the top slot is occupied by JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, with three different editions of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird in the top 10.

More surprising is the dominance of Daphne Du Maurier on the classics list: 10 of the top 20 books are hers. Five are by Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer also figures – possibly a reflection of the tastes of an older generation of users.