Greetings, salutations, and welcome back to another too warm for December, Krampus awaiting, FY24 preparing, I want to be a vampire more than a werewolf, Steve-Kornacki-is-my-spirit-animal edition of the High Demand Hold Digest - your source for the predictably unpredictable desires of our beloved patrons. Welcome to the depths of December all. That magical time of the year where you can feel the sun settling in its final location on the horizon round about noon, and 6PM feels like the darkest midnight of the soul. But, as with many things, there is always an equal and opposite reaction. We, collectively under so many different banners and beliefs, have turned the darkest of days into the brightest and warmest. We fill the darkness with our lights, stare down that pitch blackness and fill our mouths and minds with words like "joy", "peace", "cheer", "comfort" and most importantly "love". What you now behold is the monthly High Demand Hold Digest, a report created at midnight each day by the Sierra ILS system, faithfully recorded and distributed monthly to those utilizing the Maine Library listservs. To be considered "high demand", there must be twice as many holds on an item as there are items in the system. So, while the regular print version of "No Plan B" by the Child brothers has 79 holds (much more than many titles list below), there are 50 copies in the system so does not make the list. And if you find yourself unwilling to subscribe to ME-LIBS, Minevera-L, and all the rest, yet still wish to receive the monthly(ish) missives, please send me an email to be added to a direct distribution list. I wish everyone the best this holiday season. If your heart is swelling to twice its size and you are surrounded by family and friends, or if you are sitting alone in a dark room believing that Scrooge was better off before those manipulative ghosts appeared, know that a light burns for you at your local library. Be well, friends. May your mistakes be lessons, may your purpose be pure, and may your intentions always build a road to improvement. With luck, I will see you in 2023. And as a pre-millennial tension enthusiast in my youth, all I can say is "whoa'. Best, Josh Fiction Books 1. A World of Curiosities (Penny) - 483 holds on 79 items 2. Demon Copperhead (Kingsolver) - 260 holds on 54 items 3. Mad Honey (Picoult & Boylan) - 169 holds on 64 items 4. Lessons in Chemistry (Garmus) - 149 holds on 62 items 5. Desert Star (Connelly) - 149 holds on 45 items 6. The Boys from Biloxi (Grisham) - 149 holds on 58 items 7. Going Rogue: Rise and Shine 29 (Evanovich) - 84 holds on 42 items 8. The Choice (Roberts) - 71 holds on 28 items 9. The Cloisters (Hays) - 67 holds on 23 items 10. Foster (Keegan) - 58 holds on 15 items 11. Flight (Strong) - 40 holds on 17 items 12. Lessons in Chemistry (Garmus) (Barns and Noble Exclusive Edition) - 37 holds on 1 item 13. This We Never Got Over (Score) - 34 holds on 15 items 14. The Years (Ernaux) - 33 holds on 9 items 15. We All Want Impossible Things (Newman) - 30 holds on 10 items 16. Stella Maris (McCarthy) - 29 holds on 13 items 17. Trespasses (Kennedy) - 25 holds on 5 items 18. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (Karunatikaka) - 23 holds on 3 items 19. Stellarlune (Messenger) - 19 holds on 8 items 20. Gilded Mountain (Manning) - 19 holds on 7 items Non-fiction Books 1. The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times (Obama) - 100 holds on 37 items 2. American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis (Hochschild) - 36 holds on 12 items 3. So Help Me God (Pence) - 23 holds on 10 items 4. Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind (Draper) - 17 holds on 2 items 5. G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century (Gage) - 16 holds on 3 items 6. Flour Power: The Practice and Pursuit of Baking Sourdough Bread (Jensen) - 16 holds on 3 items 7. Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence (Bridle) - 13 holds on 2 items 8. Bibi: My Story (Netanyahy) - 11 holds on 5 items 9. When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm (Bogdanich) - 9 holds on 4 items 10. Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics (Cohen) - 9 holds on 3 items Pre-Pub 1. Storm Watch (Box) - 40 holds 2. Spare (Prince Harry) - 35 holds 3. The Cabinet of Dr. Leng (Preston & Child) - 29 holds 4. Simply Lies (Baldacci) - 27 holds 5. Countdown (Patterson) - 22 holds 6. Collateral Damage (Jance) - 22 holds 7. The House of Wolves (Patterson) - 21 holds 8. A Killing of Innocents (Crombie ) - 20 holds 9. I Will Find You (Coben) - 19 holds 10. Encore in Death (Robb) - 19 holds Large Print 1. The Boys from Biloxi (Grisham) - 75 holds on 20 items 2. Lucy by the Sea (Strout) - 61 holds on 27 items 3. Desert Star (Connelly) - 60 holds on 15 items 4. No Plan B (Child & Child) - 45 holds on 12 items 5. Demon Copperhead (Kingsolver) - 36 holds on 11 items 6. Our Missing Heart (Ng) - 32 holds on 14 items 7. Triple Cross (Patterson) - 28 holds on 10 items 8. The Light We Carry: Overcoming Uncertain Times (Obama) - 18 holds on 6 items 9. The Perfect Assassin (Patterson) - 15 holds on 4 items 10. November 9 (Hoover) - 15 holds on 2 items Audiobooks 1. Demon Copperhead (Kingsolver) - 21 holds on 10 items 2. Hatchet Island (Doiron) - 18 holds on 1 item 3. Lessons (McEwan) - 5 holds on 1 item 4. Hunting Time (Deaver) - 3 holds on 1 item 5. Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark (Elvia) - 2 holds on 1 item 6. Voice of Fear (Graham) - 2 holds on 1 item 7. Properties of Thirst (Wiggins) - 2 holds on 1 item 8. The Escape Artist (Freedland) - 2 holds on 1 item 9. The Sandman Act II (MP3) (Gaiman) - 2 holds on 1 item 10. Demon Copperhead (MP3) (Kingsolver) - 2 holds on 1 item Graphic Novels 1. Shuna's Journy (Miyazaki) - 5 holds on 2 items 2. Everything is OK (Tung) - 3 holds on 1 item 3. Tomi (Ito) - 2 holds on 1 item 4. Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show 1 - 2 holds on 1 item 5. Five Nights at Freddy's: Fazbear Frights - 2 holds on 1 item 6. Devil's Reign (Zdarsky) - 2 holds on 1 item 7. Adventure Time Comics Vol. 2 - 2 holds on 1 item TV Series 1. Murdoch Mysteries: Season 15 - 11 holds on 2 items 2. Blue Bloods: Season 12 - 9 holds on 3 items 3. The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 8 - 8 holds on 3 items 4. Heartland Season 14 - 6 holds on 2 items 5. Death in Paradise: Season 11 - 5 holds on 2 items 6. NCIS: Hawai'I Season 1 - 4 holds on 1 item 7. Grace and Frankie Season 4 - 3 holds on 1 item 8. Van der Valk Mysteries Set 1 - 2 holds on 1 item 9. Star Trek Enterprise: Season 4 - 2 holds on 1 item 10. Law and Order: The Second Year - 2 holds on 1 item Miscellaneous Shiny Discs with Music or Pictures 1. Top Gun: Maverick (Blu-ray) - 16 holds on 7 items 2. The Good House (DVD) - 13 holds on 6 items 3. Top Gun: Maverick (4K) - 8 holds on 2 items 4. Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (DVD) - 6 holds on 1 item 5. Fall (Blu-ray) - 5 holds on 1 item 6. The Enforcer (DVD) - 4 holds on 2 items 7. Pearl (Blu-ray) - 4 holds on 1 item 8. A Very Backstreet Christmas (Backstreet Boys) (Music CD) - 3 holds on 1 item 9. Three Thousand Years of Longing (Blu-ray) - 2 holds on 1 item 10. Hallmark Channel holiday collection movie : The town that Christmas forgot ; Naughty or nice ; It's Christmas, Carol! ; The wishing tree (DVD) - 2 holds on 1 item 11. Hallmark 2-Movie Collection : Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday & Sister Swap: Christmas in the City (DVD) - 2 holds on 1 item 12. Now That's What I Call Music vol. 85 (Music CD) - 2 holds on 1 item 13. Now That's What I Call Music vol. 83 (Music CD) - 2 holds on 1 item 14. Eli and the 13th Confession (Nyro) (Music CD) - 2 holds on 1 item Video Games 1. God of War: Ragnarok (PS5) - 5 holds on 2 items 2. Pokemon: Scarlet (Nintendo Switch) - 4 holds on 2 items 3. Sonic: Frontiers (Nintendo Switch) - 3 holds on 1 item 4. Lemon Cake (Nintendo Switch) - 3 holds on 1 item 5. Bunny Park (Nintendo Switch) - 3 holds on 1 item 6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles: The Cowabunga Collection (Nintendo Switch) - 2 holds on 1 item 7. Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu! (Nintendo Switch) - 2 holds on 1 item 8. Let's Build a Zoo (Nintendo Switch ) - 2 holds on 1 item