Readers in the District are very curious about Prince Harry's perspective on the Royal Family, if the number of library reservations of his book are anything to go by.
According to the D.C. Public Library system on Twitter, as of Tuesday afternoon, there were over 394 holds placed on "Spare," Prince Harry's new memoir. That's over 4.5 times the number of books available at the D.C. Public Library, which has 30 physical copies, 30 eBooks and 25 eAudiobooks to loan out.
"268+ of those holds were placed over the last week," the library system said.
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In the lead up to the memoir's publication on Tuesday, explosive excerpts from the book and televised interviews have led to a number of stunning headlines.
Those teases have generated substantial interest in what Prince Harry has to say about his life in the Royal Family, and his decision with wife Meghan Markle to step back from royal life in early 2020. "Spare" shattered the first-day sales record for major publisher Penguin Random House, with over 1.4 million copies sold.
Library systems around the DMV can also attest to that interest, with hundreds of people in counties around Virginia and Maryland waiting for their chance to check out the book.
"We have been watching the holds lists carefully this week for Spare, as we've seen hundreds of holds added since last week in anticipation of its release on Tuesday," said Felicity Brown, Collection Manager for Montgomery County Public Libraries in a Wednesday morning email.
As of Wednesday, MCPL had 48 print copies of "Spare," compared to 335 people who placed holds. The eight large type copies of the book in the library had 49 holds, while the 77 eBooks already available had 786 holds. The 76 eAudiobooks the library had available had 761 people waiting, and the CD book had 12 available copies and 68 holds.
"We pre-ordered an additional 70 ebook copies, and 72 eAudiobook copies just last week, and the demand has doubled since then," Brown said.
Librarians in Prince George's County are also ordering more copies to keep up with demand.
As of noon on Wednesday, Prince George's County Memorial Library System had 27 print copies of "Spare," with 146 holds. The one eBook in the library had 109 people waiting to check it out, while the seven eAudio books had 164 holds. The library's two Spanish language books also had an extra person patiently waiting for their turn, with one hold.
Nick Brown, Acting Co-Chief Executive Officer for the library, said in an email that PGCMLS is focusing on obtaining more eAudio and eBooks for patrons. They'll be "available soon."
Virginia readers are, if anything, even more excited to read "Spare."
As of Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., the Fairfax County Public Library had thousands of people waiting for various formats of the book.
At least 559 people had placed holds on the 70 paper copies of "Spare" in the FCPL system. The 45 eAudio versions of the book had 1,102 holds, while there were 1,104 people waiting for the 50 eBooks available.
The large print and CD audiobook editions of the book were both still on order as of Wednesday, with 118 holds placed on large print books and 13 holds for CDs.
Arlington readers were also placing library reservations in droves.
The 35 print copies of "Spare" had 413 people on the wait list to check it out, as of Wednesday morning. The five eAudiobooks had 95 people waiting to listen, while the 10 eBooks had 91 holds. The six large type copies of the book had 103 people waiting.
As of Wednesday morning, the number of holds on the book was still growing, according to Peter Petruski, division chief for collections and access at Arlington County Public Library.
"The last book we had with more print requests in a month was "The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett back in March 2021, which was a very different book than "Spare,"" Petruski said in an email. That assessment was made just based on requests for the print book, not including audiobooks and eBooks.
While Arlington residents have "a very strong general interest" in British royalty and politics, Petruski said, Prince Harry's memoir "is probably the most anticipated single memoir on the subject and I think this memoir specifically has garnered a lot of interest beyond Anglophiles."
"I think it's likely that the number of requests we receive for "Spare" will be comparable to those we received for Michelle Obama's first book "Becoming," which was one of our most requested books of 2019, or "Fire and Fury," one of our most requested books of 2018," Petruski said. "It falls into that same zeitgeist of works about a compelling figure who transcends standard celebrity status."
