Advertisement Australian readers found a surprising source of solace during the pandemic, with novels that thrilled making up almost half of the 20 most borrowed books in the past year â and Jane Harperâs latest The Australian writerâs The Lost Man also came in at number five on the Civica Libraries Index, which is released by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and is based on 34 million loans across more than 100 libraries in Australia and New Zealand. Jane Harperâs The Survivors was the most popular book at Australian and New Zealand libraries in 2020. Credit:Eugene Hyland Michelle Obamaâs memoir