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The world of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising expands further in the next installment of the Sons of Ares storyline. Fitchner’s quest for revenge continues as he and the other Sons of Ares seek out the Golds who have wronged his family. But actions come with repercussions and an elaborate game of cat and mouse is on. A battle of Gold versus Gold erupts further into more than acts of vengeance and becomes the seeds of a revolution.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).
The world is a scary place, so let’s try to get each other through everything as best as we can.
The RWA Fiasco
If you are not currently aware, the Romance Writers of America (RWA) imploded over the holidays when the Board of Directors decided to revoke author Courtney Milan’s membership and other privileges due to Courtney calling out the racism in another author’s work over the summer, thereby continuing a long and tired tradition where calling out racism is seen as a worse offense than the racism itself. This is only the tip of what is clearly a giant dysfunctional iceberg, but I’ve tried to pull as many resources as possible to give readers a comprehensive breakdown of just wtf has been going on.
- Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has the initial story and several updates.
- Claire Ryan lays out the facts and the timeline, which originated in August 2019.
- Cate Eland has a very good factual Twitter thread as well.
- You can also check out the weekly Romancelandia news update from Romance Sparks Joy.
- NBC, The Guardian, and the New York Times all wrote articles and thinkpieces about the situation.
- And fellow Rioter Jess Pryde wrote a piece for Book Riot about the whole mess (and provided many of the above links in her romance newsletter, so thank you very much, Jess!)
- If you’re on Twitter, I highly recommend following Courtney Milan (she posts a lot of updates, as she has very obviously found herself at the center of all this), Alyssa Cole, Beverly Jenkins, HelenKay Dimon, and Rebekah Witherspoon at the very least. They post a lot of updates and provide much-needed context about why this situation is so jaw-droppingly bad.
Okay. Now on to our regularly scheduled programming!
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
- Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief at Knopf, passed away on December 30th at age 77.
New & Upcoming Titles
- A preview of the third book in the You cycle by Caroline Kepnes.
- Is that a new Tiffany D. Jackson book coming this year?? I think so!
- 2020 picks from Bustle, BBC Culture, Elle, Epic Reads, Library Journal, New York Times, O: Oprah Magazine, and Paste.
- January titles to look for from Amazon, Chicago Review of Books, Crime Reads, Entertainment Weekly, Epic Reads, io9, Lambda Literary, New York Times, Popsugar, Tor.com (science fiction, fantasy, and YA SFF), Time, and Washington Post.
- 56 books by women and nonbinary writers of color to read in 2020.
- Most anticipated middle grade & chapter books of 2020.
- Best romance novels of 2020 from Amazon and O: Oprah Magazine.
- Anticipated YA titles from Paste and Popsugar.
- What to read in 2020 based on your favorite 2019 reads.
Best Books of 2019
- The Atlantic, BBC Culture, Mental Floss, Vanity Fair, Vogue share their favorite picks.
- Best romance of 2019 from Entertainment Weekly and Popsugar.
- Buzzfeed: best thrillers.
- 44 best book covers of 2019.
Best of the Decade
- Elle and The Guardian on the most defining books of the decade.
- LitHub picks the decade’s best fiction and nonfiction.
- The 20 best books of a decade that unmade genre fiction.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
- Such a Fun Age – Kiley Reid (Elle, The Guardian, New York Times, NPR)
- Dear Edward – Ann Napolitano (Washington Post)
- Uncanny Valley – Anna Wiener (New York Times)
RA/Genre Resources
- Library Journal unveils a new RA column called #LibrarianRecs.
- HuffPost joins the chorus of people asking, “Did the 2010’s see the end of the Great White Male Writer?”
- A look at the last decade in SFF publishing.
- Kneading into the comfort of cozy cat mysteries.
On the Riot
- Most anticipated LGBTQ books of 2020.
- 7 timely nonfiction books to add to your 2020 TBR.
- Mystery as a gateway to other genres.
All Things Comics
- AV Club, Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood Reporter, and Wired: Best comics of 2019.
- The Guardian: best comics of the decade.
- 65 most anticipated graphic novels for Winter 2020.
- YALSA picks its 2020 great graphic novels for teens.
On the Riot
- DC’s identity crisis: 15 years later.
- 5 instructional how-to comics.
- Comic anthologies to dive into.
Audiophilia
- Slate: Best audiobooks of the year.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
- 14 YA novels that take place in the 1920s.
- 20 non-European influenced fantasy YA novels.
Adults
- 11 books inspired by the March family.
- 8 fantasy novels by trans and nonbinary authors.
- Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2019.
- 10 must read crime novels set in the American West.
- 9 self-help books without the clichés.
- 6 murder mysteries to read after seeing Knives Out. (Did you see it yet?? It’s really awesome!)
On the Riot
- Christmassy picture books.
- 10 books teens want you to read right now.
- 25 must-read series and duologies that ended in 2019.
- 6 Latinx fantasy novels.
- 16 awesome standalone SFF novels from 2019.
- Essential Louisiana crime fiction.
- 6 nonfiction books about Walt Disney the man, and the company.
- 20 must-read books about found families.
- Read Harder: SFF novella, a post-1950s doorstopper written by a woman, a book about climate change, a romance starring a single parent.
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in LibraryReads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.
See you on Friday!
Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Body Lies by Jo Baker.