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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).
Fun podcast news: Book Riot has a literary fiction podcast now, called Novel Gazing! Join Louise and Mary Kay as they contemplate the joys and vagaries around literary fiction, including how to even define it!
And now, onto the newsletter.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
- Courtney Milan posted the letter that she sent to the RWA, in which she offered to settle all claims against her in exchange for complete transparency from the organization.
- Harlequin’s Carina Press is launching a LGBTQ romance line.
- The Atlantic plans to publish more fiction, starting with a new story by Lauren Groff.
- Svetlana Alexievich, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015, is opening her own publishing house just for women.
- Lee Child is passing on the Jack Reacher series to his brother Andrew Grant, with the requirement that Andrew change his last name to “Child.”
- Amazon is publishing commercial fiction by famous authors – why traditional publishers should be scared.
New & Upcoming Titles
- Bob Woodward is writing a follow-up book to Fear, but this time Trump apparently allowed himself to be interviewed.
- A first look at the travel guide Anthony Bourdain was working on when he died, which will be published later this year.
- Lev Grossman is writing a children’s book “reminiscent of Roald Dahl and The Chronicles of Narnia.”
- Booklist has its editors’ choices for 2019.
- Writers to watch: Spring 2020 edition.
- Most anticipated books of 2020 from LitHub and Vulture.
- 15 small press books to look for in 2020.
- Most anticipated middle grade & chapter books of 2020.
- Most anticipated books by Indigenous authors in the first half of 2020.
- Books to read this January from Barnes & Noble and O Magazine.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
- American Dirt -Jeanine Cummins (LA Times, New York Times, NPR, Time, Washington Post)
- Uncanny Valley – Anna Wiener (The Atlantic, Esquire, The Guardian, LA Times, NPR)
- Cleanness – Garth Greenwell (Electric Lit, Entertainment Weekly, LA Times, New York Times)
- Hitting a Straight Lick With a Crooked Stick: Stories From the Harlem Renaissance – Zora Neale Hurston (New York Times, Time, Washington Post)
- A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America – Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
- Oligarchy – Scarlett Thomas (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
- A Long Petal of the Sea – Isabel Allende (LA Times, Time)
- Little Gods – Meng Jin (New York Times, USA Today)
- Zed – Joanna Kavenna (USA Today, Washington Post)
RA/Genre Resources
- A beginner’s guide to African crime fiction.
- The new golden age of the SFF novella.
- LGBTQ fantasy comes of age.
On the Riot
- Book Riot’s most anticipated books of 2020!
- 9 new series from your favorite authors.
- How horror helps with processing grief and trauma.
All Things Comics
- HBO is not planning on a second season of Watchmen.
- Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan is getting a film adaptation, which will be re-named The Great Machine to avoid confusion with the 2015 sci-fi thriller of the same name.
- 100 of the best horror comics of all time.
On the Riot
- 5 must-read comics and graphic novels from the Philippines.
- 7 graphic biographies and memoirs for your learning pleasure.
Audiophilia
- Audible settles its copyright lawsuit with publishers over audiobook captions.
- Look for the first set of Marvel original audiobooks to arrive this year.
- The ACLU, Michael Chabon, and Ayelet Waldman are collaborating to release an audiobook anthology called Fight of the Century, and will feature a star-studded narrator cast, including Sir Patrick Stewart, Samuel L. Jackson, and Lucy Liu.
- YALSA names its 2020 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults.
On the Riot
- Audiobooks by Native, First Nations, or Indigenous authors.
- Listening pathway for Dion Graham.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
- 10 badass YA characters to inspire your 2020 goals.
- 18 YA #throwback historical fiction books.
- 17 books for after you’ve been emotionally devastated by Little Women.
Adults
- 5 books that Jay-Z thinks you should read.
- 6 anthologies written by, for, and about disabled people.
- 7 of the best vegetarian cookbooks.
- 7 books for surviving political and environmental disasters.
- 73 black romance novels to read from 2019.
On the Riot
- 20 black children’s books by black authors.
- 16 of the best picture books about historical figures.
- 33 of the top middle grade books on Goodreads.
- 15 of the best books about marriage.
- 8 long books to commit to during cold weather.
- 10 fascinating books by (or about) child prodigies. (There’s a mix of age ranges on this list.)
- 10 captivating books similar to The Da Vinci Code.
- 8 new books you won’t be able to put down.
- Read Harder: a book in any genre written by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous Author, an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical).
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 Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.