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Check Your Shelf

It’s a Best-Of Bonanza!

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. We’re deep into holiday gift buying in the Horner household, so whenever a new package shows up, there’s an intricate conversation of “Wait, who ordered this?” “Is this gift for you? Wait, don’t look!” “Oh, no, that’s for your sister. Where are we keeping her gifts?” “No, don’t put it there! Those are the gifts for YOUR sister!” Considering our apartment is too small to actually host a holiday get-together, we end up with a ton of wrapped gifts under the tree come Christmas.

So…books, then?


Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

Bookstores are dying. Barnes & Noble’s pricing policy may explain why.

Crowdfunding offers the UK’s independent booksellers a pandemic lifeline.

New & Upcoming Titles

Publishers Weekly released its Adult Spring 2022 announcements.

A feminist retelling of 1984 has been approved by George Orwell’s estate.

Werner Herzog is publishing his first novel next year.

Minnie Driver announces a new essay collection, Managing Expectations, which will be released May 2022.

Award-winning Swedish author Karin Smirnoff will write three new sequels to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy.

Janelle Monáe announces a collection of short stories based on the “Afrofuturistic world” of Dirty Computer.

Oooh, we’re getting an in-depth history of all of the Ghostbusters movies in 2022! Here’s the cover!

Paul Tremblay is coming out with a new novel in 2022 called The Pallbearers Club (on my birthday, no less!), and released the cover image!

Here’s a cover reveal and excerpt from Ruth Ware’s upcoming mystery, The It Girl.

And here’s a cover reveal for Josh Malerman’s upcoming novel, Daphne.

Another cover reveal? Sure, why not? Here’s the cover for Christina Lauren’s Something Wilder, on sale in May 2022.

Weekly book picks from Crime Reads, New York Times, and USA Today.

December picks from Bustle, PopSugar (mysteries & thrillers).

19 of the best new winter reads.

Book club picks for the holiday season.

Best books of 2021 from AARP, BookPage (romance), CBC (Canadian fiction), Crime Reads (general, true crime), Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, The Guardian (general, chosen by guest authors), Kirkus (middle grade), Library Journal, Minneapolis Star Tribune, New York Times (mysteries, thrillers, science fiction/fantasy, historical fiction, art books), Slate, and USA Today.

Entertainment Weekly also has a guide to the biggest and buzziest books of 2021.

The 101 best book covers of 2021.

Brightly has the most anticipated picture books, middle grade/chapter books, and YA books of 2022.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

Call Us What We Carry: Poems – Amanda Gorman (New York Times, NPR, Oprah Daily, Time, USA Today, Washington Post)

Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away From the Children of God, A Wild, Radical Religious Cult – Faith Jones (NPR, Washington Post)

Silenced No More: Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back – Sarah Ransome (New York Times, Washington Post)

Learwife – J.R. Thorp (New York Times, Washington Post)

Beasts of a Little Land – Juhea Kim (USA Today)

RA/Genre Resources

How Afrofuturism can help the world mend.

What accounts for the lasting appeal of Dune?

A look at the new generation of African crime writers.

On the Riot

It’s Book Riot’s Best Books of 2021 list!

And our Read Harder Challenge for 2022 is here!

10 of the most interesting reads of 2021.

The best weekly releases to TBR.

11 must-read December children’s book releases.

It’s okay if you don’t want to read the classics!

Why romance will never stop retelling Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast.

Retellings keep the classics relevant.

Why retellings of classics from authors of color and queer authors matter.

Facts about the horror genre that might surprise you.

All Things Comics

George Perez, legendary comic book artist, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

A Shang-Chi sequel is in the works.

The best comics of November 2021.

Here’s a trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

On the Riot

A love letter to Saga, take 2.

The 8 best superhero comic holiday specials.

8 graphic memoirs by trans authors.

17 of the best web novels for your serial fiction fix.

Audiophilia

10 best audiobooks of December.

On the Riot

7 audiobooks performed by celebrities.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

20 classic & new classic children’s books that every kid should read.

17 book recommendations for fans of Shatter Me.

13 YA books that explore the world of dark academia.

Adults

200 books that shaped 200 years of literature.

The 50 best books of literary journalism of the 21st century.

39 mental wellness must-reads.

13 books for every hard-to-please person on your list.

Readalikes for House of Gucci.

7 mysteries with fun-loving characters.

Cozy Christmas mysteries.

18 books for the crime & thriller lover on your holiday list.

Romances for K-Drama fans.

18 holiday romance novels.

5 SFF books with twisty curses.

8 books that capture the essence of Tennessee.

On the Riot

Must-read diverse board books.

Dark retellings of children’s classics.

15 delightful art books for kids.

YA books to get cozy with this winter.

20 must-read queer holiday romances for Hallmark movie fans.

10 of the best books about Kwanzaa to read this holiday season.

The best gender-flipped retellings.

Romance novels that diversify the classics.

Retellings of Asian myths, epics, and folklore.

10 great books about crimes gone wrong.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, 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.


Well, that’s it for me. Catch you on Friday!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.