Sponsored by The Experiment/Workman Publishing.
Entering college marks an exciting—and often confusing—transition into adult independence, especially when it comes to navigating a healthy sex life and building fulfilling relationships. Do As I Say, Not Who I Did is an advice book rooted in guidance from a slate of expert sex therapists, psychologists, OB/GYNs, and researchers on human sexuality, and woven with personal anecdotes from women still in college. This is an inclusive guide that starts conversations on subjects like asking for what you want, balancing your social life and sex life, dealing with peer pressure, recognizing sexual assault, and getting out of an unhealthy relationship.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf. We’re getting to the point in the year when I start counting down the days until Daylight Savings. I think it’s a ridiculous system that should be abolished, but in the meantime, it’s going to give us more daylight in about a month, and that’s when I can start hoping that better weather will be around the corner.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
Publishers and agencies start receiving subpoenas as the DoJ/PRH case heats up.
DK is partnering with The Black Curriculum to publish a series of three books to address the lack of Black British history taught in the UK.
Barnes & Noble’s CEO commends BookTok for giving bookstores an unprecedented boost.
New & Upcoming Titles
Carmen Maria Machado is coming out with a new short story collection!!
Bernardine Evaristo is publishing a new memoir.
Andrew Cuomo’s former Press Secretary Karen Hinton previews her new memoir, Penis Politics. This officially gets my vote for Most Awkward Title Your Patrons Will Have To Ask You For this year.
Here’s the cover reveal for Tamsyn Muir’s upcoming Nona the Ninth.
Here’s a cover reveal for Sophie Gonzales’ sapphic YA rom-com, Never Ever Getting Back Together.
Alice Wong, editor of Disability Visability, has a memoir coming out in September.
PopSugar has the best romances and mysteries/thrillers of 2022.
11 early 2022 picks from Kirkus.
22 new crime releases by Black authors to keep you reading all year long.
Weekly book picks from Crime Reads, LitHub, The Millions, New York Times, and USA Today.
February picks from Barnes & Noble, Bustle, Crime Reads, Entertainment Weekly, LA Times, LitHub (SFF), The Millions, Time, Tor.com (horror/genre benders), Town & Country, and Washington Post.
Indie speculative fiction for January 2022.
Make sure to get your own Read Harder Book Journal from Book Riot to track your reading for the year!
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
Vladimir – Julia May Jonas (LA Times, New York Times, Time, USA Today, Washington Post)
The Family Chao – Lan Samantha Chang (NPR, Washington Post)
Free Love – Tessa Hadley (LA Times, NPR)
The Nineties: A Book – Chuck Klosterman (Datebook, New York Times)
The Violin Conspiracy – Brendan Slocumb (New York Times, Washington Post)
The Books of Jacob – Olga Tokarczuk (New York Times, Washington Post)
RA/Genre Resources
The 110 best thriller, crime, and suspense novels of all time.
Nerds of a Feather has a recommended reading list for the 2022 Hugo Awards. Here’s Part 1 (fiction categories), Part 2 (visual work categories), and Part 3 (individual categories).
Can science fiction wake us up to our climate reality?
On the Riot
Queer retellings coming out in 2022.
The most anticipated historical fiction titles for the first half of 2022.
12 exciting sequels coming in 2022.
All of these books with red covers are being published in the early part of 2022. Do I smell a display?
The best weekly releases to TBR.
15 must-read children’s books for February 2022.
Celebrate Black Children’s Book Week February 27th – March 5th!
Can a translation be better than the original book?
The history of consent in romance.
Is there worth in shock value?
Chaotic neutral: reading short story collections out of order.
All Things Comics
Despite its recent best-seller status, Art Spiegelman says he won’t sell the adaptation rights to Maus.
Dakota Johnson is in talks to star in the upcoming Madame Web movie.
Roxane Gay is adapting her graphic novel The Banks as a TV series.
Take a look at new Substack comics projects from Brian K. Vaughan, Grant Morrison, and more.
On the Riot
The best YA comics and graphic novels about friendship.
On slowing down with graphic memoirs.
Audiophilia
YALSA names the 2022 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults.
Here are the finalists for the 2022 Audie Awards.
Synthetic voices want to take over audiobooks.
AudioFile’s February 2022 audiobook picks.
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
On the Riot
10 of the best audiobooks narrated by J.D. Jackson.
Listening pathways for Richard Armitage’s audiobooks.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
20 YA books celebrating Black love.
Adults
21 of the best books by Black authors you should read in your lifetime.
6 classics that depict Black girlhood.
15 books by Afro-Latinx writers you won’t want to put down.
8 books for indulging a bad mood.
Books featuring family curses.
9 haunting post-apocalyptic novels.
5 books to read for Groundhog Day.
On the Riot
New children’s books with dance themes.
20 romantic books for teens to read this Valentine’s Day.
9 books to read if you love Pokemon.
8 of the most fascinating SFF characters.
Getting back to work (ahem) with these workplace romance titles.
Feel-good romances perfect for rereading.
The most popular romantic reads on TikTok.
15 new erotic books to spice up your life.
Wars other than WWII in historical fiction.
Fantasy tiger books to read in the Year of the Tiger.
20 must-read nonfiction sports stories.
The best journalistic nonfiction.
Books to help you become a better digital citizen.
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.
My mom found these catnip-stuffed plush pickle toys at Pet Smart a few years ago, and they quickly became the favorite cat toys in the house. Here’s Houdini going absolutely bug-eyed over his catnip pickle. We always make sure to have more than one pickle so no one gets jealous.
That’s all I’ve got for today, folks. I’ll catch you on Friday.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest.