Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. I thoroughly relished the library being closed for two days, which meant two days where I was guaranteed to not be on-call to deal with any staff shortages or desk shift coverage. It’s the little things…
Here’s a reminder that if you’re looking for a new podcast, we’ve got one! First Edition includes interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books. You can subscribe to First Edition on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice.
Collection Development Corner
New & Upcoming Titles
Knopf is publishing a new novel by Gabriel García Márquez.
Here’s an update on Britney Spears’ upcoming tell-all memoir.
A month-by-month guide to the biggest mysteries of the summer.
The best baseball books of the season.
Entertainment Weekly grades the 8 best romance novels of the season.
The best nonfiction true crime books for Spring 2023.
48 new fantasy books to add to your TBR.
The best historical fiction of 2023.
The best new LGBTQ+ YA books to read in 2023.
Summer reading picks from The Atlantic, LitHub (fiction, nonfiction), USA Today, Vogue, Washington Post.
Weekly book picks from Crime Reads, LitHub, New York Times, USA Today.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
The Late Americans – Brandon Taylor (New York Times, Slate, Vanity Fair, Vox)
Good Night, Irene – Luis Alberto Urrea (LA Times, New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
Women We Buried, Women We Burned – Rachel Louise Snyder (New York Times, Washington Post)
On Women – Susan Sontag (Guardian, Washington Post)
On the Riot
8 new magical realism and fabulism books.
15 excellent short story collections by Asian authors in 2023.
The best new weekly releases to TBR.
What exactly is the appeal of dystopian fiction?
Tales of a fiction reader falling in love with nonfiction.
In literature, who is allowed to be redeemed?
All Things Comics
On the Riot
8 comics about Asian immigrants for AAPI Heritage Month.
9 amazing graphic novels from AAPI artists and writers.
Middle grade comics for Dungeons & Dragons fans of any age.
Approaching tough novels through their graphic adaptations.
Audiophilia
Andy Serkis is narrating an audio version of The Silmarillion, out in June.
The best full-cast audiobooks to listen to.
On the Riot
9 recent audiobooks narrated by the author you’ll definitely want to listen to.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
The best YA books for every teenage girl in your life.
18 heartbreaking, angsty YA romances.
Adults
7 books set in Mumbai.
20 fascinating books about fraternities and sororities.
13 summer romances that will turn up the heat.
8 books centered around fractured families and relationships.
6 thrillers in which the house hides a sinister past.
5 surprisingly sympathetic supervillains.
28 erotic romances that will make you hella thirsty.
8 historical fiction books set in the theater world.
10 literary beach reads to activate your vacation mode.
On the Riot
Children’s books about the moon.
8 delightfully fluffy romances.
8 gorgeous Greek mythology romance books.
10 extreme horror books you can’t look away from.
10 books for getting people back into reading.
The best mermaids in literature.
The top 30 book recommendations from TikTok in 2023.
13 hockey romances to read in time for the NHL playoffs.
Set sail with these SFF pirate books.
The best-selling horror novels of all time.
The best road trip nonfiction to get you in the mood for summer.
Looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more from experts in the world of books and reading? Subscribe to Book Riot’s The Deep Dive to get exclusive content delivered to your inbox.
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 has a guide to discovering upcoming diverse books, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word has created a database of upcoming diverse titles to nominate as well that includes information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.
I got a set of new fidget toys and decided that they would make the perfect hat for Gilbert. He wasn’t thrilled, but let me take this slightly blurry photo.
All right, friends, I’ll check in again on Friday. Don’t forget about Book Riot’s First Edition podcast, with bookish interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more! Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.