Welcome to Check Your Shelf. The next few newsletters are going to be shorter than usual thanks to the holiday season!
Before we get to it, if you find yourself in need of a belated, last-minute, or “just for fun” gift for the book nerd in your life, TBR can help! We pair our customers with a professional book nerd (aka bibliologist) who just gets them. They fill out a survey and then sit back and relax as we pick books just for them. We’ve got three levels — recs-only, paperback, and hardcover — and you can gift a full year or one time, so there are options for every budget! Get all the details at mybtro.com/gift.
Let’s jump in!
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
The most scathing book reviews of 2023.
New & Upcoming Titles
Alexander Chee has a new novel coming in 2025.
Alice Feeney announces her seventh novel, publication date TBD.
Cover reveal for Nicola Yoon’s first adult novel, One of Our Kind.
Obama’s favorite books of 2023.
Gillian Anderson’s favorite books of 2023.
Kirkus’s best indie books of 2023.
RA/Genre Resources
How Christmas murder mysteries became a UK holiday tradition.
On the Riot
Goodreads needs to do better by marginalized authors.
Book Riot’s 2024 reading log is here!
The best backlist books that Rioters read in 2023. (My favorite backlist title this year was Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka, and if you haven’t read it yet, OMG you must read it now.)
12 of the best poetry collections from 2023.
The best new weekly book releases to TBR.
What are the mental health benefits and drawbacks of reading goals and challenges?
Audiophilia
Barnes & Noble names their best audiobooks of 2023.
AudioFile’s best mystery audiobooks of 2023.
On the Riot
10 of Libro.fm’s most pre-ordered books of Winter 2024.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
13 YA romance novels with major You’ve Got Mail vibes.
YA books to catch up on before their 2024 sequel releases.
Adults
10 romantic stories set over the course of a single day.
10 heartstring-tugging novels for fans of Christina Lauren.
8 literary novels with phenomenal worldbuilding.
On the Riot
7 short books you can squeeze in before the end of the year.
8 thought provoking fantasy books you won’t be able to put down.
Books to ease you into the new year.
Historical fiction books for people who don’t like historical fiction.
9 of the best pirate romance novels.
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.
All right, friends. I’ll see you on Friday for the last newsletter of 2023!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.