Categories
Check Your Shelf

What We Talk About When We Talk About Our Favorite Books

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Blaine has asked me to mention the fact that J.W. Rinzler, author of multiple best-selling “making of” books about Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Alien has passed away at 58. He asked me to mention this because he had been thinking about how J.W. Rinzler would be a great author to do a making-of book about The Shining, and when he went to check if there were any updates about Rinzler’s work, he learned that a) Rinzler had passed away and b) that Rinzler had indeed been working on a making-of book about The Shining, so he demanded asked nicely that I mention his telepathic incident in the newsletter. On a serious note, though, Rinzler’s books are gorgeous keepsakes for pop culture/movie buffs, and if you haven’t looked at one yet, make sure to do so.


Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

Reese Witherspoon’s media business, Hello Sunshine, has been sold to an unnamed-media venture run by two former Disney executives for an estimated $900,000.

TikTok users launch a free virtual BookTalk conference.

New & Upcoming Titles

Lisa Berne is writing a Regency-era romantic comedy that’s billed as Bridgerton meets Groundhog Day.

Kacen Callender is writing a middle-grade book about a 12-year-old who struggles with depression and suicidal ideation.

Mel Brooks is publishing a new memoir, All About Me!, which will come out in November 2021.

Here’s a first look at Emily Henry’s upcoming book, Book Lovers.

And here’s everything we know about Sally Rooney’s upcoming book, Beautiful World, Where Are You.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer gets a YA sequel trilogy from Disney Books.

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight and Midnight Sun books will be reissued with new covers in 2022.

6 new debut novelists for the last days of summer.

12 Canadian books about love and romance to read this summer.

The 50 hottest new books everyone should be reading this summer.

48 new YA books that are extremely on-trend.

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

July 2021 romances graded on a flame scale.

August picks from Bitch Media, Book Marks (SFF), Brightly (children’s & YA), Bustle, Crime Reads, Entertainment Weekly, Good Morning America, The Millions, OprahDaily, Shondaland, Tor.com (SF), and Washington Post (general picks, mysteries/thrillers).

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

Billy Summers – Stephen King (Esquire, The Guardian, New York Times, USA Today)

Afterparties – Anthony Veasna So (New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Vulture)

The Turnout – Megan Abbott (Entertainment Weekly, Today, Washington Post)

Her Heart For a Compass – Sarah Ferguson (Good Morning America, The Guardian, USA Today)

Ghosts – Dolly Alderton (Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post)

The Husbands – Chandler Baker (Entertainment Weekly, Good Morning America)

Ladyparts – Deborah Copaken (New York Times, Washington Post)

The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence – Stephen Kurczy (New York Times, USA Today)

We Are the Brennans – Tracey Lange (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times)

RA/Genre Resources

Readalikes for Billy Summer by Stephen King.

Playing favorites with favorites, or what we talk about when we talk about our favorite books.

On the Riot

New YA books featuring female athletes.

New adult, YA, and children’s releases to TBR.

Where are the fat children in picture books?

There’s no environmental literature without Indigenous authors.

A brief guide to ecofiction by BIPOC authors.

A beginner’s guide to Mississippi writers.

Reading pathway for Mary Roach.

The way back to reading joy may be through the backlist.

What is silkpunk, and what is it definitely not?

Your guide to blackout poetry.

What murder mysteries get wrong about forensics.

All Things Comics

Korean comics gain popularity in North America.

Top DC executives speak out about DC Comics being in rebuilding mode, and “future-proofing” publishing.

The best comics published in July 2021.

10 shonen manga to read if you love magic schools.

On the Riot

A starter guide to the Loki comics.

A look into the history of the Comics Code Authority.

Audiophilia

The August 2021 Earphones Award winners have been announced.

9 audiobooks recommended by Chandler Baker.

The 3 best new audiobooks to listen to in August.

On the Riot

10 of Libro.fm’s most pre-ordered audiobooks for Fall 2021.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

Epic dragon books for teens and tweens.

21 joyful YA books about queer women.

21 YA books that have actually broken Team Epic Reads out of their reading slumps.

Adults

All 91 books in Oprah’s Book Club. (Now there’s a ready-made display idea if I’ve ever seen one.)

Great books by queer authors from the last 5 years.

8 books about queer people dealing with cancer.

Books about sports and leadership, as recommended by Abby Wambach.

A list of ultra-dark thrillers.

4 books featuring cutthroat female characters.

7 thrillers about vacations gone wrong.

7 books about women in purgatory.

7 music novels to shape your summer soundtrack.

15 cookbooks everyone should own.

On the Riot

Energizing high-contrast board books.

Rioters’ favorite picture books.

9 of the best read-aloud books about starting school.

Middle grade fiction about the environment.

Coming-of-age in space books for teens.

8 fantastic romance novels by Indigenous authors.

9 books that feel like Pushing Daisies.

8 queer books that explore place, nature, and the environment.

Novels with an ecofeminist bent.

Hopepunk featuring creative solutions to the climate crisis.

9 mysteries with environment and conservation themes.

Books about sustainability and nature.

10 books at the intersection of climate change and capitalism.

9 eye-opening memoirs about nature and the environment.

8 historical suspense novels.

22 of the best love scenes in books.

9 great camping horror 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 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.


Catch you later, friends. Have a good week!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey.

Categories
Check Your Shelf

Is it Worth Your 2500?

Welcome to Check Your Shelf, where it’s been a bit of a week, and I’m very much looking ahead to the weekend. By the time you read this newsletter, I’ll be at Wrigley Field watching the Cubs play the White Sox, and even though my heart is still shattered into a million Bryant/Rizzo/Baez-less pieces, it’ll be good to enjoy some live baseball.

Okay, let’s talk about libraries now.


Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

New York Public Library’s staff members are speaking out about their growing concerns around COVID-19.

Whitefish Bay (WI) residents and a social justice group protest the library’s removal of a sign addressing systemic racism.

A Drag Queen Story Hour program was canceled in Nebraska after receiving numerous threats.

Carmel (IN) parents share outrage over “sexually explicit” content in library books.

Shelly Millender Jr., who helped desegregate the Birmingham Public Library, dies at age 86.

For all your patrons who still use their old Kindles: certain older models will start losing internet access beginning in December.

Cool Library Updates

This sixth-grade author helped launch a pop-up library in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bay Area librarians bring information to inmates, one letter at a time.

Libraries across the United States are eliminating late fees.

Worth Reading

A new study reveals that the majority of academic librarians have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.

Connecticut libraries see a lot more book removal requests, but few actually get pulled from the shelves.

Why other libraries should be paying attention to the #SaveNilesLibrary Campaign.

Book Adaptations in the News

Paramount has acquired the rights to Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children fantasy series, with the plan to create a franchise around this series and its characters.

We’re getting two new Octavia Butler adaptations: one for Fledgling and one for Parable of the Sower.

A Jaws-themed musical (yes, MUSICAL) is in the works for 2022. SIGN. ME. UP.

A TV series based on the life of Malcolm X is in the works at Sony, which will be based on the novels X, by Kekla Magoon and Ilyasah Shabazz and The Awakening of Malcolm X by Tiffany D. Jackson and Ilyasah Shabazz.

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline is being adapted as a series.

Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar universe is being adapted for TV.

Garth Greenwell’s novel What Belongs to You is being adapted as an opera.

Love, Victor has been renewed for a third season on Hulu.

Natalie Portman’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Days of Abandonment is no longer moving forward at HBO.

Casting updates for Killers of the Flower Moon and the new Exorcist trilogy.

Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series teases a release date.

Trailers for the Dexter revival series and the last season of The Walking Dead.

Books & Authors in the News

Crime author Mo Hayder has died at age 59. (This woman wrote some of the most horrifying crime fiction I’ve EVER read, and if you know me, that’s meant as the highest possible compliment.)

A new wave of “concerned citizens” discover and challenge the classic book It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health.

A fake Cormac McCarthy account is causing a stir on Twitter.

Numbers & Trends

Is it worth your 2500? (Don’t worry if this puts you into a temporary existential crisis…that’s what it did for me.)

Americans read nearly 25% more during the pandemic, according to new research.

Award News

The RWA has stepped in it again by presenting a VIVIAN Award to a book with a genocidal “hero.”

The National Book Foundation plans to hold a limited, in-person ceremony for the National Book Awards in November.

Awkwafina is hosting the 2021 PEN America Literary Gala.

The 2021 Comedy Women in Print Award longlists have been announced.

The Newberry Library announces a $25,000 Chicago-specific book award.

Pop Cultured

Mystery, mayhem, and nostalgia: inside the intense world of Nancy Drew computer game fans.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

Hemingway “wannabes” celebrate the author with a lookalike contest held in Key West.

A brief history of summer reading.

On the Riot

Why this reader values their trips to the library with their son.

Diversifying Little Free Libraries: learn, support, and get inspired.

5 lessons learned from working at your childhood library.

The most popular in-demand books in US libraries from April – July, 2021.

Book pirates buy more books, and other unintuitive book piracy facts.

Investigating punny mystery titles.

The legacy of Jane Eyre.

Where to buy signed books.

15 amazing Indigenous Bookstagram accounts to follow.


Okay, that’s it for me, everyone. Mask up, stay safe, and remember to hydrate and moisturize! Catch you all next week!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Happiest Girl in the World by Alena Dillon.

Categories
Check Your Shelf

#TheNewLatinoBoom

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’ve spent the weekend in a fugue, trying to move past the fact that the Cubs front office traded away all of their best players in the span of 24 hours last week. If you have any coworkers who are Cubs fans, be gentle with them this week. If you’re a Cubs fan, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Okay. Let’s distract ourselves with some book talk.


Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

An Authors Guild diversity webinar asks: can book publishing actually change?

New & Upcoming Titles

Tamsyn Muir announces the next book in the Locked Tomb series: Nona the Ninth, which will publish in Fall 2022.

Here’s a sneak peek at John le Carré’s posthumous novel, Silverview, which will be published in October.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly working on a book about leadership and philanthropy.

Amanda Gorman is publishing a new book in December, called Call Us What We Carry.

A new Zora Neale Hurston essay collection will be published in 2022.

Random House will be releasing previously unpublished novellas in 2022 by Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby.

Self-published fantasy author Scarlett St. Clair (and former librarian!) has signed on with Sourcebooks/Bloom Books.

Molly Shannon is releasing a memoir in April 2022.

115+ picture, middle grade, and YA books coming out in 2021.

Spring 2022 sneak preview for children’s and YA titles.

Take a look at this new Publishers Weekly feature: Pandemic Missed Connections, which will talk about children’s and YA titles that may have gotten lost in the pandemic shuffle.

45 LGBTQ books that will heat up the literary landscape this fall.

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

Best debut crime novels and international crime novels for July.

August picks from AVClub, Barnes & Noble, Epic Reads (YA), Gizmodo (SFF), New York Times, NPR, Popsugar (romance), Time, and Washington Post (mysteries/thrillers).

37 best books of 2021 (so far).

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

The Great Peace – Mena Suvari (LA Times, New York Times, Time, USA Today)

What Strange Paradise – Omar El Akkad (NPR, Washington Post)

A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel Garcia Márquez and Mercedes Barcha – Rodrigo Garcia (New York Times, Oprah Daily)

Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul – Jamie Ducharme (Washington Post)

In the Country of Others – Leila Slimani (The Guardian)

The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond With Forests and Nature – Peter Wohlleben (Washington Post)

Nightbitch – Rachel Yoder (Washington Post)

RA/Genre Resources

Readalikes for Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas.

Historical fiction is headed in new directions.

“New-wave westerns” rewrite the cliched narrative of the Old West.

It’s okay to just say you enjoy romance novels! (Also, a personal plea for all library workers to stop disparaging romance as a genre. If you don’t read it, you don’t read it, but we’ve got to move past the belief that romance novels are trashy, worthy of scorn, or a waste of collection dollars.)

Also: why men are reading romance novels.

Militaries plunder science fiction for technology ideas, but fail to recognize the genre’s social commentary.

On the Riot

#TheNewLatinoBoom: The rise of literature published in Spanish in the US.

What is the COVID-19 canon going to be?

New weekly releases to add to your TBR.

Fall releases you’ll want to put on hold at the library right now.

The best new poets you may not have heard of.

“I don’t know you: don’t ask me for book recommendations!” Okay, library staff really shouldn’t say this to patrons, but I think we’ve all felt this way before.

The ultimate guide to best books for teens by age.

The appeal of unlikeable female characters.

What’s the difference between WLW books, lesbian fiction, sapphic books, and F/F romance?

All Things Comics

Scarlett Johansson sues Disney for breach of contract over the release of Black Widow.

Nightmare Before Christmas gets a sequel in a new Disney manga.

18 Canadian comic books to read this summer.

France gave teens $350 to spend on “culture.” They bought comic books. 🙂

Graphic novelists who show us what loneliness means.

On the Riot

10 comic books about immigrants and immigration.

Everything you need to know about Harlequin manga.

12 must-read stories on DC Universe Infinite.

8 manga about school life.

Audiophilia

Tracey Ullman will be narrating the audio version of David Sedaris’ latest book, Carnival of Snackery.

Erik Larson is releasing a fiction audiobook about ghost hunting called No One Goes Alone, which will ONLY be released on audio. Um, sign me up now.

Midsummer mysteries & thrillers to put in your ears.

On the Riot

5 rising stars in audiobook narration.

12 LGBTQIA YA audiobooks to listen to in the second half of 2021.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

BIPOC children’s book authors that kids will love.

18 YA books set in dreamy California.

21 YA books featuring disabled and chronically ill characters.

Adults

The best books by Latinx writers to devour this summer.

11 Afro-Latinx writers whose work traverses the Americas.

A compendium of horror novels by state.

Books that explore the dark side of athletic perfection.

9 reads you won’t be able to get out of your head.

15 books if you like Haruki Murakami.

25 books by TED Speakers that will expand your mind.

13 laugh-out-loud mysteries.

5 thrillers to make you delete your social media accounts forever.

4 books for another brutal fire season.

4 books for ballet lovers.

5 books that capture the essence of coming of age.

15 books like Bridgerton, if you can’t get enough regency romance.

8 uplifting, feel-good reads.

On the Riot

Saddle up with these 15 horse books for kids.

YA books about plant magic and family secrets.

16 books like Red Queen.

9 spooky books set in high school.

Books about the Soviet Union.

9 fantasy books with epic political intrigue.

10 romances featuring smooth-talking podcasters and radio hosts.

9 books about being alone in space.

9 funny mysteries that will make you die of laughter.

16 Jane Eyre retellings.

10 enchanting bookstore mysteries.

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.


Have a good week, everyone. I’ll see you on Friday.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Categories
Check Your Shelf

How Much Are YOUR Tarot Cards Worth?

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. You ever have one of those days where your brain just refuses to do things like remember schedule changes, do basic math, or print the correct documents? Yeah, that’s been my day today. I’ll try to get through this newsletter in one piece.


Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

The Niles-Maine Public Library (IL) board has agreed to a compromise budget that doesn’t cut staff hours or building improvements, but does make significant cuts to collections, librarian outreach efforts, and more.

Two library workers have filed a lawsuit against the city of New Orleans, saying that a recently-issued social media policy for city employees is censoring their right to free speech on their own private social media accounts.

The Whitefish Bay Public Library (WI) removed a sign addressing systemic racism after community members complained.

Cool Library Updates

A new Little Free Library program will bring thousands of diverse books to Detroit neighborhoods.

Worth Reading

The rescue of the New York Public Library.

Book Adaptations in the News

Shailene Woodley will star in the upcoming adaptation of Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women.

Apple has tapped Siân Heder to write and direct an adaptation of Judy Heumann’s bestselling memoir, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.

Netflix will adapt The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk as a series.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman is getting a series adaptation from Amazon.

Arthur is ending its 25-year run in 2022.

The Stephen King short story “Strawberry Spring” is being adapted as a podcast.

Casting update for The Shining Girls.

Here’s the latest trailer for Dune.

Books & Authors in the News

Controversy continues at the Columbia County school district, where a local parent is pushing back on the school’s decision to include Raina Telgemeier’s Drama on library shelves.

Parents of Northampton Area School District students expressed concern over book donations from the Conscious Kids Foundation, claiming that the foundation uses “Marxist critical race theory.” Don’t mind me, my head is just exploded in fury.

Five authors have been arrested in Hong Kong for sedition for publishing children’s book that tries to explain the pro-democracy movement and portrays supporters as sheep surrounded by wolves.

Numbers & Trends

San Francisco public libraries loan the most books per capita, per year worldwide.

What are the fastest selling books in US publishing history?

Take a peek at the results of Book Riot’s pandemic reading habits survey.

Award News

The winners of the Eisner Awards, Agatha Awards, and Kitschie Awards have been announced.

The 2021 World Fantasy Award finalists have been announced.

The 2021 Booker Prize longlist has been announced.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

Sylvia Plath’s tarot cards just sold for $207,000.

Are book clubs better on Zoom?

On the Riot

How do rural libraries serve patrons?

The best places to find library jobs.

Great library displays and how effective they are.

Meet the Wind River Reservation Little Free Library.

Little Free Diverse Libraries: what they are and how you can help.

How to get into BookTok.

Forging more mindful connections to books.

How reading Lord of the Rings helped this reader cope with their OCD.

The history of book blurbing.


Have a peaceful weekend, friends. I’ll see you on Tuesday.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Categories
Check Your Shelf

Erotic Manga, Woke Baby Books, and CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD Part 2

Welcome to Check Your Shelf, where I’ve made the very silly decision to start reading a book that I KNEW was going to be a one-sitting book, and now I don’t have any choice except to finish it before I go to bed. After I finish this newsletter, of course.

So, let’s library, and I’ll get back to reading!


Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

Lincoln Center Poet-in-Residence Mahogany L. Browne is launching the first Woke Baby Book Fair, which will be free and open to the public.

Testing the in-person book show waters.

New & Upcoming Titles

Random House just announced a forthcoming memoir from Prince Harry, which will be published in late 2022.

Winnie-the-Pooh is getting an official prequel.

Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are publishing a book developed from their podcast conversations.

We’re also getting a young adult edition of Obama’s Dreams From My Father this fall.

Stacey Abrams is publishing her first children’s book, Stacey’s Extraordinary Words, which will be out in late December.

Viola Davis and Kelly Ripa are each publishing nonfiction books in 2022.

Here’s a first look at Emily St. John Mandel’s new book, Sea of Tranquility, that she wrote during quarantine.

Ocean Vuong announces a new poetry collection, Time Is a Mother.

Adam Cesare is writing a sequel to Clown in a Cornfield, called Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives.

Weekly book picks from Crime Reads and USA Today.

Barnes & Noble has their most anticipated August releases for adults and children/teens.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

Intimacies – Katie Kitamura (Bustle, LA Times, New York Times, NPR)

The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion – Eliot Brown & Maureen Farrell (New York Times, Washington Post)

Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville – Akash Kapur (New York Times, NPR)

Nightbitch – Rachel Yoder (Esquire, The Guardian)

RA/Genre Resources

The space to exist: the other kind of diversity in storytelling.

The many shades of gatekeeping: how the term “emerging author” hurts more than it helps.

Asexual romance readers are finally getting their happily ever afters.

The international authors to read this summer.

On the Riot

2021 must-read beach reads.

9 gripping new summer thrillers to add to your beach bag.

Weekly new releases to add to your TBR.

Your guide to techno thrillers.

An introduction to literary nonfiction.

When a “romantic” read is really about grooming. (TW: grooming, sexual abuse)

All Things Comics

These were the buzziest panels at ComicCon At Home.

Michael B. Jordan is bringing Black Superman Val-Zod to HBO Max. (If anyone’s keeping track, this is separate from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ and JJ Abrams’ plans to bring a Black Superman to the big screen.)

Black Panther gets a new origin story with the launch of Black Panther Legends.

Mel Valentine Vargas is adapting Meg Medina’s YA novel, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass into a graphic novel.

Michaela Cole has joined the cast for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Leslie Grace is going to be the new Barbara Gordon in the upcoming Batgirl movie.

Plans are in the works to turn The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina into new comics.

The greatest seinen manga of the decade, according to Goodreads.

On the Riot

9 new and upcoming comics and graphic memoirs that embody queer joy.

6 manhwa and manga like The Beginning After the End.

Books you never knew had manga adaptations.

Manga erotica: a beginner’s guide to ecchi and hentai.

Can you read manga on a Kindle?

This Barbie comic is really, really weird.

Audiophilia

The Panoramic Project looks at audiobook use in 2020 and context around reading and other entertainment media.

Regé-Jean Page joins the cast of The Sandman on Audible.

7 great audiobooks to listen to this month.

13 summer activities to pair with audiobooks.

Audiobooks for every attention span.

7 kids’ audiobooks for a summer road trip.

On the Riot

Who listens to audiobooks?

5 audiobooks for your next road trip.

30 of the best Audible books for kids.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

10 new children’s books in translation to read this summer.

12 of the best books for three-year-olds.

17 YA books about starting over.

16 YA fairy-tale retellings that live up to the hype.

Adults

A reading list for Disability Pride Month.

7 novels about scandalous small towns.

For fans of Sherlock Holmes: 15 recommendations for detective book lovers.

6 books for nature lovers.

Reader-recommended climate fiction.

5 must-read books about the invisible borders between culture and identity.

9 books with plots pulled from real life.

Thrillers set in the great outdoors.

9 books to transport you around the world.

15 Pulitzer Prize book winners and finalists that deserve a spot on your TBR.

11 books recommended by TikTokers.

On the Riot

9 funny chapter book series that will keep kids giggling.

15 books about going off to college.

“It’s gay and it slaps:” TikTok’s favorite LGBTQ books.

9 LGBTQ+ memoirs to read this summer.

8 notable queer contemporary fiction novels by Asian authors.

8 books about Japanese culture to read before the Olympics.

10 books about cryptids and cryptozoology.

Horror reads for summer.

10 recent magical realism novels.

8 unconventional romantic reads like Netflix’s Sexy Beasts.

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.


All right, I’m off to continue reading. Have a good week, everyone!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Survive the Night by Riley Sager. (Yeah, this is the book determined to keep me up past my bedtime.)

Categories
Check Your Shelf

Niles Public Library Is a Warning

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. It feels like there’s been a lot of recent news about far-right groups trying to gut libraries and schools from the inside out, and while I am jaded and cynical by nature, it still boggles my mind to see such a coordinated attack. I don’t have anything to add to the discourse that’s already happening, but the whole situation is absolutely infuriating.


Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

(TW: transphobia, violence against trans people) Magician Mikayla Oz, a trans woman, canceled her series of performances at the Campbell County Public Library in Gillette, Wyoming after the library started receiving threats of violence from community members.

The Norwalk Public Library (CT) is considering the removal of a children’s book with illustrations of a Sikh leader after a resident said the depictions were insulting to the religion.

Cool Library Updates

A look at the growing practice of library gardens.

Worth Reading

Demolishing public libraries from the inside: Niles Public Library is a warning.

Here’s another article about how right-wing groups are trying to keep libraries from promoting racial justice.

The importance of counting people in public libraries.

Book Adaptations in the News

Robert Downey Jr. is co-starring in the series adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer.

Bridgerton director Julie Anne Robinson and star Adjoa Andoh are teaming up for a series adaptation of Island Queen by Vanessa Riley.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu is now a serialized podcast.

Charlize Theron and the Muschiettis are developing The Final Girl for HBO, which is based on Grady Hendrix’s recent novel The Final Girl Support Group.

HBO is developing two more animated Game of Thrones shows.

David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s novel Winter Counts has been optioned for the big screen.

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey will be turned into a film adaptation starring Carey Mulligan.

The horror comic Basketful of Heads by Joe Hill will be turned into a TV series.

Oscar “Zeta” Acosta’s novels will be adapted for a TV series.

British director Prano Bailey-Bond is directing an adaptation of Mariana Enriquez’s short story “Things We Lost in the Fire.”

Marjan Kamali’s novel The Stationery Shop is getting a series on HBO.

FX has ordered a pilot based on Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred.

The Wheel of Time is getting a movie trilogy.

There’s going to be a Pet Sematary prequel. (Did I know this? I can’t remember…)

Jennifer Carpenter is returning for the Dexter revival.

Here’s the teaser trailer for One of Us is Lying.

Books & Authors in the News

Award-winning YA author and journalist Ann Rinaldi has passed away at 86.

(TW: transphobia) The American Booksellers Association has apologized for including “an anti-trans book” in a recent promotional shipment to members.

The book Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) by L.C. Rosen is under fire by a Christian right group in Irving, Texas.

President Biden has nominated author Atul Gawande as assistant administrator of the Bureau for Global Health.

Liveright Publishing will be publishing Patricia Highsmith’s diaries for the first time.

Is Sylvia Plath literature’s most misunderstood icon?

Numbers & Trends

A new study shows a 20% decline in school librarians over the past decade.

These are the best-selling books of 2021, so far.

How our streaming habits are changing contemporary fiction.

Fear Street is leading a revival of 90’s YA horror adaptations.

Publishing can’t stop (won’t stop?) making Trump books.

Award News

Emmy nominations have been announced.

The Center for Fiction has announced the 2021 First Novel Prize longlist.

Pop Cultured

Here’s the trailer for season 3 of What We Do in the Shadows.

On the Riot

Summer reading programs for kids made this reader feel invincible.

Real and fictional librarians leading resistance.

Indigenous books Netflix needs to adapt.

5 author pseudonyms that have never been revealed.

If you joined all the book clubs, here’s what you’d be reading.

A look at the Goodreads bot problem.

A compelling reason to only read one book at a time.

This 5th grade teacher set one reading rule, which forever changed this reader’s life.

School summer reading lists: a brief and nerdy history.

How to learn a new language by reading slightly beyond your scope (and other tips).

Oral history through the ages.


Well I’m out, friends. Remember to vote in your local elections, and keep fighting the good fight against censorship. Have a peaceful weekend!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Categories
Check Your Shelf

How to Find a Book Using a Vague Description

Welcome to Check Your Shelf, where I am still nursing a pair of very sore knees after all that wedding dancing last week. YIKES. If I ever needed a wake up call that I am no longer in my 20’s…that was it.

So, let’s talk about something much more low-impact and that won’t destroy your cartilage: books!

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

Penguin Random House is reopening offices to vaccinated staff on September 13th.

If you’re following the latest eBook price-fixing lawsuit against Amazon and the Big 5, here’s an update.

New & Upcoming Titles

Colin Kaepernick is publishing a new children’s book about the beauty of being different.

Amber Tamblyn has a new essay collection coming out.

Jamie Lynn Spears is writing a memoir.

Dawn Kurtagich is writing a sequel to her YA horror novel Teeth in the Mist.

The Millions posted their Most Anticipated list for the second half of 2021.

60 horror titles to thrill readers in 2021.

35 new and upcoming scifi thrillers you won’t want to put down.

7 new books perfect for summer beach reads.

11 new releases that would make great summer book club picks.

June picks you may have missed from LitHub and The Millions.

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

July picks from Nightfire (horror), Parade, and Seattle Times (crime fiction).

The best books of 2021, so far from USA Today and Vulture (romance).

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

Intimacies – Katie Kitamura (New York Times, Vulture, Washington Post)

I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year – Carol Leonnig & Philip Rucker (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)

A Passage North – Anuk Arudpragasam (New York Times, NPR)

Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light: Essays – Helen Ellis (Entertainment Weekly, NPR)

The Letters of Shirley Jackson – Shirley Jackson (LA Times, New York Times)

Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency – Michael Wolff (New York Times, Slate)

The Final Girl Support Group – Grady Hendrix (USA Today)

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices – Swapna Krishna & our very own Jenn Northington (eds.) (NPR)

RA/Genre Resources

Beyond Goodreads: 4 tools that help readers track their books.

Readalikes for Daniel Silva’s The Cellist.

LitHub and Tor Books have partnered to create a new podcast: Voyage into Genre!.

The rise of African speculative fiction.

Why are there so many children’s books written about the Holocaust?

On the Riot

Our best books of 2021 so far!

12 new releases with Asian representation on the cover.

15 LGBTQ reads for mid and late 2021.

3 new diverse YA classic retellings.

New weekly releases for your TBR.

9 new books to pick up at the airport.

How we sell stories: a brief history of paratext.

White gatekeeping in YA harms teen readers.

Does solving the mystery make a difference?

The rise and fall of the western.

How to find a book using a vague description.

All Things Comics

DC is publishing a follow-up to Joe Hill’s Basketful of Heads, called Refrigerator Full of Heads.

On the Riot

9 LGBTQ+ comic book characters that give us hope for more representation.

The best new manga and light novels to pick up in 2021.

9 queer adventure comics.

Classics that this reader would love to see as comics.

We want more Indigenous superheroes!

Audiophilia

Rosamund Pike is narrating Paula Hawkins’ new audiobook, A Slow Fire Burning.

Anne of Green Gables star Megan Follows is narrating the Emily of New Moon audiobooks.

The July 2021 Earphones Award winners have been announced.

This Libro.fm quiz will pair you with an audiobook written by an author with a disability.

7 great audiobooks for long drives.

5 new audio series to love.

10 SFF audiobooks to listen to in July.

On the Riot

5 audiobooks to help you explore nature.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

12 nonfiction books for teens that are total page turners.

24 YA books that open up an honest conversation about depression.

Adults

22 books by LGBTQ+ authors you need to add to your reading list.

10 books with moral dilemmas you’ll contemplate for days.

Fascinating reads featuring characters with mundane jobs.

SFF books about ecology and climate change.

7 books about the search for intimacy.

Cozy mysteries featuring crime-fighting pets.

5 speculative visions of a future America.

22 books about Manhattan jet-setters that will make you feel like one.

7 books about the heartbreak of losing a sibling.

On the Riot

12 Korean children’s books.

8 children’s books with Indigenous main characters in Latin America.

15 magical books like Legendborn.

Vintage ‘90s teen horror to enjoy.

10 impactful books about public health.

8 spectacular books by non-binary authors.

Incredibly epic fantasy journeys for every reader.

9 fantasy books about spies.

The best paranormal romances to read right now.

The joy of reading about cooking: non-cookbook books by chefs.

9 books about prohibition.

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.

Catch you on Friday. Have a good week, everyone!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Categories
Check Your Shelf

Well, At Least Your Books Aren’t 300 Years Overdue

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. With the return of socializing in-person comes the return of illnesses. Thankfully, I am not the one who is sick, but several people in my circles are, and yeah…it stinks.

Let’s library.

Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

With its acquisition complete, HarperCollins is changing the library eBook terms for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt titles.

This may be one for the record books: a library book 300 years overdue has been returned to the Sheffield Cathedral in England.

Cool Library Updates

This New Jersey library hosted an adorable pet parade to encourage reading.

NYPL is offering free book kits to help keep kids engaged over the summer.

Worth Reading

Makerspaces in libraries: On challenges to our democratic values.

How to confront challenges to other library resources.

Recruit, retain, and engage: how to cultivate younger library advocates.

Book Adaptations in the News

The Obamas’ production company is developing Blackout, a film and TV “event” that is being adapted from six different love stories, each one written by a different author, including Dhonielle Clayton, Nicola Yoon, Tiffany D. Jackson, and more.

Defending Jacob becomes the first Apple TV+ show to get a DVD/Blu-ray release.

AMC is developing a thriller series called Dark Winds, which will be based on the Leaphorn & Chee mysteries by Tony Hillerman.

Ruth Ware’s The Turn of the Key is getting an adaptation.

Kumail Nanjiani is starring in the limited series adaptation of Homeland Elegies.

C. Pam Zhang’s novel How Much of These Hills is Gold is being adapted for TV.

Netflix has ordered a YA drama based on Ali Novak’s YA novel, My Life With the Walter Boys.

Javier Bardem is starring in the adaptation of the classic children’s book, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, proving once again that reality is just a giant Mad-Lib.

Here’s a look at the upcoming Pretty Little Liars reboot on HBO.

Here’s the trailer for The Witcher, season 2.

Books & Authors in the News

A look at why the short story “Cat Person” is going viral again.

(TW: transphobia) Zeiger Elementary (WA) faces backlash for putting the book Felix Ever After, which features a transgender hero, on display.

Loudoun County Public School review committees have recommended that the school keep the novels Monday’s Not Coming and #MurderTrending on the shelves after parents complained about the books back in May.

(TW: transphobia) Amazon employees are petitioning (and in some cases quitting) over the company’s decision to continue selling Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier.

Award News

The 2020 Aurealis Awards have been announced.

The nominees for the Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards have been announced.

Pop Cultured

Loki has been renewed for a second season with Disney+.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

Sylvia Plath’s family album, wedding ring, and letters to Ted Hughes are being sold at auction.

5 rules that this reader lives by to finish as many books as possible.

On the Riot

6 ways libraries support communities during the summer.

New LGBTQ laws in Hungary land a bookshop with fines.

This reader hasn’t read any books by cis-het white men for years…and they’re not missing anything.

How falling in love with an indie press changed this reader.

On letting go of childhood favorites and what we outgrow.

Beyond the straight gaze: the complexity of queer suffering in literature.

Authors belong on Goodreads too.

Yep, there’s going to be a Pride and Prejudice-themed dating show.

Everything we know about the Ursula K. LeGuin stamp.

Scripp’s new Spelling Bee winner makes history.

Summer reading supplies for every reader.


Stay cool, friends. I’ll catch you next week!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Categories
Check Your Shelf

Are Email Newsletters a New Literary Genre? Is THIS Newsletter a Literary Genre?

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’m gearing up for a hectic week on my end that surprisingly doesn’t have anything to do with work! I’m getting dolled up as one of the bridesmaids in my sister-in-law’s wedding this week, so hopefully I’ll remember how to walk in heels by the time Thursday rolls around.

But for now, let’s library.

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

High costs and service disruptions plague the book business’s supply chain. (Or, in other words: Why my Baker & Taylor orders are perpetually delayed).

Hanif Abdurraqib has been named a Tin House Editor-at-Large.

New & Upcoming Titles

Here’s a first look at the cover for Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano.

Take a gander at Rebecca Roanhorse’s upcoming novel, Fevered Star.

LitHub’s most anticipated books of 2021, part 2.

9 irresistible gay romances coming in July.

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

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

Razorblade Tears – S.A. Cosby (NPR, Washington Post)

An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination – Sheera Frenkel & Cecilia Kang (New York Times, Washington Post)

Wayward – Dana Spiotta (LA Times, New York Times)

The Personal Librarian – Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray (NPR)

Dear Miss Metropolitan – Carolyn Ferrell (USA Today)

RA/Genre Resources

Are email newsletters a new literary genre?

Did Twitter break YA?

What is Africanjujuism?

On the Riot

Black bookstores a year after a summer of protests.

Publishing jobs: 4 hard truths about working in the book business.

An ode to the mass max paperback.

Under-the-radar Spring 2021 books you may have missed.

A 2021 summer reading list for adults.

Books out this week that you need to have on your TBR.

Why is Twitter so bad at book recommendations?

8 female authors like Sarah J. Maas.

What is queerbaiting vs. queer coding in books?

What is digital literature?

A guide to pastoral poetry.

All Things Comics

Disney trademarked Loki, the Marvel movie character, sparking controversy and backlash over whether or not you can copyright a deity.

Here’s a preview of this year’s San Diego Comic Con, which will once again be virtual.

Manga sales soar to an all-time high in 2020.

Batman: The Long Halloween is getting a new follow-up comic just in time for Halloween.

On the Riot

LGBTQIA+ comics and characters you should know.

Which came first, the anime or the manga?

Audiophilia

Andy Serkis is recording the Lord of the Rings audiobooks.

Audio royalties come under scrutiny as audiobook sales continue to soar.

On the Riot

7 more of the best audiobooks to celebrate Disability Pride Month.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

Classic literature board books for babies.

12 books for kids who only want to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Adults

Barack Obama’s summer reading list.

9 novels about being a queer person of color in the UK.

4 books to remind you that immigration doesn’t just mean coming to America.

15 must-read books with biracial and multiracial characters.

10 of the best American history books.

12 books that break the rules of point of view.

11 essay collections for when a novel just feels like too much.

On the Riot

12 of the best camping books for kids.

9 drawing books for kids.

3 YA books about love and dance.

Critical race theory books to help you make sense of all the hubbub.

10 books on the history and legacy of slavery.

9 essential books about healthy masculinities.

10 humorous murder mysteries like Knives Out.

8 books about Broadway and theater history.

11 books like Beach Read for beach reading and beyond.

Books with a quirky cast of characters.

12 Catalan books available in English translation.

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.

Catch you on Friday. Have a good week, everyone!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Categories
Check Your Shelf

Forget The Alamo

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I am officially a year older (although perhaps not wiser), and I am also fast approaching my 10 year library career anniversary! My career may have started at a different library, but 10 years in libraries is a pretty cool achievement regardless, so I definitely plan on bringing donuts to celebrate!


Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

ALA’s Committee on Diversity has released a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion scorecard for library and information organizations.

This Minneapolis-area police department got trolled after they reported thefts from a Little Free Library. While it’s nice that they donated books to refill the LFL, isn’t the point of a LFL is for people to…take the books? Anyway, if you run a LFL and notice the books disappearing, maybe ask for book donations instead of calling the police? Just a thought…

A Massachusetts man recently returned books from the 1920’s and 30’s to the local library.

Cool Library Updates

The Horror Writers Association has established the Young Adults Write Now fund, which will provide up to 5 endowments of $250 to selected libraries to create new, or support ongoing, writing programs.

The Stanwood (WA) Library got the city’s help to rescue ducklings. (I had a very similar duckling rescue experience a few weeks ago in a parking lot, where I had to gently scoop up a duckling and bring him back to his mama and siblings to make sure he didn’t get hurt. They’re so tiny!!!) Hopefully they’re all swimming peacefully in a nearby pond.

Worth Reading

Libraries and telehealth tackle healthcare gap full force.

Libraries and the curse of knowledge.

Take a look behind the spine of these books.

Book Adaptations in the News

Netflix is adapting the Ivy & Bean children’s series.

Blumhouse Productions is planning a sequel to The Exorcist.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren will be adapted by BCDF Pictures.

The Stephen King-inspired series Chapelwaite (set in Salem’s Lot) gets an August release date.

Casting updates for The Monster of Florence and No Exit.

5 great movies based on Patricia Highsmith books (that aren’t the Ripley adaptations).

9 of the best LGBTQ+ books that deserve a movie or TV series adaptation.

Books & Authors in the News

The Putnam County (FL) School District is under fire for removing three books from its summer reading list after receiving pushback from parents. One of the books was Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime.

A promotional event for the book Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth, which examines the role of slavery in the Battle for the Alamo and Texas’ push for independence from Mexico, was canceled by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who called the book “fact free” and said it was a rewriting of Texas history.

Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates have joined the faculty at Howard University.

Numbers & Trends

TikTok is taking the book industry by storm.

Award News

Elle McNicoll wins the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for her debut, A Kind of Spark.

The 2021 CWA Dagger Winners are announced.

The nominees for the Shirley Jackson Awards have been announced.

Joy Williams wins the 2021 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

Here are the winners and runners-up for the inaugural Good Sex Awards.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

These heckin good doggos were kept calm on the 4th of July, thanks to these volunteers who came to the Kentucky Humane Society animal shelter and read children’s books to the dogs.

On the Riot

10 book adaptations you can watch this summer.

What the Literati reviews don’t tell you.

What this writer has learned after a decade of book blogging.

On Wednesdays we read Tolkien: Lord of the Rings fandom in 2021.

A case against assigned summer reading.

The most bookish cities in the world.


Stay cool, friends. I’ll catch you next week!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris.