Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to all things book talk worth knowing to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).
“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by LibraryReads.
LibraryReads, the monthly library staff picks list for adult fiction and non-fiction, draws upon the incredible power that public library staff has in helping to build word-of-mouth for new books, and the important role that libraries play in creating audiences for all kinds of authors.
LibraryReads represents collective favorites–the books that staff at public libraries loved reading and cannot wait to share. This is the 5th anniversary year of the LibraryReads list, so visit libraryreads.org to learn more about how you can nominate titles for the monthly list and to see what the organization has in store for the future.
Libraries & Librarians
- Millions of historic artifacts have been lost in the National Museum fire in Rio.
- A follow-up perspective regarding Tor’s recent embargo on library eBooks.
- A look at the great work being done by Little Free Libraries in Leeds.
- Utah Library Association steps in to help Washington County Library System come up with better policies after the director ordered all LGBTQ+ displays to be taken down during Pride Month.
- Toronto Public Library has a bedtime story hotline!
- New York Public Library is loaning out ties and other business attire accessories for job interviews. THIS IS SO COOL!
- Do you need more evidence that going fines free is the wave of the library future? Here you go.
- Drag Queen Story Hour brings fun and continued protests.
- And amidst the drag queen controversy, a refresher on what libraries are really for.
- For anyone who’s ever wondered about the library on the International Space Station.
- Penn State Libraries are offering a computer programming workshop for female and gender-diverse faculty and staff!
- Instagram tips for librarians.
Book Adaptations in the News
- There’s a Crazy Rich Asians sequel already in the works!
- HBO is adapting Tom Perrotta’s novel, Mrs. Fletcher.
- Showtime is developing a horror series based on Kill Creek by Scott Thomas.
- Dopesick by Beth Macy has been optioned for TV.
- The first Japanese TV series to debut on HBO Go is Miss Sherlock – watch the trailer here!
- Here’s the first teaser trailer for My Brilliant Friend.
- Sarah Waters on the film adaptation of her novel, The Little Stranger.
- A first look at the Netflix series adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House.
Books in the News
- Snoop Dogg is publishing a cookbook called From Crook to Cook. I honestly don’t know what else I need in my life right now.
- 3 new Harry Potter pop up books are coming this October!
- We’ve seen Tolkien’s last posthumously published book.
- The National Coalition Against Censorship has issued a joint statement with a number of organizations condemning President Trump’s litigation threats against Omarosa’s latest book, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.
By the Numbers
- Speaking of Unhinged: it sold over 33,000 copies in its first week.
- One report says that as teens spend more time in front of screens, the amount of time spent reading is declining.
- The results from the Romance Writers of America diversity survey have been released…it’s a first step, but there’s a long way to go.
- Male authors are four times more likely to recommend books by men than by women, according to the New York Times’ “By the Book” column.
- Penguin Random House reports a decline in sales & earnings in the first half of the year, but note a double-digit increase in audiobook sales.
- Traditional publishers are selling a LOT more nonfiction titles than fiction.
Award News
- Teens can now vote for the titles featured in YALSA’s annual Top Ten list.
- The shortlist for the Alternative Nobel Prize has been announced.
- But in their coverage of the Alternative Nobel Prize, The Guardian has focused almost exclusively on the male nominees, even though half of the nominees are women.
All Things Comics
- Celebrating female comics artists.
- 10 women-created comics coming out this fall.
- Comic book hairspiration, because librarians are nothing if not trendy! (And nerdy.)
- 10 adorable comic books about love.
Audiophilia
- Downloaded audiobook sales are up by 36.1% in the first half of the year!
- Mysteries & thrillers that are better on audio. (And FYI, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou & Will Damron is getting a LOT of word-of-mouth buzz from readers. Keep an eye on this one!)
- 10 of the best true crime books on audio. (Again, Bad Blood is on this list!)
- Short nonfiction audiobooks for your next road trip.
- 12 great YA audiobooks from 2018.
- A Robin Miles audiobook for every mood.
- For your readers who don’t want to say goodbye to summer: 8 great poolside audiobooks.
- Southern audiobooks with decent accents.
- 12 own voices middle grade audiobooks.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
- August may be over, but here are 7 new romances for Romance Awareness Month…and the rest of the year!
- 40 books about family secrets.
- Reading pathways for Nova Ren Suma and Catherynne M. Valente.
- From Paste Magazine: The 50 best horror novels of all time. (And just in time for all your Halloween displays!)
- These are the Top 20 books most frequently left behind at hotels.
- 3 books about Aretha Franklin and soul music.
- Nonfiction books about other books.
- Badass women biographies for kids (Just don’t use the word “badass” in any library displays or book lists…).
- 14 books about everyday criminals.
- 50 must-read children’s series.
- YA books about social anxiety.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- Holy firewhiskey! There’s a Harry Potter-themed mixology class in New York, and they give you a robe and a WiFi wand to activate areas of your workstation, and it sounds AMAZING!
- NPR gives us “Banned Books on the Run.” And now I want a group of librarians to recreate the album cover for Band on the Run, but with everyone reading a different banned book. Who wants to take this on?
- The drama is brewing behind the scenes at Barnes & Noble.
- A first edition of Pride and Prejudice is selling for over $23,000!
- A calendar of book-related holidays – this would be a great display resource!
- Do you get a lot of questions at the Reference Desk about printing directions from Google Maps? Here are 33 Google Map tricks that might help.
- A year of regimented reading.
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in LibraryReads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? Whether or not you read and nominate titles, we’ll end every newsletter with a few upcoming titles worth reading and sharing (and nominating for LibraryReads, if you so choose!).
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.
And to make it even easier, I’ve picked a few specific titles that are being released in January 2019. Links direct you to Edelweiss, where you can request a digital advance copy, and nominations are due by October 20th.
- An Indefinite Sentence by Siddarth Dube (January 8, 2019). “A revelatory memoir about sex, oppression, and the universal struggle for justice.”
- Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones (January 8, 2019). “Detroit ex-cop August Snow takes up vigilante justice when his beloved neighborhood of Mexicantown is caught in the crosshairs of a human trafficking scheme.”
- House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma (January 29, 2019). “A masterful, haunting debut set during the tumultuous beginnings of Zimbabwe that explores the creative—and often destructive—act of history-making.”
Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you again in two weeks!
–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer.
Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal’s Pakistani village, she has no complaints, and she’s busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when the unimaginable happens. After an accidental run-in with the son of her village’s corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family’s servant to pay off her own family’s debt. When it becomes clear just how far they will go to protect their interests, Amal realizes she will have to find a way to work with others if they are ever to exact change in a cruel status quo, and if Amal is ever to achieve her dreams.
