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 A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney, published by Imprint.
The fantasy book I’ve been waiting for my whole life. Alice is Black Girl Magic personified.” —Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Hate U Give Life in real-world Atlanta isn’t always simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, a slipping GPA, and an ongoing battle against monstrous creatures in the magical dream realm known as Wonderland. When Alice’s handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she’ll need to use everything she’s learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head . . . literally.
Libraries & Librarians
- An interesting article about how public library reference is increasingly about community service.
- The challenges of tribal libraries.
- As a parting gift to their school, these high school seniors want to create a student library.
- Buzzfeed wants to know hear from you: What’s it like to be a librarian?
- The federal 2019 budget shows big gains for libraries!
- A librarian/reader compares OverDrive, Libby, Hoopla, and 3M ebook services. (Spoiler alert – the librarian/reader is me!)
- What being a school librarian means today.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Season 2 of The Alienist will be based on Carr’s sequel, The Angel of Darkness.
- Michael B. Jordan set to star in two Tom Clancy adaptations: Without Remorse and Rainbow Six.
- James Comey’s A Higher Loyalty is slated for a possible miniseries.
- Chris Evans will be starring in the Apple drama series, Defending Jacob.
- What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera & Becky Albertalli isn’t even released yet, but it’s already been picked up for an adaptation.
Books in the News
- Following the success of her Netflix special, comedian Hannah Gadsen will be publishing a memoir called Ten Steps to Nanette.
- Sneak peek of Josh Malerman’s new novel!
- Angie Thomas on why it’s wrong to ban The Hate U Give.
- Lindy West has a new book coming out!
- Paul McCartney has a children’s picture book coming out called Hey Grandude, and I am now going to buy a copy for everyone in my life who has, will have, or may possibly have children.
- There’s going to be a YA novel set in the Alien xenomorph universe, written by Mira Grant, AKA Seanan Maguire! GIMME!
- It’s the 30th anniversary of Matilda, and Mara Wilson has some thoughts on sharing her life with the titular character.
- Stephen Colbert announces a children’s book based on President Trump’s comments post-Hurricane Florence. All proceeds will benefit hurricane relief organizations.
By the Numbers
- Fear by Bob Woodward breaks Simon & Schuster’s first week sales record – over 1.2 million copies sold.
- Banned Books Week by the numbers.
- The Kuwaiti government acknowledged that it had banned 4,390 books since 2014.
- Women make up only one third of the translated books published each year.
Award News
- Man Booker Prize shortlist.
- 2018 Kirkus Prize finalists.
- Carnegie Medal promises immediate action over lack of diversity – the 20 author longlist for 2017 consisted entirely of white authors. (Also important to note that the Carnegie Medal is judged by librarians, which as we all know is a predominantly white profession.)
All Things Comics
- 25 best queer comics.
- RL Stine has a new graphic novel series coming out!
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
- 25 adventurous books like Percy Jackson.
- 8 historical true crime books that show you the creepier side of history.
- The best suspense novels of 2018 to add to your TBR.
- The most frequently challenged books over the last 5 years.
- 35 women authors who debuted at 35 or older.
- 50 must read books about American politics.
- 10 YA fantasy novels by women of color.
- 50 YA novels about mental illness.
- Gender-bent retellings.
- 18 of the best witchy books to read this fall.
- 50 pirate books to put some YARR MATEY into your life.
- Nonfiction books about abortion.
- The best horror novels from 2018 to read this Halloween season.
- New to romance? Here are 18 places for you to start.
- 17 bisexual women to read on Bi Visibility Day (or any day!)
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- Poetry’s place in the history of banned books.
- How doctors use poetry to promote physical healing.
- Here are the books we’re most likely to secretly give up on.
- A neuroscientist explains what technology does to the reading brain.
- 300 new words were added to the Scrabble dictionary, so yes, go ahead and play “emoji” or “yowza” for super duper points.
- Alyssa Cole wrote a great article for Booklist about the stigma of romance novels.
- A woman receives a shipment of Dr. Seuss books…20 YEARS after she initially ordered them!
- How The Haunting of Hill House has shaped our ideas of haunted houses.
- And on a related note, how haunted house stories reflect women, trauma, and mysogyny.
- 50+ puntastic book club names.
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 couple specific titles that are being released in February 2019. Links direct you to Edelweiss, where you can request a digital advance copy, and nominations are due by January 1st.
- The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls – Anissa Gray (February 19, 2019). “The Mothers meets An American Marriage in this dazzling debut novel about mothers and daughters, identity and family, and how the relationships that sustain you can also be the ones that consume you.”
- That Time I Loved You – Carianne Leung. (February 26, 2019). “In this exquisite American debut, Carrianne Leung evokes the legacies of Cheever and Munro with a haunting depiction of 1970s suburbia.”
And make sure to check out Episode 16 of our Annotated podcast, which talks about how Andrew Carnegie transformed the American public library!
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Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you again in two weeks!
–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Destiny’s Captive by Beverly Jenkins.
PS: Don’t forget to enter to win a custom book stamp for your personal library in our giveaway.