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Welcome to Check Your Shelf. As I write this newsletter, the Chicago area is preparing to see how much snow we’re supposed to get on Monday. Right now, predictions are pretty small, but of course, it’s not really winter until we get at least one late-season snowfall. (Please save me, I’m so terribly sick of snow.)
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
Amazon announced that it will not sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness.
A second translator has been removed from working on Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb.
New & Upcoming Titles
E.L. James’ final Fifty Shades of Grey book, as told by Christian Grey, is coming out in June.
First look at Jeff Vandermeer’s new endangered species conspiracy novel, and honestly I’m mainly including this link so I could share the phrase “endangered species conspiracy novel.”
Recent books that reflect diverse Jewish experiences.
50 best fiction books to read this year.
Weekly book picks from Bustle, Buzzfeed, Crime Reads, LitHub, The Millions, New York Times, Shelf Awareness, and USA Today.
March picks from Bitch Media, Bookmarks (SFF), Book Page (mysteries), Crime Reads, (psychological thrillers), Nightfire (horror), Tor.com (sci-fi, fantasy, horror/genre-bending novels, YA SFF)
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race – Walter Isaacson (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York – Elon Green (New York Times, NPR)
Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America – Alec MacGillis (LA Times, New York Times)
How Beautiful We Were – Imbolo Mbue (NPR, USA Today)
Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul – Brandy Shillace (New York Times, Washington Post)
The Girls Are All So Nice Here – Laurie Elizabeth Flynn (USA Today)
RA/Genre Resources
Murder, but gentler: cozy mysteries are a pandemic-era balm.
Hard science fiction is still overwhelmingly white, but it’s getting better.
Surviving childhood by reading science fiction.
On the Riot
The best books you’ve never heard of (Winter 2021).
6 stunning LGBTQ+ books by debut authors to read in 2021.
6 great 2021 YA books about teens who write.
6 brand new and upcoming Jane Austen retellings.
3 current and upcoming YA releases inspired by dance.
13 gothic romance titles to introduce you to the genre.
COVID turned realistic fiction into fantasy.
A defense of guilty pleasure reading across time.
A brief history of dime novels.
All Things Comics
Zoraida Cordova is making her Marvel comics debut.
Here’s a preview of the upcoming Sandman/Locke & Key comic crossover.
The best comics coming out in March.
On the Riot
The best comics to read after Wandavision.
4 little but fierce characters in manga.
Audiophilia
Breaking Bad alums Aaron Paul and Krysten Ritter reunite to voice characters in a new James Patterson audio drama.
Daveed Diggs and Lena Waithe lend their voices to Scribd’s audiobook version of Black Imagination. Want more? Here’s a look at the other 40 titles being launched with Scribd Audio.
Audiobook narrator Abby Craden talks about her experience recording almost 400 audiobooks.
The best audiobooks to listen to right now.
Audiobooks that recount American history as written and voiced by Black women.
27 nonfiction audiobooks to listen to on long walks.
On the Riot
7 of the best audiobooks written by Australian women writers.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
Stories of girls and women who made history.
17 great LGBTQ middle grade novels.
25 best YA murder mysteries of all time.
YA books featuring powerful BIPOC female characters.
12 mythology-inspired YA novels.
Adults
What to read for Women’s History Month.
A reading list from the Asian American Writer’s Workshop for abolitionist imagination and practice.
Books about the Internet as we know it.
9 books about royal intrigue after Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview.
Read these writers to understand Native American comedy.
7 full-bodied reads from the literary vineyard. (AKA books about wine)
10 historical romances that feature sports.
5 underrated costume dramas for romance lovers.
8 dark novels about love and obsession set in the Mediterranean.
7 novels about women who reject expectations.
5 SFF books with middle-aged and elderly heroes who still kick ass.
On the Riot
8 fascinating kids books like Terrible Things That Can Happen to You.
5 YA books to pick up after Moxie.
20 must-read queer essay collections.
5 translated works of fiction about life and culture.
8 great feminist microhistories.
10 great novellas by authors of color.
5 unusually-structured speculative fiction novels.
8 romantic sci-fi and fantasy reads.
A beginner’s guide to occult books.
9 nature novels to get lost in.
12 of the best romance novels about writers.
11 stories featuring origami.
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.
Be nice to yourselves, and I’ll see you on Friday.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.