Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Halloween may be over, but I honestly consider November to be the tail end of spooky season as I gradually transition towards the winter holidays. And with that, I hope you’ll forgive me a little self-indulgence as I relay some of my horror favorites that you can recommend to your favorite spooky patrons!
Favorite horror novels: The Troop, A Head Full of Ghosts, The Good House, The Hunger, The Dead Path, Final Girls
Scariest horror movie: Hereditary
Favorite horror movie: Poltergeist
Favorite lesser-known horror movie: Ready or Not
Favorite recent horror movies: Invisible Man, Malignant, Nope, Black Phone, Barbarian
The spooky continues below, with lots of horror reading lists!
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
George Orwell’s classic works are going to be published on Substack.
An open letter from publishing professionals condemns the recent Amy Coney Barrett book deal.
Reading between the lines: race, equity, and book publishing.
New & Upcoming Titles
Book Riot’s own Tirzah Price announces additional stories in her Lizzie and Darcy YA mystery series!
Here’s a look at Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, which will come out in early January.
Once again, in “I’ll believe it when I see it” news, George R.R. Martin says he’s three-quarters of the way through Winds of Winter.
Take a look at Joelle Wellington’s upcoming YA novel, Their Vicious Games, which is billed as Gossip Girl meets The Hunger Games.
Here’s the cover reveal for Colson Whitehead’s Crook Manifesto, which is the second book in the Harlem Shuffle trilogy.
Peloton instructor Emma Lovewell is publishing a memoir.
13 recent unsettling gothic horror tales.
21 recent horror books to read before Halloween.
14 new and upcoming books about witches.
7 new spooky and spirited Halloween reads.
The best new paranormal romances for Halloween.
Barnes & Noble selects 11 books that booksellers were most excited to recommend to readers in 2022.
Weekly book picks from Crime Reads, LitHub, New York Times, USA Today.
November picks from Epic Reads, New York Times, The Root.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
The Passenger / Stella Maris — Cormac McCarthy (Esquire, NPR, USA Today)
The Philosophy of Modern Song — Bob Dylan (Atlantic, LA Times)
Ted Kennedy: A Life — John A. Farrell (LA Times, New York Times)
Inciting Joy — Ross Gay (The Rumpus, Washington Post)
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams — Stacy Schiff (New York Times, Time)
Token Black Girl: A Memoir — Danielle Prescod (Washington Post)
The White Mosque: A Memoir — Sofia Samatar (LA Times)
RA/Genre Resources
It came from Stephen King!: How horror lit crawled out of the swamp and into a golden age.
Plus-sized representation in fantasy fiction.
On the Riot
UK publishers predict a rise in book prices.
The Top 10 YA books of the year, according to teens.
The best new weekly releases to TBR.
Reading pathways for Alex Segura.
Why horror books just aren’t that scary.
Nonsense fantasy recommendations.
12 romance sub-genres we’ll love forever.
The guilt of rereading and a hopeful solution.
All Things Comics
On the Riot
Your reading life needs more manga.
Audiophilia
Spotify wants to get into audiobooks, but says that Apple has rejected Spotify’s new app three times from the Apple Store.
The best Stephen King audiobooks, read by Stephen King actors.
7 great audiobooks for October.
On the Riot
Books this reader has reread on audio (and why you should reread them too).
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
16 must-read authors for younger readers.
14 classic YA retellings reimagined with BIPOC characters.
10 YA books to get you in the holiday spirit.
Adults
5 spooky books to put you in the Halloween mood.
5 chilling horror novellas to read this fall.
7 books about being stuck in purgatory.
Scary stories to chill your blood during spooky season.
9 works of dark humor perfect for Halloween.
4 suspenseful novels for true crime fans.
Works of horror movie criticism perfect for scary movie fans.
10 best-selling horror novels to read for Halloween, if you haven’t gotten to them already.
8 astounding horror novels written by women.
7 Halloween reads ranked by fear factor.
Want to read books from this newsletter? You can, for free! Get three free audiobooks with a trial to Audiobooks.com. Claim your 3 free audiobooks now!
On the Riot
10 picture books you’ve probably never heard of by creators of color.
10 new children’s books by Native American and Indigenous authors.
8 enchanting YA fairy tales.
YA books about teens and seniors.
20 must-read Halloween nonfiction books.
25 must-read horror collections and anthologies.
8 page-turning mysteries and thrillers about sisters.
8 books like Atomic Habits to supersize your habit-making powers.
We’re here too: 9 queer memoirs from red areas.
The top 25 TikTok book recommendations from 2022.
Books like Taylor Swift’s Midnights.
14 great Japanese historical fiction books.
8 cozy romance books to curl up with.
Books about fictional Hollywood.
8 books about the literati.
8 books that are surprisingly and delightfully queer.
The best horror novels from around the world.
9 of the best books about grief.
Look at the birdy: 8 books about birding.
The 9 best Rebecca retellings.
20 must-read asexual books for Ace Week.
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 as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.
This issue’s photo is courtesy of my parents. Apparently Penny (sitting on the computer on the right) was watching cat TV on YouTube, but didn’t want to share with Wrigley, so my mom pulled out my dad’s old iPad for Wrigley to have his own screen. I have never known cats to actively ask for screentime, but my parents started putting bird videos on the computer for the cats a few years ago, and now they’re addicted.
That’s all I’ve got for today. See you again on Friday!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.