Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’m using that new year energy to tackle some apartment cleaning, and I’ve got a stack of short books to help me: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, and How to Keep House While Drowning. I’ve already cleared out a bunch of clothes for donation or recycling (thank you, Marie Kondo!) and I’m going to tackle shoes, accessories, and books later this week. If you know me at all, you know that this level of cleaning is a HUGE deal, so hopefully I can keep that momentum going! And maybe apply some of that momentum to my desk at work…
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
What it’s like to be a ghostwriter.
New & Upcoming Titles
January 6th titles are hitting the market.
11 YA books by South Asian authors to look for in 2023.
Most anticipated 2023 titles from BookPage (fiction, nonfiction, mystery/suspense, romance, SFF), Bustle, Buzzfeed (YA), Electric Lit (LGBTQ+), The Guardian (fiction, nonfiction), Kirkus, LitHub (general, SFF), PopSugar (mysteries/thrillers), Salon, Today, USA Today, Vulture.
Weekly picks from Crime Reads, The Millions, New York Times, USA Today.
January picks from Barnes & Noble, Crime Reads, Kirkus, New York Times, The Root, Shondaland, Town & Country.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
Spare – Prince Harry (AARP, Bookseller, Bustle, The Guardian, New York Times, Parade, Slate, USA Today, Vanity Fair
The Age of Vice – Deepti Kapoor (LA Times, New York Times, Washington Post)
Sam – Allegra Goodman (New York Times, Washington Post)
On the Riot
The best new weekly releases to TBR.
2023 most anticipated picks for cozy mysteries, YA, horror.
January picks for mysteries/thrillers, romance, SFF, horror, nonfiction, children’s books, YA.
8 fabulous authors like Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
True crime vs. murder mysteries: mutually exclusive, or two sides of the same coin?
All Things Comics
Why Congressman Robert Garcia will be sworn in with an original Superman #1 comic.
On the Riot
8 new comics to read in January.
Audiophilia
Apple Books quietly launches AI-narrated audiobooks.
AudioFile’s January 2023 Earphones Award winners have been announced.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Adults
Cozy romances to curl up with this winter.
Memoirs about the transformative power of hobbies.
8 memoirs by women about multicultural identity and belonging.
5 works of SFF that draw on Greek mythology.
8 self-help books that actually help.
Key titles by or about Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
18 cookbooks that everyone should own.
13 books to read if you loved Knives Out.
6 SFF works to brighten gloomy days.
On the Riot
10 books to help you achieve your New Year’s resolution.
Books about hard topics to help you start the year off strong.
21 of the best travel books.
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.
Yeah, all that closet cleaning I was talking about earlier? Dini was helping too. Notice the giant pile of clothes in the background…
Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Let’s meet back on Friday, kay?
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.