Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I realized that I have a special kind of girl math when it comes to Daylight Savings Time, although honestly, it works for any gender. So we set the clocks back last weekend, which means that we’re only a month and a half away from the shortest day of the year. By the time we reach December 21st, the days start getting longer! Huzzah! And yes, I really do use this logic to get me through the winter.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
The Simon & Schuster sale to KKR has officially been completed.
Amazon has filed a lawsuit against 20 individuals who have scammed artists by falsely claiming an affiliation with Amazon Publishing and Kindle Direct Publishing.
Unionized workers at Scholastic staged a one-day walkout over wages.
Goodreads has asked its users to help combat “review bombing.”
Do writers really need to get on BookTok?
On translating Infinite Jest into Farsi.
New & Upcoming Titles
Paul Tremblay shared a teaser video for his upcoming novel, Horror Movie, which comes out in June!
5 new YA ghost stories to haunt you.
9 new books to keep you up on Halloween.
The New York Times recommends four new romance novels.
The most popular romance novels of 2023.
New paranormal romances to bewitch you.
Barnes & Noble have short lists of 2023 releases for fans of literary fiction, high school whodunnits, nonfiction about nature, deep reads, romantasy, showstopping picture books, books in translation, cocktail recipes, nonfiction about the 1%, and family sagas.
Weekly book picks from Crime Reads, LitHub, New York Times.
November picks from AARP, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kirkus, LA Times, LitHub (SFF), New York Times, Time, Town & Country, Washington Post.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
The Reformatory – Tananarive Due (NPR, USA Today, Washington Post)
The Vulnerables – Sigrid Nunez (Datebook, New York Times, Washington Post)
Baumgartner – Paul Auster (Guardian, LA Times)
Fierce Ambition: The Life and Legend of War Correspondent Maggie Higgins – Jennet Conant (New York Times, Washington Post)
Blood Sex Magic: Everyday Magic for the Modern Mystic – Bri Luna (LA Times, Shondaland)
RA/Genre Resources
How podcasts are helping books reach larger audiences.
On the Riot
8 new and upcoming cookbooks to inspire your fall cooking.
New books in translation for fall 2023.
The best new weekly releases to TBR.
November picks for mystery/thrillers, SFF, romance, horror, nonfiction, YA, children’s.
The Horror Writers Association and partners announce their 2024 Summer Scares spokesperson, timeline, and more!
10 authors like Elin Hilderbrand.
Where to get started with monster romance.
The uprising of mesopunk books.
The joys of reading author catalogs in publication order.
In defense of didactic literature.
An exploration of all the writing cults in fiction.
All Things Comics
An original Spider-Man comic book in good condition may be sold for $35K.
The biggest show on Netflix right now is based on a comic that you can’t buy.
How this artist helped transform Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend into a graphic novel.
On the Riot
Why do kids love Garfield so much?
6 tentacle manga to thrill and titillate.
Power up your reading life with thoughtful writing on books and publishing, courtesy of The Deep Dive. Over at our Substack publication, you’ll find timely stories, informed takes, and useful advice from our in-house experts. We’re here to share our expertise and perspective, drawing from our backgrounds as booksellers, librarians, educators, authors, editors, and publishing professionals. Find out why the bestseller list is broken, analyze some anticipated books, and then get a free subscription for weekly content delivered to your inbox. You can also upgrade to paid-for bonus content and community features connecting you to like-minded readers.
Audiophilia
Kindle Direct Publishing will beta test AI-narrated audiobooks.
How publishers pair celebrity narrators with audiobooks.
November audio picks from AudioFile and Vulture.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
Books that kids love and recommend.
Kids’ books about Día de los Muertos.
11 YA books with dual timelines that you’ll absolutely love.
Epic Reads has released their 2023 holiday gift guide, along with more extensive gift guides for coming-of-age books, SFF, mystery/thriller/horror, and romance.
Adults
Books for Native American Heritage Month.
Barack Obama shares his reading list for learning about the rise of artificial intelligence.
13 eerily good books to read for Halloween and beyond.
7 spooky short story collections by Latina writers.
Scary-ass books by Black authors.
18 nonfiction books for fans of Madonna, memoirs, or cultural histories.
TikTok wants you to read these 34 books ASAP.
Modern African books based on mythology.
10 horror romance books to send shivers down your spine.
10 intense psychological thrillers that will mess with your head.
6 endlessly fun page-turners recommended by Janet Evanovich.
On the Riot
20 funny picture books for kids to erupt in giggles.
Children’s books that will keep the Halloween spirit alive all year long.
8 fantasy novels where the characters reincarnate.
Influential BIPOC authors you may not have heard of.
Stop, you’re killing me! 21 must-read serial killer thrillers.
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 that includes information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.
Blaine accidentally left a super-plush robe out on the couch, so Dini obviously decided it was his. In order to rescue the robe, Blaine proposed a trade and relocated the cat bed, so now Dini has a new favorite spot.
All right, friends, I’ll be back on Friday.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.