Welcome to Check Your Shelf. The last two days of our Florida vacation were rainy and chilly, and my feet are absolutely shredded from all of that walking and standing. Fun time, but I’m glad to be home where I can soak my feet in the bathtub for a few minutes!
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
Amazon has removed multiple titles about King Charles’ recent cancer diagnoses amid concerns that they were written by AI.
How romance bookstores took over America.
New & Upcoming Titles
LeVar Burton is releasing two new books.
Kate McKinnon is writing a middle grade novel.
Rob Schneider has a new book coming out on September 24th, which was intentionally chosen to coincide with the late stages of the presidential election.
Sneak peek at Nnedi Okorafor’s upcoming trilogy.
Cover reveal for The Life Impossible by Matt Haig.
8 new dystopian novels that explore hope in the climate crisis.
The best and most-anticipated romance books of 2024.
Weekly book picks from Crime Reads, LitHub.
February picks from Crime Reads (psychological thrillers).
March picks from Barnes & Noble (adults, teens, children)
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – Philip Gefter (LA Times New York Times, People, Washington Post)
What Have We Here?: Portraits of a Life – Billy Dee Williams (New York Times, People, USA Today, Washington Post)
I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition – Lucy Sante (LA Times, New York Times, Washington Post)
Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories – Amitav Ghosh (LA Times, New York Times)
The Book of Love – Kelly Link (Datebook, Esquire)
RA/Genre Resources
How social media is influencing the romance genre, and wider trends in fiction.
The power of neurodiverse characters in mysteries.
Coming to terms with “cozy fiction.”
On the Riot
The best book club picks for February.
The biggest 2024 romance novel trends.
10 horror books to crave in early 2024.
The best new weekly releases to TBR.
Here are the 2024 Summer Scares titles for a summer of excellent horror reading.
All Things Comics
Graphix announced two new graphic novel adaptations of The Baby-Sitters Club.
The Atlantic had a recent profile of Raina Telgemeier.
Audiophilia
6 audiobooks to listen to for some post-Valentines Day listening.
Heartwarming audiobooks to share with kids.
Can we please put an end to overperformed audiobooks?
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
20 YA fantasies with enemies-to-lovers romances.
Adults
5 books that center seniors.
20 of the greatest love stories of all time.
Story collections from Black women writers.
6 books that elevate the serial killer thriller.
10 great female friendships in SFF.
5 of the best campus novels.
Books with unreliable narrators.
The best swoony sapphic rom-coms.
Cozy fantasies to yeet at your Valentine, which I’m pretty sure isn’t how any of this works.
On the Riot
9 romantic dark academia books.
12 perfect dragon books to read during the Year of the Dragon.
10 books like Howl’s Moving Castle.
10 historical fiction books about books.
8 books about space exploration.
Books similar to The Three-Body Problem.
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 Edelweiss has a new catalog dedicated to diverse titles, which is managed by Early Word Galley Chatter Vicki Nesting. Check it out!
While I was gone, Dini stayed by Blaine’s side and helped guard our freshly washed towels. It’s great knowing we have such a helpful boy.
Okay, friends, I’ll be back on Friday. Cheers!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.