Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Exciting news in the Horner household — we adopted a new kitty over the weekend!! He came to us as “Todd,” but I think we’re leaning towards renaming him Jonesy. He’s a tabby, just over a year old, has the sweetest face I’ve ever seen, and is SUCH a snuggler! We have him sequestered in the office, but he’s already escaped four times. He’s very eager to explore the rest of the apartment!
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Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
Publishers have filed an appeal brief in the Internet Archive copyright suit.
Albert Whitman & Company is once again under fire for delayed payments to authors and agents.
Zando is launching a new romance imprint, Slowburn, to capitalize on BookTok’s current love of steamy adult romances.
TikTok turns to creators to fight a possible ban.
The CEO of Allstora, RuPaul’s new bookstore, apologizes for carrying books by anti-LGBTQ+ extremists.
Authors Equity, and why publishing models that rely on gig workers are bad for everyone.
Authors push back on the growing number of AI “scam books” that are flooding Amazon.
How will AI change life for literary translators?
University presses are racking up legal bills over AI copyright breaches.
Generative AI’s privacy problem. Meanwhile, Amazon, Google, and other major companies have quietly tamped down generative AI expectations.
New & Upcoming Titles
A new book about Ted Lasso is coming!
Al Pacino is publishing a memoir in October.
Director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) is publishing a memoir.
Jessica Biel is publishing a children’s book about periods.
Nghi Vo has a new novella coming out.
NYC mayor Eric Adams is writing another book? Maybe?
Here’s the cover reveal for Maureen Johnson’s first standalone teen thriller in years: Death at Morning House.
Celebrity book club picks for March 2024.
Weekly picks from Crime Reads, LitHub, New York Times.
Spring 2024 picks from The New York Times (fiction, nonfiction).
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
James – Percival Everett (Atlantic, New York Times, Slate, Washington Post)
Wild Houses – Colin Barrett (New York Times, Washington Post)
Watch Where They Hide – Tamron Hall (Essence, USA Today)
RA/Genre Resources
Crime novels for people who don’t like crime novels.
The new boom in Latin American fiction.
The Atlantic has a piece on the great American novels.
Anne Helen Petersen is the latest person to analyze A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Where to start with Chris Bohjalian’s books.
On the Riot
It’s time for publishers to tell the truth about posthumously published books.
A Q&A with Authors Equity CEO Madeline McIntosh.
Recent hit books on Goodreads.
New WWII historical fiction for 2024.
8 fabulous LGBTQ+ middle grade books for readers of all ages.
13 book club picks for March 2024.
Cookbooks & foodie memoirs for your book club.
Audiophilia
The state of audiobooks, from AI to ads.
Kirkus picks 20 great reads on audio.
The best kids’ audiobooks about animals.
On the Riot
The best romantasy audiobooks to sweep you away.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
Exceptional World War II books for kids ages 10-12.
Adults
7 novels about African women in all their complexities.
8 Canadian books to read if you loved Carley Fortune’s Meet Me By the Lake.
8 books to read if you loved Bad Cree by Jessica Johns.
22 of the funniest novels since Catch-22.
5 of the best books inspired by classic novels.
Books about founding mothers who changed the modern world.
Fake wedding date romance books.
On the Riot
10 must-read YA duologies.
10 of the best completed historical romance series.
11 of the best memoirs by transgender and nonbinary authors.
8 emotional memoirs about BIPOC families.
8 ridiculously good fantasy books like Baldur’s Gate.
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!
Meet Jonesy!! Seriously, this cat is so adorable I can’t stand it. And when one of us even thinks about leaving the office, he turns and stares at us with these giant Pixar eyes and we’re immediately helpless. We can’t wait until he has full reign of the apartment with Dini!
All right, friends. Have a good week, and I’ll be back on Friday!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.