Welcome to Check Your Shelf. The weather around these here Chicago parts has been GLORIOUS the last few days — it’s a shame we all have to be stuck inside working this week!
Make this your most bookish summer yet with personalized reading recommendations from Tailored Book Recommendations! Our bibliologists (aka professional book nerds) are standing by to help you find your next favorite read. Get your recommendations via email, or opt to receive hardcovers or paperbacks delivered right to your door. And with quarterly or annual plans available, TBR has something for every budget. Get started today from just $18!
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
TikTok is going to start labeling AI-generated content as the technology becomes more universal.
In other TikTok news, TikTok creators have filed a lawsuit against the United States’ “sell or ban” law.
How TikTok is driving a book-buying renaissance.
New & Upcoming Titles
Next to Heaven is an anonymously written novel that was just picked up for a TV adaptation before publishing rights had been sold. (Except it’s not anonymous anymore — the author is James Frey.)
Ken Follett has moved to Hachette for his next novel, which will be released in 2025.
Winnie Dunn becomes the first Tongan-Australian author to publish a novel in Australia.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel is publishing a memoir in November.
Attica Locke is publishing the final book in her Highway 59 crime novel trilogy this summer!
Willie Nelson is publishing a cannabis cookbook.
Another lost story from Terry Pratchett has been found and will be included in the upcoming paperback edition of A Stroke of the Pen, out in September.
Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist is being re-released with a pink cover in celebration of its 10th anniversary.
Cover reveal for Nalo Hopkinson’s Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions.
Here’s an excerpt from Stephen King’s upcoming short story collection, You Like it Darker.
And here’s a sneak peek at Grady Hendrix’s upcoming horror novel, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, which is described as Rosemary’s Baby set in a home for unwed mothers in 1970s Florida. Sign me the fork up.
Gothic fiction coming out in 2024.
New fake-dating romance novels.
Weekly picks from Crime Reads, LitHub, New York Times, Parade.
May picks from People.
June picks from Barnes & Noble (adults, teens, children)
Summer picks from Atlantic, L.A. Times, Seattle Times.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
All Fours – Miranda July (Guardian, L.A. Times, New York Times, People, Washington Post)
Henry Henry – Allen Bratton (Guardian, New York Times)
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space – Adam Higginbotham (New York Times, Washington Post)
What a Fool Believes – Michael McDonald (People, Washington Post)
RA/Genre Resources
How to read the Bridgerton books in order (and how they differ from the show).
Charlie Jane Anders picks multiple new SFF releases in May and highlights a split in the world of genre fiction: cozy fantasy or dark science fiction?
There’s an increase in the number of astrology & tarot-themed romance novels.
On the literature of the small town.
On the Riot
10 new fantasy books by Asian and Pacific Islander authors.
The most-anticipated books of the summer, according to Goodreads.
Most-anticipated mysteries/thrillers and SFF/H of 2024, according to Goodreads.
7 must-read new LGBTQ+ books.
The best new weekly releases to TBR.
New beach reads for your book club.
All Things Comics
Heartstopper Season 3 gets a new teaser trailer and a release date.
The 2024 Eisner Award nominees have been released.
Audiophilia
On the Riot
6 of the best free audiobook apps to curl up with.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
10 picture books with a touch of dark humor.
The ultimate summer reading list for kids ages 3-5.
10 excellent books for fifth-grade readers.
Adults
7 books about life in Japan before modern technology.
6 of the best queer mysteries.
Time travel books for people who don’t like science fiction.
Books featuring superstitions.
The best books to gift to high school graduates.
On the Riot
10 queer board books for baby’s first library.
10 moving and fantastical books like Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron.
8 of the most polarizing horror novels ever written. (Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door always makes the list, which was so upsetting it legitimately made me question why I read horror in the first place. So, you know…be cautious with these books.)
7 books for better mental health.
8 thought-provoking fantasy books.
Romance novels written by Asian North American writers.
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!
This was Jonesy’s expression when Blaine told him we were taking him to the vet this week.
Well, that’s all I have for now. Be back on Friday!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.