Category: Check Your Shelf

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. My husband and I are watching a baseball game right now, and started arguing about whether or not Sandstorm by Darude is a jam. This is what quarantine has turned us into. (Also it is 100% a legitimate jam, and I will stand by that fact forever.)

So. Where were we. Libraries? Let’s do it.

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• (TW: patron violence) A Daytona Beach children’s librarian was seriously injured in an unprovoked attack by a patron. (The headline is really frightening, just as a fair warning.)
• “I literally weep:” Anguish as New Zealand’s National Library culls 600,000 international books to make room for additional New Zealand and Maori literature. (I think they could have just rephrased the headline as “People freak out over library needing to weed its collection.”)

Cool Library Updates

• Capital Area District Libraries (MI) wants its readers to get woke.
• How an Akron-Summit Public Library (OH) card is also becomng a free bus pass.
• Library services turn to the great outdoors.
• The Waterloo Public Library (ONT) launches a button program to help show the staff’s faces behind their masks.
• 10 people share why they love their library cards.

Worth Reading

• School librarians can save democracy.
• The pandemic is transforming how Americans use public places.

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Book Adaptations in the News

• Warcross by Marie Lu is going to be made into a TV series.
• HBO Max is developing a Westing Game series adaptation.
• Fair Warning by Michael Connelly will be adapted for film.
• Dopesick is being turned into a TV series.
• Netflix is turning Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles series into their own feature length movies.
• The Walking Dead will conclude in 2022.
• Trailer for Dune.

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Books & Authors in the News

• Bob Woodward defends his decision to not report Trump’s coronavirus revelations sooner.
• The DOJ is reportedly pursuing criminal charges against John Bolton’s memoir.
• A Signal Mountain (TN) teacher removes two books featuring Black teenage protagonists from the required reading list, citing concerns about mature content. The books are Monster by Walter Dean Myers and All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. However, some parents voiced concerns about the books being removed.
• After a parent complained about the book Ron’s Big Mission being read to their second grader’s class, the Rockwood School District (MO) decided to read the book to the entire school. The book tells the story of Ron McNair, the only Black member of the 1986 Challenger crew.
• Some parents of Clark County (NV) School District high schoolers are upset about a 10th grade honors English reading list that included the graphic memoir, Fun Home.
• (TW: transphobia, transgender stereotypes) JK Rowling’s latest Robert Galbraith novel features a serial killer who sometimes dresses as a woman to get close to his victims, sparking a lot of criticism after her increasingly inflammatory and transphobic public statements over the last few months.
• The feminist book I Hate Men sells out in France after government officials attempted to ban it.
• Harper Collins is suing Lindsay Lohan for collecting a $365K advance but never writing a book.

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Numbers & Trends

• Hachette releases its own diversity report.

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Award News

• The 2020 Booker Prize shortlist is its most diverse yet.
• Walter Mosely will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Foundation.
• The longlists are rolling out for the National Book Awards: first up is the award for Young People’s Literature.
• Maggie O’Farrell wins the UK Women’s Prize for Fiction for Hamnet.
• The American Book Awards winners have been announced.
• Finalists for the Kirkus Prize have been announced.

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Pop Cultured

• Candyman’s release date gets pushed back to 2021, while Wonder Woman 1985 gets pushed back to Christmas Day.
• Here’s the official trailer for season 2 of The Mandalorian.
• Celebrate Star Wars Reads this October.

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Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Why Goodreads is bad for books. Thoughts?
• Author Ann Cleeves funds a bibliotherapy service to help people heal with books.

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On the Riot

• Do you need a library science degree to work in a library? And on a related note, how this reader got over their MLS.
• Searching for Little Free Libraries as a way to say goodbye.
• 8 moms on building personal libraries for kids.
• Why this reader broke up with their TBR during the pandemic.

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It’s the weekend again, and I’ll see you all next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I have been steadily reading for the last couple weeks, which is the first time in a LONG time that I’ve been able to say that! Hoping to ride this wave for as long as I can.

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Parneshia Jones is named director of Northwestern University Press, the first Black director in the press’ 127-year history.
• How the Black Lives Matter protests impacted book media.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Here’s a list of 2020 YA horror novels to sink your pointy teeth into.
• These are the bestselling mysteries and thrillers of 2020, according to Amazon.
• 20 new fall books from Latinx writers.
• 5 books you may have missed in August.
• Books of the week from Bustle, New York Times, and USA Today.
• September picks from Bustle, Lit Hub, and Pop Sugar.
• Fall picks from Buzzfeed (historical fiction), Crime Reads, Eater (cookbooks), Parade (historical fiction), People, and Washington Post.
• 40 YA novels for the first half of 2021.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Rage – Bob Woodward (CNN, New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• What Are You Going Through – Sigrid Nunez (New York Times, NPR, USA Today)
• Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump – Peter Strozk (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump – Michael Cohen (New York Times, Vanity Fair)
• One By One – Ruth Ware (USA Today, Washington Post)

RA/Genre Resources

• The enduring, pernicious whiteness of true crime.
• A crime reader’s guide to Alexander McCall Smith.

On the Riot

• 5 upcoming books with nonbinary characters front and center.
• 6 new books about COVID-19.
• The troubling gap between fat representation and fat acceptance in romance.
• What is gothic horror? 18 examples of the genre.

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All Things Comics

• Christian Cooper, the Black birder who filmed a white woman making a false 911 call against him in Central Park, has turned his experience into a graphic novel about racism.
• A look at the boom of comic books on crowdfunding sites.
• Best new comics to read in September.

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Audiophilia

• Those who don’t consider audiobooks to be “real” reading can kindly GTFO.
• 5 audiobooks for Library Card Sign-Up Month.
• Masterful audiobook narration from actors and actresses.

On the Riot

• 6 of the best memoirs on audio.

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• Must-read picture books written by Black authors.
• 6 must-read books about race for kids and teens.
• 13 YA books from indie publishers.
• 16 YA enemies-to-lovers romances.
• 18 YA books to diversify your kids’ bookshelves and teach them to become better allies.

Adults

• 7 books that dive into the long history of America’s labor movement.
• 11 books you probably haven’t read yet, but should.
• 15 modern Indian classics in translation.
• 10 books about books.
• 5 classic noir villains with a touch of humanity.
• 10 books about the promise and peril of alternative schooling.
• 5 back-to-school thrillers with truly villainous students.
• 5 SFF books written collaboratively.

On the Riot

• 5 children’s books about WWII and the Japanese experience.
• 8 middle grade books about resilient kids.
• 8 cozy middle grade ghost stories.
• 5 must-read YA retellings by authors of color.
• 18 diverse YA horror books packed with #OwnVoice tales.
• 8 transgender YA books written by trans and nonbinary authors.
• 8 books like And Then There Were None.
• Fresh Irish writing for your shelf.
• 4 indigenous horror novels to try.
• 7 engaging short story collections by Indian writers.
• 4 great novels about philanthropy.
• 5 of the best psychological thrillers for fall.

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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 created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Catch you on the flipside, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’m playing hooky* on Thursday to visit Starved Rock State Park for some socially distanced hiking, which I’m really excited about! Weather’s going to be cold and drizzly, but I’m dying to get out of the house a little.

(*Not actually playing hooky – am using approved PTO that was properly requested through all the appropriate channels.)

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• The REALM Project announced yet another update on their COVID test results.
• Libraries in California have largely been spared from fire or smoke damage, but curbside pickup services have been severely curtailed.
• (TW: violence) A 26-year-old man has been charged in a violent attack on two Wilmette (IL) Public Library employees.
• The New York Public Library wants to record your COVID pandemic stories.
• A report on the drive for Little Free Diverse Libraries.

Cool Library Updates

• Libraries tackle literacy through practical programs.
• ALA is hosting a Scary Stories documentary watch party on Friday, October 2nd.

Worth Reading

• How libraries can save the 2020 election. So, you know…no pressure.
• Get to know your school librarian from a safe distance.
• The right and wrong way to make decisions in a crisis.
• Libraries are emerging as partners in city-wide climate action plans.
• The inconvenient truth about library digital collections.

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Book Adaptations in the News

• Nickelodeon pulls its show Made by Maddie after viewers have questioned its similarities to Matthew A. Cherry’s short Hair Love.
• Pretty Little Liars is being rebooted.
• Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson is headed to the movies.
• Casting updates for Women in the Castle.
• New trailers for the Netflix adaptation of Rebecca, as well as the new Dune adaptation.

Books & Authors in the News

• Bob Woodward’s latest book, Rage, quotes Donald Trump saying in February that he (Trump) knew that COVID was far more dangerous than influenza, and yet he repeatedly downplayed this fact publicly.
• Octavia Butler is a New York Times bestselling author for the first time, 14 years after her death.
• Steph Cha is the new series editor of The Best American Mystery Stories.
• Oprah’s Apple book club gets its own podcast.
• A report on the republication of The Black Banners (Declassified): How Torture Derailed the War on Terror After 9/11, much of which the CIA has kept suppressed for almost a decade.

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Numbers & Trends

• Penguin Random House releases its own workforce report on diversity.
• Independent Bookstore Day boosted online sales by 30% this year.
• What readers are turning to during the pandemic.

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Award News

• Lars Horn wins the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize for Voice of the Fish. Previous winners of this prize are The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison and The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang.
• Viet Thanh Nguyen has joined the Pulitzer Prize Board, making him the first Asian-American and the first Vietnamese-American member in the Board’s history.
• Shortlist for the International Dublin Literary Award.

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Pop Cultured

• New trailer for No Time to Die.
• Mandalorian Season 2 will debut on Disney+ on October 30th. Entertainment Weekly has a first look.

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Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Their son wanted to see more children’s books with Black characters, so they created a business to do just that.
• The unexpected politics of book cover design.
• Ursula K. LeGuin’s childhood home is for sale for $4.1 million.

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On the Riot

• 6 organizations or groups promoting Latinx literature.
• Mayyyybe stop stacking extra books on the floor?
• How to keep reading when you’re too tired to read.
• What happens to books that get left behind?

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It’s the weekend again, and I’ll see you all next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently listening to My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Before we jump in, I have to share this delightful video of the Chicago Cubs’ off-the-field talents. I hope it makes you giggle as much as it did for me!

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Harper Collins and Penguin Random House parent company Bertelsmann have expressed interest in acquiring Simon & Schuster.
• All copies of the first printing of Michael Cohen’s upcoming book will apparently be released exclusively to Amazon.
• Publishers and the Internet Archive propose a yearlong discovery plan for the ongoing copyright case.

New & Upcoming Titles

• 21-year-old YA author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé signs a 7-figure book deal.
• Pope Francis is writing a response to COVID-19, which will be published in December.
• Zen Cho is writing a new book!
• Allie Brosh has another book coming out at the end of this month!! I AM SO EXCITED!
• Kira Jane Buxton is writing a sequel to Hollow Kingdom.
• Check out this new anthology of African American poetry that spans 250 years.
• Channing Tatum is writing a children’s book dedicated to his six-year-old daughter, Everly.
• 17 YA books that came out this summer you need to read ASAP.
• New books for the week from Bustle, Buzzfeed, Crime Reads, Lithub, USA Today.
• Fall picks from Amazon, Buzzfeed, The Guardian, New York Post, O: Oprah Magazine, People, Publisher’s Weekly (indie picks), Pop Sugar, Shondaland, Time, Town & Country, and Vulture.
• September picks from (hoo boy, there’s a lot) Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bitch Media, Bustle, Crime Reads, Entertainment Weekly, Good Morning America, Library Journal, The Millions, O: Oprah Magazine, Pop Sugar (general picks, romance, thrillers), Shondaland, Tor.com (fantasy, scifi, horror/genre bending novels, YA SFF), and Washington Post.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Daddy: Stories – Emma Cline (LA Times, New York Times, NPR)
• The Lying Life of Adults – Elena Ferrante (New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post)
• I Have Something to Tell You – Chasten Buttigieg (USA Today, Washington Post)
• Transcendent Kingdom – Yaa Gyasi (New York Times, USA Today)

RA/Genre Resources

• 5 ways to think about social justice through crime fiction.

On the Riot

• The suffocating homogeneity of bestselling children’s books.
• What’s the difference between young adult and new adult?
• Know your folklore! What’s the difference between a myth, a fairytale, and a legend?
• Get to know Nordic noir with these 10 novels.

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All Things Comics

• Check out this Kickstarter for a fantasy graphic novel inspired by African mythology!
• Batman has COVID, and production on The Batman has been halted.
• 10 new comic books for the fall.

On the Riot

• Comics for people with anxiety.
• 12 queer webcomics you can read for free.
• A glossary of manga terms for beginners.

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Audiophilia

• Laurence Fishburne talks about the experience of narrating The Autobiography of Malcolm X on audio.
• Sesame Workshop and Audible are partnering on a podcast.
• September Earphone Award titles are out from AudioFile.
• Most anticipated audiobooks for fall.
• 5 new enemies-to-lovers romances on audio.

On the Riot

• 7 literary authors who read their own audiobooks.

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• NPR’s 100 favorite books for young readers.
• 37 books that address COVID-19 for kids.
• 5 kids books set during WWII.
• Not your average back-to-school children’s books.
• 14 series like Percy Jackson to read next.
• Epic YA series finales you don’t want to miss.

Adults

• 10 self-improvement books so good, you’ll want to read them twice.
• 9 diverse, women-authored crime novels set in remote and forgotten places.
• 6 whydunit thrillers where the motive is the mystery.
• 20 steamy romance novels to read ASAP.
• 5 sequels better than the first book in the series.

On the Riot

• 10 great children’s books about voting and elections.
• 4 YA books about struggles in creativity.
• 11 YA books exploring the realities of poverty.
• 21 must-read books for 12th graders by authors of color.
• 10 of the best urban fantasy series.
• 10 books like the Dresden Files.
• 5 campus novels to get you in the mood for fall.
• 7 LGBTQ sports romance books.
• 10 mystery and thriller books starring older women.
• 8 of the best books to read for #ScienceSeptember.
• 6 under-the-radar queer books by authors of color.
• 10 novels about marriage secrets.

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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 created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Catch you on the flipside, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I hope everyone can enjoy this upcoming long weekend, even though every person I’ve talked to has had an existential crisis about the fact that WE’RE ALREADY IN SEPTEMBER OH MY LORD WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!

Ahem.

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• Here’s the latest update on the REALM partnership test results…spoiler alert, a longer quarantine for returned items may be required.
• Douglas County Library Board of Trustees will investigate the library director and the staff over their statement of support for Black Lives Matter, voting to spend up to $30K on a third-party investigator. What the fork is this nonsense??
• And on the opposite end of the spectrum, a member of the Fairfax County Library board is facing calls for his removal after his critical remarks about the diverse titles featured on the library’s website.
• Loudon Co. (VA) officials have drawn a lot of negative press after deciding to close two library branches to serve as county day care centers without consulting library administrators first.
• Some libraries are being forced to roll back in-person services due to COVID cases on staff, community surges, or uncooperative visitors. Meanwhile, Lake County (IL) libraries are gradually restoring services, saying “We needed to ensure we could do it safely.” (This is the county I work in.)
• And in other news, this German library paid £2.5 million for a book 400 years after it first tried to buy it!

Cool Library Updates

• Libraries host learning pods to serve students in need.
• Libraries employ low-tech programming to engage children and families.
• The Harold Washington Library in Chicago offers a pop-up resource center to provide assistance to people experiencing homelessness.

Worth Reading

• Virus-responsive design for libraries.
• Supporting school librarians through COVID and beyond. Plus, how to boost the signal of school librarians.
• 10 non-partisan fact-checking websites, in case you need some additional resources to offer your patrons (ahem…or family members…)

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Book Adaptations in the News

• HBO is doing a TV adaptation of Michael Crichton’s Sphere! I love this book so much – it’s probably my favorite Crichton novel next to Jurassic Park!
• The Game of Thrones showrunners are working to adapt Cixin Liu’s The Three Body Problem.
• Al Roker Entertainment is producing an adaptation of Beverly Jenkins’ Bring on the Blessings series.
• Netflix is adapting Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land, as well as The Noel Diary by Richard Paul Evans.
• NOS4A2 will not be renewed for an additional season.
• Emma Roberts signed a first-look deal with Hulu and plans to focus primarily on adapting books. Her first project will be adapting Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering.
• George R.R. Martin has filed a lawsuit over the film rights to his werewolf novella The Skin Trade.
• Here’s the first look at The Haunting of Bly Manor, which is based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw and is a follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House, which was terrifying as hell. I CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS!!
• Here’s the first trailer for I’m Thinking of Ending Things. If you haven’t read the book yet…it’s a trip.
• Teaser trailer for The Stand.
• The best movie and TV adaptations of Charles Dickens novels. (Although A Muppet Christmas Carol is clearly the top choice, and I refuse to hear a word against it.)

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Books & Authors in the News

• Fauja Singh Keeps Going is the first children’s book by a major publisher to center on a Sikh character. On the one hand, this is really cool! On the other hand, SRSLY?! We’re still having firsts like this in the year 2020??
• Jesmyn Ward wrote a heartwrenching essay about losing her husband in January of this year.
• (TW: transphobia) JK Rowling returns an award given to her last year by the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights group, after the group criticized her increasingly fervent and problematic anti-trans viewpoints in August.

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Numbers & Trends

• Library professionals: facts and figures.
• A look at all of the books published recently about Trump…how well do they actually sell?

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Award News

• The Women’s Prize for Fiction is having an online ticketed celebration.
• Roundup of awards from the Poetry Foundation.
• The Barjeel Art Foundation announces its first Barjeel Poetry Prize for ekphrastic poetry for teens and adults. Click the link to learn more, and to find out what the heck “ekphrastic” actually means.

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Pop Cultured

• Rest in power, Chadwick Boseman. 
• Resident Evil is headed to Netflix.

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Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Dictionary.com releases its biggest update ever.
• Fierce Reads announces a new monthly YA book club.

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On the Riot

• How librarians helped invent the YA category of books.
• How to get a Little Free Library sign.
• The elusive accurate Stephen King adaptation.
• The wide world of Jeopardy! contestant authors.
• Donating books during COVID.
• One reader on why they are too slow a reader for book clubs.
• The world’s first novel is older than you think.

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Take a breath and take care of yourselves on this long weekend, folks. I’ll see you next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Let’s keep this short: the world is a dumpster fire, so let’s jump into some book stuff and distract ourselves. Kay? Kay.

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Printers are running at full capacity with all of the books coming out this fall, and we should expect more publication dates to shift.
• Black women are topping bestseller lists. What took so long?
• A look at the cookbook deals being made for authors of color.
• “We already have a Black writer:” Black Chicago crime fiction author Tracy Clark and others talk about the fight for recognition.
• Here’s a comprehensive guide to 120 Black-owned bookstores in America.
• How small indie bookstores are faring during the pandemic.

New & Upcoming Titles

• John Green’s next book is going to be a nonfiction essay collection based on his podcast The Anthropocene Era.
• Mackenzi Lee is writing a YA novel about Gamora and Nebula from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
• Sneak peeks at Emily Henry’s and Casey McQuiston’s next rom-com novels!
• Check out this upcoming romance holiday anthology, featuring romance stories about holidays other than Christmas.
• Book picks for the week from Bustle, Crime Reads, Lit Hub, New York Times, and USA Today. (I think with fall coming up, we’re going to see a lot more weekly book rundowns vs. monthly book rundowns. Probably the only way to keep up with everything.)
• August picks from Bitch Media (feminist reads), Crime Reads (debut crime novels, international crime novels, and true crime), and Parade.
• Most anticipated September releases from Barnes & Noble, Epic Reads (YA), and New York Times.
• Fall picks from Autostraddle, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Canadian nonfiction), Parade, and Vogue.
• 6 twisty female-led books to read this fall.
• 10 fall fiction titles getting the most pre-orders from Amazon.
• 9 new translated books by women.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• The Lying Life of Adults – Elena Ferrante (LA Times, New York Times, Vox)
• Vesper Flights – Helen Macdonald (New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post)
• His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope – Jon Meacham (New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
• Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth – Brian Stelter (New York Times, Washington Post)
• Winter Counts – David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Datebook, USA Today)

RA/Genre Resources

• LibraryReads posted its Readers Advisory 101 presentation, based on its 2019 UnConference.
• The Horror Writer Association Librarian’s Day will be free and virtual this year (Nov. 1st).
• How labeling books as “diverse” reinforces white supremacy.
• How are crime writers going to address the pandemic in their new books?

All Things Comics

• We may be getting a Batman series where Batman is a person of color.

On the Riot

• 14 very good comics dogs for International Dog Day. (12/10, would read again!)
• 21 of the best romance comics.
• Comics for people with anxiety.
• 10 manga like Naruto.
• 8 manga with environmental themes.

Audiophilia

• Audible launches a new unlimited subscription tier for Audible-exclusive content.
• Libro.fm’s most anticipated audiobooks for fall.
• Best audiobooks for August.
• 4 great mystery and thriller audiobooks from Black authors.
• How audiobooks are saving this listener’s sanity during COVID.

On the Riot

• 5 of the best series on audio to keep you listening for days.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• Picture books that celebrate grandparents.
• 15 YA novels that let you travel the world from your couch.
• 14 YA horror novels guaranteed to keep you up at night.
• 8 queer YA novels with coming-of-age hope.
• 5 YA book recs based on your favorite K-Pop group.

Adults

• 10 books about the importance of the postal service.
• Best biographies to read when you’re craving celebrity gossip.
• Caribbean fiction that blurs genre boundaries.
• 9 books about living in parallel realities.
• 5 crime novels exploring complex relationships between mothers and sons.
• 8 books that are so good, they’ll make you forget about COVID.
• 15 books to help guide you through grief.
• 5 SFF books with good doggos (and dog-adjacent beings) as key characters.

On the Riot

• 10 picture books for the budding environmentalist.
• Medical books for kids.
• 16 wonderful #OwnVoices YA books about disability.
• 6 British YA authors of color.
• 7 YA books about schizophrenia.
• 10 great YA books about World War II.
• 5 eco-dystopian novels that explore environmental worst case scenarios. (You know, in case the news isn’t terrifying enough for you.)
• 10 eco horror novels.
• 8 works of hopeful climate fiction.
• 10 environmentalist cookbooks and guides for a more sustainable kitchen.
• 5 biographies and memoirs of environmentalist heroes.
• 10 works of environmental literature from around the world.
• 6 excellent books featuring libraries or librarians.
• 10 books that explore the multiverse.
• 19 Black feminist books.
• 8 of the best adult dragon books around.
• 11 books about unapologetic queerness and radical justice seeking.
• 16 of the best yoga books for beginners.

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 created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

 

Catch you on the flipside, everyone.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. There’s been another police shooting, and this one has taken me aback because I grew up very close to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and now it’s on the national news. And there are too many news articles about property damage and supposed rioters, and not enough articles questioning why the police (and their white male supporters with assault rifles) are given free rein to act as judge, jury, and executioner on the streets. It just keeps going.

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• The Alameda (CA) Free Library is designated as the world’s first “clean air center” as it offers relief from the world’s worst air quality created by the California wildfires.
• Black librarians speak out after 122 St. Louis County Library workers are fired.
• Indian Trails (IL) Library and the University of Illinois receive a $100,00 grant to measure the impact and value of maker spaces. (That’s my home library and my grad school alma mater!)

Cool Library Updates

• This Australia library has reached out to 8,000 patrons during the pandemic to see what they could help them with.
• The Boston Public Library is introducing outdoor WiFi at nine branch libraries.
• Deyania Sanders is the first high schooler to have their art used by the Free Library of Philadelphia for its Summer of Wonder reading program.
• This father-daughter duo opens their own library in Chicago with 1,000 free books!

Worth Reading

• The library is open…sort of.
• Libraries are returning to core services amid the downturn in foot traffic.
• Ideas for celebrating Library Card Sign Up Month during a pandemic.
• How librarians are connecting with patrons and students with TikTok.
• Little Free Libraries in the era of COVID.
• The life of a library cat during the pandemic.

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Book Adaptations in the News

• TikTok star Sarah Cooper is developing a CBS comedy series based on her book, How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings.
• The upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand will debut on CBS All Access on December 17th.
• Elisabeth Moss is starring in the adaptation of Virginia Feito’s upcoming thriller, Mrs. March.
• Kiera Knightley will star in an adaptation of Sarah Perry’s novel The Essex Serpent.
• Trailers for Death on the Nile, Enola Holmes, and The Comey Rule.

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Books & Authors in the News

• Parents in the Springfield (VT) School District filed a formal complaint with the superintendent after their son’s third grade teacher used the book Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice in class to talk about police brutality.
• A look at Ta-Nehisi Coates’ guest-edited issue of Vanity Fair.
• Ocean Vuong is writing a piece for the Future Library, but it won’t be published until 2114.
• There’s going to be a TV show based on the New Yorker article that brought Daniel Mallory’s (aka AJ Finn) scams to light. Jake Gyllenhaal is playing Daniel Mallory.
• How authors are connecting with readers during the pandemic.

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Award News

• The winner of the International Booker Prize has been announced.
• Check out the 2020 Ignyte Awards ballot! These picks are hot hot hot!
• Here are the first six novels on the Not the Booker shortlist.
• Winners of the This Is Horror Awards.

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Pop Cultured

• The Crown gets a sixth season and a trailer for season 4.
• Trailers for the Robert Pattison Batman movie and Wonder Woman 1984.
• Sneak peek for The Suicide Squad.

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Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Fact checking is the core of nonfiction writing, so why do so many publishers refuse to do it?
• This literary startup wants a celebrity to choose your next read.
• Book tracking sites other than Goodreads.

On the Riot

• A discussion on how to disinfect books.
• Little Free Library book labels, stickers, and stamps.
• A century of Shakespeare and Company.
• Can you guess the book based on its AITA post?

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Take a breath and take care of yourselves, folks. If you need something cute, here are photos of Houdini exploring our bathroom. I’ll see you all next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf, where Gilbert is currently sitting in my lap and licking my hand while I try to type. I can’t tell if he’s trying to become more involved with CYS or if he’s trying to distract me…

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Publishing leaders issue a warning over Amazon’s market power.
• People want to support their local bookstores, but they might be hurting them instead. (Tl;dr: please be patient and nice to your local booksellers! They’re having to keep up with a LOT of demand!)

New & Upcoming Titles

• A look at Leigh Bardugo’s upcoming book, Rule of Wolves, which will be a sequel to King of Scars.
• Here’s a sneak peek at David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s #ownvoices Native American thriller, Winter Counts. (Psst: this book is really good!!)
• Civil rights activist Ruby Bridges has a children’s book coming out.
• Kamala Harris is the subject of a new children’s book coming out on August 25th.
• Jenny Lawson announces a new book for 2021, and the cover is awesome!
• Courtney Milan has a new book coming out in September.
• Mindy Kaling has a new essay collection coming out this fall, but it will only be available through Amazon.
• New York governor Andrew Cuomo is writing a book about his state’s response to COVID. Naturally, there’s been some backlash, along with questions about whether or not his book will sell.
• Last week, I shared a link about a new anthology that is republishing 25 female authors under their real names rather than their pseudonyms, but there’s been some criticism about this publishing decision.
• Notable new releases over the next couple weeks from Bustle, Crime Reads, New York Times, USA Today, and Vulture.
• 19 new books to add to your summer TBR.
• 50 most anticipated books for Fall 2020, plus 4 titles coming this fall that deal with racial issues in America.
• Did we mention that this fall is going to be JAM PACKED with new releases?
• Best SFF coming this fall.
• 21 picture books to read for Fall 2020.
• Best books of 2020.
• Best debut novels of 2020 so far.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls – Ursula Hegi (LA Times, Washington Post)
• Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family – Omid Scobie & Carolyn Durand (LA Times, Washington Post)
• Summer – Ali Smith (New York Times, Washington Post)

RA/Genre Resources

• Indigenous writers are changing sci-fi.
• Lovecraftian horror and the racism at its core.
• Celebrating the humorous sci-fi of Latinx authors.
• Vivian Stephens helped turn romance into a billion-dollar industry. Then she got pushed out.
• The women of Canadian crime fiction.

On the Riot

• 25 must-read new fantasy releases.
• A guide to high fantasy vs. low fantasy.
• How to keep track of cozy mystery new releases.

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All Things Comics

• Marvel is putting a spotlight on Indigenous heroes, with stories written by Rebecca Roanhorse, Stephen Graham Jones, and more!
• William Jackson Harper is narrating Marvel’s Black Panther: Sins of the King for Serial Box.
• Trailer for Neil Gaiman’s new Norse Mythology comic from Dark Horse.

On the Riot

• Traveling outside the US though comics.
• 5 flinch-worthy body horror comics.
• DIY comic book crafts (possible virtual library craft idea??).

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Audiophilia

• Wil Wheaton is going to narrate the audiobook for Ready Player Two.
• Spotify looks like it wants a bigger piece of the audiobook market.
• 10 great mystery & thriller audiobooks by Black authors.
• Free audiobooks for kids on Audible.
• Podcasts and audiobooks to look for this fall.

On the Riot

• Want to listen to more audiobooks? Pick up a craft!
• Audiobooks are not just a life hack.
• Facts about listening to audiobooks in your sleep.

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• Essential feminist reads for kids and teens.
• LOL with these 16 funny YA novels.
• 18 YA books that would make epic graphic novels.

Adults

• 27 books written by authors of color that you won’t be able to put down.
• 22 books like Lovecraft Country.
• 8 books with American history lessons you didn’t get in school.
• Silvia Moreno-Garcia suggests 10 scary books every horror lover needs to read.
• 17 books, memoirs, and self-help guides for anyone feeling a little lost right now.
• 100 Black novelists and fiction writers you need to read right now.
• 9 translated books by Black women writers to read for Women in Translation Month.
• 10 California crime novels that aren’t set in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

On the Riot

• 9 of the best mermaid picture books.
• 15 outstanding recent read-aloud books for middle school.
• Middle grade favorite books and their adult fiction readalikes.
• 25 must-read contemporary books for 9th graders.
• YA books about teens going viral.
• 3 awesome YA books about drag.
• 9 YA books about disabilities.
• 5 SFF books about rebellion and overthrowing the government.
• 10 self-help books by Black authors.
• 8 books about mushrooms and fungi that will blow your mind.
• 15 classic and contemporary soft science fiction books.
• 10 enchanting lyrical memoirs.
• 5 nonfiction books about humans making natural disasters worse.
• 10 of the best books for plant lovers.
• 6 books in verse that will leave you in awe.

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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 created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

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Toodles, everyone. Catch you on the flip side.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Home Before Dark by Riley Sager.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. The world feels like it’s falling apart, but inside my little abode, my husband and I are trying to keep the new kitty from pestering our other kitty to death. Houdini likes to ambush our other cat, Gilbert, and it’s adorable because Houdini just wants to be friends, but Gilbert’s old and cranky and not amused by these youthful antics.

Anyway, on to library stuff!

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Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

• Library supporters urge action as the Senate recesses without a relief bill.
• The Anne Arundel library system in Maryland scaled back on indoor operations after an increasing number of patrons refused to wear masks.
• (TW: transphobia) Libraries in Ireland have opted to remove the book Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin from its shelves due to an email campaign by anti-trans protesters.
• There’s Little Free Library drama brewing! A resident in Alexandria, Virginia has accused a local bookstore owner of removing quality titles from the neighborhood LFL to stock his bookstore. Grab your popcorn!
• A thirty-year-old stash of beer and gum was found behind a wooden panel in the mystery section at the Walla Walla Public Library.

Cool Library Updates

• San Francisco Public Library announces its 2021 pick for One City, One Book: Know My Name by Chanel Miller.
• Hartford Public Library starts an antiracism book club.
• Community gardens are becoming very popular at public libraries.
• NYPL shared their essential feminist reads.

Worth Reading

• Libraries reopen in COVID-19 hot spots, but are library staff being protected?
• Librarian on a cart: bringing the library to the classroom.
• How public libraries can improve remote learning.
• Virtual book events to keep you and your patrons connected.

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Book Adaptations in the News

• Netflix announced Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices, a collection of twelve 5-minute episodes featuring Black celebrities and artists reading aloud children’s books by Black authors.
• Casting updates for Between the World and Me and The Boys.
• There’s an adaptation planned already for Rosie Danan’s upcoming romance novel, The Roommate, which comes out next month.
• Roxane Gay’s graphic novel The Banks is getting a film adaptation.
• The Henna Artist is headed to TV.
• Netflix and Disney are working on a trilogy of interconnected films based on the Fear Street series by R.L. Stine.
• One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus is set for TV.
• Jade City by Fonda Lee is headed to Peacock.
• Apple+ has ordered the first ever animated adaptation of Harriet the Spy.
• The BBC American series, The Watch, which is based on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, will debut in January 2021.
• Trailer for The Devil All the Time.

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Books & Authors in the News

• Michael Cohen talks about his upcoming tell-all book about Trump, which will be published on September 8th.
• Details about Bob Woodward’s upcoming second book about Trump: Rage.
• Reese Witherspoon picks her first YA selection for her book club: You Should See Me In a Crown by Leah Johnson.
• An all-star author lineup is set for a Fahrenheit 451 readathon on August 22nd, which would have been Ray Bradbury’s 100th birthday.
• Hilary Mantel says not to expect any more historical fiction now that her Thomas Cromwell trilogy is complete.
• Six-year-old Alyssa McClelland is a published picture book author with My Big Curly Fro.

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Numbers & Trends

• Midnight Sun sells over one million copies in its first week. And not surprisingly, Stephenie Meyer is planning at least two more books in the retold Twilight series.
• Romance sales have seen a big increase during quarantine.
• Mermaid mania is coming around again.

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Pop Cultured

• The Star Trek movie by Noah Hawley is on hold for the time being.

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Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

• Merriam-Webster launches a new podcast called Word Matters.
• How long do you give a book that you don’t immediately love?

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On the Riot

• Welcome back lessons for school librarians struggling through the pandemic.
• Bookish accessories for virtual teaching.

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Take a breath and take care of yourselves, folks. I’ll see you next week.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Anyone else hitting a wall from working at home? I had been doing fine for awhile, but now it’s like my brain refuses to do any sort of high-level thinking, planning, or executing, which is…irritating, to say the least. We’ll see if this week is any better.

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Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

• Minneapolis bookstores are rebuilding after sustaining damage during the protests against police brutality at the beginning of the summer.
• Why organizing workers in the book industry is so damn hard.

New & Upcoming Titles

• Andy Weir’s next book, Project Hail Mary, will be published on May 4, 2021.
• Sharon Stone has a memoir on the way.
• Bette Midler is publishing a children’s book.
• A first look at Weird Al’s upcoming photo book, Black & White & Weird All Over.
• George Eliot joins 24 female authors making their debuts under their real names, in this “Reclaim Her Name” collection.
• A look at the “mega year” in publishing, as previously delayed books are starting to arrive in droves.
• High-profile prequels of 2020.
• Blockbuster books of the summer.
• 13 buzzy books to read before the summer ends.
• August picks from Book Page (romance), Crime Reads, PopSugar, and Salon.
• 5 books in translation you may have missed in July.
• 15 new books to get excited for.
• Best books of the year so far.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents – Isabel Wilkerson (NPR, Washington Post)
• Luster – Raven Leilani (The Atlantic, New York Times)
• You Had Me at Hola – Alexis Daria (NPR)
• The Hollow Ones – Guillermo del Toro (Washington Post)

RA/Genre Resources

• A look at the wave of food memoirs and the lack of diversity.

On the Riot

• Four meaningful things you can do to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day from home.
• How to find the editor of a book.
• 10 great new indie press books for the summer.
• New YA dystopian reads for 2020.
• Reading pathway for Alice Hoffman.
• What makes a book a “beach read?”

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All Things Comics

• New York Comic Con is going virtual in October.
• 5 new graphic novel series for kids.
• 3 graphic novel detective stories for kids.

On the Riot

• The best SDCC panels to watch from home.
• A guide to the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier.
• Graphic novels and illustrated books about women.

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Audiophilia

• Best celebrity memoir audiobooks narrated by the authors.
• Audiobooks under 3 hours for readers with short attention spans.

On the Riot

• 6 of the best family dramas on audio.
• 15 LGBTQ YA audiobooks for the second half of the year.
• What’s your audiobook listening speed?

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Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

• 20 children’s books written by and about VP candidate Kamala Harris.
• Books that help kids learn a new language.
• 10 vampire books to pick up after finishing Midnight Sun.
• 27 YA books with strong female characters.

Adults

• 8 unsettling historical thrillers.
• 20 books like Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries (which HOLY COW is a bonkers show!)
• 7 books that take women’s bodies seriously.
• 14 Black authors you should read right now.
• 7 novels about studying abroad.
• 43 of the most iconic short stories in the English language.
• Greatest novels written about every sport.
• 9 novels about nannies for grown-up Baby-Sitters Club fans.
• 15 books you can read in one sitting.
• 11 new books that will change how you think about the climate crisis.

On the Riot

• 15 art books for preschoolers to bring out their inner Picasso.
• 15 books about Native American tradition and history for children.
• 8 insightful picture books to help kids cope with anxiety.
• 5 YA books about selkies.
• 9 YA folklore books from around the globe.
• 8 awesome zombie books for adults.
• 6 murder mysteries with classical music.
• 11 Black sci-fi authors to read right now.
• 7 books to inspire confidence.
• 10 books like Moby Dick if you loved (or mildly enjoyed) this book in school.
• 6 of the best South African Black authors writing about race.
• 10 compelling eco fiction reads.

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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 created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Mask up and stay hydrated. See you on Friday!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.