Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’ve spent the weekend in a fugue, trying to move past the fact that the Cubs front office traded away all of their best players in the span of 24 hours last week. If you have any coworkers who are Cubs fans, be gentle with them this week. If you’re a Cubs fan, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Okay. Let’s distract ourselves with some book talk.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
An Authors Guild diversity webinar asks: can book publishing actually change?
New & Upcoming Titles
Tamsyn Muir announces the next book in the Locked Tomb series: Nona the Ninth, which will publish in Fall 2022.
Here’s a sneak peek at John le Carré’s posthumous novel, Silverview, which will be published in October.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly working on a book about leadership and philanthropy.
Amanda Gorman is publishing a new book in December, called Call Us What We Carry.
A new Zora Neale Hurston essay collection will be published in 2022.
Random House will be releasing previously unpublished novellas in 2022 by Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby.
Self-published fantasy author Scarlett St. Clair (and former librarian!) has signed on with Sourcebooks/Bloom Books.
Molly Shannon is releasing a memoir in April 2022.
115+ picture, middle grade, and YA books coming out in 2021.
Spring 2022 sneak preview for children’s and YA titles.
Take a look at this new Publishers Weekly feature: Pandemic Missed Connections, which will talk about children’s and YA titles that may have gotten lost in the pandemic shuffle.
45 LGBTQ books that will heat up the literary landscape this fall.
Weekly book picks from Crime Reads, New York Times, and USA Today.
Best debut crime novels and international crime novels for July.
August picks from AVClub, Barnes & Noble, Epic Reads (YA), Gizmodo (SFF), New York Times, NPR, Popsugar (romance), Time, and Washington Post (mysteries/thrillers).
37 best books of 2021 (so far).
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
The Great Peace – Mena Suvari (LA Times, New York Times, Time, USA Today)
What Strange Paradise – Omar El Akkad (NPR, Washington Post)
A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel Garcia Márquez and Mercedes Barcha – Rodrigo Garcia (New York Times, Oprah Daily)
Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul – Jamie Ducharme (Washington Post)
In the Country of Others – Leila Slimani (The Guardian)
The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond With Forests and Nature – Peter Wohlleben (Washington Post)
Nightbitch – Rachel Yoder (Washington Post)
RA/Genre Resources
Readalikes for Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas.
Historical fiction is headed in new directions.
“New-wave westerns” rewrite the cliched narrative of the Old West.
It’s okay to just say you enjoy romance novels! (Also, a personal plea for all library workers to stop disparaging romance as a genre. If you don’t read it, you don’t read it, but we’ve got to move past the belief that romance novels are trashy, worthy of scorn, or a waste of collection dollars.)
Also: why men are reading romance novels.
Militaries plunder science fiction for technology ideas, but fail to recognize the genre’s social commentary.
On the Riot
#TheNewLatinoBoom: The rise of literature published in Spanish in the US.
What is the COVID-19 canon going to be?
New weekly releases to add to your TBR.
Fall releases you’ll want to put on hold at the library right now.
The best new poets you may not have heard of.
“I don’t know you: don’t ask me for book recommendations!” Okay, library staff really shouldn’t say this to patrons, but I think we’ve all felt this way before.
The ultimate guide to best books for teens by age.
The appeal of unlikeable female characters.
What’s the difference between WLW books, lesbian fiction, sapphic books, and F/F romance?
All Things Comics
Scarlett Johansson sues Disney for breach of contract over the release of Black Widow.
Nightmare Before Christmas gets a sequel in a new Disney manga.
18 Canadian comic books to read this summer.
France gave teens $350 to spend on “culture.” They bought comic books. 🙂
Graphic novelists who show us what loneliness means.
On the Riot
10 comic books about immigrants and immigration.
Everything you need to know about Harlequin manga.
12 must-read stories on DC Universe Infinite.
8 manga about school life.
Audiophilia
Tracey Ullman will be narrating the audio version of David Sedaris’ latest book, Carnival of Snackery.
Erik Larson is releasing a fiction audiobook about ghost hunting called No One Goes Alone, which will ONLY be released on audio. Um, sign me up now.
Midsummer mysteries & thrillers to put in your ears.
On the Riot
5 rising stars in audiobook narration.
12 LGBTQIA YA audiobooks to listen to in the second half of 2021.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
BIPOC children’s book authors that kids will love.
18 YA books set in dreamy California.
21 YA books featuring disabled and chronically ill characters.
Adults
The best books by Latinx writers to devour this summer.
11 Afro-Latinx writers whose work traverses the Americas.
A compendium of horror novels by state.
Books that explore the dark side of athletic perfection.
9 reads you won’t be able to get out of your head.
15 books if you like Haruki Murakami.
25 books by TED Speakers that will expand your mind.
13 laugh-out-loud mysteries.
5 thrillers to make you delete your social media accounts forever.
4 books for another brutal fire season.
4 books for ballet lovers.
5 books that capture the essence of coming of age.
15 books like Bridgerton, if you can’t get enough regency romance.
8 uplifting, feel-good reads.
On the Riot
Saddle up with these 15 horse books for kids.
YA books about plant magic and family secrets.
16 books like Red Queen.
9 spooky books set in high school.
Books about the Soviet Union.
9 fantasy books with epic political intrigue.
10 romances featuring smooth-talking podcasters and radio hosts.
9 books about being alone in space.
9 funny mysteries that will make you die of laughter.
16 Jane Eyre retellings.
10 enchanting bookstore mysteries.
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.
Have a good week, everyone. I’ll see you on Friday.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.
