RA for All Roadshow Visits The State Library of Tennessee for Recharge Your Book Club

Today kicks off a BUSY Fall. As usual, Fall is a popular time for training at libraries in general, and for me in particular. [See my upcoming schedule here.]

One of my favorite training topics is my program for Book Discussion Leaders. Recharge Your Book Club. It not only only features my original Group and Leader Norms [which you can download for yourself here] but it also is based on 20+ years of leading multiple books clubs. I understand the highs and lows of running a book club fully and I do not hold back on the advice. This is both a from the trenches and a wide lens look at the topic type of program. No matter where you are on the book discussion leader continuum, from bran new to seasoned vet, there is something here to help you.

One of my favorite things about doing this program virtually is that the group can create their own "Under the Radar" list of titles in the chat, a list that every participant can use as a new and locally sourced resource for more title options.

Today, the webinar is going out to all libraries in TN. I have visited TN a few times in person and am excited that I might have a few friendly faces in the audience.

Here is the link to the slides for everyone. There are A LOT of great links embedded

Also, this is a great program for your regional system to offer to your book discussion leading staff. One of the benefits of gathering these folks together for this training is that they can meet each other and begin working together to help all book clubs. Contact me to offer this or other training programs. If it is virtual, I can squeeze you in somewhere, especially if it is for established and proven programs like this one [which has had a recent overhaul].

See some of you in TN this afternoon.

Click here for slide access

Murder, They Wrote Slides and Recording

Click here for the video
or here for the slides.

Earlier this month, the Adult Reading Round Table, in partnership with RAILS had an excellent and FREE event entitled, "Murder, They Wrote."

This program was in two distinct parts. Part 1 featured librarian Cari Dubiel interviewing members of the author collective-- Crime Writers of Color. The authors were:

• Wanda Morris
• Alex Segura
• Kellye Garrett
• Mia P. Manansala

[You can look up all of the members, with their identities, here]

I featured a guest post by Cari about Crime Writers of Color back in March of this year here. 

During this part of the program, the authors all had a chance to introduce themselves and their work. They recommended other titles and talked about the organization. That in and of itself was fascinating and fun.

But then, Part 2 added even more value! A panel of librarians including Cari and my good friend Karen Toonen [among others] talked about suggesting diverse Crime Fiction. They book talked sure bet authors and Karen gave a great talk about how and why you need to be actively incorporate marginalized voices into your work. Karen and I have worked together [with Robin too] in the past so some of what she said echoes what I say, but Karen is also actively engaged in this work as she manages the collections and tech services staff for  the second largest library [by circulation] in the state of IL. In other words, she knows what she is talking about in theory and practice.

This entire FREE program is worth your time.

Click here to watch the recording of the entire program.

And here for slide access.

Using Awards Lists as a RA Tool: Ned Kelly Awards for Australian Crime Fiction

This is part of my ongoing series on "Using Awards Lists as a RA Tool." Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.

Crime fiction is the number one or two circulating genre of fiction at every public library in American, no matter its size. As a result, we need access to as many resources as possible in order to help our patrons.

This week the Australian Crime Writers Association announced the winners of the 2021 Ned Kelly Awards here. From their site:

The Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious recognition honouring published crime fiction and true crime writing. The categories are Best Crime Fiction, Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best True Crime and Best International Crime Fiction. Entries are accepted for books published in the 12 months prior to 1 March each year.

Since Australia is an English language speaking country, that means there is a very good chance the books are easily available in America too. 

Crime Fiction set anywhere is popular and if we have access to a less mainstream but still critically acclaimed list of titles, well that is a treasure trove of information for every single one of us and our readers.

Remember [use links in the intro to this post if you don't], it is not only the winners we use as a resource. It is the full list of all nominees for this year, and even going back 5 years, that you can count on as solid suggestions.

Bonus: if you have access to NoveList they also load and tag the Ned Kelly winners since Australian libraries also use the database. That means you can expect links to any reviews or articles for these titles to be available on their site too. All of which gives you more points of access to use this information to help a reader.

Finally, since I have your attention, don't forget about  CrimeReads which is the very best resource for all of your Crime Fiction needs. They cover the genre with a broad lens and include True Crime. The combination of news, upcoming books lists, essays, and themed articles [like this great new one about the importance of setting on certain crime novels], make it a favorite resource for both informing myself and suggesting books to actual readers.

Practice Makes Perfect: Reminder to Check Out #AskALibrarian

Hey it's Thursday and I want to remind you that every Thursday over on Twitter you can practice your RA skills with #AskALibrarian. Remember, my 10th Rule of Basic RA Service is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! And this is one of the best ways you can practice. It is free, accessible to all, and fun.

Below, I have re-posted from the blog back in December of 2015 when #AskALibrarian first began.

While participating in the live, weekly event is great, the easiest way to practice at any time is to lurk on the hashtag. And you do NOT need a Twitter account to lurk. Just click here and you can see every and any question and the answers.

Yes, you cannot reply without a login, but much of the learning happens by simply seeing real readers ask questions so you can (1) know what people are interested in reading about in real time, (2) see what other library professionals are suggesting for those questions, (3) practice looking for different answers yourself, and (4) learn about titles you may not have hear about before. 

That's a lot of practice. And you can do it live every Thursday from 12-1 eastern or anytime here. 

You have no excuse not to practice. Oh, and don't think you are too good to not need practice. I may not get to the live event often [Thursdays are bad for me in general], but I check the hashtag at least once a week, and I am the one training all of you. If it is good enough for me, it is good enough for you.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015

#AskaLibrarian: New Interactive RA Tool for Staff and Patrons

There are a lot of Twitter chats that are relevant to library workers who help leisure readers, but there is a fairly new one that I think stands out as one of the best already. #AskaLibrarian.


Details:

Librarians are always interested in sharing book recommendations, and now they have a new tool. Each Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. EST, they can turn to #AskaLibrarian, a twitter initiative launched by Penguin Random House and Read It Forward, a reader community program sponsored by Crown Publishing Group’s Community Development department.

Below is the full text of the article describing what this Twitter chat is trying to do. [Here is the link to the original.] 

Please try to participate either with questions or answers.  Thursdays are often a meeting day for me, so I can’t be a part of it every week, but I have already participated once and loved the experience.  This past Thursday, I was booked all day, but still went back to use the hashtag, many hours later, to see what I missed.

When I did participate I loved two things about the chat:

1. The content itself was very useful. People were asking questions and throwing out titles like crazy.  And because of the format and range of people following, the results were amazingly varied and usable right away.  I loved the mix of old and new titles. Often there is a lot of useless information to filter out in any of these social media chats, but not so much here.
2. This chat is moderated very well. The moderators are clearly stepping in and keeping control. From making sure people don’t just reply to the “asker,” to resending requests that may have been lost in the shuffle, to keeping the conversation focused on its main mission, the moderators are working hard to make sure the chat itself is as positive and fruitful an experience as possible.

It has mostly been library and publishing people so far. The next push is to get patrons and consumers involved.  I will be interested to see how that goes, but I for one am happy with #AskaLibrarian already. It is worth your time to at least take a look.

 ______________________________________________

#AskaLibrarian Gives Librarians and Readers a New Tool

Librarians are always interested in sharing book recommendations, and now they have a new tool. Each Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. EST, they can turn to #AskaLibrarian, a twitter initiative launched by Penguin Random House and Read It Forward, a reader community program sponsored by Crown Publishing Group’s Community Development department.

The initiative brings together librarians, library patrons, other consumers, library marketing representatives, and publishers in a huge tweet swap on good books and readalikes. The hashtag facilitates searches by anyone who can’t jump in at the appointed hour.

Launched on November 11, #AskaLibrarian attracted over 200 contributors and over 600 tweets on its maiden voyage, reaching 1.1 million people on Twitter. The following week’s chat had similar numbers, and a retweet by @twitterbooks (which has over four million followers) promises to bring in more consumers—especially important with the holidays coming, when #AskaLibrarian’s promoters hope to make a big push. It adds up to a lot of book talk for readers everywhere, but librarians definitely run this show.

Why #AskaLibrarian?

Tasked with developing reader relations, folks at Crown’s newly established Community Development department turned to Read It Forward, which has been around since 2008. “We surveyed our audience to see how they get book recommendations, and 25 percent cited libraries,” says senior manager Alana Buckbee. “So we saw this as an avenue to explore.”

Buckbee already knew that librarians frequently tweeted about Crown titles—“I’m on twitter all day long,” she observes—and also knew that there was no truly active book chat on Twitter. Putting it all together, she came up with the idea of a twitter chat orchestrated by librarians, “not just your local library, but something scaled up, instantaneous, and online,” she says.

With librarians swooping online to offer personalized book recommendations (and asking for recommendations, too), Buckbee sees the chat as mutually beneficial for librarians and readers—and great for publishers, too. “Librarians have deep backlist knowledge,” she explains, “and our backlist is filled with gems that our readers have yet to discover.” Certainly, #AskaLibrarian promises to put bring many backlist titles to the fore.

While #AskaLibrarian is an initiative of PRH (of which Crown is a division), other publishers are welcome to join the conversation—and already have. Many librarians are on board, as are the LJ book review editors, who are helping to spearhead the conversation.

Next up: bringing in more consumers, and not just for holiday list making. Buckbee encourages librarians to spread the word, letting their patrons know about the initiative “in any ways they already communicate with readers.” After all, what’s the best way to learn about a great new book? Ask a librarian.

Schedule of Programs for 2021 National Book Festival

Yesterday the National Book Festival Announced their lineup and it is all virtual. Make sure you are making this event accessible to your patrons through your websites and regular programing channels. 

With the increase in virtual options, it is important for libraries to remember that your virtual programming does not all have to be created and or run by you specifically. Something like the National Book Festival can easily be a 10 day event celebrated and presented by your library. It is the best way to get the most interested eyes on the content. 

And as you can see here, there are events for all ages of readers.

Here is the official announcement from the National Book Festival Blog:

We’ve just announced the author lineup and schedule of programs for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival! The 10-day festival, taking place Sept. 17-26, features more than 100 authors, poets and writers in a range of formats — all celebrating the festival theme, “Open a Book, Open the World.” You can engage with your favorite authors through virtual live events, question-and-answer sessions, on-demand videos and two ticketed in-person events at the Library.

This year’s festival also expands its reach with author interviews on NPR podcasts, virtual live events with The Washington Post, a one-hour television special on PBS and virtual events from PBS Books on Facebook in collaboration with public television stations and libraries across the country. You’ll also want to check out the new “Festival Near You” section on the festival website, which highlights associated festival events across the country (make sure to explore the interactive map!). Local libraries, community centers and attendees are encouraged to host watch parties and other community events in their local areas.

Read the schedule announcement here, and get all the details to start making plans for your own festival experience on the 2021 National Book Festival website!

Click here to access the full schedule

New Book Release Eve and a Podcast Appearance to Get You Excited and Ready

Well the day is almost upon us. The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, 3rd edition is arriving in the warehouse today and is shipping to preorders tomorrow.

To celebrate, I chatted with my friend Steve Thomas on his excellent librarian interview podcast, Circulating Ideas. 

My appearance is episode 206 and you can access it by clicking here. Steve also shared the transcript with me and I have made it accessible here. Steve has a page with all of the transcripts available here.

Listen to me, of course, but also remember that Circulating Ideas is an excellent resource on its own. Steve started the podcast in order to learn more about librarianship. And he has been going for 10 years now! From the homepage:

Circulating Ideas facilitates conversations with the innovative people and ideas inspiring libraries to grow and thrive in the 21st century.

Circulating Ideas provides everyone a window into the profession with a conversation style that is comfortable and curious. Please click here for other times I have posted about Circulating Ideas, including links to presentations about podcasting Steve have given in the past.

I hope you listen to me AND subscribe to keep circulating the ideas. 

And order The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, 3rd edition. The spooky season kicks off in earnest 9/1. Trust me, this book is all you need to survive Horror's most popular time of year, and then you can use it to sustain the fear all year long [trust me, people want you to even if the idea makes your skin crawl].

Don't have sticker shock when you click through. If you are an ALA member you get a discount AND there is a coupon code at the top of this page. Remember it is a textbook, from an academic publisher, not a novel from a major publisher. But also, I charge $350 to give the 90 minute presentation version of the book, and that is just a scratching of the surface. Looking through it in that light, the book is definitely a great deal.

Click here to listen

Using Awards Lists as a RA Tool: Splatterpunk Awards Edition

This is part of my ongoing series on "Using Awards Lists as a RA Tool." Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.

On Saturday KillerCon happened, virtually. At this event the Splatterpunk awards are given out. Click here for all of the nominees and here for backlist nominees and winners. Below is the full press release with this year's winners.

These winners are titles you need to add. One, True Crime, I featured in my October 2020 Readers' Shelf column in Library Journal here, but all are excellent choices for general public library collections. Yes they are technically, "Extreme" Horror, but if you have a single erotica title [and I know every single one of you has 50 Shades of Grey so the answer is, yes you do], you can have these titles.

Show your Horror readers that you are thinking of them by having award winning titles available for them to check out.

Also, don't forget, I have a page on this blog which archives all of the major Horror Awards.

Founders Wrath James White and Brian Keene announced the winners of the 4th annual Splatterpunk Awards — honoring honoring superior achievement in horror fictions’ Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror categories published in 2020 — on Saturday, August 21, 2021.

The Splatterpunk Award nominations are suggested by readers and fans. The final ballot is made up of the top seven nominations for each category. Then, a rotating jury of critics and academics read the works on the ballot and vote on the winners.

The winners for this year are:

Best Novel: The Magpie Coffin - Wile E. Young (Deaths Head Press)
Best Novella: True Crime - Samantha Kolesnik (Grindhouse Press)
Best Short Story: “My Body” - Wesley Southard (from Midnight In The Pentagram, Silver Shamrock Publishing)
Best Collection: The Essential Sick Stuff - Ronald Kelly (Silver Shamrock Publishing)
Best Anthology: Worst Laid Plans - Samantha Kolesnik (Grindhouse Press)

In addition, John Skipp was presented with the J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous LAA recipients are David J. Schow, David G. Barnett, and Edward Lee.

White and Keene also announced the formation of the Splatterpunk Awards Hall of Fame - a physical, traveling memorial and showcase honoring those who have left their mark on the fields of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror. The initial Splatterpunk Award Hall of Fame Inductees will be: David J. Schow, David Barnett, Edward Lee, John Skipp. Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, Charlee Jacob, John Pelan, and J.F. Gonzalez. The Hall of Fame will debut in Austin, Texas next August.

Resource Alert: Readalikes for Perennial Favorites via Booklist

Pretty much every library subscribes to Booklist magazine. While the physical magazine often does a slow march throughout a building, very few library workers have the FREE with your subscription online access set up to use all the time and any time.

It is VERY easy to do, but it requires coordination with the staff who manage your subscriptions and have them get you the password. Details are here from Booklist. It will take some time, but once it is set up, you are good to go. You can also click through and email for help. 

I have online access and I can tell you, you are missing out on a lot of content without it. And again, you are already paying for it but not using it. This is so frustrating.

Booklist wants you to get the most for your money so they started a series entitled, "Booklist Better," a series of tips designed to help you make the most out of your Booklist subscription.

The first article is entitled, "Finding Readalikes for Perennial Favorites." It explains how editors are always cross referencing readalikes, going back to older favorite titles to add the newer titles that reference that older one. It sounds confusing when I write it, but Susan Maguire explains it all here. And she is right, it is readers' advisory gold!

Click through and see for yourself. And then get your FREE online access set up so you can use Booklist to it's fullest RA glory.

NPR Summer Reads: SF and Fantasy of last 10 Years Results

As I posted here, the 2021 NPR Summer Reading Poll was focused on the best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the last 10 years.  Below I have the introduction to the post and a link to the full list. This list is organized into the following categories of appeal:

• Worlds To Get Lost In
• Words To Get Lost In
• Will Take You On A Journey
• Will Mess With Your Head
• Will Mess With Your Heart
• Will Make You Feel Good.

I love the natural language access points here. Read it all, click though, bookmark it and don't forget the awesome backlist of previous summer reader polls [more on the below]. This is a useful information you can use immediately, but also, the thought put into speaking directly to readers, to encourage them to give these books a try [even if outside their normal reading area] is fantastic. 

We all should try to booktalk titles with this more conversational language. And now, to the list.....

We Asked, You Answered: Your 50 Favorite Sci-Fi And Fantasy Books Of The Past Decade

August 18, 20215:00 AM ET

PETRA MAYER

Deborah Lee for NPR

The question at the heart of science fiction and fantasy is "what if?" What if gods were real, but you could kill them? What if humans finally made it out among the stars — only to discover we're the shabby newcomers in a grand galactic alliance? What if an asteroid destroyed the East Coast in 1952 and jump-started the space race years early?

This year's summer reader poll was also shaped by a series of "what ifs" — most importantly, what if, instead of looking at the entire history of the field the way we did in our 2011 poll, we only focused on what's happened in the decade since? These past 10 years have brought seismic change to science fiction and fantasy (sometimes literally, in the case of N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series), and we wanted to celebrate the world-shaking rush of new voices, new perspectives, new styles and new stories. And though we limited ourselves to 50 books this time around, the result is a list that's truly stellar — as poll judge Tochi Onyebuchi put it, "alive."

As always, there was a pretty extensive decision-making process that went into the list, involving our fabulous panel of expert judges — but we know you eager readers want to get right to the books. So if you're inclined, follow these links to find out how we built the list (and what, sadly, didn't make it this year). Otherwise, scroll on for the list!

We've broken it up into categories to help you find the reading experience you're looking for, and you can click on these links to go directly to each category:

Worlds To Get Lost In, Words To Get Lost In, Will Take You On A Journey, Will Mess With Your Head, Will Mess With Your Heart, Will Make You Feel Good.

Becky back here.....

You can click here for the entire post or on the specific categories above to access the full list and all of the annotations. There is also easy backlist access to past NPR Summer Reads content at this link.

Get busy helping patrons uncover some awesome, recent speculative reads right now! And book mark NPR Books always for tons of thoughtful and useful resources to help readers. 

NoveList State of RA Webinar is FREE and Today!

Reposting today because the webinar is TODAY!!!! I will be there. Will you?

FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2021

RA Survey Results Available and a Webinar to Dive Deeper

A few months ago, I posted about a new national survey on RA Practice here. It was sponsored by Library Journal, NoveList, RUSA CODES, LibraryReads and ARRT. Click here for that post.

Click here to read the article

Well today the results document went live on the LJ site. Click here to access it immediately. There is A LOT of data, charts, narratives, and quotes. It is very comprehensive and absolutely fascinating. 

Please look at it. There is much to digest but it is an excellent overview of boots on the ground, average RA Service as it is happening all over the country. 

But again, there is a lot to digest, even for me, even as someone who has seen portions of the report before it went live. So read it today, go back to it in a week or so, but also, sign up for the NoveList webinar which I have linked here and below. It is on August 18th and it is FREE. The assembled parties will break down some of the data and discuss things in more detail.

I am signed up and will be there. Hope you can join us too. But in the meantime, click here for the report.

Click here to register

 

Libraries are always evolving to meet the changing world and needs around them; however, helping readers is a constant, essential service. Does your library offer a readers’ advisory (RA) service? Have your RA efforts changed over the last year during COVID? Do you ever wonder how your RA service compares to that of libraries across the US?  

In this session, we’ll explore the findings of the State of Readers' Advisory 2021 survey, conducted by Library Journal and sponsored by RUSA CODES, ARRT, LibraryReads, and NoveList. Join Danielle Borasky (NoveList), Amy Dittmeier (Blue Island Public Library), Michelle Morris (Fort Worth Public Library), Carolina Saldivar (Denver Public Library), Barry Trott (Williamsburg Regional Library), and Jessica Trotter (Capital Area District Libraries), as they share insights, trends, and inspiration from the survey.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021
2-3 pm ET

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Booklist Spotlight is Science Fiction, Fantasy, and HORROR! [With a Bonus Excerpt From My New Book]

My personal favorite issue of the year for Booklist is out now-- the annual Spotlight on Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. And since my book and Booklist are both under the ALA publishing umbrella, they are also running this excerpt from the preface of my about to be published [any day] new book, and if you click through, there is an even better coupon than the one at the top of this page! 

This year there are the standard top 10 lists for books in these genres: one for debuts and one for the rest. Click here for the Top 10 SF/F/H and one for the Top 10 Debuts. Both feature books reviewed by me.

Also of note is a great list by Summer Scares committee member and Booklist editor, Julia Smith entitled, Scaring Up YA: Adult Horror Novels for Teens. This list features books both brand new and a bit from the backlist. All are great and many I have read and reviewed in either Booklist or Library Journal. Click here to access that one.

But my favorite part of the entire issue is a list that was my editor Susan Maguire's idea, one that we worked on together entitled: "Spectrum of Horror: From Shivers to Terror." Click here to access it or click on the screen shot of the page [below] as it is laid out in the print issue.

But to get you as excited as we are about this list, here is the introduction:

Spectrum of Horror: From Shivers to Terror

By Susan Maguire and Becky Spratford.

Horror is a genre that elicits strong feelings, and readers look for those thrills and chills. But not everybody wants an all-out gore fest, nor does everybody want a light sense of spookiness, and fortunately horror writers provide many levels of fright in between these extremes. This Spectrum of Horror will help you match the right intensity of scariness with the right reader. Of course we understand that “scary” means different things for different people, but between a horror-reading veteran, Booklist horror reviewer Becky; and a real scaredy-cat, Booklist senior editor Susan, we think we’ve placed each book in the right place.

Click here or below to keep reading.

Halloween is coming and you need to get ready and Booklist is here to help. And now I am off to finish another review for a future issue of Booklist which is due today! 

Click here to access the list online

LibraryReads: September 2021

   It's LibraryReads day and that means four things here on RA for All

1. I post the list and tag it “Library Reads” so that you can easily pull up every single list with one click.
2. I can remind you that even though the newest list is always fun to see, it is the older lists where you can find AWESOME, sure bet suggestions for patrons that will be on your shelf to actually hand to them right now. The best thing about LibraryReads is the compound interest it is earning. We now have hundreds and hundreds of titles worth suggesting right at our fingertips through this archive OR the sortable master list allowing you to mix and match however you want.
3. You have no excuse not to hand sell any LibraryReads titles because there is a book talk right there in the list in the form of the annotation one of your colleagues wrote for you. All you have to say to your patron is, “such and such library worker in blank state thought this was a great read,” and then you read what he or she said.
4. Every upcoming book now has at least 1 readalike that is available to hand out RIGHT NOW. Book talk the upcoming book, place a hold for it, and then hand out that readalike title for while they wait. If they need more titles before their hold comes in, use the readalike title to identify more readalike titles. And then keep repeating. Seriously, it is that easy to have happy, satisfied readers.

So get out there and suggest a good read to someone today. I don’t care what list or resource you use to find the suggestion, just start suggesting books.

Please remember to click here for everything you need to know about how to participate. Click here to see a database of eligible diverse titles sorted by month.

And finally, here is LibraryReads' extremely helpful Resources page.

Now let's get to that list.... 

 

Announcing the September 2021 LibraryReads List! 

Under the Whispering Door 

by TJ Klune

Tor Books

“After dying of a heart attack, Wallace ends up in Charon’s Crossing Tea and Treats, a shop run by Hugo the ferryman, whose job is to help people come to terms with their death and cross over. Wallace learns and grows, becoming better in death than in life. For readers who enjoy character-driven, humorous, and heartrending stories and fans of A Man Called Ove, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance, and Less.”

 

Andrea Roberts, West Hampton Library, West Hampton Beach, NY

NoveList read-alike: Daisy Cooper's Rules for Living by Tamsin Keily

And now the rest of the list:

The Charm Offensive: A Novel 

Allison Cochrun

Atria Books

“Charlie signed up for the reality dating show to rebrand his image. Little did he know he would fall for his producer, Dev. Can Dev and Charlie create the picture-perfect romance on screen, or will their behind-the-scenes romance derail both of their career plans? For fans of reality romance, One To Watch, and Something to Talk About.”

—Kari Bingham-Gutierrez, Olathe Public Library, Olathe, KS 
NoveList read-alike: Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel 

by Anthony Doerr

Scribner

“Several main storylines, all connected to a “lost” ancient Greek manuscript, are set in 15th century Constantinople, present day Idaho, and a spaceship in the future. Much of the beauty of this novel is in watching the pieces slowly come together to tell an eternal story that is both heartbreaking and hopeful. For fans of All the Light We Cannot See, and Cloud Atlas.”

—Jenifer May, Secaucus Public Library, Secaucus, NJ 
NoveList read-alike: Crossings by Alex Landragin

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law 

by Mary Roach

W.W. Norton & Company

“Roach once again proves that she is one of the best pop science writers out there. From door knobs to divine intervention, with some lasers and effigies thrown in for fun, she chronicles the push and pull of the human/wildlife struggle for co-existence. You will laugh, you will likely cry, and you'll never look at Indian elephants quite the same way. For fans of Bill Bryson and Sarah Vowell.”

—Marianne Kruppa, Indianapolis Public Library, Indianapolis, IN 
NoveList read-alike: Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking by Rachel Love Nuwer

Harlem Shuffle: A Novel

by Colson Whitehead

Doubleday

“Read if you want a brilliantly plotted heist novel set in 1960s New York. The Harlem setting with its creeping gentrification is a significant part of the story. For readers who enjoyed Deacon King Kong and Black Bottom Saints.”

—Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA 
NoveList read-alike: Only the Strong by Jabari Asim

The Last House on Needless Street 

by Catriona Ward

Tor Nightfire

"In a boarded-up house on a remote street live recluse Ted, his daughter Lauren, Dee (sister of a long-missing girl), and Olivia, a Bible-quoting cat. Wonderfully eerie and twisted psychological horror, with an ending you’re sure you’ve read before (until you realize you haven’t). For fans of Stephen Graham Jones and Shirley Jackson."

—Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, TX
NoveList read-alike: The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

The Love Hypothesis 

by Ali Hazelwood

Berkley Jove

“Stanford scientists Olive and Adam begin fake- dating out of mutual convenience, but their relationship causes all sorts of issues on campus. Readers will grow to root for this brainy duo in neuroscientist Hazelwood’s romcom debut. For readers of The Kiss Quotient and The Rosie Project."

—Cari Dubiel, Twinsburg Public Library, Twinsburg, OH 
NoveList read-alike: A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole

The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery 

By Richard Osman

Pamela Dorman Books

“The competent senior quartet of The Thursday Murder Club returns, this time tracking down stolen diamonds while dealing with a troublesome ex-husband, a local drug queenpin, the arrival of the mafia, and a growing number of murders. An utter delight. For fans of The Postscript Murders and the Flavia de Luce mysteries.”

—Julie Graham, Yakima Valley Libraries, Yakima, WA 
NoveList read-alike: An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten

Never Saw Me Coming: A Novel 

by Vera Kurian

Park Row

“A trio of psychopaths attending a Washington D.C. college take part in a study to see if they can be taught to live productively. When a murderer targets campus, they need to work together to determine if they’re among the hunted. This is a jaw- dropping, read-in-one-sitting thriller. For readers of Gillian Flynn and Caroline Kepnes.”

—Douglas Beatty, Baltimore County Public Library, Baltimore, MD 
NoveList read-alike: I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

No Gods, No Monsters

By Cadwell Turnbull

Blackstone Publishing

“As creatures from myth and legend reveal themselves to be real, we’re reminded that people often are the actual monsters. Turnbull’s prose is gorgeous and lush, using contemporary fantasy as a lens to examine real-world oppression and injustice. For fans of Victor LaValle, Tade Thompson and Marlon James.”

—Carol Ann Tack, Merrick Library, Merrick, N.Y. 
NoveList read-alike: The Devourers by Indra Das

The LibraryReads Hall of Fame designation honors authors who have had multiple titles appear on the monthly LibraryReads list since 2013. When their third title places on the list via library staff votes, the author moves into our Hall of Fame.

Click here to access the Hall of Fame Archive with annotations and readalikes

 

The Last Graduate: A Novel 

by Naomi Novik

Del Rey

No Words: A Novel 

by Meg Cabot

William Morrow Paperbacks

Portrait of a Scotsman 

by Evie Dunmore

Berkley Jove