Back in December, I had this post about my favorite end of the year Best List-- LitHubs's Ultimate Best Books List.
What I love about this list is how it crowd sources dozens of major publications' "Best Lists" from all over and totals them all up to see what the most popular "Best" titles are. It gives you a survey of the entire "Best" landscape in an easy snapshot. If you look at that post or use the LitHub tag for all of their ultimate lists you can get current and backlist lists that look at all the lists. While that is a lot of instances of the word list, you get what I mean. LitHub's "Ultimate Lists" are an excellent resource because by definition they are crowd sourced, but also because LitHub makes it so easy to get the current list and the last few year's of lists with a single tagged link.
That's a general PSA for all of their "Ultimate Lists," but right now I want to focus of the current 2024 Ultimate Summer Reading List.
Author Emily Temple read 23 lists and crunched the numbers. This is THE summer reading list you need for your patrons because it is comprised of all the lists.
Below I have reprinted the intro but you can click here to read The Ultimate Summer 2024 Reading List.
Of course, many of these books will be checked out all summer, but many of these authors have older books you can suggest to readers while they wait.
Post this list online and in your libraries as the "Best of the Summer Reading Lists." Put up a sign and then fill the display with Summer Reading titles that are on the shelf. Use titles from previous years (use my Summer Reading tag for help with that), with previous titles by these authors, and with readalike titles for all of the authors.
I feel like a broken record, but it bares repeating. Books do not have to be from this exact summer to be great summer reads. Any book can be on that list. There is no summer reading police. Get creative but use the marketing of "Summer Reading" to your advantage and draw readers to you.
This is also a great time to use my conversation starter to display post to ask your staff and readers to share this favorite "Summer Reads." Note, I did not say, favorite Summer Reads out in 2024. Keep it broader. Find out what they have loved the most and you can not only make a display, but get some, in real time, feedback about what your patrons like to read in the summer. And it makes for an easy, interactive display that SHOWS your patrons that you are listening to them.
Be creative and broad with your "Summer Reading" lists, suggestions, and displays. Include titles from year's past, include other books by the authors on this year's lists, include readalikes for these authors... You get my point. Be as open as possible.
Give people more options that what they see in that one list they saw on that one website. No one is going to "check your math," and be like, "Umm....what list told you this was a "best" summer read." Of course not. They trust you to help them find the books they wouldn't find without you. They expect to fond things at the library they wouldn't see other places. This is where we excel and leave a mark on those we assist with their leisure reading. Embrace it and go for it.
And Ultimate Lists are a great resource to begin. Here's the intro and a link to the full list.
It’s (un)officially summer, which means the living is easy, days and legs are stretching out languorously, and you’ve got sunshine hours to burn by the pool. (Unless, of course, you’re a parent.) But which books should fill your beach bag/backyard/pool house library this year? The internet, as always, hasthean answer. So as usual, I have endeavored to find it.If you’re new here, here’s how it works:
1. I read all of the Most Anticipated Books of Summer and Best Summer Reading lists that flood the internet this time of year (or at least as many as I can find).
2. I count how many times each individual book is mentioned.
3. I collate that information for you in this handy list.There are noticeably fewer summer reading lists floating around this year. It’s possible some outlets are waiting later to run their summer reading lists, but it may also be a function of the state of online media (crumbling), or the fall of the list (imaginary), or something-something AI (possible, very very possible). But I still managed to read 23 lists, which recommended a grand total of 456 books. 59 of those books were mentioned at least 3 times, and these I have collated in descending order of popularity below.
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