What I'm Reading: June 2026 Library Journal

My June 2026 Horror Review Column is now live on the LJ site and in the current issue of the print magazine! 

In this post I have gathered the titles with my three words and links to my full draft reviews on Goodreads. Click on the titles for readalikes and more appeal information. 

First this month's 3 STARS: 

• The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen [Excruciating discomfort, Artist Descends into Madness, highly original]
• A Plagues Sea by Kim Bo-young, Sophie Bowman (Translator) [Lovecraft retelling, immersive fear, sea soaked horror]
• Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night II edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore Van Alst, Jr. [Indigenous Horror, Range of Scares, Unapologetic]
  

And now the 5 other excellent books I review in this issue:

• Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon [dual time frame, folk horror, terrifying]
• Interview with the author in this issue [link will be added when available online]
• Carry Me To My Grave by Christopher Golden [race against time, family secrets, ancient evil]
  
• Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle [body horror, "occult zombie escapade"(quote from book), love is all you need]
• The Burn Line by Jonathan Sims [Multiple Points of view, Social Commentary, Horror-Mystery]
• The Sunken, The Adored by Donyae Coles [strong sense of place, lush and sensual, chilling]

Pride Month Begins: Why you MUST Participate and Advice to Support LGBTQIA+ Authors All Year Long

This is a repost of an evergreen reminder post as Pride Month Begins.

Pride Month Begins: Why you MUST Participate and Advice to Support LGBTQIA+ Authors All Year Long

Today marks the start of Pride Month and I know, because people have reached out to me about this, that many libraries are either being told NOT to put up Pride displays or they are selecting not to.

I need to unequivocally tell you that this is not okay. No matter what you MUST put up a Pride Display.

We should celebrate all of the identity months at the library...every single one. Why? Well a couple of reasons. First, they give you a chance to highlight a community and allow them to see themselves in your collections. Second, the media in general has picked up on all of this months and they are all over the news even used by corporations in their marketing. By not celebrating any of these identity months, you will stand out for your lack of participation. 

Now, I know some of you are under attack from those who want to stop you from doing Pride in particular, but to that I say, you cannot give in. In fact, June is the easiest time for those of you under attack to highlight LGBTQ items because the entire world is doing it. You are no  different. And if you did anything for other identity months (Black History, AAPPI, etc...) you are simply following that lead. 

This is also why I advocate for drafting Book Display Procedures. Notice I say "procedures." Those do not require your Board to get involved, that is policy. Procedures are created by staff to guide what they are doing and make sure things are standardized. Here is a post where I write about starting with the main goal of your displays being"We will promote and display books that our readers would not find on their own." 

From there you need to add that you will have a featured display for every identity month. And also a final statement that you will make sure your displays are intentionally diverse. Why?  Because this allows you to offer the widest range of titles as possible to your patrons. You can decide if you set a number or percentage to use as a guide, but these three statements need to be in your display policy.

Once you have that in writing, you can use it to audit all displays, remind those who do not comply (ie, put up all white, hetero displays) that they need to fix them, and, most importantly, if they don't comply, write them up for not following established procedures. When you put things in writing, you show all staff that you are serious about this work and you have a way to discipline those who don't follow the rules. As Robin likes to say, "You can't stop people from being racist, but you can make it against the rules." She also like to add, "They probably won't be willing to lose their health insurance over it." But if they are, I say, good riddance.

This procedure will also protect you if you get a challenge to a Pride Display by allowing you to use the  less inflammatory argument, "We have procedures that state that we have a featured display for every identity month." Or if you have a Women's History display up with a trans woman author, you can point to the procedure that says you make sure every display is as diverse as possible so that you can offer the widest range of titles to your patrons. When push comes to shove you can also make the money argument that our collections represent the second largest monetary investment of our library (building/real estate is first) and we owe it to our taxpayers to get the books they would want, if only they knew about them, in their hands.

[These moments are when my two decades as a trustee come in handy.]

These are the basics. But there is so much more you can and should do, but we need to start here. The most important thing you can do to promote all marginalized voices is to make sure you have these titles in every display. In March of 2022, Robin Bradford, myself, and Alene Moroni did an "Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers" Preconference at PLA (details here). During her section, Alene gave advice on this that I quote everywhere I go because it is so easy to follow.

To paraphrase Alene, when you move from February to March-- Black History to Women's History months-- you start by simply removing all of the authors that identify as men from the Black History display, leaving all of those who identify as women. Then you add other women to the display. This ensures that your display is diverse before you even started.

Now, taking it back a step, you should have already had LGBTQ authors already in the Black History month display. As we move throughout the year, you keep authors that apply to each month on display. The more you do this, the easier it will be to diversify your displays because they will already be diverse before you switch them up.

But specifically, since LGBTQ authors can be included in every identity month, you should be making sure they are represented always. Having LGBTQ authors on display all of the time will help to give you less inflammatory examples when people challenge anything LGBTQ, any time of year. You can make it clear that all of your displays are always diverse in every way, all of the time and point to LGBTQ authors showing up in every display.

The key take away here is that you CANNOT include marginalized voices ONLY during their identity months. This practice is harmful. When you have, for example, a Fantasy display, you must make sure every identity is represented within that display. It is good practice in that it offers a full range of perspectives of the genre and because doing so will allow you to argue back to those who want to stop you from highlighting anything that isn't white and straight. You can confidently say, we incorporate all voices in every display. Only doing it in an identity month opens you up to being challenged.

Again reminder that general display procedures will not only support you in these challenges but also, will make it standard for all staff to follow them. This will ensure that even staff who do not want to make their displays diverse, have to. This ensures that you don't have some displays that are diverse and some that are clearly not. You need to standardize this practice.

All of this being said, there are still concerted efforts to stop you. Please see my colleague Kelly Jensen's article from earlier last month in Book Riot with detailed instructions on how you can prepare your Library Pride Displays.

You need to do everything I said and what she suggests-- both.

And finally, please go outside the box for titles to put on your Pride displays. Think about ways to frame them to make them more interesting. Identities are not a genre. Just like I advocate against simply putting books by Black authors on display as a monolith in February [rather, you should frame it by genre or a topic], do the same of Pride. Make displays like "Thrills and Chills: Pride" and put up crime, horror, fast paced mysteries. Or, "Love and Pride." You get the idea.

You can also use Pride content from other places  to come up with interesting ideas like this list from LitHub, "10 LGBTQ+ Authors on the Books That Taught Them." This is a great way to have 20 books with an interesting frame for display online or in the building. Your work is done.

Also, here is the link for all of Book Riot's Pride Coverage. They will be posting multiple links every day and framing them in genres or topics like I suggest doing. If you can't think of ideas, don't worry, Book Riot will give them to you in ready to use lists that are also diverse by the identities as well. There is no room for excuses here.

I know this post is long, but the moment we are living in requires that I spend the time to help you fight back. We have collections that represent a world of ideas and identities on purpose. We have crafted those collections as professionals. We got degrees in how to do this. We know what we are doing. And while everyone has a right to decide what they read for themselves, no one has the right to decide for others. We must stand by that basic freedom. You cannot self censor and not participate because you don't want to be challenged or because you are afraid. That is worse than someone coming in and asking you to remove books for all because they don't like them. Why is it worse, because you know better. Because I told you not to.

Get those Pride Displays up, diversify your displays all year long, and get some display procedures in writing. 

And if you have questions or concerns, email me and Robin and I will help you for free. We are especially   good at speaking to  you mangers or admins who don't agree. Let us argue with them for you. 

Using Awards List As a RA Tool: Shirley Jackson 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.  

I am on record, multiple times, saying that the Shirley Jackson Award is my favorite award. If I had to pick only 1 award for fiction, this would be it. And that is saying a lot because I love awards, hence this series.

But why this one? A few reasons,

First, the Shirley Jackson Awards are an excellent RA tool not only for the normal reasons I outline with the links to start this post, but also because they are an award that is NOT bound by genre. The entire point of the books that are nominated for and win this award is that they represent the legacy of Jackson, herself. Books that are darkly speculative and/or are intensely psychological; books that defy conventions but are great.  Each and every year titles are honored that are amazing reads but are almost always overlooked by genre awards, not because they aren't great [because they are], but because when push comes to shove, they do not fit as easily into the genre box as the other options.

Second, because books that win the Shirley Jackson Award already live on the fringes, the jurors and the titles they choose are more diverse than your average award.

Third, this award can be used as a "readalike" list on its own. Why? Because the main thing these nominated titles all share is a connection to Jackson and her brand of storytelling; thus, they all have an appeal connection that other awards can not promise in the same way.

Fourth, the entire concept of the books, being "genreless," means you have a very WIDE audience to handsell these titles to. 

And fifth, this is collection development gold. You want to have the best dark speculative titles, authors, collections, and anthologies for your patrons? Here is an easy purchasing list. And not only is the list diverse in terms of the identity of the writers themselves, but also the range of publishers here is wide. You can learn about some excellent small presses, putting out award worthy material. Just receiving a SJA nomination alone, is a reason to check these new to you publishers out. 

Which reminds me, sixth, the Shirley Jackson Awards not only have annual jurors who rotate every year but they also have a board of directors and an advisory board. You can access all of those people and their bios on this one page. Every single one of those authors is also readlaike option.

Speaking of, a few years ago I was asked to be on the SJA Advisory Board which has been amazing. As a member of the Advisory Board, I am able to nominate titles to be read by the Jury (which changes every year), If I nominate a title it will put into the pool that the jury considers. I take this advisory role very seriously, and every year I see titles I passed on make it to the nominee list.

And of course seventh, the super easy backlist access of nominees and winners going back to 2007, all avaiable with 1 easy click. 

You want a display of weird, unsettling, and compelling titles, look no further than these tales, all of which are singled out for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Those nominated for this year and all past years. There are so many options you will never run out of a suggestion for your patrons searching out this type of read.

Before I get to this year's nominees, which like all past years are amazing and I have read and reviewed many of them, I want to also shout out the physical prize. Not only do the winners get that very cool sundial award above, but every single nominees gets a stone. If you don't know why, first go read "The Lottery," If you either know why, or don't care about knowing on the of best twists in all of literature ever, click here for an article about the tradition from LitHub.

Now here are this year's Shirley Jackson Award Nominees. All of them are worth your time.

Boston, MA (May 2026) — In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. 

The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Fiction, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology. 

The nominees for the 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards are: 

NOVEL

• Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (Harlequin Trade Publishing / Hanover Square Press)
• How to Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Lamb by Lucy Rose (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Moonflow by Bitter Karella (Run For It [Orbit, Hachette Book Group])
• Old Soul by Susan Barker (Penguin Random House/G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (Berkley, Penguin Random House)

NOVELLA

• The Cold House by A. G. Slatter (Titan Books)
• The Death of Mountains by Jordan Kurella (Lethe Press)
• DuMort by Michelle Tang (Ghost Orchid Press)
• The Glass Garden by Jessica Lévai (Lanternfish Press)
• Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce (Tordotcom Publishing/Tor Publishing Group)

NOVELETTE

• The Confirmed Bachelors by Stephen Volk (Black Shuck Books)
• “Emily” by Vanessa Santos (Make a Home of Me)
• Letter Slot by Owen King (Amazon Original Stories)
• “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine Issue Sixty-Seven)
• “The Severity of Things” by Mo Moshaty (Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment) 

SHORT FICTION

• “Bitter Skin” by Kaaron Warren (Night & Day)
• “Lapse” by Kirsty Logan (Unquiet Guests)
• “Mother’s Mother’s Daughter” by Audrey Zhou (Silk and Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora)
• “Room 24” by Caroline Kepnes (The End of the World As We Know It)
• “Silver Boots” by Donna Lynch (HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

• Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment by Mo Moshaty (Tenebrous Press)
• Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Issues with Authority by Nadia Bulkin (Ghoulish Books)
• Moon Songs: The Selected Stories of Carol Emshwiller by Carol Emshwiller (Third Man Books)
• Portalmania: Stories by Debbie Urbanski (Simon & Schuster)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

• Night & Day, edited by Ellen Datlow (Saga Press)
• Roots of My Fears, edited by Gemma Amor (Titan Books)
• Silk and Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora, edited by Kristy Park Kulski (Bad Hand Books)
• Unquiet Guests, edited by Dan Coxon (Dead Ink Books)
• Were Wolf Short Stories, edited by Gillian Whitaker, Catherine Taylor & Nick Wells (Flame Tree Publishing)

 

The 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in-person on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 8pm at Readercon 35, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Burlington, Massachusetts. Readercon 35 Guests of Honor P. Djèlí Clark and David Gerrold will host the ceremony. 

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, “The Lottery.” Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work.

Libraries Fighting Back [Together] on Unfair Digital Book Pricing [story via PW]

As I discussed in this post back in March, I have been actively involved in trying to get fair eBook pricing for libraries. I was in Springfield to jet rally support for IL House Bill 5236—The Digital Library Protection Act. From the ILA page Advocacy page about HB 5236:

What is House Bill 5236?

The Digital Library Protection Act, as known as House Bill 5236, aims to prevent publishers from imposing unfair restrictions on libraries when licensing eBooks, digital audiobooks, and other electronic literary materials. It prohibits contracts that would prevent libraries from performing their usual functions, like licensing materials from other publishers, using necessary technology for lending, making preservation copies, or participating in interlibrary loan systems. 

It prevents publishers from restricting a library's ability to determine loan periods, from charging libraries more than the public for the same item, or from limiting the number of licenses a library can acquire after an item is available to the public. The bill ensures libraries can continue to virtually share content for educational purposes and share licensing terms with other libraries in the state. 

In that post, I included my written testimony which was formally filed with the committee.  

Since then, the bill passed the IL House 99-0. It is currently sitting the senate but the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild’s denunciation of the passage of Illinois HB 5236. It will probably not get taken up until the Fall session due to the Chicago Bears sucking all of the energy out of the state house, but we are on the right track.

This denunciation by the Authors Guild is what I am currently battling against. They are wrong to oppose this. They are not protecting authors. They are actually hurting them. I talk about it in that previous post. Authors do not get more money when these books are sold for high prices to libraries, and in fact, fewer books by mid-list authors are purchased because of the high prices. 

Our next steps here in IL are to keep the library workers updated (I helped with a webinar on that), and, through me, reach out to specific authors to get them to support us. I am going to have to work to explain why they need to go against the Authors Guild-- which I support normally too, especially as we are connected with them through he HWA-- but in this case they are wrong to side with the publishers. 

Now that IL is making headway, 5 Large Library Organizations are finally speaking out to help those of us in CT and IL who have been going at it alone. We were the test cases and it is starting to work, so now others are reading to jump in and help us fight back. 

PW had this great article that will get you up to speed on the entire issue. From the first paragraph:

On May 27, five public library organizations from the U.S. and Canada released a statement, addressing the Big Five publishers and digital platform providers, in response to e-book pricing models. The Association for Rural and Small Libraries, Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, Canadian Urban Libraries Council, Public Library Association, and Urban Libraries Council all signed on to the letter.

Please click through to read the entire article. It explains where we are on a national lever here. Things are getting serious and we are close to FULL VICTORY. Also take a look at the Joint Statement Letter (linked above as well). From that letter:

Our organizations, representing the vast majority of public libraries across the US and Canada, call on the Big Five publishers, as well as platform providers, to come to the table to work with libraries to identify and implement sustainable solutions, no matter the format.

Mutually-beneficial solutions exist. These include the importance of usage-based e-book models that guarantee our communities actually have access to the materials their libraries have paid for, and the option for libraries to purchase perpetual-use models so we can ensure the preservation of knowledge remains a cornerstone of the public library.

Public libraries protect copyright and invest millions of dollars in curating collections that increase author discovery and promote titles and reading, and our book borrowers are book buyers. We’re important partners for publishers, and have shared concerns including declining literacy rates and fighting threats to intellectual freedom.

It’s time for a new dynamic, based in collaboration and mutual respect, that can build off those shared interests. It’s time to finally address – rather than ignore – this crisis. This helps everyone – libraries, authors, patrons, publishers – thrive.

Thank you to PW's Libraries reporter, Nathalie op de Beeck, for covering this so well. Now everyone in publishing has a clearer understanding of what we are fighting for. I hope authors and smaller publishers begin to understand that the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild are not fighting for them like they may think they are.

Feel free to use any or all of my letter to the IL House, in tandem with the PW article and the Joint Statement Letter, to do your own advocating.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: A Finished Copy of the Modern Queer Horror Classic RED X by David Demchuk

I am doing a cross post today with RA for All Horror because I am highlighting a title being released in a new edition that I need you all to know about. 

Also, the giveaway will be off next week, but I wanted to remind everyone that it happens most weeks and I am about to go into the busiest time when I have the most sought after ARCs. So you may want to follow the directions and get yourself entered.

Now to the post.

Today I have a treat. A finished copy of a book that was previously only available in Canada; a brand new edition with so many extras; a title that has gone on to become a Queer Horror Classic. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Last week's winner was Janet from OR. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

David Demchuk's Red X is a modern horror classic, full stop, but as a work of Queer Horror is seminal. Don't take my word for it. I have Eric LaRocca's words right here for you:

“When they speak of seminal works of queer literature a hundred years from now, David Demchuk’s RED X will most assuredly be included in that conversation. A tremendously influential novel so arresting, so brutal and yet so delicate that its labyrinthine complexity should be studied and praised. A merciless and truly daring masterpiece of queer fiction.” 

    —Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

This book was a NYPL Best Book of the Year, a CBC Books Pick for Best Canadian Fiction, and an Aurora Award Nominee for Best Novel. All of this was back in 2021 when it first came out. So why don't you have it or know about it? Because it was only published in Canada. 

This new edition will be available on June 30th here in America and it includes a foreword by Gretchen Felker-Martin. This book is also the reason I asked David to write an essay for my book. It is a literal masterpiece. Everyone should read it.

I have so much to say about this seminal work of queer and experimental horror. But first, here is the blurb:

Published solely in Canada in 2021, it didn’t take long for David Demchuk’s RED X to garner a cult following. It could be because it’s actually scary, a cursed marriage between supernatural elements and the real-life horrors that isolation and marginalization leave queer people vulnerable to. It could be because it’s formally interesting, punctuated by torn-up book pages, leaking trails of black ink, tiny Canadian history lessons, and personal stories from Demchuk’s own life. Or maybe it’s the emphasis on the power of queer communities as characters routinely show up for one another, even if it means putting themselves in danger. But most likely it’s a combination of all these things, which blend together to create a masterfully experimental narrative that is already being heralded as one of the greatest horror novels of the twenty-first century.

A terrifying supernatural entity haunts Toronto’s gay village in the ’80s in this gruesome, metatextual modern horror classic that spans decades of queer community and history. RED X is a masterful experimental work already heralded as one of the great horror novels of the twenty-first century, now reissued with deluxe materials, including a new introduction by Gretchen Felker-Martin and an essay by Anthony Oliveira.

 In 1984, a young gay man vanishes without a trace, leaving behind a community of friends and lovers desperate for answers. Instead, they face everything from casual indifference to outright prejudice. As decades pass, more men vanish, revealing a terrifying, centuries-old demonic presence at the heart of the disappearances.

Interspersed throughout, the author shares autobiographical vignettes: his earliest brushes with death and fear, his observations on queer culture and the horror genre, on representation and erasure, culminating in an elegiac and brilliantly woven narrative that blends fact and fiction, and has already been heralded as one of the great horror novels of the twenty-first century.

 RED X flickers between perspectives like a choir popcorning the disparate parts of a chamber piece. The conductor here is Demchuk himself, who uses his own autobiographical vignettes—his earliest brushes with death and fear, his observations on queer culture and the horror genre, on representation and erasure—to unite the parts into an elegiac and brilliantly eerie work that blends fact and fiction.

I cannot stress enough to all of you just how good this book is. Demchuk's conversational narration, experimental but accessible style, the brutally honest, bleak, creepy and intense tone, the well developed characters, thought-provoking plot, and visceral connection to the real world-- all of this makes RED X a must buy book for all library collections. 

If you have readers of the very best Horror today, the Queer and the Straight Horror, they need to read this book.

And thanks to Soho Press's Horror Imprint, Hell's Hundred, one of you is going to win a finished copy to add to your shelves today. 

The rest of you need to add it to your order carts now. Seriously. Stop what you are doing and get this book on order.

And if you live in the NYC area, there will be a launch event on June 15th at Twisted Spine. Details and registration links are here.

Enter now and you are entered going forward.

The giveaway will be off next week while I am at StokerCon, but after that I have many titles from the books I reviewed for the June issues of Booklist and Library Journal. Plus coming soon, giveaways of books by Rachel Harrison, Alma Katsu, and more. Enter now to be in it for a chance to win it.

The NYT Gamifies Summer Reading (Gift Link)

I know many of us have worked to gamify our summer reading for many years now. As we have learned, adults love checking off boxes or completing BINGO cards for prizes as much (maybe more) than kids do.

Reading challenges are around all year long, but many people are intimidated by joining the ones that start in January. A year of reading seems like a big commitment to people who haven't read more than a book or two for fun in years. However, when you take the same idea of a challenge and market it as "Summer Reading," many people jump at the chance to give it a try.

Summer is three months. Summer gives people time to be outside and relax-- even if just on a few weekends. Summer holds fun memories of childhood summer reading.

Last week, the New York Times Book Review launched their "Summer Reading Bucket List" (gift link here). They have ten items that are very general and easy to complete. And there is even a box to check for reading a book from the library (with bonus points if you talked to the library worker to get the suggestion).

What I love about this summer reading game is that it easy to complete. They are only challenging you to get to 5 of the 10 options before Fall. It gives some direction, but not too much. Five books seems like a doable number for those who are not regular readers. Pretty much any book is an option. Literally. And they have a way for you to turn in your sheet and be eligible for a prize.

The New York Times has prioritized gathering data from actual readers for a while now. All of those checklists for their "best books" to have people mark if they read a book or want to read a book, etc... This is a grab for user data that I can get behind because they are using it to actively craft their book coverage, to make sure they are covering the books that people actually want to read, not just what the snotty literati think we should read.

This is a huge shift in the NYT Book Review over the last few years and I am here for it. We are in a landscape where most papers have dropped their books coverage, but the NYT is trying to fill that gap. Yes they provide reviews and commentary about the most important literary titles, but as I have been covering here as well, they are also making an effort to cover genre and even backlist titles. They want to help you-- all of you, any kind of reader-- find a book that you will love and get you back into reading. 

And bonus because they always support libraries. Yes they added us to their list, but it is more than that. See this post I had last week (with a gift link) for another example.

But here is another important point I want to make today, many libraries still do not offer a summer reading challenge or program for adults. I don't understand it myself. I made sure my library always had summer reading for adults to match the ones we had for children (going back to 2000). They are important both because when parents read with kids, kids do better with their own reading.

But also, Adults need the chance to have fun reading a book, to complete their checklist, and earn a prize. Life is short, things are awful, why are we not offering adults books with a side of joy.

Don't we want our adults coming back to the library again? Don't we want the people who pay the taxes to fund us and come to the polls or board meetings for us when we need their support to feel like we care about them too? Why do we ignore the recreational needs of our adults? 

So I am sharing this to help all of you who do NOT have a summer reading program already. Go here and use the NYT Summer Reading Bucket List to make your own to hand out for adults. Summer reading starts this weekend at most libraries. They have all been working on it for months, but you...the library that isn't offering an adult program....you can still do something right now.

And for those of you who already have a summer reading program, this is a great resource to enhance what you are already offering. Maybe you don't have a BINGO card yet? Maybe you have a full program with your themes and lists all set up, but you know that it will be too restrictive for some readers. Here you go. 

[Side note, I hate putting restrictions on reading for adults and making them follow our themes. Themes are great to guide those who want to follow, but it should not restrict if people can participate-- adults or kids. We want them to read. We don't want to create more obstacles to stop that. We need to stop being Gate Keepers and start being Gate Openers. Click on this link for more about that.)

And for those of you who are all set and have the perfect, flexible summer reading program set to start for adults in a few days, great, but you can still save this link and use it for Fall Reading or Winter Reading or even next year's planning. It is NOT tied to a specific year or trend or even season. Just change the one that is season specific to whatever season you use this in.

I have posted the graphic from the article below in case you want to just print it out and hand it off to people. If you do this and you have NYT access for your patrons, this bucket list can serve to also advertise your NYT access. I talk to people all the time who have no idea that most of the major newspapers are available at the library, from home even with your card. Make the list available in print and online with a note to remind people of their access available with their library card.

This post is here to get you to think about all the ways you can use this ready made summer reading resource to help your readers have a fun summer-- whether you have it all planned and ready to roll out this weekend or not. 

How will you use this list with your readers? If you have summer reading plans you want me to share with my readers, contact me and we can see about a guest post here on the blog.

What Makes a RA Tool Useful: Raw Data from the Booklist Survey

Booklist did a survey about RA Tools early in 2026 and they just released the raw data. They got 592 respondents! Thank you to everyone who did the survey. The results are fascinating. Below I have the introduction and link to it all. 

Please click here or on the link below, but I was so excited to see what the results were. Of course, even more exciting is the analysis to come, but in the mean time, this raw data holds a lot of information. 

And before I send you there, toward the bottom there is someone who left a comment which said that they don't use resources for RA, and you my dear colleague, I am giving you so much side eye that my face hurts. (This is also vague to make you scroll through and read everything to find it)

One of my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service is literally to USE RESOURCES. You are not the RA superstar you think you are anonymous person. And I am sure you don't read this blog because-- IT IS A RESOURCE. 

Anyway, I will be spending a lot of time looking through this raw data in the next few weeks for sure. 

Okay here is the link and the introduction below.

What Makes a Readers’ Advisory Tool Useful? The Results of Our RA Survey.

By Susan Maguire.
FEATURE. First published May 14, 2026 (Booklist Online).

In early 2026, Booklist sent out a readers’ advisory (RA) survey to our readers, users, and readers’-advisory library staff across the country.

The purpose of this survey was to find out what makes a RA tool useful to those who practice the craft. To that end, and to save respondents’ time, we asked closed-end questions that we hoped would illustrate readers’ advisors’ behavior and illuminate their needs and wants when helping patrons.

We were aiming for around 300 respondents and got nearly twice that (592 people answered the survey call). Below is a breakdown of the results of the survey by question. Look for analysis of the results in a future issue of Corner Shelf.

Click here to see all of the raw data from the survey.

RA for All Off for the Memorial Day Weekend But First....

Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of Summer here in America, so before I head off to spend some time with the family, here is great, diverse Summer Reading list of 15 books that will satisfy just about every reader via the NPR Books We Love Team of staffers and critics.

Hope you have a good book to read this weekend. I am very lucky to have the upcoming Alma Katsu and Rachel Harrison both on deck with reviews due to Booklist next week.

Back Tuesday with new posts.

Books to Films: Behind the Scenes of the Discovery

Books into Movies is a major event for libraries. I have an entire tag for it. But how does a book go from the page to the screen? That is something we know a lot less about.

The other day, LitHub shed some light on this question with this article: The Man Who Reads Books For a Living (One Every Two Days)

The "man" in question Clarke Speicher and the writer who sat down with him is Julien C. Levy. From the intro of the article:

When Clarke Speicher (spike-er) asked how I liked the screen adaptation of Train Dreams, Denis Johnson’s novella following the solitary logger Robert Granier in the early 20th-century American West, he was actually asking whether it measured up to its source material. That is, after all, the question about adaptations. Still, it felt loaded. If it had been anyone else, I would’ve felt at liberty to prattle without worrying whether I’d arrived at any kind of thesis. That I love the book was beside the point. I felt caught out because it was Clarke doing the asking. But he isn’t an author, screenwriter, director, producer, critic, agent, or editor. He isn’t a journalist or influencer.

Clarke is something much more specific and much rarer: a professional book reader who evaluates literature specifically for screen adaptation. So after a few seconds of mealy-mouthed equivocation about Train Dreams, I came to my senses and flipped the question back on him. A few drinks later, we were talking about his profession, how it works, and what adaptation really means. 

Click here to read the rest of this fascinating article.

Share it on your socials and website as well. Do you have lists of Books to Screen titles? Add this link there as well. This is an article your patrons will be interested in as well. When we anticipate our patrons' wants, we demonstrate our worth.

Join Me and Others at the Library Insights Panel in Chicago on June 26th

For the second year in a row I am pleased to be a part of the Library Insight Summit. From their About page:

Library Insights Summit 2026 - Connecting Publishers & Librarians

Register Today!

LIS is the only conference designed to bring established publishers, author-publishers, and librarians together for a full day of smart, actionable, and future-focused programming.

Spend your morning in targeted breakout sessions for your community—then come together in the afternoon for conversations that matter to everyone working along the path from book creation to reader access.

Scheduled for the day before ALA Annual in Chicago, at McCormick Place, LIS will feature morning breakout sessions for three communities: established trade publishers, author publishers, and librarians. In the afternoon, we’ll bring everyone together for programming relevant to all sectors.

If you work anywhere along the path between book creation and reader access, you belong at LIS! 

Also here is info I received form a marketing email:

At a time when so much of our work happens digitally, there is still enormous value in gathering together in person.

Ideas sharpen.
Relationships deepen.
Perspectives widen.
Inspiration ignites.

The Library Insights Summit was created to foster exactly those moments. It brings publishers and librarians into the same room for practical conversations, collaborative thinking, and the kind of networking that strengthens business relationships and enriches the literary community.

We hope you’ll join us in Chicago on June 26.

Register today at https://libraryinsightssummit2026.sched.com/

This event is only $199 and you get breakfast and lunch. It is the day leading up to the late afternoon opening session of ALA. This means you can join us if you are going to ALA but also, even if you are not.

I will be there all day as an attendee and a presenter. Here are the detail on my panel:

Smarter Marketing for Maximum Library Impact:

As library supply chains and discovery systems evolve, publishers are facing new challenges in getting their titles seen and ordered. At the same time, librarians are navigating a fragmented marketplace to find trustworthy, complete information on forthcoming books. This session brings together marketing and distribution experts to show how publishers can sharpen their strategies, stretch their budgets, and strengthen relationships with this vital audience. Learn how to optimize metadata for library visibility, coordinate publicity with wholesale and discovery platforms, and build long-term awareness among collection development professionals.

I am the moderator and my panelists are:

• Lila Denning: Acquisitions Coordinator, St Petersburg Library System 
• Kaycie Hoffman Blaylock: Library & Resource Coordinator, Alexandria City Public Schools
• Rebecca Vnuk: Executive Director, LibraryReads

I can't wait to share our marketing tips with such an accomplished group of library workers from school to public settings. We are at 10:30, but I urge you to see the entire list of programs available here. As an attendee last year, I can tell you with confidence, that this event is worth your time. The amount of learning, idea sharing, and networking I got in that single day last year rivaled what I got from the entire conference to follow. I think the quote in the image above sums it up perfectly:

"Creates a much needed quiet space to dive deep and focus in the connection of publishers and librarians before the loud and invigorating energy of everything that the ALA Conference is!" 

Please consider joining us, especially if you are a library worker in the Chicago area who doesn't plan to attend the entire conference. I know not everyone can be there every day, but this is a nice option before it all begins.

(Also RAILS libraries, head over to their site to grab your $40 Exhibit Passes and use them on your day off to wander the Exhibit Hall. Also hot tip for all-- I will be at the S&S Booth on Saturday signing copies of WHY I LOVE HORROR. More details soon.)

 As I said, I will be there the entire time, not just for my panel. Maybe I will see you there.

Click here to register now.