Conversation Starter to Display Monthly Question: What's a Book That Scared You? and 31 Days of Horror Begins Anew

This is part of a monthly series of conversation starters which can be made into evergreen displays that I first proposed here (with 12 examples that could last you full a year). You can expect a new conversation starter on the first week day of a new month. Use the newest one for the next month, or access the long backlist of these ideas anytime by using this link. 

Back in June, I wrote about how to use conversation starters to create evergreen displays (see link above), and in that post I promised to give you one conversation starter a month at the start of each month. I also make it clear in that post that these displays can be small. 3-5 books that you keep rotating. You can even use this link to make it into a scavenger hunt of small displays all over the library.

This month question is to celebrate Spooky Season: What's a book that scared you?

This is the exact question people are expecting you to ask and while their answers cannot help you with this year's Halloween Displays if can absolutely help you for next year not to mention aid your collection development. 

And to help you answer this question and build your displays you need to look no further than....ME.

Head on over to RA for All: Horror anytime of year but especially starting today as my annual 31 Days of horror has begun for its 16th year. 

The blog is a reference all year long with resources, lists, reviews, and more. I also have my featured "Why I Love Horror" essays.   Literally, everything you need to help horror readers all year long is there, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 

What's a book that scared you?-- This is a question that everyone who is a reader can answer quickly; much more quickly than when you ask people to share a favorite book or the last good book they read. This is a question that has an immediate and visceral response. It is also a question that changes. I you ask someone this question today, you will get a few titles, but then ask them 6 months later and you will have a few more. 

Even those who do not read horror, they will have an answer to this because this is NOT a genre question. Rather, it is an emotions question.

And the answers are evergreen by default because people like being scared all year long. 

Start by asking staff What's a book that scared you?-- at the very least. Do it through an electronic form so that the answers get filed into a spreadsheet. And then do some searching.

The title of this display you make is the question itself:  What's a book that scared you?

Why? Because this is interactive. Your display is a conversation. It will draw patrons toward it, their interest piqued. You are asking them a question and presenting some answers, but they will have their own and they will want to tell you!!! And it is Horror season but your question is not only about Horror. It will invite everyone to participate. 

Now, you can follow my more elaborate suggestion on how to ask every patron to help answer this question and add titles to your spreadsheet of options, OR you can start smaller. Put up a white board or bulletin board near the display and allow people to add titles. You can pull them as needed or just leave them there, answers to your question, a way to SHOW your community that you care about their answers. You should be adding these to the spreadsheet overtime as well.

That spreadsheet is key here because it is a way for the library to KNOW what books matter to their patrons. Circulation statistics just show us what checks out. It doesn't tell us if they were enjoyed, let alone a book so treasured the patron recommends it to everyone they know. Asking this question makes an excellent, interactive, and, quite frankly, easy display, BUT it also gives us valuable collection development data.

First, if the books people are recommending to answer this question and their circ stats are not great, this lets us know that the book should stay in our collection. It alerts us that it is a patron fav and we now know to get it on display where another reader will almost certainly give it a try (with a title of a display like that, it is sure to circ now)

Second, this conversation starter allows us to see what books matter to our readers and we can pass that information on to those who buy the books for our collections so that they can look for similar titles. As someone who bought for the fiction collection, I would have loved to have this information. I knew my key patrons and bought books I knew they would like, but this question would have reach more people. Many who never stop to talk to use will answer. You will get a much wider view of the books your readers love and crave. That data is collection development gold!

You can search out readalikes that you have, and add more. All of that will lead to small displays, ones you can title, "So this book destroyed your productivity.....Now try this." Those can be online and in small spaces. 

You are asking a question, getting responses to fill a display, gathering valuable collection development data, and then creating more displays. All by asking one question: What's a book that scared you?

You have nothing to lose here. You and your patrons win the second you ask the question.

Back next month with anther question, but as always, use the link at the top of this post for many more questions you can use today, tomorrow, or in a few months. Just start asking your patrons questions so you can see what really sticks with them. Your displays will be easier to build, more inviting, and you will have a better sense of what other titles need to be added to your collections.

And head on over to RA for All: Horror for help getting your display started. 

Conversation Starter to Display Monthly Question: What Book Destroyed Your Productivity

This is part of a monthly series of conversation starters which can be made into evergreen displays that I first proposed here (with 12 examples that could last you full a year). You can expect a new conversation starter on the first week day of a new month. Use the newest one for the next month, or access the long backlist of these ideas anytime by using this link. 

Back in June, I wrote about how to use conversation starters to create evergreen displays (see link above), and in that post I promised to give you one conversation starter a month at the start of each month. I also make it clear in that post that these displays can be small. 3-5 books that you keep rotating. You can even use this link to make it into a scavenger hunt of small displays all over the library.

I was on vacation for the beginning of this month, so this a few days late but I absolutely LOVE this question and I found it through LJ's Book Pulse with a link to this article in Parade: What book destroyed your productively?

This is a question that people will love to answer because it is slightly askew from asking about a book they love. This is a book that you get so lost in that you ignore everything else to read it. It asks readers to engage with titles that engaged directly with them. When you ask this question, your patrons will do a slight double take. They will really listen to the questions. And, as a result, you will get some awesome, unexpected, and varied answers.

For example, I had so many answers to this question once I took a moment to think about it. Here are a few:

• The Thursday Murder Club books-- all of them. I literally go on extra walks and do more chores when I have one queued up
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
• Dr No by Percival Everett
• I Was a Teenaged Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
• Mazywood by Tananarive Due
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram (and thank goodness it was short)

I also know that asking "What book destroyed your productively?" right after Labor Day is the perfect time. Many people spent yesterday thinking about paid labor while enjoying a paid day off from it. Asking about productivity right after Labor Day means people are primed to answer this question.

This is a question that everyone who is a reader can answer quickly once they stop and think about it; much more quickly than when you ask people to share a favorite book or the last goo book they read. This is a question that has an immediate and visceral response. It is also a question that changes. I you ask someone this question today, you wil get a few titles, but then ask them 6 months later and you will have a few more.

This makes the question-- and the answers-- evergreen by default. It is also a question that is not tied to any one section of the library-- any genre, format, fiction or nonfiction, kids books, adult books, it is all game with this open ended question.

Start by asking staff this question-- at the very least. Do it through an electronic form so that the answers get filed into a spreadsheet. And then do some searching.

If you use "What book destroyed your productively?" as a search in your resources, you will 100% get books about increasing productivity, which is NOT what you want. But if you search for books people wil get lost in, like at this link, That link will allow you to get the display up immediately, while you wait for staff to reply. 

The title of this display you make is the question itself: What book destroyed your productively?

Why? Because this is interactive. Your display is a conversation. It will draw patrons toward it, their interest piqued. You are asking them a question and presenting some answers, but they will have their own and they will want to tell you!!!

Now, you can follow my more elaborate suggestion on how to ask every patron to help answer this question and add titles to your spreadsheet of options, OR you can start smaller. Put up a white board or bulletin board near the display and allow people to add titles. You can pull them as needed or just leave them there, answers to your question, a way to SHOW your community that you care about their answers. You should be adding these to the spreadsheet overtime as well.

That spreadsheet is key here because it is a way for the library to KNOW what books matter to their patrons. Circulation statistics just show us what checks out. It doesn't tell us if they were enjoyed, let alone a book so treasured the patron recommends it to everyone they know. Asking this question makes an excellent, interactive, and, quite frankly, easy display, BUT it also gives us valuable collection development data.

First, if the books people are recommending to answer this question and their circ stats are not great, this lets us know that the book should stay in our collection. It alerts us that it is a patron fav and we now know to get it on display where another reader will almost certainly give it a try (with a title of a display like that, it is sure to circ now)

Second, this conversation starter allows us to see what books matter to our readers and we can pass that information on to those who buy the books for our collections so that they can look for similar titles. As someone who bought for the fiction collection, I would have loved to have this information. I knew my key patrons and bought books I knew they would like, but this question would have reach more people. Many who never stop to talk to use will answer. You will get a much wider view of the books your readers love and crave. That data is collection development gold!

You can search out readalikes that you have, and add more. All of that will lead to small displays, ones you can title, "So this book destroyed your productivity.....Now try this." Those can be online and in small spaces. 

You are asking a question, getting responses to fill a display, gathering valuable collection development data, and then creating more displays. All by asking one question: What book destroyed your productively?

You have nothing to lose here. You and your patrons win the second you ask the question.

Back next month with anther question, but as always, use the link at the top of this post for many more questions you can use today, tomorrow, or in a few months. Just start asking your patrons questions so you can see what really sticks with them. Your displays will be easier to build, more inviting, and you will have a better sense of what other titles need to be added to your collections.

How Do Our Patrons Make Time for Reading? Have You Ever Asked?

Look we make time for reading because it is our job and even then, we often fail at making enough time. We also spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to put the correct book in each reader's hands, and yet, when is that last time we stopped to think about how and when they read (myself included)?

I frequently write about using conversations starters to have more meaningful conversations with our patrons about books and reading. Often I am using this concept as a means to the ends of creating more interactive and interesting displays. But, I have used the idea to help us engage our patrons in more general topics like when I had this post back in 2019," Ask Patrons What They Didn't Find and Then Actually Listen to Their Answers."

Today I was reminded by a book news story I have had filed away for a bit now and while it is interesting on its own, I did feel very called out by it-- called out in that it explodes a weakness in how I think about how we should and can best serve readers.

First things first. Here is the article from Vulture-- How 20 Well-Read People Make Time for Books

The answers to how they make time for books are as different as the people they ask. Now that part did not surprise me. What did surprise me is that I help match books with people every day and yet, I rarely ask them how they will read that specific book let alone how they make time for reading in general, and you know what? We all really should be thinking about that and asking people more often.

So today I am bringing that to all of you. Find a way to use my ideas for conversation starters to ask your patrons to share with you how they make time to read. Ask in the building, on social media, with a link on your website. When you have the answers find a fun, anonymous way to share them. Make info graphics. Have some fun with it.

But then also use what you learn to help craft your collections and RA service. How people are making time for reading often dictates what formats they read, the genres they choose, the feel of the books they are most drawn to, etc... We can't know how to help our readers if we don't ask. And asking is more than just finishing out what books they like to read and why.

And look, worst case scenario, you learn nothing from asking this question. BUT what you do gain is a connection with your patrons. You showed them that you care about them beyond the check out. You want to help enhance their reading life. You care about how they read not just what they read. This will Goa long way toward earning their good will, trust, and support.

You might not think you need that support now, but trust me, you will. The time to start building that support is before something happens, before you need it.

My idea, to ask them how they make time for reading, is a no lose activity. One that even the most grumpy admins can get behind.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Cundill History Prize 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.  

Well, it has been a busy week, but I still have one more day of posts to give you, and this one has been in draft most of the week but it was bumped for the surprise World Fantasy Award nomination and the NYT Thrillers list.

It's the Cundill History Prize. From the announcement:

The world’s leading prize for a work of history written or translated into English, the Cundill History Prize, has announced its longlist of fifteen books for 2026, chosen from almost 400 submissions from across the world.

Following in the footsteps of recent Cundill History Prize winners, Lyndal Roper (2025) who was announced as 2026 Holberg Prize Laureate earlier this year, Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen DuVal (2024) and Guardian journalist Tania Branigan (2023), the fifteen longlisted authors will now be in the running for the US$75,000 prize. The Cundill History Prize is awarded annually to a book that demonstrates excellence across the prize’s guiding criteria: craft, communication, and consequence.

The books on this year’s longlist introduce us to topics from across the globe, spanning continents and generations, from the history of the five partitions that shaped modern South Asia to the legacy of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, from post-Second World War colonial Africa to the hidden story of Indigenous slavery in US history.

Chair of the Jury Emily Greenwood, James F. Rothenberg Professor of Classics at Harvard University, said: “We are always in history but not always conscious of it. The best analytical and interpretative historical works reveal the past to us in staggering, new ways. Not only do the fifteen works on this year’s longlist recover history through fresh archival research, but they also offer new lines of sight on matters that continue to weigh heavily on us in the present.

“Ranging from the late fourth century CE to the present day, these books address topics including the theft of Indigenous land and people, the geopolitical upheaval of partitions, Jewish history and the shifting nature of anti-Judaism and antisemitism, the history of racial laws and immigration in America, autocracy and leadership cults, the party machinery of communism, the delicate dynamics of international diplomacy, passive collusion on the part of entire societies, the amendment of constitutions, colonial looting and post-colonial restitution, and the complex agency of plants—in this case vanilla—in the modern history of human consumption. Some of these works revise seemingly settled histories: the Africanness of St. Augustine; how to tell the history of Mexico; and new understandings of past dreams of liberation, from lost artworks of the American revolution to visions of Pan-Africanism.”

You can see the full longlist of titles here. 

As you can see above, this is a history prize that values, "craft, communication, and consequence." This focus on those three pillars, especially the "communication" piece means that these 15 titles are excellent history reads for a library patron audience.

History is one of the nonfiction area where we see a lot of leisure reading circulation. It might not in the same high numbers as things like true crime, cookbooks, or biography and memoir, but it is popular enough that we can make displays and use prize lists to build out our collections and remind readers of these great books.

And because these are just "History" and not a specific branch or type of history, the titles themselves represent a broad swath of excellent, vetted history writing. You can coincidently add these titles across your dewey areas and suggest them with confidence.

The Cundill Prize also has easy backlist access going back to 2008 here. Since we are talking about history books, backlist titles are less time sensitive. Dig deep into the backlist for this one because history never gets old. (pun intended)

And that backlist will help you make a display of history books. You can even use the prize's mantra as your catchy sign/title-- "History books of craft, communication, and consequence"-- that will draw readers in to see what that means. You can even put the logo for the prize on the sign. And for the online version of your display, add a link to the prize itself.

Because this a a history prize and the jurors are all academics, they also have a great page explaining exactly how they pick their winners. I appreciate the transparency of this page.

Finally, and regular readers know exactly what is coming next, you can make this display interactive but using it as a conversation starter, but asking-- What is your favorite popular history book? This is an excellent way to engage your nonfiction readers in your RA efforts. 

Remember, you can click here for the post where I explain how to ask these conversation starter questions in the library and online to capture your patron's answers and make displays that include them in the RA Conversation. 

Back Monday with 5 reviews by me from the August 2026 issue of Booklist.

Conversation Starter To Display Monthly Question: What Is the Book You Recommend to Everyone You Know

This is part of a monthly series of conversation starters which can be made into evergreen displays that I first proposed here (with 12 examples that could last you full a year). You can expect a new conversation starter on the first week day of a new month. Use the newest one for the next month, or access the long backlist of these ideas anytime by using this link. 

Back in June, I wrote about how to use conversation starters to create evergreen displays (see link above), and in that post I promised to give you one conversation starter a month at the start of each month. I also make it clear in that post that these displays can be small. 3-5 books that you keep rotating. You can even use this link to make it into a scavenger hunt of small displays all over the library.

Here is the first of those first of the month displays themes, and it is one I use in every training program I offer: What is a book you recommend to everyone you know?

This is a question that everyone who is a reader can answer quickly; much more quickly than when you ask people to share a favorite book or the last goo book they read. This is a question that has an immediate and visceral response. It is also a question that changes. I you ask someone this question today, you wil get a few titles, but then ask them 6 months later and you will have a few more.

This makes the question-- and the answers-- evergreen by default. It is also a question that is not tied to any one section of the library-- any genre, format, fiction or nonfiction, kids books, adult books, it is all game with this open ended question.

Start by asking staff this question-- at the very least. Do it through an electronic form so that the answers get filed into a spreadsheet. You can also use resources like this one from Goodreads.

That link will allow you to get the display up immediately, while you wait for staff to reply. 

The title of this display is the question itself: What is a book you recommend to everyone you know?

Why? Because this is interactive. Your display is a conversation. It will draw patrons toward it, their interest piqued. You are asking them a question and presenting some answers, but they will have their own and they will want to tell you!!!

Now, you can follow my more elaborate suggestion on how to ask every patron to help answer this question and add titles to your spreadsheet of options, OR you can start smaller. Put up a white board or bulletin board near the display and allow people to add titles. You can pull them as needed or just leave them there, answers to your question, a way to SHOW your community that you care about their answers. You should be adding these to the spreadsheet overtime as well.

That spreadsheet is key here because it is a way for the library to KNOW what books matter to their patrons. Circulation statistics just show us what checks out. It doesn't tell us if they were enjoyed, let alone a book so treasured the patron recommends it to everyone they know. Asking this question makes an excellent, interactive, and, quite frankly, easy display, BUT it also gives us valuable collection development data.

First, if the books people are recommending to answer this question and their circ stats are not great, this lets us know that the book should stay in our collection. It alerts us that it is a patron fav and we now know to get it on display where another reader will almost certainly give it a try (with a title of a display like that, it is sure to circ now)

Second, this conversation starter allows us to see what books matter to our readers and we can pass that information on to those who buy the books for our collections so that they can look for similar titles. As someone who bought for the fiction collection, I would have loved to have this information. I knew my key patrons and bought books I knew they would like, but this question would have reach more people. Many who never stop to talk to use will answer. You will get a much wider view of the books your readers love and crave. That data is collection development gold!

You can search out readalikes that you have, and add more. All of that will lead to small displays, ones you can title, "So you recommend ..... to everyone you know? Now try this." Those can be online and in small spaces. 

You are asking a question, getting responses to fill a display, gathering valuable collection development data, and then creating more displays. All by asking one question: What is a book you recommend to everyone you know?

You have nothing to lose here. You and your patrons win the second you ask the question.

Back next month with anther question.

Best Adaptations of the Century So Far

There are plenty of readalike lists for "The Odyssey," but this is just one example of an ongoing discussion we have at libraries all the time. And that discussion is about book to visual media adaptations. We talk about it in libraries all year long. We have requests for specific books when the movie or TV show comes out. We get the general question about good adaptations. 

You work in a library you know this is a common request. I even have a tag "books into movies" that you can use to see all the times I have written about this topic.

Of course, right now people are all over the Odyssey. But just a few months ago it was all about Hamnet.  Washington rinse, repeat because this cycle never ends. And quite frankly it is great for us at libraries, to have an evergreen topic that we can make displays about.

Back in 2024, I had this Conversation Starter to Display post about how to make a display of the best adaptations, including how to ask your patrons to contribute. 

Well I am bringing that post back into the conversation today because as part of their Best of the Century (So Far) coverage Book Riot didn't just look at the major genres, they also have a category for The Best Adaptations. From the intro to that list:

Book people tend to have big opinions about adaptations. There’s the camp that believes the book is always better, and those brave souls who’ll admit when the opposite is true. There are those who expect an adaptation to strictly adhere to the source material, and those who will quote Merriam-Webster to refute that idea outright. Some are down for the wild, creative, out-there interpretations as long as they’re entertained, and others can find something to appreciate if the project adheres to the spirit of the original text.

The task, then, of selecting the best adaptations of the century so far was a tricky one to start. What does “best” even mean when there’s so much variety in what we expect an adaptation to do? The answer, of course, is nuanced, and we think that’s a good thing. Adaptations can be beautiful interpretations of texts that remain pretty close to the original. They can also breathe new life into beloved works by switching up timelines and settings or making them more diverse (or diverse, period). An adaptation might turn a familiar story completely on its head, subverting tropes and trappings with fresh perspectives.  

 

From the fiercely faithful to the irreverent and anachronistic, we believe a good adaptation is largely in the eyes of the beholder. Behold then, dear reader, our picks for the best adaptations of the century so far.

Click through to see the list, check my 2024 post about how to build this display and include your patrons' voices and opinions, and see all of my posts about adaptations here. Use these resources that I have compiled in one place for you to jump on the current adaptation craze-- The Odyssey-- and offer your patrons more options to scratch their adaptations itch. 

And the best thing about this display is that it is evergreen. You can use it any time of year and people will appreciate it. It is not tied to a specific movie, but rather the long standing conversation about whether or not the book was better.

Best Books of 2026 (So Far) via Book Riot

We are in the midst of the literal dog days of summer and one of the best of the best lists for the first half of 2026 has dropped.from Book Riot. From the introduction:

It’s time to declare The Best Books of 2026 So Far! We looked back at books published between January 1 and June 30 to choose our absolute favorites from the first half of the year, narrowing them down after much consideration, and whispered apologies to the reads that didn’t make the cut. 

It’s been a great year for books and comics, with releases from some of our greatest living writers and exciting new voices for adult, YA, and younger audiences alike. Our favorite literary fiction asks big questions about colonization, resistance, survival, and mortality, as well as about faith, community, and what it means to truly be seen. Our top nonfiction includes a memoir on mental health and homeschooling, an investigation into a mysterious death, and an exploration of the health costs of the digital age. Our genre picks are precisely what you’d expect from a Book Riot “best of” list, featuring swoony romances, epic and cozy fantasy, thrilling whodunits, romps in space, and everything in between. 

We’re pleased to present you with our picks for the best books of 2026 so far. Add them to your TBR, share them with your book club, and settle in for some seriously satisfying reading.

You can read the full Book Riot Best of 2026 (So Far) at this link.

This list is broken down by genre and includes suggestions from across their staff. What I am really enjoying about this list (and every Book Riot best list) is that it is a list by readers for readers. Everything Book Riot does is written for and produced for actual readers. Yes they think about quality (the books they include are well written) but their mission in everything they do is to create content for readers.

Their site is written in a conversational voice, positioning everything for its best reader. The writers are readers in the genres they specialize in. They are always making lists (for all ages of readers) of books you should read if the annotation piques your interest. 

Their best of the year so far list reflects everything I have said above. These are also books here I haven't seen on other lists, even a few I haven't even heard of. These are books you can display proudly on your "Best of the Year So Far" displays. 

Speaking of, I wrote at length about using these lists to create displays and do conversation starters last month here. Combine this post from today with those other prominent lists and the direction on how best to position these books at your library.

Which reminds me, don't forget the backlist of ALL Book Riot best lists which you can access with this link.

Choose Your Own Book Club: A Guest Post by Matthew Tessmer

ALA starts later this week, and one of my favorite things about ALA and PLA is the chance to meet my readers. A few years ago, at PLA in Columbus, OH, Matthew Tessmer introduced himself to me and Robin. I have kept in touch with Matthew in the ensuing years, even provided training to his library system. 

Recently, I invited Matthew to share his experience with his awesome “Choose Your Own Book Club” with all of you.

And I chose to run it, today, the beginning of the week leading up to the start of ALA Annual to remind all of you that I would love to chat with you at ALA Annual as well. Remember, you know what I look like, but I do not know what you look like. Later this week I will post my planned scheduled so you can find me, but seriously, anytime you see me, stop me. I will have stickers and pens for anyone who does.

If you are not coming to ALA, please also remember that you can reach out to me anytime via email. Ask a question or tell me about something you are doing at your library. It might lead to you sharing with others here on the blog like it did for Matthew.

Speaking of, take it away Matthew...

Thanks to Becky for the opportunity to talk about a reader’s advisory program for adults I’ve been having success with at my library! The program is a free choice book club we host at the library called “Choose Your Own Book Club.” Here’s the description we publicize: “Connect with fellow readers and grow your reading list in this casual book discussion group. Join us to talk about the books you've read or are currently reading.” At the program, each participant gets the floor to discuss their reading life, which usually consists of recounting their most recent reads and why they did or didn’t enjoy them. We’ve grown into a lovely group representing a wide range of demographics and reading tastes. I’m excited to talk about it here not because of how nice of a group or program it is, but for the way it inspires and challenges me to reflect on and put into practice the great RA ideas I have learned from this blog and other like-minded resources.

First, I have found that this program works well to establish and promote the library as the place for bookish conversation. Recently, Becky highlighted our problem of assuming readers know we offer book suggestions instead of actively working to show them. We have made that mistake at my library, too - this program is one of our ways to fix it that aligns with other steps we have taken to better reach our community. One of our long-term goals the past few years has been to strengthen our marketing, especially when it comes to our program offerings. When we were considering how to strengthen our reader services, a natural extension was to create this program focused exclusively on readers’ advisory. The entire program is focused on “cultivating an atmosphere of conversation around books.” Participants get the chance to take the stage and share their book recs and commiserate on reads that didn’t hit the mark. These discussions often lead into some conversation starters. For example, one of the readers expressed an interest in reading more “classics” - this turned into a discussion of what the term “classic” means and led to each member sharing their criteria for “classics” and a book recommendation. Importantly, we don’t stop the conversation when the program ends. I love to tell the program participants that they can keep the conversation going at any time by talking to any library staff person at our service desks, and to encourage their friends who can’t make the program time especially to come do what we love most - talk books!

Second, in addition to taking the opportunity to discuss my personal reading life, I use this program as basically a live display of books I want to highlight and “unshelve” from the collection. My practice of doing this has evolved. At first, I was pretty strict about developing a monthly theme for the materials I would pull out of the collection to highlight. But as Becky has pointed out, limiting the selections in this way doesn’t actually serve the readers in this program. Instead, I share monthly “books that have caught my interest” so that my choices can be more inclusive and more of the program’s readers can be drawn to this live display.

Third, I would be doing the program participants a disservice if I didn’t approach the bookish conversations and unshelved books through an anti-racist lens that elevates and celebrates marginalized voices. I wish I could say that this point goes without saying, but between the active threats to the freedom to read and the complacency of those who (wrongly) think reading and RA service can be apolitical, loudly continuing anti-racist and inclusive reader services is essential. In this program, it looks like making sure that inclusive book display procedures are followed for the books I unshelve. It means getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and sharing additional information and book suggestions when a participant discusses a title like American Dirt. It means making and keeping personal reading goals to read widely and diversely. Being actively anti-racist is the table stakes for being a part of the solution instead of the problem in librarianship. I’m grateful for the part this program plays in keeping me committed and accountable to anti-racist reader services.

And fourth, this program has broadened my view of RA service from transactional reading suggestions towards a wide-ranging service that advances everyday readers’ autonomy. As our readerly community has formed, we spend as much time discussing our reading lives as we do talking about the reading material. These conversations can involve: 1) reflecting on reading tastes as a whole and what impacts them (previous reads, time, place, mood), 2) whether or not certain reading choices make for a “real” reader (both audiobooks and romance are, in fact, real reading!) and 3) affirming the choices readers make for their reading lives (DNF that book if it isn’t working for you!). Each of these are an example of promoting readerly autonomy, as explored in a panel presentation at ALA Annual 2025 by Rutgers Assistant Professor E. E. Lawrence. Here, RA is an autonomy-enabling service that supports patrons in making the choices that steer their own reading lives.

I’ve learned so much from RAforAll over the years, so it’s a dream to get a chance to share this program here. While I don’t think there’s anything ground-breaking being done in this program, I hope it inspires you to continue to reflect on your current programs and services to leisure readers. I know I’ll be back here tomorrow to read and learn something new!

--Matthew Tessmer

Public Services Librarian

Albert Lea Public Library

Attack of the Best Lists 2026: Half Year Check-In (updated w/ NPR Books on 6/30/26)

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

We are past the half way point of June now and "best of the year so far" lists are coming fast and furious. I will link to a handful of them be below but first, why should you care about the "best" books of 2026 when we are only halfway there?

Well, there are many reasons from practical to patron service oriented. 

1. Collection development: these are the books you should have in your collections right now. But also, check all of these authors and see if they have other books, releasing previous to these break-out titles, and make sure you have those too. These best lists are there to identify specific "right now" titles, yes, but also use the lists as a prompt to check for backlist options as well.
2. While you wait lists: you are not the only one seeing the lists. They are from major media sources. People are going to be coming in and asking for many of these books, often in larger number from when they first came out. Are you ready with suggestions while they wait on hold? Readlaikes for the specific titles and/or authors. Past titles by said authors (see point 1). Even just "best" books lists from last year-- click here to see my "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage via posts going back in reverse chronological order.
3. Displays but make them interactive: use the lists below to get those "Best of the Year So Far" displays up and then make it interactive. Click here to see how to ask questions of you staff and patrons and then pu the answers on display. The conversation starter here is "what is the best book you have read so far this year?" Don't worry about if it came out this year or not. That does not matter. We are highlighting the books that have brought people joy over the last 6 months and spreading that happiness by displaying as many of the books as possible. This is not a gatekeeping moment where you go..."but that is a 2023 book." NO ONE CARES. DON'T SQUASH THE JOY. You can start the display with the specific 2026 lists linked below, but then expand the display with your staff and patrons responses to broaden the offerings. 
4. Don't forget to bridge the physical-virtual divide and get those displays and the conversation start questions into your online spaces. Asking the questions on social media is a great option. Having a google form with whatever the current conversation starter question is on your website. Posting a picture of the display on social media and linking to a list of the books in the catalog and even making a list on Libby and linking there. Just figure out ways to make the display and conversation available in the building and in your online spaces because our patrons use all of our services and do not see them as separate. The library is a space to visit a building AND a space on their phones and computers. 
5. For fun: look, June is very busy at the library. As schools let out, people come back to the library in droves. We are running summer reading, increasing programming, and serving larger numbers of people. Celebrating all of the great titles we have already seen in 2026, if just fun. Embrace some fun. Enjoy the conversation around "best go the year so far." As I mentioned in point 3, get everyone in the community participating. It is pure innocent positivity. Everyone can have their say and you can be the one to spread the joy.

Here are a handful of those lists from across the publishing landscape to get you started:

• Amazon's Best of 2026 So Far: landing page. This page leads to MANY categories, providing a variety of options for every reader
• Barnes & Noble's Best Books of 20226 (So Far): landing page
• NPR's Books We Love So Far This Year; tabs for Fiction and Nonfiction at the top
• Audible editors offer a midyear roundup of 2026’s top listens thus far
• A few options from GoodReads which also leaves room for backlist options as they are looking at the most read books of 2026.
• Readers’ Most Read Books of the 2026 Reading Challenge (So Far)
• Readers’ Hit New Books of the Year (So Far): sorted by genre and then ranked within that.
• Book Riot breaks down the most read books on Goodreads in 2026 so far
• NYT Book Review Best Fiction and Nonfiction of 2026 So Far (Gift Link)
• 10 Best Books of 2026 So Far via the BBC

I would also direct you to the January-June 2026 LibraryReads lists as well. Those are best lists from your fellow library workers. Click here for the Archive of every year, with 2026 listed first. In general, the LibraryReads archive is an underused "best list" option. 

Summer Reading 2026: LitHub's Ultimate Summer Reading List

Back in December, I had this post about one of 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, 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.

That's a general PSA for all of their "Ultimate Lists," but right now I want to focus on the current 2026 Ultimate Summer Reading List.

Author Emily Temple read 25 summer reading lists, which recommended a total of 419 individual books and crunched the numbers. 60 books were mentioned 3 or more times. This is THE summer reading list you need for your patrons because it is comprised of all the lists.

The most lists a book was on was 13 (out of 25) and the Temple includes appears 3 times. You can click here to read The Ultimate Summer 2026 Reading List.

And please scroll to the end to see the links to all of the lists she used to build her "Ultimate" list. Not only do I love a list that cites its sources, but also by making them clickable, you can dig even deeper to find more titles.

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). Also include previous titles by the authors on this year's list and readalike titles for the authors.

You have plenty to fill the display. And again, there is no library jail. No one is going to get upset or punish you if you use titles adjacent to this year's specific lists. In fact, just the opposite, When you include 

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. You have plenty to fill the display. No one is going to get upset or punish you if you use titles adjacent to this year's specific lists (as opposed to those literally on them). In fact, just the opposite. When you include titles from this year, previous years, readalikes for those authors, titles that you think would be a great summer read, anything I have posted using the summer reading tag, etc...., people will thank you.

Your patrons want a good book to read over the summer. They have no idea where to start. When you widen the net of option, when you get creative in your "summer reading" marketing, while making sure the books are solid reads, you will draw more readers to your display. When you provide them with a book they end up loving, you have hooked them for life. They will come back for more. They will tell their friends. You have won.

But in order to do that you have to stop being so literal. A great place to start is the backlist. The last few years of Summer Reading hot picks will be on the shelf. They were summer reads in the near past. They are great books that people missed. They are still great reads. Allow them to shine

Speaking of....here is the link to pull up the Ultimate Summer Reading Lists going back to 2022. As well as using my "summer reads" tag.

This is also a great time to use my conversation starter to display posts (and handout with examples) to ask your staff and readers to share this favorite "Summer Reads." Note, I did not say, favorite Summer Reads out in 2026. Keep it broader. Find out what they have loved the most. From that poll, you can not only make a display, but also 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. Again use my directions on how to have that conversation here.

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 a great place to start that process is LitHub's Ultimate Summer Reading Lists. 

Another Great Summer Reading Program Idea That You Need to Save and Use Anytime of Year via LitHub

This year I have been posting about non library summer reading programs for adults for a variety of reasons. 

First, I know your summer reading programs are already in full swing, but while something is happening it is actually the best time to gather information and learn from others doing the same thing.

Second, many of you still do not have adult reading programs even though you should. I wrote about this at length a few weeks ago here. Please go back and read that. The important parts are bolded. The fact that non-library places are doing them, spending money to create them, giving prizes....all of this should make you both realize it is something you should be doing and also, it should make you mad that they are filling a hole you could have filled much more easily. We are losing readers to places like the NYT and LitHub

Third, these non-library summer reading programs are the right kind of gate opening programs. Why does that matter? Well our summer reading programs, in fact most of what we do for adults, has way too many rules and barriers. Why does a grown ass person have to follow themes and/or number of minutes reading in order to participate in the joy of summer reading? Why do we gate keep reading for adults? Their lives are busy enough and just the fact that they want to use a summer reading program as a reason to read more should be enough. 

I need to say this to all of you-- just because your library uses a theme for summer reading and just because the kid's program has a bunch of rules does not mean you have to do the exact same thing. Too many rules and too many restrictions will drive your patrons away. And, mostly importantly, YOU WILL NOT GO TO LIBRARY JAIL IF YOU ALLOW ADULTS TO READS WHAT THEY WANT. 

In fact, just the opposite, if you increase circulation, participation, and door count of adults during the summer, you will be celebrated and praised for it. 

Now, if your library requires you use the theme, that's fine. Mine did back in the day. So you know what I did? I used the branded material and then told my adults, here is the theme; here is a list of titles you can read it you want to fit the theme; but also, just log the books your read whatever they were. They all count. 

The adult summer reading programs I am reposting here, from these non library spaces, understand all of this better than most of you. Again, I wrote about the NYT summer reading program here. Today I want to point you to an even better program, one that you can insert into your current summer reading programs seamlessly, right now. It is from LitHub. Here is their summer reading program with challenges we can use anytime.

Talk about gate opening. These are lists of 10 books that come out every 2 weeks, and they suggest you pick just one to read in that time frame. The themes they have created are very flexible and fun:

• Great Classic Novels Under 200 Pages
• The Best Contemporary Novels Under 200 pages
• The 60 Best Campus Novels from the Last 100 Years
• The Greatest Coming of Age Novels
• The Greatest Summer Novels of All Time
• The 50 Best Contemporary Novels Over 500 pages

They even created this FREE graphic for people to fill out as they completed the challenges.

This is such a great idea for libraries to use all year long. It reminds me of my conversation starter to display concept; in fact I am adding this post to the handout for that. You could use this idea to create monthly mini displays ALL YEAR LONG. 

How would you doing this? Easy. Use the categories from this LitHub Summer Reading Program and/or the ones from the NYT Summer Reading Challenge and/or any conversation starter to display questions I have posted before.

Pick 12 themes. One for each month of the year. Make a sign with the title of the conversation starter. For example, "Best Books Under 200 Pages." And then do a small display of titles near it. Have your staff help seed the display at first, but then go here to learn how I suggest you poll all patrons to help build the list to keep it going. The questions here is "What are your favorite books under 200 pages?" These displays and the chance to allow patrons to add to the lists of titles needs to be in the building and online.

The great thing about these mini-displays with conversation starter questions is that they are evergreen. You can use them all year long or tie them to the season or indentity month. The titles you gather this year, can be entered into a document, and used the next time you do that display to get it all started. 

Start at any time. Ask staff from across the entire library, or if your library is small, from across your system to help build the lists. 

Now, I know many of you will still be making excuses are to why you cannot do this.

No space? Well it can be as small as a sign on your desk with a vertical stack of 3-5 books. As they go, you add more books.

No time? I have given you a link to enough questions to use all year long.

Don't want to do the polling patrons part for (insert reason here), just do the mini displays themselves each month. Having a rotating small themed display is a great reason for people to come back and try another book. You are giving them the prompt and they can choose a book you have picked or think up their won answer to the question to find something to read they would not have thought about without your help.

To help keep this idea going, I am going to commit to being a resource to help all of you. Every month, on the 1st of the month, (or the week day closest to it),I will post a theme you can use as well as a list of ten titles to make your display. I will also post resources for more crowdsourced titles. This way you have no excuse NOT to do at least the mini display. I will remind you to change it and give you plenty of titles to get it started.

As you get more comfortable doing these mini displays on a monthly basis, I will challenge you to grow the program, get your staff and patrons involved, and more. Let's get better at serving our adult readers together. I know it is hard to get a new habit started. We are all very busy, but I am committed to being there to help you give it a try.

Brooklyn Public Library's 250 for 250 List

In honor of our country's 250th Anniversary, the Brooklyn Public Library is celebrating the best way they know how, with a thoughtful, surprising, irresistible booklist. Organized by genre and category of interest, this all-ages list is a deep dive on the stories, voices and moments that shaped America. Selected by their expert librarians—with help from a few notable New Yorkers!—they have presented their list of the 250 most influential books in United States history.

To create this list, a committee of nearly two dozen librarians performed what Chief Librarian Edwin Maxwell calls "collective alchemy." They whittled down over 600 contenders to find the titles that truly define the American experiment—vibrant, sometimes messy, groundbreaking. This is a curated list of books, published between 1776 and 2025, that reflect the spectrum of American thought, argument, imagination and contradiction.

And because everything is better with a little star power, BPL enlisted a few notable NYC bookworms to pen short essays on their favorites. Ethan Hawke discusses The Outsiders, Constance Wu muses on Gilead and "Recess Therapy" host Julian Shapiro-Barnum weighs in on the graphic novel American Born Chinese.

From the Time Out New York article about the list itself:

The list kicks off with the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and takes readers all the way to the present, weaving through centuries of stories that reflect who Americans have been, who they are and who they’re still arguing about becoming. It captures the full range of American experiences, especially voices that haven’t always been front and center.

"Books remain one of our most powerful tools for defending democracy. They help us understand ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Together, the books on this list tell a story of our nation, our commitment to the ideals of freedom and justice for all, and that ongoing search for common ground,” said Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO, Brooklyn Public Library. “From Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, we learn the dreams of our founding fathers. In Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, we feel the joys and hardships of growing up in our beloved borough at the turn of the century. Poet Mary Oliver’s Devotions reminds us to remember what it means to be alive and that our most important responsibility is to care for one another. As we continue to pursue a perfect union, this extraordinary list considers the full range of the American—and human—experience.”

Now from our perspective, library workers from across the country trying to help readers, a list of 250 books from across the breadth of America's existence, including titles for all ages of readers, fiction and nonfiction, all genres, is helpful on its own, even if a little daunting. 

But BPL has added sortable, clickable tags for appeal and topic/genre as well, so readers can create their own mini-list within the list. Try it for yourself, here.

At your library you can offer your readers online access so they can peruse the list on their won or use it to make your own displays and lists as well.

As we creep closer to July 4th, the 250th birthday of America is going to become more and more popular. Now is a great time to use the BPL list as a spring board to creating your own conversation starter to display moment. 

Use my post about how to use a conversation starter questions to poll staff and patrons and create a local crowd sourced display. In this case, your community question is "To celebrate the 250th Birthday of Our Country We Want to Know Your Favorite Books Written By Americans." Make sure to encourage any books-- fiction, nonfiction,. graphic novels, kids to adult. Anything. Add a QR code to the BPL list to make sure people think broadly.

You can ask this question in your online spaces by linking to the BPL list as well. Offer it up as the example you are trying to replicate but for YOUR community. 

Speaking of your community, I really love how out of the 250, they have 8 that are endorsed by "Notable New Yorkers," and that category has a tag where you can click to pull them all up at once.

While you are asking everyone to share their books for our 250th Birthday, identify a few local people, mayor, business owners, anyone notable and influential in your community and ask them to pick a book that you will highlight. It is a great way to do some targeted outreach to important members of your community and allow them a chance to connect with the community in a new way.

Thanks to BPL for putting out this list so the rest of us can use it as a springboard board to our own bookish celebrations.

Using Awards List As a RA Tool: The Joyce Carol Oates Prize 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 love awards that are both general and specific. I know that sounds impossible but hear me out. The Shirley Jackson Award (for which I serve on the Advisory Board) is exactly this, but so is today's example--  The Joyce Carol Oates Prize:

The Joyce Carol Oates Prize is named in honor of the preeminent author, and our colleague. In the past, Joyce served as Simpson Project Writer-in-Residence, and today she sits on the New Literary Project Board of Directors as an honorary member. NewLit gratefully acknowledges her inspiring, lifelong impact as peerless teacher and writer, an author beloved and admired by legions of students, writers, and readers around the country and the world. She embodies the Project’s most deeply held commitments to literature and literacy, arts and education, in order to enhance the lives of students, readers, and writers across generations and diverse communities.

The Joyce Carol Oates Prize annually honors a mid-career fiction writer whose work speaks to the mission and vision of New Literary Project. This prize is awarded not in recognition of a book, but for an author: an already emerged and still emerging author of national consequence—short stories and/or novels—at the relatively middle stage of a burgeoning career. By mid-career we mean an author who has published at least two notable books of fiction, and who has yet to receive capstone recognition such as a Pulitzer or a MacArthur. Otherwise, there are no age, geographic, or stylistic restrictions. The winner receives a $50,000 award to encourage and support forthcoming work. The Prize is a working prize, in the sense that each year the winner is in brief fall residence (seven to ten days) at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Bay Area, where they may give public readings and talks, teach classes, and make appearances.

An application process is announced in the fall of every year, after which a distinguished jury considers an assembled longlist. Eventually, jurors hand up the names of finalists to the New Literary Project Board, which ultimately decides upon the Prize.

I bolded the proof of my comments above, but to be clear here-- this award is "general" in that if is for any author from anywhere, at any age, and not a particular book but it is "specific" in the parameter-- it is an author they define as "emerging" and that has very specific parameters (listed above). 

As an award for those of us in the library both the current JCO nominees AND the past winners and nominees are an amazing resource for displays, collection development, and suggestions (see the link in the header of this post for more details).

First, take a look at this year's longlist here. There are 28(!) authors you know, whose books you have, and they are probably languishing on the shelf, just waiting to be matched with their best reader. I love how many nominees we get with this award

Second move to the current finalists:

Katie Kitamura, Audition (Riverhead Books)

Erika Krouse, Save Me, Stranger (Flatiron Books)

Lori Ostlund, Are You Happy? (Astra House)

Jamie Quatro, Two-Step Devil (Grove Atlantic)

Danzy Senna, Colored Television (Riverhead Books)

These are well known, but not super famous names. Just like the award notes. These are books you almost certainly own. Go out right now and check these 5 authors to make sure you have their titles and if you have time-- go check all 28 on the longlist as well.

Which leads to, fourth, the past winners are HUGE names now. The JCO Prize identifies authors who mainstream audiences would love if they only they had a chance to shine admit the thousands of books published each year. Just look at this list:

2026 Prize Winner Erika Krouse
2025 Prize Winner Jennine Capó Crucet
2025 Prize Winner Willy Vlautin
2024 Prize Winner Ben Fountain
2023 Prize Winner Manuel Muñoz
2022 Prize Winner Lauren Groff
2021 Prize Winner Danielle Evans
2020 Prize Winner Daniel Mason
2019 Prize Winner Laila Lalami
2018 Prize Winner Anthony Marra
2017 Prize Winner T. Geronimo Johnson

Every. Single. Author. They are names you know, your patrons ask for, and you pre-order without a second thought. Would they be as well known without the JCO Prize. Probably not. More on the backlist below but first one last point.

Fifth, look at all the lists mentioned above. Note how there or no "genre" guardrails on this award. Again, this is part of the "general" nature of this award. These authors are exploring many genres with their works and I love to see it. 

Finally, as promised, let's take a deeper look at the backlist of anyone who has ever been on one of the JCO Prize longlists, let alone won. Click here to get ALL of that info with a single click. The backlist here is easy to access. On the main page for the JCO Prize, they have the current year and at the end of that entry for whatever year there are clear buttons to peruse the Longlist and Shortlists for that year.

But the backlist for this prize is even more helpful than your average backlist access (as I referred to above) because of the fact that this list goes out of its way to award those who are emerging, who have NOT been singled out for an award. Therefore, it is by default, diverse. The number of well reviewed, nominated for prizes, critically acclaimed but not winners, midlist authors who are from historically marginalized communities is huge. 

The JCO Prize-- winners, finalist, and longlist-- is a great resource to find a diverse list of authors who you and your readers might not be as aware of, but they are all writers whose work is perfect for a public library collection, and books you almost certainly have.

They are also books that despite being awesome reads, may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Don't just shrug about it. Do something to highlight them. Turn the last few years of longlist authors (there are repeats) into a display. Call it something like "Great Reads You Don't Know About....Yet." This display idea follows my #1 rule about displays-- Promote Books Patrons Will Not Find Without Your Help. This is where we show our worth and make the biggest impression on our readers. 

And then if you are willing to take another step toward better RA Service, use that title to ask your patrons to share their suggestions for great reads more people need to know about. The display will become ever more diverse. It will move itself away from the award you are using to start it (again, you never have to mention the award as your resource, just use the results), while also turning it into a locally specific resource. Click here for more by me about how to turn a conversation starter into a display.

In general though, The JCO Prize-- winners, finalist, and longlist-- is a great resource for everything I say about Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool. You know about the prize and can use it to make displays without ever referring to the prize itself. And it is evergreen because it is so broad. 

Please expand your display idea horizons and (except for heritage months) don't tie yourself to only being able to put up "timely" displays. Evergreen displays are ALWAYS more useful-- to you because you can have them ready at anytime and recycle ideas-- and to your patrons because they are going to be more bored in scope, offering options for more readers.