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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query attack best lists 2022. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query attack best lists 2022. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, December 27, 2024

Attack of the Best Lists 2024: LitHub's Best Book Coverage Including the Ultimate Best List

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 2024" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

This is my last Attack of the Best Lists post of the year, although I will be revisiting all of this for my 2024 installment of Keeping Up with Books: Year in Review with Yaika Sabat for Novelist. It will be FREE and in February. Details soon, but here is the link describing the 2023 program so you get a sense of what to expect.

But back to day. Here is the list we all have been waiting for-- LitHub's aggregation of all the major best lists. From the landing page:

The Ultimate Best Books of 2024 List
Reading All the Lists So You Don’t Have To Since 2017
By Emily Temple 

The end of the year is approaching, the universe is expanding, and the internet is updating—right now, it is mostly updating its Best Of lists. Therefore, per Literary Hub tradition, I now present to you the Ultimate List, otherwise known as the List of Lists—in which I read all the Best Of lists and count which books are recommended most. 
In all the time I’ve done this, I’ve never seen a book run away with this list like Percival Everett’s James has this year: it was recommended a full dozen more times than the next most popular books. (It also won the National Book Award and the Kirkus Award, and was a finalist for the Booker—and with good reason.) 
Overall, this year, I processed 69 lists from 39 outlets, which collectively recommended more than 1,200 individual books (RIP my spreadsheet). As always, these are probably not all the lists, but all universes have to end sometime. Anyway, 90 of those books made it onto 5 or more lists, and I have collated these for you here, in descending order of frequency.

This is the only single list you need to look at because Temple has done the most focused work of anyone out there. And the results, are RA gold for you. The post she has created seamlessly combines adult fiction, nonfiction, and GNs into one list. Further, she not only does the compiling for you, the sources are listed and linked (!) at the bottom of the page, so you can have DIRECT access to the 69 most influential publications' best lists, and the aggregation of which titles are on the most lists, with just this one click. It is crowdsourcing first, but also, a resource to dive deeper, all in one place.

But wait, there's more....

Multiple layer of backlist and indexing are happening here, meaning you can embrace "Best" across multiple years. Reminder, "Best" titles have a longer shelf life than the current year. Last year's best titles, even 5 years ago, are great suggestions for a wide swath of readers. Here's how LitHub makes it easy, all year long, with their clear, consistent, and accessible tags at the bottom of their posts:

All of these tags pull up useful information in reverse chronological order, meaning you decide how far into the backlist you want to dig.

But wait, there is even more...

LitHub owns CrimeReads and they have their own Best of 2024 lists (but no useful tags to collection them all. Here are those best lists:

I AM NOT DONE YET. I told you I was saving the best for last. 

LitHub also owns Book Marks a review aggregator. Full disclosure, they include Booklist and Library Journal so my reviews are part of this database. Here are their best reviewed fiction and nonfiction of 2024.

Okay, now that is the end. The final day of Attack of the Best Lists 2024. But please remember, you can use these lists all year long and the back lists as well. Click here for my Attack of the Best Lists consolidated coverage for 2023, 2022, and 2021. And note, each of those posts goes into the backlist for each list as well. going back to 2021 will take you back even further. There are literally hundred of titles here for you with one or 2 clicks that are sure to be on your shelves and satisfy a wide range of readers. 

Back Monday and Tuesday with my most popular posts and my favorite reads of the year. Until then, stay safe.

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Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Essential and Interesting “Best Books of 2025” Lists via Largehearted Boy

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 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

Next week as we lead into the American Thanksgiving holiday, I will be posting a few key best lists. And while I have been doing this for a few weeks now, I want to make it clear to all of my readers-- I will not get to every list. In fact, that is very far from a goal for me.

The lists I chose to include here on the blog are usually the broadest and most useful to you as a resource. I also prioritize the lists that I can use to make some other tangential point or comment about how to best serve your readers.

But, I also understand that it means I miss lists that might be essential to helping you to help one of your readers. 

I'm okay with that though because every year since 2008, Largehearted Boy has us all covered. Here is the direct link to his list of 2025's most interesting best lists including this introductory note:

From 2008-2022, I aggregated every online year-end book list I discovered into one post.
This year (like last year), I will collect essential and interesting year-end book lists in this post and update it daily. 
Please feel free to e-mail me with a magazine, newspaper, or other online list I have missed. 

This is a best list archive you need to bookmark and return to as the lists keep rolling out. He is just getting started.

Also, please note that all of his backlist of best lists are available, by year, at the end of the post, meaning access to those books previously deemed "best" are one click away.

Remember, "best" does not have a shelf life. Sure the 2025 bests are shiny and new, and everyone is talking about them, but the lists from the last five years are still a treasure trove of sure bet suggestions for your readers. And chances are they are somewhere on your shelves, buried in the stacks, waiting for their best readers to find them. 

Give them a boost by using Largehearted Boy's archive to make a fund backlist best books display. You can play with the name. Suggestions-- Best Books Flashback; Best Books You Never Got Around to Reading; Forgotten Favorites; etc... you get the idea.

I have found that during this time of year, our library users really appreciate finding a book they might have missed from a year or two ago. These are hardcore readers. They will be aware of the best lists and in many cases, they have a plan to read the ones that are most interesting to them. But, they also know (as do we) that these 2025 best titles are going to have long holds lists. And while they wait, one of the best books from 2024 or 2023, or 2022 that they never got to, will fulfill their reading needs quite nicely.

(Remember, our job is to highlight the books that our readers would not find without out help.)

As a result, Largehearted Boy's list of the best lists becomes your go to resource for the best, best list action and your portal into the best lists of years gone by. 

And don't forget, when the attack of the best lists is over for 2025, Largehearted Boy's lists are still there, anytime, anywhere, ready and waiting to help you find the perfect suggestion for your readers.

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Monday, October 24, 2022

Attack of the Best Lists 2022: NPR Books We Love and Publishers Weekly Best of 2022

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Best Books 2022" series [and more backlist best options] you can use the best lists tag. 

It begins earlier and earlier every year. I used to be surprised when Best Lists started showing up on November 1, but here we are, it's not even Halloween and 2 major year end "best lists" went live last week. I will say I am not surprised they came out early because not only are these 2 of the best and most useful best lists that are available, but they are also updated and available year round.

But since this is the first Attack of the Best Lists for 2022 I do want to remind you that I take all of the best lists that come out this time of year to craft my popular, annual presentation for PCI webinars: Reader's Advisory Year in Review. The registration for those has just gone live as well. 

PCI Webinars: Reader's Advisory Year in Review: 2022

  • Tuesday, January 31, 2023; 10:30-11:30am Eastern [FL Libraries only]
  • Wednesday, February 1, 2023; 2-3pm Eastern [Everyone else]
Now back to today's featured best lists. And again, a reminder, both are excellent year round resources.


Click here to enter the site

From the about page which also explains how the books are selected:
Books We Love is NPR’s interactive reading guide. In the past, it’s been a year-end guide we put out annually. But this year, we’ve decided to offer it in summer and winter! So this summer edition of Books We Love focuses on books published in the first six months of the year, from January through June 2022. But what hasn’t changed is the bounty of hand-picked books. Mix and match tags such as Book Club Ideas, Biography & Memoir or Eye-Opening Reads to filter results and find the book that’s perfect for you or someone you love.

I love this list for a few reasons. The first is the filters. Listed in the left gutter of the page in natural language with recognizable categories such as "Biography & Memoir," "Mysteries & Thrillers," or "Young Adult," but also including more intuitive, reader focused categories like "Eye-Opening Reads," It's All Geek To Me," and "The Dark Side," and even choices based on length, this is an excellent portal to "best" books that allows any reader [or library worker] to created highly specific and expertly tailored suggestions.

Second, it is fun to use. The mixing a matching potential is endless because of the breadth of choices. A lot of that breadth is because of the nature of how they add titles to the list. They ask all of their NPR Books contributors to suggest titles. As a result, a huge swath of reading interests are represented in the list. Their intentional inclusion of all voices, even those who only write a few reviews a year, makes this list one of the best. 

Third,  every former incarnation of this list is easily accessible with a single click from the top of this year's list meaning you have over 2,800 customizable suggestions for literally any reader, no matter how picky, at your fingertips. 

Fourth, Books We Love is a great go-to resource all year long because of the breadth and variety of titles included and the ease of backlist access. Users get to steer the ship to find their own suggestion amongst a universe of pre-approved titles. Then they can be as picky as they want, choosing their own filters to narrow it down. And since these lists are VERY broad in terms of the types of books that are included each year, the results are very useful. And they stand up over the test of time. 

When you visit the NPR Book Books We Love portal now and have fun using it for yourself or your patrons, but don't forget about it all year long. It is a wonderful  resource and, after years in existence, the compound interest of titles makes it even more useful. 

Next up is something very similar, PW's Best Books 2022.


Click here to enter the site

Look at that screen shot. From the Best Books of 2022 page on PW you can access by all ages and genres as well as single click access going back to 2010! And it includes their Summer Reads picks and overall Best titles in one place. 

This inclusion of Summer Reads access is key because often, those books are better general reads options but they don't make the year end lists as well. This allows the PW Best Books portal 
Nowhere will you find a resource that puts this many "sure bet" options in front of you so easily. There are literally hundreds of titles here, at your fingertips, both old and new, that you can confidently suggest to readers immediately. And so many readers. Readers who read across all age levels [down to infants] and in just about every genre. 

And, since every title is annotated, you also have a book talk [or annotation] for each title right there. You don't have to have read the book to suggest it. [Reminder: Use the Words of Others.]

I could keep gushing about how much I love this resource but I would rather you played around with it yourself.

Click through, check out the upcoming titles, but also look back at older titles, read the annotations, check genres you love and those you don't normally read, especially those you don't normally read because you will learn much about the current state of that genre [trends, popular authors] this year and going back a few years. You can both get access to some great sure bet suggestions AND brush up on your genre knowledge all in one place.

Spend some time really getting to know this resource. And then use it-- all of it including past years and both summer and year end lists-- to make your own lists for your readers. Make displays [digital displays too], make suggested reading lists by genre, by year, by whatever you want. Just embrace the wealth of information available to you with one click and help readers in ways they would not think to help themselves.

Go check out this database of "sure bet" reads for any season, and keep it bookmarked for use anytime you need a solid suggestion [especially for those hard  to satisfy readers].

And keep an eye out here on the blog for more "Attack of the Best Lists" posts coming soon.
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Monday, December 19, 2022

Attack of the Best Lists 2022: Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books and Insert Your Library Here

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Best Books 2022" series you can use the best lists tag.  

Library generated best lists are one of your best end of year tools, especially when you use the largest library near your physical location as a guide. Why? Here are a few reasons:

  1. Library generated best lists reflect the opinions of actual staff and readers. What did staff most enjoy and what was popular? It is not just critical acclaim or sales data. Remember bestselling mainstays like Daniel Silva, Louise Penny, and Colson Whitehead were extremely popular in libraries well before they became household names. Library workers and patrons often know what is popular and good long before the rest of the world catches up.
  2. Library generated best lists take into consideration all ages of readers because they serve all ages of readers.
  3. Library generated best lists always have genre choices because library workers know patrons love genre-- especially Romance and Crime Fiction.
  4. Library generated best lists ALWAYS consider local or regional authors which is why I advocate for you to prioritize using the best list from the library in the largest city closest to you [in the same state if possible]. 
  5. Library generated best lists are not commercial in anyway. There are no publishers submitting books to their sites. No one is buying ads to be include. There are no links to encourage those using the list to buy the titles. 

I could go on, but you get the point.

I am very lucky that my local large library system is the Chicago Public Library [there is a great branch 5 miles from my house, 2 turns to get there!] whose annual BEST OF THE BEST BOOKS is one of the best library generated best lists available anywhere. You all should use it.


From the BEST OF THE BEST 2022 landing page:

Chicago Public Library recommends the Best of the Best, our selections of the very best books published in 2022. Every year, our librarians evaluate the year’s new books and select the very best for Chicagoans — making these the only booklists for Chicago, by Chicago. Happy reading!

The list goes on the have books for Adults, Teens, Kids [down to birth] and this amazingly easy backlist access right at the bottom of the main page:

PAST BEST OF THE BEST SELECTIONS

Everyone everywhere can and should use this resource to help patrons, but I also want you to use this list as an inspiration to create your own best of the best. As CPL says about their lists [above], "making these the only booklists for Chicago, by Chicago. "

Yes, your library is not as large as CPL, but you easily can do a version for your community by your community. And you most definitely should NOT go at it alone. Get the entire staff involved.

Now I know you are thinking: "Becky, I am so overworked already. I do not have time to organize this."

Ahh, but you don't have to do much. Also, you should not try to emulate CPL, but rather make it your own. And I would suggest NOT limiting to titles that came out in 2022 or you will have less buy in.

Here is how you begin to create your "Favorite Reads of 2022" list at your library for your patrons.

Send out an email to all staff and ask them a few leading questions to make this process easy. I suggest using both of these:

  • What is the most fun you had reading a book this year?
  • What book surprised you the most this year?
Again make it clear that these items do NOT have to have a 2022 copyright nor do the titles have to come from the area in which the person works, and furthermore, they do not need to limit themselves to one or two-- let people go at it with their passion. Don't gate-keep the responses. Use them all no matter what your personal opinion about the "quality" of the title included happens to be.

The goal here is the have as many staff members participating as possible. The only rule is that it has to be something that you have in your collection. This also serves as a reminder to staff and patrons that "BEST" does not have an expiration date.

Also these questions work very well because they invoke an immediate emotional response. I know because I use them in my presentations as a way to get people in the correct frame of mind for the training I am about to provide. 

When you ask someone to name a "best" anything, they overthink it. Asking for most fun and or biggest surprise allows for a wider variety of responses, ones that are more personal and less self conscious.

Send out that all staff email this week and ask people to reply by the first week of January and watch the responses roll in. Your library's best list made by your community for your community will build itself. Gather all the responses and build a physical display, hopefully one that offers titles from across your collection in one place [so not just the youth books in the youth section, for example]. Add hyperlinks to the catalog and make a list for the website and social media. Print one out for patrons to take. Go one step further and put said print out [with call numbers] in every book on the hold shelf. 

Not only will everyone on staff who chooses to participate have fun, but it is a wonderful team building exercise as you will all learn something new about each other through an activity that is directly tied to your brand-- Books.

And your community gets it's own fancy best list just like the citizens of the big cities get.

But one last caveat, in order to make sure the list is intentionally diverse, you as the person curating it for your library is responsible for filling it with titles by marginalized voices. Make sure you have at a minimum of non 33% non white, heterosexual, cis, abled-bodied people. If you are having trouble filling it, check out my "best lists" tag and use those titles. Tomorrow, I will have another excellent list that combines all of the best lists which you can use to fill out your list. Or, check your closest large library system for their suggestions. Those will be diverse and they are still local.

Finally, don't forget, by doing this list this year that means next year, when you do it again, you have just doubled your options of "best" books because you can post the backlist. 

Thanks again to CPL for making one of the best "Best" books list of the year, once again. Use it to help readers and as an inspiration to make your own version.

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Monday, November 28, 2022

Attack of the Bests Lists 2022: Largehearted Boy's List of Online "Best of 2022" Book Lists

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Best Books 2022" series [and more backlist best options] you can use the best lists tag. 

Over the last week, many of the to "best lists were announced, including NPR Books We Love (which I talked about in detail here) and the NYT 100 Notable Books. But there are many more, and they are coming fast and furious from now until January. 

As I have said each and every year, I do not try to post every single best list here on the blog. Rather, I choose to highlight those that are especially useful to us as we help public library readers in real time. [Again, NPR Books We Love is at the top of that list].

But, there are a few outlets that do go out of their way to keep track of every BEST list for you all in one place. 

Today I want to highlight my favorite-- Largehearted Boy and their Online "Best of 2022" list of lists.

Click here to enter the master list of lists

You can use this link for 2022's lists of every best list-- in alpha order. From general lists like the NYT one linked above, to super specific ones based on interests or type of publication, this master list of all the best lists is guaranteed to help you identify a title of interest for every patron.

The only problem you may have is that the books your patron wants are checked out because they are on the year's lists. But of course, readers of this blog know how to fix that problem-- the backlist!

One of the reasons I support Largehearted Boy's online lists of lists every year is not only because it is so comprehensive and easy to use, but also, because he makes the backlist access SO easy.

At the bottom of the page there is access to all 15 years of lists. Links to all of the best lists for 15 years, without having to construct a search or even click-- just scroll. I promise you, with the breadth of offerings you will be able to find a "best" read on the shelf for any patron without having to go back further than 1 year or 2. 

So, buckle up for the attack of the best lists to kick into a higher gear, but don't worry about knowing about them all, or missing one-- Largehearted Boy has got you covered. 

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Monday, November 20, 2023

Attack of the Best Lists 2023: BookPage and Book Riot

 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 2023" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Friday I had a post about best lists from the widest possible view, for anyone, even those who aren't big readers. But today, I want to focus on lists that are for committed readers. People who follow the book world a bit more closely. 

To be clear, when it comes to end of year best lists, it is a different audience. And what I do with these posts is to try to help you understand that every best lists has a different audience and you need to use that knowledge to help your readers better. 

If you learn nothing else from my Attack of the Best Lists series it should be this: Best lists are NEVER one size fits all.

The right list, used as a resource for the right type of reader will garner amazing results. The wrong list for that type of reader may still work, but not as well.

Let's start with a resource that most library workers and regular library users know and trust very well-- BookPage.

BookPage is the newspaper that most libraries have available for patrons to take for free at their service desks. They have released their Top 10 books for 2023 in print and online. They have titles for al types of readers, yes, but also, these are books that they know have worked well for a wide swath of each type of reader as well. 

Click here for that list with fiction, nonfiction, adult, YA and MG. It also includes multiple genre choices including one of my top reads of the year, Lone Women by Victor LaValle.

But more importantly, they also have easy access on that page to all of the 2023 lists of best books by genre AND one click access to the lists going back to 2019. This is a one stop shop for you and your patrons to find "best" titles from this year and the recent backlist.

Next up is the unique Best Books list from Book Riot. 

But first, as I have said here on the blog many times, Book Riot is the best resource to see what hard core readers are interested in. Book Riot is the largest independent website focused on readers. All of their content is directed at readers directly. They want to get the most clicks as well, which means their content is purposefully up to date, interesting, and written in a conversational tone. It is exactly what we need to stay on top of the hottest trends because it is their mission to provide the most "clickable" content to readers, meaning they have the time and resources to do this work for us. Everything there is reader focused which dovetails perfectly with RA Service.

Their best books of the year site is made by having each writer, editor, contributor, etc... give one title for their book of the year. Because each person who works for them has a slightly different specialty, the list covers all ages and genres by default. Also they have a commitment to providing diverse voices as part of their policy.

The editors then take all of the titles and allow you, the user of this resource to browse all or to click on tags in a sidebar to help narrow your choices down.

Click here to get started using it for yourself, to build displays, or to help a specific patron.

The only downside to this reader focused resource is that they do not have easy access to past lists on the current year's page. And when I try to search, the same site we have for 2023 is not available for past years. 

However, when I went to Largehearted Boy's Ultimate List of Lists for past years (more on this resource soon), I was able to get into the past Book Riot best lists with ease. I have posted them here for you, so you can have 1 click access from my blog:

Kelly Jensen also published her annual Best Book Covers of the year 2023 today. Please click here to see what else I have to say about how covers are a great way to start the RA conversation and that you can absolutely judge books by their covers in order to help readers.

Here is access (again thanks to Largehearted Boy) to the best covers backlists as well:

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Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Attack of the Best Lists 2023: The Ultimate Best Books of 2023 List via Lit Hub

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 2023" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

The list I have been waiting for is finally here-- LitHub's aggregation of all the major best lists. From the landing page:

The Ultimate Best Books of 2023 List

Reading All the Lists So You Don’t Have To Since 2017
By Emily Temple 

December 20, 2023

The end of the year is approaching, the universe is expanding, and the internet is updating—right now, it is mostly updating its Best Of lists. Therefore, per Literary Hub tradition, I will now present to you the Ultimate List, otherwise known as the List of Lists—in which I read all the Best Of lists and count which books are recommended most.

This year, I sorted through 62 lists from 48 publications, which yielded a total of 1,132 books. (I can only say: yikes.) 94 of those books made it onto 5 or more lists, and I have collated these for you here, in descending order of frequency.

This is the only single list you need to look at because Temple has done the most focused work of anyone out there. And the results, are RA gold for you. The post she has created seamlessly combines adult fiction, nonfiction, and GNs into one list. Further, she not only does the compiling for you, the sources are listed and linked (!) at the bottom of the page, so you can have access to the 48 most influential publications' best lists, and the aggregation of which titles are on the most lists, with just this one click. It is crowdsourcing first, but also, a resource to dive deeper, all in one place.

But wait, there's more....

Multiple layer of backlist and indexing are happening here, meaning you can embrace "Best" across multiple years. Reminder, "Best" titles have a longer shelf life than the current year. Last year's best titles, even 5 years ago, are great suggestions for a wide swath of readers. Here's how LitHub makes it easy, all year long, with their clear, consistent, and accessible tags at the bottom of their posts:

All of these tags pull up useful information in reverse chronological order, meaning you decide how far into the backlist you want to dig.

Back tomorrow with my final column in The Lineup Weekly for this year. This one analyzes 2023's Horror Trends. But in the meantime, here is a link to all of the pieces I have written for them, including last year's Horror Trends post (speaking of the backlist).

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Monday, June 9, 2025

Attack of The Best Lists 2025: Half Year Check-In

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 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

We are a full week into 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 2025 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: 2024" coverage.
  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 2022 book." NO ONE CARES. DON'T SQUASH THE JOY. You can start the display with the specific 2025 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 2025, 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:
I would also direct you to the January-June 2025 LibraryReads lists as well. Those are best lists from your fellow library workers. Click here for the Archive of every year, with 2025 listed first.

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Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Attack of the Best Lists 2024: Audio Books Edition

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 2024" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

Today I have Audio specific 2024 best lists from Audible and AudioFile Magazine.

Both are separated into useful categories/genres and include extra appeal information in their reviews, most importantly, comments about the narrators. The Audible list includes Podcasts as well.

The appeal info is useful all year long, especially via AudioFile Magazine because they have reviews all year long, with monthly "earphone" winners-- think of that as equivalent to a star for a print book. And the reviews are written to help you match the audio with its best reader. I use AudioFile to help readers (including myself) all the time. It helps me help readers to figure out if they would prefer a specific title on audio versus print. I have had great success using it and honestly, have yet to find a better resource for Audio RA.

A few more notes about RA for Audio readers. For some readers, the format doesn't matter, they want the book they want as fast as possible. But for others, myself included, I prefer audio in specific genres (for me it is nonfiction and mystery). Still others use audio for commuting, exercising, shores, etc.... How and when people listen can matter for audio. These are considerations that need to come up in the RA conversation for audio readers.

A few more  things about these lists from you RA Service standpoint:

  • You can use these lists to make displays online with links to eAudio-- use QR codes online AND in the stacks to provide easier access directly to your services where patrons can access them. Make lists on Libby to make it even easier for people to find the titles.
  • You can use these lists to help fill out your in library displays even if ou have to put the print book on display. No one is double checking if you got the format correct and there is no library jail to send you to if they figure it out. With best lists, the more titles, the better.
  • Some of the Audible best titles may not be available anywhere but Audible, but a quick glance  reveals that the big ones are going to be available on your library's eAudio streaming sites.
  • Neither is great with obvious backlist access, so I have it here for you. The best audio books from the past few years will be on the shelf and are still a great listen. Remember, if a book is a few years old but the patron has not read it yet, it is still "new" to them:
    • Audible Best of 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 (I love how Audible's presentation of these lists has changed so much over the 5 years listed. That alone illustrates how much the popularity of eAudio has exploded in the last few years)
    • Audiofile's Best of 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019
  • Back to the first bullet point: if you make a list in Libby for this year's best audio, please go back and use the links I have provided to also make lists for the past few year's best audio. And link to this lists in other lists. See yesterday's Best of the Best post from Chicago Public Library for a great example of how to make sure past best lists are accounted for with a single click.
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Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Audiobooks Edition

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 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

Today I have Audio specific 2025 best lists from Audible and AudioFile Magazine.

Both are separated into useful categories/genres and include extra appeal information in their reviews, most importantly, comments about the narrators. The Audible list includes Podcasts as well.

The appeal info is useful all year long, especially via AudioFile Magazine because they have reviews all year long, with monthly "earphone" winners-- think of that as equivalent to a star for a print book. And the reviews are written to help you match the audio with its best reader. I use AudioFile to help readers (including myself) all the time. It helps me help readers to figure out if they would prefer a specific title on audio versus print. I have had great success using it and honestly, have yet to find a better resource for Audio RA.

A few more notes about RA for Audio readers. For some readers, the format doesn't matter, they want the book they want as fast as possible. But for others, myself included, I prefer audio in specific genres (for me it is nonfiction and mystery). Still others use audio for commuting, exercising, chores, etc.... How and when people listen can matter for audio. These are considerations that need to come up in the RA conversation for audio readers.

A few more  things about these lists from you RA Service standpoint:

  • You can use these lists to make displays online with links to eAudio-- use QR codes online AND in the stacks to provide easier access directly to your services where patrons can access them. Make lists on Libby to make it even easier for people to find the titles.
  • You can use these lists to help fill out your in library displays even if you put the print book on display. No one is double checking if you got the format correct and there is no library jail to send you to if they figure it out. With best lists, the more titles, the better. So you have the print in your department and not the audio, or the audio is e only. Who cares. Put that print version on the shelf.
  • Some of the Audible best titles may not be available anywhere but Audible, but a quick glance  reveals that the big ones are going to be available on your library's eAudio streaming sites.
  • Neither is great with obvious backlist access, so I have it here for you. The best audio books from the past few years will be on the shelf and are still a great listen. Remember, if a book is a few years old but the patron has not read it yet, it is still "new" to them:
    • Audible Best of 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 (I love how Audible's presentation of these lists has changed so much over the 5 years listed. That alone illustrates how much the popularity of eAudio has exploded in the last few years)
    • Audiofile's Best of 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
  • Back to the first bullet point: if you make a list in Libby for this year's best audio, please go back and use the links I have provided to also make lists for the past few year's best audio. And link to this lists in other lists. See last week's Best of the Best post from Chicago Public Library for a great example of how to make sure past best lists are accounted for with a single click.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Barnes & Noble

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 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Header for the B&N Best Books 2025 Portal. Click on image to enter and learn more

Barnes & Noble has released their Best Books 2025 portal making them the first major outlet to release their list and they are covering a lot of bases with many categories including books in Spanish.

And for the second year in a row, this is also marks the beginning of my Attack of the Best Lists coverage for 2025. 

From the portal landing page: 

The Best Books of 2025

The wait is over – meet the best books of 2025. This year delivered stories that inspired us, magical tales that transported us, novels that made us fall in love and thrillers that kept us guessing. There were picture books that left us laughing and fiction that moved us, nonfiction that helped us thrive and gave us something to think about and cookbooks we couldn’t live without. Celebrate the books that kept us turning pages.

Of course B&N has more than one best list. The more the merrier in their eyes because ultimately they want to sell as many books as possible. And as the holidays and gift giving opportunities approach, they want it to be as easy as possible to help you find the right books for your people.

While getting the most sales is the reason, it is nice to see the categories themselves and the books found within as more inclusive than previous years. They have categories for Best Audiobooks, Best Spanish Books for adults and kids, and have multiple nonfiction categories. They are thinking about how people read and making sure they see a category that works for them or their friends and family.

Speaking of the ease at which the average reader can access enticing titles, keep a list of those B&N categories to use as display titles and conversation starters anytime of year.

You can make a display anytime of year with these categories as well especially if you use the backlist of best lists. So while at the end of a year you can use these categories as a way to ask patrons to weigh in on their best reads of the last year, you can also use these categories and the backlist "Best" options  to make genre or reading category displays anytime of year. 


Access the backlist of Best titles through with my attack of the best lists coverage from year to year to have all the best lists, from any of the past years, all in one. But specifically, here is the B&N Best Books portal from, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020.

Look for MANY more "Attack of the Best Lists" post coming soon. 

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