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The Reader's Shelf, collection development features, collection management articles, and roundups of subjects on the verge.
November 2011 brings 57 starred reviews from our two issues and recent Xpress Reviews. Perhaps because I'm headed for the shores of Albion again, I couldn't help but notice a streak of Anglophilia. Many long More...
Is the old adage in fact true? Are we really what we eat? The authors featured here are likely to say "yes," and their books serve up heartwarming, edifying, delectable, and occasionally steamy insights into More...
Moon prism power, make up! Kodansha's Sailor Moon and Sailor V manga reissues beat out Naruto for top graphic novel sales on September's bookstore scoresheet from Nielsen BookScan. Will the Sailor Scouts?called Sailor Senshi in More...
Just in time for Halloween, here are eight recent titles to celebrate the season. Featuring ghosts, witches, monsters, and the occasional zombie, they carry enough thrills and chills to satisfy even the most jaded adult More...
Street lit established its roots when writers hand-sold books out of car trunks, in beauty salons, and on street corners. Now librarians can learn all about street lit in an authoritative professional work titled The More...
This month, we see several titles advising parents to back off?or risk getting in the way of healthy development. Yet with books like Kerry Cohen's Dirty Little Secrets making headlines, it's difficult to see how More...
Finding books to suit a holiday mood is always a great pleasure, and Halloween offers plenty of moody fiction. Here are six titles?from the mysterious and lyrical (just right for reading via jack-o'-lantern light) to More...
A summer hiatus spent studying Victorian fiction has made it a little tougher to get back into the memoir swing of things, but a few of these titles reminded me why this is such a More...
Exciting new magazines are still being launched, but at a slower pace than in previous years. LJ's magazines columnist Bill Katz noted in "Magazine Madness: The Best Magazines of 1986 & 1987" (LJ 4/1/88) that More...
October 2011 brings 63 starred reviews from our two magazine issues and recent Xpress Reviews. First things first: it's impossible not to note the wealth of literary and popular fiction. Fall is the season to More...
Summer is over, thankfully. We survived the usual heat and humidity in New York, plus an earthquake, a hurricane, and flooding. Nature really is a mother, but books can get you through anything, so here More...
As Lewis Carroll's Alice so aptly points out, "What is the use of a book...without pictures or conversations?" Welcome to RA Crossroads, where books, movies, music, and other media converge, and whole-collection reader's advisory service More...
I love a challenge like Ethel Merman loves a parade. I did an Ironman this summer, and while that was difficult enough, I threw in an extra Ironman. Why? For the challenge. I pick up More...
Get a bead on more than 200 fiction debuts coming this season to tantalize readers and deepen your collection.
As the reading ecosystem evolves swiftly, librarians and publishers need to be at the same table. LJ Book Review Editor Heather McCormack pulled together librarians Kate Sheehan, Katie Dunneback, and Jim Carmin to talk to,
Audiobooks are popular for all genres, but they seem especially on target for short stories and collections of short works. This collection of titles will entertain all who hear them.
From the Amish to the undead, everybody wants a happy ending for the holidays. Three unconventional Dickensian homages hit the shelves this season?Marley dispatches from the Other Side, Scrooge proves immune to zombieism, and Bob More...
"It was a dark and stormy night." This hackneyed literary line may seem as trite as talking about the weather to fill awkward social silences, but, hidden under the folds of its banality, weather can More...
In the past few months?since December 25, 2010, to be specific?ebook circulation and the number of ebook users has been skyrocketing in many libraries. Chicago Public Library doubled its ebook circulation, as did Siouxland Libraries, More...
They?re everywhere, the zombies. They permeate our popular culture. They?re on our TVs, most notably on AMC?s The Walking Dead, and our movie screens. Next year alone should see the releases of Infected, Night of More...
Adventures in Reading: Bibliomemoirs The quest for all readers is dual purpose: to uncover the treasures of the book about to be read and to find the next link in their personal reading chain. In More...
A solid selection of classic films should be the anchor of any well-rounded library collection. Of course, it should include popular movies since they will be in demand, but films of historical importance are essential.
Audiobook narration, as the performances of such top readers as Simon Prebble and Katherine Kellgren attest, is difficult, creative, and specialized work. But then so is writing. Sometimes, with the right mix of book and More...
Although you may not yet be thinking about Thanksgiving, a slew of Christmas and other holiday books are coming. This year's select titles run the gamut from down-home to sophisticated, narrow to broad, and sentimental More...
Based in Portland, OR, graphic novelist Craig Thompson made his name among librarians with Blankets, his deeply personal, widely celebrated look at growing up and falling in love for the first time. This month he More...
As Lewis Carroll's Alice so aptly points out, "What is the use of a book...without pictures or conversations?" Welcome to RA Crossroads, where books, movies, music, and other media converge, and whole-collection reader's advisory service More...
What's the point of memoir? It's an old question, but one this month's memoirists answer through their stories: to deal with one life's darkness can illuminate another's. September's memoirs shed light on some bleak situations More...
Atmosphere, or lack thereof, can be deadly. Just ask any Star Trek redshirt unfortunate enough to beam down to an uncharted planet sans helmet?or see the evidence in books. Looking for quality murder 'n' mayhem More...
This month brings reviews of two new magazines from Great Britain and one from Canada, along with a Western-themed literary magazine and a new offering from McSweeney's. Delayed Gratification. 2010. q. £55. ISSN 2046-1933. Aud: More...
Fed up with all the end-of-paper-publishing rhetoric, workers from Atomic Books and Quimby's Bookstore declared the Revenge of Print 2011 (RoP). The Facebook page (I know, I know) has 473 posts as of August 2, More...
September 2011 brings 29 starred reviews from our Sept. 1 issue and recent Xpress Reviews. (This number is smaller than usual owing to our production schedule; the Sept. 15 issue was still closing as this More...
The trends and titles shaping a vital genre -- featuring 20 core collection titles, SF/Fantasy blogs and sites, and forthcoming works.
There?s an important difference between setting trends and chasing them, and a look at 2011?s crop of fantasy and sf finds publishers on the healthy side of the line. Proud of cases where they?ve been More...
As the season slowly begins to slip away, grab your lounge chair and claim a few more weeks of summer pleasure. Novels of friendship make for fine beach reading, offering as they do captivating tales More...
Librarians aren?t all on the same page when it comes to ebooks, nor are publishers, writes Francine Fialkoff. But it?s worth remembering that they are natural allies in the book world.
LJ editors and a handful of librarians mined discoveries for fall on the BEA show floor.
With troops returning from Iraq and promised upcoming withdrawals from Afghanistan, there has been an uptick in the development of materials on the ?Wounded Warrior??a term that seems to be used for returning veterans who More...
A fantastic month for comics, this October! Look for Jane Austen, CLAMP, Jim Henson, MetaMaus, and a Tezuka fave. Meanwhile, classics just keep moving into comics. In January this year, a new line was released More...
June 2011 brings 82 starred reviews from our two issues and Xpress Reviews (online-only). If you're not one for outdoor summer pursuits, you'll be in good company with the many DIY books featured here. Superlative More...
Conflict between rising subscription rates and academic libraries' limited budgets has generated lively discussion since the early 1980s. The emergence of the Internet as a medium capable of easily providing journal content for free has More...
What does July mean to you? Vacation? School's out? Bastille Day? All July means to me is Ironman Lake Placid. It's no big deal, just a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike segment, and then a More...
As Lewis Carroll's Alice so aptly points out, "What is the use of a book...without pictures or conversations?" Welcome to RA Crossroads, where books, movies, music, and other media converge, and whole-collection reader's advisory service More...
July 2011 brings 46 starred reviews from our solo issue and recent Xpress Reviews (online only). We're happy to announce that going forward we will be including multimedia in this column, audiobooks for starters, but More...
At this year's BookExpo America, I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Wendy Bartlett, collection development coordinator of Cuyahoga County Public Library, hold forth on the art and science of buying for demand. That is, More...
Bewere the Night. Prime. Aug. 2011. c.352p. ed. by Ekaterina Sedia. ISBN 9781607012528. pap. $14.95. FANTASY A fox-girl battles the Crow Lords over the spoils of a postapocalyptic world in A.C. Wise?s ?The Thief More...
In Kitsap County, WA?a semirural county just across Puget Sound from Seattle that includes two Navy bases with active-duty sailors and a large population of retired military personnel?thrillers share space with two World War II More...
A pair of memoirs?don?t think of them as street lit per se?are highlighted below. Yet both authors grew up living a street-lit life filled with crime, hip-hop music, sex, familial dysfunction, and more. Ice-T on More...
Most of this month's memoirists had to give something up?alcohol, anger, food, or dreams of the way life should be. Their stories range over topics like fear of life-threatening disease to how to refine oneself More...
In March 2010, I wrote "Steampunk: 20 Core Titles" for BookSmack! Since then, more quality steampunk fiction has been published, so it was time for a catch-up article. All 13 of these books will make More...
Summertime, and the reading is easy. Which is to say that that there are so many great books to choose from. In the selections below, the protagonists are asked to do extraordinary things in the More...
It is closing time at the library. Do you know where your teen collection is? Ten years ago, the answer would be easy?in the lockers, bedrooms, and backpacks of the teens who use your library. More...
The savvy members of The Reading List?the RUSA/CODES committee that selects the year's best genre fiction?offer two dozen classic and contemporary heart-pounding thrillers that will give your patrons many sleepless nights.
The labyrinth?best known as the elaborate maze that imprisoned the bloodthirsty half-man, half-bull Minotaur?has a long history. It was designed to permit no escape?the Minotaur would simply wander its twisting, turning corridors forever, or until More...
Life lessons are valuable, but they rarely come without unpleasant side effects such as self-doubt, regret, worry, and the potential for huge amounts of embarrassment. Wouldn?t it be nice to learn the lesson while avoiding More...
Rereading the classics and experiencing their time-tested pleasures is a perfect way to spend rainy spring days. But discovering fresh, imaginative facets of beloved characters and authors is perhaps an even better fit to the More...
Digital projects continued to improve online access to U.S. government information during the past year as the Government Printing Office (GPO) implemented a federated search of a wide range of government information resources, and its More...
It has been said that animation is one of two wholly American art forms. As with jazz, it was conceived of and truly developed in the United States and does not rely on Old World More...
LJ's annual Periodicals Price Survey shows the unbundling of Big Deals and journal cancellations amid continued budget cuts, while price projections remain on the upswing. Our authors take a hard look at the issues and
The most interesting travel stories are usually not about the destination but about the journey and therefore can be either real or imagined. As all travelers know, be they those who walk out the door More...
I?ve been reading the buzz in the lit-crit world about whether most memoirs should be written or published at all. Apparently, some people don?t like reading about ordinary lives?as if any of them are. Disdain More...
Crime fiction is a genre dedicated to exploring the underside of both human psychology and life itself. This year?s crop of summer and fall mysteries and thrillers?and in particular those by debut writers and established More...
The 34 days between March 13 and April 15 contain historic milestones for the deaf community and are distinguished as Deaf History Month. In honor of this annual celebration, why not spend time with a More...
Eat local. That?s the idea behind the growing locavore movement. The word itself has become more commonplace, especially since it was named the Oxford American Dictionary?s word of the year in 2007. Locavores typically eat More...
Language is what separates us from other animals. Not only do we declare ?official? languages, but we then break them down even further. There is formal, informal, descriptive, and emotive language. There are parts of More...
Fiction comes in many different types, which explains why this list of nearly 300 forthcoming first novels (February 1, 2011-August 31, 2011) is divided into nine handy groups.
Welcome to a new series that aims to open your eyes to unique, cutting-edge book and author coverage in BookSmack!, LJ?s free semimonthly e-newsletter. Our avid readers tell us it?s both entertaining and informative, especially More...
Although pundits point to the healthier holiday retail season in 2010 as evidence of a recovering economy, slower-than-expected rates of job creation indicate an economic picture that is still affected by the financial crises of More...
The Reading List Council, RUSA?s committee to select the best genre titles of the year, identifies books that will please fans and introduce new readers to the pleasures of genre fiction. You can see the More...
You don?t want me to tell you that jobs are hard to come by these days. Those who do find employment often end up being ?underemployed??working fewer hours than they would like, or working in More...
The Seductive Pleasures of Audio Memoirs Memoirs offer readers rich evocations of time and place, personal memories made universal, and the pleasures of eavesdropping on another?s life. When memoirs are translated into audiobooks, those pleasures More...
Big science is the term given to those global, high-tech, multilaboratory, billion-dollar research enterprises that tackle the very frontiers of scientific knowledge. Two of the largest Big Science initiatives ever undertaken are the Human Genome More...
Exciting developments even as budgets stay at rock bottom.
Welcome to a new series that aims to open your eyes to unique, cutting-edge book and author coverage in BookSmack!, LJ?s free semimonthly e-newsletter. Our avid readers tell us it?s both entertaining and informative, especially More...
The open road holds unlimited possibilities?for danger, excitement, romance, reflection, and, if you?re lucky, really good food. Travelers have the chance to interact with people from all walks of life and from all over the More...
FICTION Abbott, Megan. The End of Everything. Reagan Arthur Bks: Little, Brown. Jul. 2011. 256p. ISBN 9780316097796. $23.99. Download: Hachette Audio. Thirteen-year-old Lizzie?s best friend has disappeared, and as family and police hunt for More...
A hundred years after Marie Curie received her Nobel Prize in Chemistry, this arm of science is pointing the way to a more sustainable future. Growing movements like green chemistry, which strives to create alternative More...
Music stands as a language that speaks to everyone in different yet meaningful ways, despite varying interpretations and personal histories. Be it Beethoven, Bob Dylan, or Lady Gaga, musicians have long shared the inner workings More...
fiction Abbott, Jeff. Adrenaline. Grand Central. Jul. 2011. 416p. ISBN 9780446575171. $24.99. CD: Hachette Audio. Things could not be worse for CIA agent Sam Capra: his pregnant wife has been kidnapped, and he?s been More...
Many current investors involuntarily entered the realm of investments for the first time when 401(k) retirement and other market-tied savings plans became the norm. Homeowners thought their homes were safe, appreciating investments. Yet the last More...
The new year is certain to bring more great reading as January alone offers us Colm Toíbín and Brian Greene. As you make your to-be-read lists, take a moment to consider the future as projected More...
FICTION Baldacci, David. One Summer. Grand Central. Jun. 2011. 288p. ISBN 9780446583145. $25.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. A change of pace for Baldacci: tear-jerking inspiration. Lizzie is tending her terminally ill husband, Jack, when More...
From the Stacks of Downers Grove: Favorite 2010 Titles In 1983, Joyce Saricks and Nancy Brown established a new department at the Downers Grove Public Library, IL, to focus on readers? advisory. Although staff members More...
FICTION Barnes, Julian. Pulse: Stories. Knopf. May 2011. 240p. ISBN 9780307595263. $25; eISBN 9780307595997. Apparently, there?s a lot of good, sharp conversation in this third collection from the witty and incisive Barnes (he?s done 14 More...
FICTION Clark, Carol Higgins. Mobbed: A Regan Reilly Mystery. Scribner. Apr. 2011. 272p. ISBN 9781439170281. $25; eISBN 9781439170304. CD: S. & S. Audio. As she traipses from idyllic Cape May to good-time Atlantic City to More...
Baking can be intimidating. Just ask all those contestants on Top Chef who would rather prepare Beef Wellington than bake a cake. But libraries can take the fear factor out of baking by putting together More...
There?s a certain comfortable feeling in a thick slice of homemade cake or a warm peanut butter cookie fresh off of the cooling rack, and that feeling carries over to books centered on baking. Many More...
fiction Allen, Sarah Addison. The Peach Keeper. Bantam. Mar. 2011. 288p. ISBN 9780553807226. $25; eISBN 9780553908138. Her marriage a shambles, Willa Jackson returns home to Walls of Water, the town where she grew up, and More...
?TIS THE SEASON This season?s holiday romances are tempting readers with a delectable assortment of tasty treats in a range of styles: lively or low-key, side-splitting or sober, magical or mundane, sexy or sweet. As More...
Fiction Bass, Jefferson. The Bone Yard: A Body Farm Novel. Morrow. Mar. 2011. 352p. ISBN 9780061806780. $24.99. lrg. prnt. When a skull is found in the Florida woods and shallow graves then discovered on More...
Memoirs and autobiographies have been a wildly popular nonfiction genre for the past 20 years, ever since Frank McCourt and Mary Karr set the craze in motion with Angela's Ashes and The Liar's Club, respectively. More...
FICTION Binchy, Maeve. Minding Frankie. Knopf. Mar. 2011. 384p. ISBN 9780307273567. $26.95. CD: Random Audio. Bless her heart, Binchy tells folks, "Don't expect me to write about my dismal Irish childhood, because I didn't More...
Charming, Poignant. Insightful. The first novels listed here, forthcoming this fall and winter, are all this and more?just check what our reviewers are saying. Where available, we have quoted from the LJ review and indicated More...
Learning for Pleasure: Narrative Nonfiction's Appeal As fall settles in and the nights grow longer, books that teach us something about the history and wonders of the world make for good reading. Popular nonfiction More...
One of the first books to document the relationship between stress and physical and emotional health was The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson, M.D., with Miriam Z. Klipper. Originally published in 1975, the book More...
As any publisher or filmmaker can attest, Jane Austen is a hot literary commodity. Every week seems to bring a new continuation, reimagining, mashup, or modernization of her novels. There is more than one book More...
Fiction Ahern, Cecelia. The Book of Tomorrow. Harper: HarperCollins. Feb. 2011. 320p. ISBN 9780061706301. $21.99. lrg. prnt. Forced by her father's death to move with her mother to her aunt and uncle's home in a More...
Book talk burgeons online, but finding review sources to trust isn't easy.
Western fiction is unique among the major fiction genres recognized by public libraries (which would include romance, mystery, and sf) in that it is defined principally by its physical setting?the American West (usually anywhere More...
As comic books and graphic novels (GN) find more mainstream success, readers tempted to check out the adventures of their favorite superpowered characters are often frustrated by the sheer volume of stories available, while others More...
If shuffleboard and ?early bird specials? are your idea of retirement, you?re out of touch. For today?s older adults, retirement means adventure, travel, volunteering, and second careers, options that our parents and grandparents never had More...
Last word in the dictionary? Every dude knows it's zymurgy, the study of fermentation, though most dudes know it as 'beer science.'; Is there any product dearer to a dude's heart? Beer takes precedence over More...
So I'm on this century ride, and a dude pulls up next to me, and we start chatting about the headwind (strong) and the temperature (brisk), and, as conversations among cyclists seemingly always do, we More...
Full disclosure: in the late 1980s, this Book Review editor read a slew of bodice rippers for her young adult amusement. Oh, how the romance genre has evolved since those days of simpler titillation. In More...
Librarians have repeatedly voiced their concern that street lit's characters too often fall into stereotypes. Women are portrayed as ultra-sexy gold diggers; men, ruthless perpetrators of violence concerned only with stacking cash and using women More...
Behind every best seller you're likely to find alibrary hold.See what patrons are lining up to read at the Sno-Isle Library System (WA). 1. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Ecco: HarperCollins. ISBN More...
We live in a world where you have a better chance of spying a dodo in a library than a dude. A dude isn't retired, after all. A dude has a job, maybe more than More...
Appropriately for Women's History Month, the following titles in this second installment of our new column-click here to read the first by Rollie Welch-focus on women's stories, depicting the realities of inner-city life as experienced More...
It's time for match two in our new Tag Team Review series, and if you're a glutton for book punishment, you've come to the right place because Jordan M. Wright's recent Campaigning for President: Memorabilia More...
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