Facing full bookshelves at your local library, though wonderful, can also be daunting. The American Library Association has just what you need! Booklist Reader, the monthly book-review magazine for avid readers like you, makes it fun and easy to discover new books. Wonder how Booklist Reader can enhance your TBR list? Read on below!
Find Your Next Favorite Book
Booklist Reader’s themed, monthly issues and organized lists help you browse books, audiobooks, and graphic novels by age, topic, or genre. If you enjoy historical fiction, for example, then you should check out our February issue, which—in addition to our top 10 lists in adult, audio, and youth—highlights recent and significant historical fiction through features called, “Black Historical Fiction: An Essential Facet of American Literature,” “The Essentials: East Asian and East Asian American Historical Fiction,” and “Trend Alert: Historical Romance Heroines Who Dare to Be Different.”
Likewise, if you know a tween who loves to read stories set in magic schools, you might find a future gift for them in “Trend Alert: Desegregating Magic School,” which features new and inclusive books about magical students. This is just a sampling of the many ways you can use Booklist Reader to find new books!
Get Your Hands on the Hottest New Titles
A great place to start perusing Booklist Reader would be our “Reserve These Reads” pages. “Reserve These Reads” compiles the hottest books for adults and youth that have come out that month, such as new books by best-selling authors, celebrity memoirs, and other buzz-worthy titles. Reserve a copy at your library before the waiting list gets too long!
You can also flip straight to the books lauded by LibraryReads. LibraryReads celebrates the top 10 books that library workers across the nation have voted as their favorites that month. If your librarian loves a book, chances are they’re touting it others, so you’ll want to snatch up a copy as soon as you can!
Whether you’re in a general book club or a genre-specific reading group, Booklist Reader has ideas for you! Our upcoming November issue features recent releases perfect for group discussions, including the titles mentioned in “The Essentials: Reading Together,” “Top 10 Book-Group Books,” and “Top 10 Discussable Audiobooks.” If you don’t want to wait until next month, check out the superb and far-reaching books recommended in last year’s issue.
Our monthly themes are also ideal for genre book clubs! Our September issue focuses on mysteries and thrillers while our October issue features our favorite sci-fi, fantasy, and horror picks, both of which include overall top 10 lists and top 10s for debut authors. If your book club reads a book a month, that’s twenty months we’ve already got covered!
Explore Read-alikes and Trend Alerts
Do you love small towns with quirky characters? What about women spies? Or merfolk? Our read-alikes spotlight new novels and offer books similar in style or subject for readers who are craving more. Our trend alerts call attention to the newest, most popular fads in publishing and compile books for people eager to join in on the fun.
Hear from Your Favorite Authors and Narrators
Did you know that famed journalist Erik Larson published his first novel exclusively on audio? Or that Brent Spiner, aka Lieutenant Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, narrated the audiobook version of his “mem-noir” with his former Next Generation castmates? Learn more about your favorite authors and narrators straight from the source through Booklist Reader’s exclusive interviews, or feel free to pore over our “Writer’s Backstory” columns, where authors write about the books and ideas that have influenced them, such as Stacey Lee who grappled with the idea of writing “what you know” for Luck of the Titanic.
Celebrate
We believe in commemorating and supporting important cultural and historical months through what we know best: books! In the June issue of Booklist Reader, we had reads ready for those celebrating Pride via “The Essentials: Queer Romances,” “Must Listen: Trans and Nonbinary Narrators,” and “The Essentials: Love Is Love.” In our aforementioned September issue, we likewise honored Hispanic Heritage Month by suggesting the books found in “The Essentials: Recent Latinx Fiction & Memoir,” “The Essentials: Citizens, Strangers, & Dreamers Come of Age,” and “Must Listen: Narrators of Hispanic Heritage.”
Of course, we can read these relevant fiction and nonfiction books year-round, but sometimes, a specific month is what inspires you to reach for a book about someone else’s culture—or to learn more about your own. Our timely lists encourage that kind of exploration.
Educate
Science, politics, history: whatever the subject, we have books that will help you learn more. Musical theater enthusiasts who love Six and are curious about the Tutors should check out the books listed in “The Essentials: Tudor Mania.” If you’re passionate about environmentalism but don’t know where to start, look no further than our July issue, which is teeming with books about climate change for both adults and youth. And to help those who cope by reading, our May issue included “The Essentials: Reading Ukraine,” a list of fiction and nonfiction books that contextualize some of the horrors happening to the people of Ukraine.
Discover
Booklist Reader is here to help YOU! Whether you’re looking for a story similar to one you already love, dipping your toes into a brand-new subject, or wondering what will get a loved one reading, Booklist Reader has books that will appeal to all sort of readers. We even cover topics you probably didn’t even know you wanted until you saw them, such as audiobooks ideal for long road trips, books that pair well with video games, graphic novels for skeptical book groups, or books all about chickens.
Ask your library to stock up on Booklist Reader, which will be available in print in participating libraries starting in January 2023, or see if you can access this brand-new guide to all things books through your library’s website today. To see how libraries are sharing Booklist Reader digitally, check out these real-life examples!
