Best Books in 2018

Looking for book gift ideas?   Once again, here is our annual compilation of some of the “Best of the Year” lists:

Notable books from The New York Times: There is also a top ten list on their site and links for children’s books.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/19/books/review/100-notable-books.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/books/review/holiday-books-for-kids.html and remember that you can access these and other articles from The New York Times by following directions on our ClassLinks page.   

From School Library Journal: https://www.slj.com/?page=best-books-2018  Adult books for teens and much more.  https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=best-adult-books-4-teens-2018   

Plus Publishers Weekly:  https://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2018   And there is a children’s list which splits into picture books, middle grade and young adult.

Or Kirkus Reviews https://www.kirkusreviews.com/issue/best-of-2018/section/fiction/lists/ which helpfully shows best fiction by category; separate lists for non-fiction and for best teen books

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/issue/best-of-2018/section/young-adult/lists/

And Goodreads has released its Choice Awards across several categories for 2018: https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2018   

LibraryReads: Primarily for Public libraries, listed top favorites for 2018.

http://libraryreads.org/favorite-of-favorites-2018/  monthly updates throughout the year

National Book Awards: https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2018/   

Chicago Public Library Recommendations -- with suggestions for all ages: https://www.chipublib.org/news/cpl-best-of-the-best-books-2018/

Winnetka Public Library Staff Recommendations for books and movies: https://www.winnetkalibrary.org/books-movies/best-of-2018/

National Public Radio lists 319 titles and shows their covers in a fun, interactive way. https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2018/     PBS’NewsHourbookshelf has interviews with many authors.

Enjoy!!! Happy Reading!!!

1000 Books to Read ...

We have a huge interactive display in our library for the Great American Read and should anyone finish those titles, they might want to start in on the recently published 1,000 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE by James Mustich. His compilation has a page or so devoted to each of the wide–ranging (the publisher says: poetry, science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children's literature, the novel) 1,000 titles.  One aspect I really liked was Mustich’s comments on “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations in addition to his frank assessments.  Several years ago someone gave me the gift of the original 2006 version of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die edited by Peter Boxall.  Both collections are immense fun to explore.

This fall has definitely felt like a case of "so many books, so little time" for me. I hope to make that up and will be adding several posts about a variety of exciting new books spanning several interests.  In the meantime, have fun browsing through the many, many suggestions that Mustich profiles.

Mother's Day: The Book of You and This is What a Librarian Looks Like

Happy Mother’s Day!  This past week, a teacher brought some card stock and markers to the library so that our high schoolers could make cards for their Moms and Grandmothers.  If you are looking for a creative way to celebrate with your children, consider, THE BOOK OF YOU by Kate and David Marshall. This book is designed to be a keepsake journal created for a child and is perfect for future baby gifts, birthdays, even graduations. It is filled with quotes and prompts to express how proud you are of your teenage or adult child and how grateful for the person s/he has become.

My favorite quote is one from Elizabeth Stone:  “Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”  The love just seems to burst from these pages. The Marshalls have also co-authored What I Love About You. 

Since many of the Moms I know are also librarians, it seemed appropriate to add a review of a related new book and a plea for action. THIS IS WHAT A LIBRARIAN LOOKS LIKE by Kyle Cassidy is based in part on his photo essay which appeared at Slate a few years ago and has been extremely popular. In this new book, Cassidy photographs close to 220 librarians who then share personal thoughts and opinions on what being a librarian means.  That is fascinating and uplifting reading in itself, but he also includes essays on the importance of libraries and librarians from several writers, including Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Nancy Pearl and others. THIS IS WHAT A LIBRARIAN LOOKS LIKE is truly inspiring and a wonderful tribute to the profession. 

Please consider taking a minute from your celebrations today and asking family members to call both of their Senators and remind them to support federal library funding! Ask that Senators "sign the FY 2018 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) Dear Appropriator letters." These programs amount to more than $210 million in federal funding for libraries and the American Library Association believes that protecting them has never been more necessary.  If interested, you’ll find all the background information and links you need to quickly reach Senators by email, phone or Twitter at the ALA’s Fight for Libraries! web portal .  The ALA’s grassroots campaign for FY 2018 LSTA and IAL funding is aiming to increase that base of support to 51 Senators by May 19, so timing is critical.  Thank you!  Last week these eight leading national companies (with collective revenue measured in billions of dollars), made the request: Baker & Taylor, Follett School Solutions, Gale/Cengage, OverDrive, Peachtree Publishers, Penguin Random House, ProQuest and Rosen Publishing to the offices of all Senators who have not already signed both the Senate LSTA and IAL letters and urged them to do so. 

Libraries – and Moms – deserve our support and thanks today!