Booklist Online: More than 130,000 book reviews for librarians, book groups, and book lovers - from the trusted experts at the American Library Association

This morning I attended the dedication ceremony for the new Poetry Foundation headquarters building (which Blair Kamin gave a great review in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune). My presence was due to a trickle-down invitation: several higher-ups at ALA had been invited first but, as they were already en route to New Orleans and I’m not leaving until tomorrow, [...]

On Murderati, Tess Gerritsen asks, “Why the hell won’t they review my book?!!!” and pretty much answers her own question. My visit to the Inquirer was a sobering look at how tough newspapers have it these days, trying to keep up with all they have to cover.  Every author wants attention, but one look at [...]

…along with 299 other people. (Cory Doctorow, thanks for lending your celebrity to this blog post!) As anyone who read “Do-It-Yourself Audiobooks” knows, I’m in love with the sound of my own voice. (The problem is finding other people who love that sound, too.) Give me a microphone and a script, and I’ll narrate anything. Heck, I’ll [...]

It’s been so long since I wrote a Weeklings that this is really a Monthlings–and that’s being charitable. Here are a few of the things I’ve read recently that have lodged in my brain…due to the length of this post, I have introduced subject headings. First Editions Much as I covet first editions, I only [...]

If you’re coming to the American Library Association’s 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, DC (and if you haven’t decided yet, you’d better hurry), please be sure to add the Booklist Online program, “Everyone’s a Critic: The Future of Book Reviewing” to your calendar. It will be held Saturday, June 26 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the [...]

I was thrilled to read the review of This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson and see how the image of librarians may be shifting into cool. Anybody who loves books and libraries doesn’t need to be convinced that librarians are cool. I particularly hope the news [...]

I hereby encourage The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to increase their coverage of publishing and library news, that I may have an excuse to watch them during the work day. The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Nailed ‘Em – Library Crime www.colbertnation.com

From Bookends: Cindy and Lynn: Recently on YALSA-BK listserv there was a request for suggestions from a librarian who wanted a list of “Clean Vampire” novels. Now, we appreciate the efforts to satiate the Stephenie Meyer Twilight fans and are working hard to do that ourselves, but really, clean vampire stories? It’s our feeling that [...]

Responding to my historical fiction query, Carol Kubala, a librarian in Connecticut, writes: I believe historical fiction will always have an audience. Whether it’s hot or not, I’m not certain. Many of the books on Booklist‘s Top 10 Historical Fiction are getting high circ in our library. I truly don’t know if our readers are [...]

I received a couple more responses to my historical fiction query over the weekend–and found a few in my junk mail folder from last week. Is “histfic” (just kidding) still hot? Karleen Mauldin writes: You bet it is! My children and I love historical fiction! Home educators, most of whom probably do not subscribe to the [...]