Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

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Nailed ‘Em - Library Crime

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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 if [...]

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 seeking [...]

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 Booklist, love [...]

Arrived at work this morning to find an e-mail from Keith Michael Fiels, ALA’s executive director, announcing the death of Judith Krug, the founder of Banned Books Week and the director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom. There’s a brief note on AP (”Judith Krug, founder of Banned Books Week, dies“); click “read the rest of [...]

In yesterday’s issue of REaD ALERT, I asked, “But is historical fiction still hot?” I’ve gotten a wide variety of answers, which I’ll try to group into some kind of logical order. My apologies if I haven’t included your reply or if I’ve cut too much from it. (I’ve taken the liberty of linking book titles [...]

On the off chance that you missed it, here’s the interview I did last night:

If you’re in or around Chicago, be advised that the Chicago Underground Library has, ahem, gone . . . overground (”Library of obcure Chicago literature opens,” by Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune):
Underground Library co-founder and director Nell Taylor describes some of the collection’s more esoteric items:
Poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks chapbooks ?
“It’s a group of about five or [...]

Usually, if I want to read criticism of the ALA and its works, I need look no farther than the Library Journal website. But, this fall, as the Washington Post reports (”Plot Twist,” by Valerie Strauss), attacks have been coming from unlikely quarters:
John Beach, associate professor of literacy education at St. John’s University in New [...]

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t write in library books. But when you’re reading a library book, isn’t it always interesting to see what the scofflaws have written? Here’s a photo of a piece of marginalia, from a book believed to be The Plunder Squad, by Richard Stark (aka Donald E. Westlake), that proves [...]