Booklist Reader

Published by Booklist, an imprint of the American Library Association. Booklist Reader features diverse book and audiobook recommendations, for readers and listeners of all ages. Filled with high-interest, themed lists that showcase books for your family or book discussion group.

From the Editor & Publisher

Booklist Reader

Top 10 Graphic Novels • Biography and memoir might dominate this list of 10 superb graphic novels, but don’t miss the immersive, thought-provoking fiction here, too.

The Essentials Subverting Foundational Stories • Myths, folktales, and fables can be key parts of our cultural understanding, but sometimes it’s easy to take these bedrock stories for granted. The graphic novels in this list, largely published for adults but with some crossovers from YA, closely examine familiar narratives and tropes in everything from religious texts to fairy tales to illuminate different perspectives, plumb new depths, and refresh the ways we consider these classic narratives.

A Conversation Ed Yong • Stephen Sposato, Content Curation Manager for Chicago Public Library and the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence selection committee chair, had some questions for Ed Yong, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction for An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms around Us. Here is their conversation.

A Conversation Julie Otsuka • Stephen Sposato, Content Curation Manager for Chicago Public Library and the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence selection committee chair, had some questions for Julie Otsuka, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for The Swimmers. Here is their conversation.

Top 10 Book-Group Books • These 10 titles will open up discussions of grief, injustice, and family relationships, making them all exceedingly book-group worthy.

Read-alikes Bittersweet Summer • There are so many facets to consider in Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake, from acting and summer stock to love, family, and a Michigan family orchard. Each of these novels offers a different perspective on some aspect of these redolent themes.

Book Discussions Reading & Listening Together • With the hope of including as many participants as possible in book discussions, while also expanding and deepening reading and listening experiences, we recommend these outstanding works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, organized by theme or genre. Each work reveals different dimensions in print and audio and each format illuminates the other in fresh and stimulating ways that will inspire lively discussions.

Trend Alert Novels Propelled by Books • From acid satires to cozy mysteries to metaphysical inquiries, these novels celebrate the promise of manuscripts, the secrets of journals, the magnetism of books, and the profound relationship between writer and reader. Imaginative and fascinating, these dramas and adventures cleverly and lyrically remind us how books, and places that harbor books, are crucial to our well-being as individuals and a society.

Reserve These Reads Adult • Get your hands on these hotly anticipated books, all out this month.

Artist’s Backstory Library Life

August 2023 HALL OF FAME TITLES • The LibraryReads Hall of Fame designation honors authors who have had multiple titles appear on the monthly list since 2013.

A Conversation Odyssey Winners, 2023 • The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production is given to the producer of the best audiobooks for children and young adults available in English in the United States. Booklist spoke with Taryn Beato from Simon & Schuster and Melissa Ellard from Scholastic Audio, the producers of 2023’s winning titles.

Now Hear This Edoardo Ballerini • The only difficulty in crafting...