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

Sci-Tech Books • The most memorable science and technology books published in the last year shed new light on our world—its creatures, systems, and things natural and man-made—and what we must do to take care of it.

Oceans • Ours is a blue planet and yet we know less about the oceans than we do about outer space. What we are increasingly aware of, however, is that all of life on Earth depends on healthy seas. These books illuminate the ocean’s hidden wonders and vulnerability to pollution and climate change.

Colonizing the Solar System • With NASA preparing for new missions to the moon and Mars and private entrepreneurs contemplating similar endeavors, the possibility of human colonies on other planets feels more possible than ever before. The titles below explore what those colonies might look like, both in fiction and in science-based nonfiction.

The Challenges of Digital History

Calling All Crafters • As we look ahead to a new year, we look forward to learning new craft and hobby skills. These guides offer clear, step-by-step instructions, information about materials, and lively illustrations and photographs to teach crafters how to crochet fun furry friends and clothes, cross-stitch family portraits, arrange flowers, and much more.

Holiday Romances

Expats and Other Outsiders • The stellar short-story collections below chime with Jhumpa Lahiri’s exquisite Roman Stories in their insightful dramas about the dreams and dismay, adventures and misunderstandings of foreigners and other misfits navigating life in gorgeously rendered settings.

December 2023 • The Top Ten Adult Fiction and Nonfiction Chosen Monthly by America’s Library Staff

December 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. As of the October 2018 list, when an author’s third title places on a monthly list via library staff votes, the author moves into our Hall of Fame.

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

Sci-Tech Audio for All • Science fascinates people across generations and can ignite lively conversations as we learn about the workings of the world around us. This Must-Listen selection has something for everyone, from the youngest environmentalists to those open to seeing nature with new eyes at any age.

The Magic of Masterpiece

Picture Books on Audio • Relatively few of the thousands of picture books published get audio adaptations, and for a seemingly obvious reason—you can’t see the art! Yet audios can offer another complementary sensory enhancement: hearing the words come to life off the printed page. As with all audios, quality varies broadly, from the good-enough reading to enriched productions. These 2023-reviewed titles are prime examples of how to do a picture (audio)book right!

Picture Books for Older Readers • While picture books are most often considered to be for the youngest set, who are just learning to or can’t yet read independently, the format easily lends itself to esoteric ideas and sophisticated concepts more suited to older readers. In the past several years, we’ve seen a spate of picture books that aren’t really for young children: books that use spare text and generous illustrations to explore themes of grief, aging, war, wonder, and more, in terms that would sail right over the heads of the typical picture-book audience but will resonate deeply with older...