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Navigating a library can be overwhelming, especially in large or multi-level buildings where finding a specific item, space, or amenity can feel like a treasure hunt. StackMap, a leader in library wayfinding and digital navigation solutions, is here to change that.

To Die For by David Baldacci leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Graham Brown, J.R. Ward, and Richard Price. People’s book of the week is The Magnificent Ruins by Nayantara Roy.The Booker Prize will be announced later today. Adam Shatz wins the American Library in Paris Book Award. Grammy nominations have been announced, including Best Audiobook. Fight Club, based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk, turns 25. And Bastard Out of Carolina author Dorothy Allison and “Magic School Bus” illustrator Bruce Degan have died.

Academics have a shared goal of making their work highly accessible for a worldwide audience—and they agree that F1000Research, which is part of Taylor & Francis and supports researchers in all subject areas, is an effective platform for achieving this goal.

While Texas continues to be a leading state in the number of book bans reported each year, a recent challenge at the Montgomery County Memorial Library has been reversed. The Texas Freedom to Read Project reported that a children’s book, Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag)—an account of American colonization and Native traditions described from an Indigenous perspective—was challenged in September and subsequently moved out of the juvenile nonfiction area to the fiction collection.

As artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in work, creative pursuits, and the generation of online misinformation, public libraries have a major new role to play in digital literacy.

Election Day 2024 held mixed results for libraries on the ballot across the country. EveryLibrary identified and tracked 79 library measures on local and statewide ballots about funding, buildings, and governance. Of those, 55 were for long-term operating revenue, 10 for building projects, seven for annual budgets, one was a defunding measure, two concerned library governance, and four were statewide issues. 

Open-Access publishing advances global scholarship by making research results more widely accessible to anyone with internet access. However, publishers of Open Access journals have struggled to find a financial model that works well for all parties. Now, a new model from PeerJ is rethinking that approach to remove barriers to choosing Open-Access.

In recognition of National Native American Heritage Month, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and also referred to as Native American Heritage Month or National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, this booklist recognizes the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples and marks their varied cultures, achievements, and contributions.

Rachel Cusk’s Parade wins the Goldsmiths Prize, Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo by Craig L. Symonds wins the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize, and Mara Faye Lethem’s translation of Irene Solà’s Catalan novel When I Sing, Mountains Dance wins the Lewis Galantière Award. The Booker Prize shortlist is announced, and Vulture adds to their list of the best books of 2024 so far. EveryLibrary warns that U.S. election results will mean more uncertainty for libraries. Plus new title bestsellers.

This year’s investigation into the realms and labs of fantasy and science fiction reveals a genre with pure magnetic attraction, while genre blends—from romantasy to SF mystery to SFF horror—redefine what’s possible and rocket toward their day in the sun.

Titles not to miss across fiction, nonfiction, audio, and reference.

With fluid writing and an unputdownable story, Jessen’s witty rom-com leans hard into the fake-dating trope with great success.

This momentous tour de force overtops existing works on robots by leaps and bounds, approaching the subject with a subtlety that allows readers to focus on the effects robots are sure to have in the future.

Appearances are deceiving in this fast-paced thriller, and the characters are introduced gradually so as not to overwhelm the outstanding series debut.

Suad Aldarra is awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. LJ kicks off its countdown to the reveal of the best books of 2024. People shares best books for Native American Heritage Month. DK acquires UK-based digital publisher Canelo. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage, the top holds title of the week. Plus, interviews arrive with Peter Ames Carlin, Jody Hobbs Hesler, and Jenna Tang.

LJ Best Booker Shokoofeh Azar has a new book, Lambda Award winner Marisa Crane returns with a coming-of-age novel, and Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Madeleine Thien offers a story that leaps across centuries; plus five debuts to note.

Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage is the top holds title of the week. LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting to read this buzziest book.

GMA Book Club pick author Disha Bose offers a coming-of-age story about a woman who moves from Calcutta to Ireland, while Oprah’s Book Club author Wally Lamb returns with a novel about a young father in prison who finds kinship with the prison librarian.

It is one of our favorite times at LJ, the weeks before we announce the Best Books of the year. Look for our list of 2024’s not-to-miss titles in the December issue. As we count down to our big reveal, we are delighted to highlight some of our 2023 picks, titles we still treasure, reread, and suggest widely. To start the countdown, look for the witty, deeply clever, and read-it-like-you-just-robbed-some-pirates fast The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton. 

LJ interviews the editors of The Oxford Dictionary of African American English. This first-of-its-kind resource of 1,000 words (planned for publication in 2025) aims to record the most comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date picture of African American English yet.

By day, Michael Nayak is Doctor/Major Nayak at DARPA (the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). He talks with LJ about his debut novel, Symbiote, his tenure at the South Pole, his writing inspiration, and the work of DARPA imagining the future.

All the April 2025 Prepub Alerts in one place, plus a downloadable spreadsheet of all titles from every post.