Katie's parents never told her "no" when she asked for a book, which was the start of most of her problems. She has an MLIS from the University of Illinois and works full time as a Circulation & Reference Manager in Illinois. She has a deep-rooted love of all things disturbing, twisted, and terrifying and takes enormous pleasure in creeping out her coworkers. When she's not at work, she's at home watching the Cubs with her cats and her cardigan collection. Other hobbies include scrapbooking, introducing more readers to the Church of Tana French, and convincing her husband that she can, in fact, fit more books onto her shelves.
Twitter: @kt_librarylady
Most Anticipated Books and the Best Books of the Year (So Far)
- Summer reads from Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, LitHub, and People.
- Best books of the year (so far) from Amazon, A/V Club, Barnes & Noble, BBC, NPR (fiction), New York Times (overall picks, crime fiction, thrillers), and Time.
- Book Riot has the most anticipated books for the rest of 2025 for mysteries/thrillers, and SFF.
- 8 new LGBTQ historical fiction novels out in 2025.
Check Your Shelf
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RA & Genre Resources
- The BBC looks at how attitudes are changing towards romance fiction.
- Why folk horror is having A Moment.
- The state of “literary fiction,” book sales, and the culture at large.
Numbers & Trends
- Tired & wired: BookTok edition.
- The book cover trend you’re seeing everywhere.
- Is the decline of reading poisoning our politics?
- How annotating books became BookTok’s biggest trend.
Bookish Miscellaneous
- Celebrating 10 years of the Silent Book Club.
- Why did the novel-reading man disappear? (Although there are conversations to be had about how fiction can help foster empathy and emotional sensitivity, I’m also tired of the literary think-pieces centered around men.)
- See also: The plight of the white male novelist, although this essay is thankfully more critical than the headline might imply.
- A look at the recent scandals plaguing BookTok, including claims of plagiarism, author bullying, and AI use.
- What does underconsumption look like in the world of books?
- How to get into reading (or get back into reading) as an adult.
A Smorgasbord of Book Lists
Children/Teens
- 30 great LGBTQ+ picture books.
- 18 awesome STEM books that make science & technology fun for kids.
- 12 kids’ books for every summer day, rain or shine.
- 5 middle grade historical fiction novels.
- 14 captivating YA thrillers.
- 35 YA books that you can read with your book club.
- 22 YA Latine fantasy books to add to your TBR right now.
- 37 YA books with trans and nonbinary characters.
- Queer Native, Indigenous, and Aboriginal YA fiction.
Adults
- Book recs based on your favorite scary movie.
- Jasmine Guillory picks her favorite fake-dating romance novels.
- 8 books about the quiet power of libraries and museums.
- 7 books (and one play) about marital murder. Now there’s a display name for you!
- 21 great biographies for some deep-dive reading.
- 7 books about girls doing crime.
- Historical fiction set in America’s varied Chinatowns.
- 6 creepy sci-fi books.
- 5 mysteries set in hotels and motels.
- 8 diverse Western romances.
Want more? You’ve still got some time to apply for funding in support of teen intellectual freedom programming from the Brooklyn Public Library, explore where and how libraries support romance, and dive into the history and future of school libraries.
English (US) · 