Michael Ruzicka, Office Manager, was raised in suburban Los Angeles, received a BA in Creative Writing/Poetry at UC Santa Cruz, then moved to Birmingham, AL, where he spent five years owning an independent bookstore and earned an MLIS. He has brought his librarian skills to Vanderbilt’s Television News Archive, Battle Ground Academy, The Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Michael is very excited to be a part of Booklist and call Chicago his home.
Every weekday we feature a different review on Booklist Online. These reviews are notable for different reasons—they may be starred, or in high demand, or especially relevant to the current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from November 12–November 16 below. Monday, November 12 How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin The first short story collection from […]
Last night, the National Book Foundation announced the winners of this year’s National Book Awards. This is the first year that the new award category for Translated Literature was given. To follow are this year’s winners, linked to Booklist reviews when available. For a full list of finalists, click here. Fiction The Friend, by Sigrid […]
The November 15 issue of Booklist magazine is now live. Visit Booklist Online, where you’ll find 340 new reviews and 5 new feature articles and lists. The articles will be free to all for the next two weeks—to have unrestricted access, you’ll need to log in. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, or you do subscribe but haven’t […]
Every weekday we feature a different review on Booklist Online. These reviews are notable for different reasons—they may be starred, or high-demand, or especially relevant to the current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from November 5–November 9 below. Monday, November 5 In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin, by Lindsey Hilsum Foreign correspondent Marie […]
On Friday, November 2, at the annual Brooklyn Classic fundraising event, the winners of the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize accepted their awards for excellence in fiction/poetry and nonfiction. The award comes with a $5,000 prize. The winners were originally announced on October 22. Nominations were selected from librarians in all 59 libraries in the BPL […]
The 2018 World Fantasy Convention was held in Baltimore, Maryland over the weekend, where the winners of the World Fantasy Awards were announced. This year’s awards were marked by a tie in the novel category. Winners are listed below, linked to their Booklist review when available: Novel The Changeling, by Victor LaValle (tie) Jade City, by Fonda Lee […]
Every weekday we feature a different review on Booklist Online. These reviews are notable for different reasons—they may be starred, or high-demand, or especially relevant to the current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from October 29–November 2 below. Monday, October 29 Duchess by Design, by Maya Rodale Adeline Black has a passion for fashion that is not being fulfilled […]
The November 1 issue of Booklist magazine is now live. Visit Booklist Online, where you’ll find 309 new reviews and 7 new feature articles and lists. The articles will be free to all for the next two weeks—to have unrestricted access, you’ll need to log in. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, or you do subscribe but haven’t […]
There are book titles that are literal: 1984, The Old Man and the Sea, Gulliver’s Travels. There are book titles that are odd: The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, A Confederacy of Dunces. Then there are the book titles that are literally odd. The Bookseller has announced the shortlist for the Diagram Prize awarding the Oddest Book Title of the Year, […]
Every weekday we feature a different review on Booklist Online. These reviews are notable for different reasons—they may be starred, or high-demand, or especially relevant to the current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from October 22–26 below. Monday, October 22 Can You Ever Forgive Me? Memoirs of a Literary Forger, by Lee Israel, Read by Jane Curtin When her career […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
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