Books I can't wait to read in 2025

 Rather than create a book of top 5 for 2024, I am going to list some of the books I am most looking forward to in 2025. I've read a few but most of these are listed based upon the description  or the author alone. I will have to do an updated post as more titles are announced and titles published in October - December 2025 are available. 

If you are interested in horror or dark literature, Emily Hughes' website should be your first stop when planning your future reads. She assembles an upcoming horror list that is essential. Her book, Horror for Weenies, is a great read that summarizes horror movies and provides books that have similar themes. I used Emily's site to compile my list so check out her site.

I am certain that there are other titles that will catch my attention!

January 

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk) My starred Library Journal review is here. This will be one of the most memorable books of the year. 

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (Berkeley) Becky Spratford's starred review for Booklist is here. 

At Dark I Become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca (Big Bald Head Blackstone) Becky Spratford's starred review for Library Journal is here. 

February

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito - Anyone who already read this title told me it was amazing after I posted a picture of the advanced copy I had received. 

The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein (William Morrow) -Rebelein's debut, Edenville, was very well received. It was a work of dark academia with a cultic vibe. This book adds to the story of Redfield County. Becky Spratford's rave review is here. 

Haunted Ecologies: Stories by Corey Farrenkopf (JournalStone)- Corey's debut novel, Living in Cemeteries, was creative and unique take on the ghost story. Becky Spratford's review is here. Library Journal's review by Jeremiah Paddock is here. 

March

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, trans. Sarah Moses (Scribner) - The new novel by the author of Tender is the Flesh is about a cloistered order of women. Sign me up...

Vanishing Daughters by Cynthia Pelayo  (Thomas & Mercer) - Cina Pelayo's books blending modern day Chicago, it's fascinating history, and dark retellings of fairy tales have captured my heart while terrifying me since Children of Chicago. She weaves grief and loss within this book while also rethinking ghosts and haunting. My Library Journal review is here.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga) - One of the current masters of horror, this book weaves historical fiction into horror using mulitple narrators to move the story forward. Jones' rethinking of the vampire trope is incredible. My Library Journal review will be posted soon. 

The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth (Flatiron) - A blend of horror and mystery by the author of the incredible White Horse. This has a great cast of characters with some wonderful friendships between women. I hope to see more of them in the future! My Library Journal review is upcoming. 

April

Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan (Minotaur)- The sequel to Bless Your Heart which was a delightful novel. The Evans women keep the dead from rising in their small Texas town. The trouble from the first book is far from over... My Library Journal review is upcoming. 

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy (Nightfire): I loved Nestlings by Cassidy and this promises to be another winner. 

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (Mira): Hungry ghosts and a serial killer during the pandemic in NYC. So much to like here. 

May

Requiem, John Palisano (Flame Tree): Gothic horror in space. I have loved John's short stories and I'm looking forward to reading this novel.

We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough (Flatiron) - We seem to be in a time for gothic novels. A haunted house and a crumbling marriage.  

Silk and Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora by K.P. Kulski (Bad Hand) - I love folk horror and this anthology looks to be something special. Bad Hand has come out with some great books recently. 

June

Maria the Wanted by V. Castro (Titan) - A thriller about a Mexican vampire who is finding her place in the world, facing conspiracies and a vampire boss. 

Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda (Putnam) - A retelling of a Greek tragedy about empowerment and desire. 

The Nut House by Patrick Barb (Undertaker): A squirrel horror novella. 

July

My Ex, the Antichrist by Craig DiLouie (Redhook) - A punk band and the antichrist. Occult/possession horror is another favorite of mine. 

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey): Women in different eras fighting witchcraft by the author of Mexican Gothic. More occult horror!

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus (Atria) - The premise of this book is fascinating. Five soldiers encountering an angel during WWI. Kraus is a phenomenal writer with an amazing range.  

August

Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper (Saga) - Hailey Piper is one of the most original voices in horror. She reimagined the vampire novel in All the Hearts We Eat. (My Library Journal review is here) I can't wait to read her take on a couple trying to spice up their sex life. 

Feral & Hysterical: Mother Horror’s Ultimate Reading Guide to Dark and Disturbing Fiction by Women by Sadie Hartmann (Page Street) - Horror by women is something that I look out for. I loved Sadie's (Mother Horror) first book, the Bram Stoker Award winning 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered. 

The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas (Berkley): A demon possession in 18th century Mexico. From the author of Vampires of El Norte and The Hacienda.

Secret Lives of the Dead by Tim Lebbon (Titan) Dark folk horror about a deadly family curse...Lebbon is an award winning author who's The Silence is now a Netflix movie. 

September

Play Nice by Rachel Harrison (Berkley) - Harrison's books are always delightful. She surprises readers by switching subgenres with each book. This time it's haunted houses. I love the way she writes about female friendships so I will be checking out this title. 

Roots of My Fears: An Anthology of Ancestral Horror, ed. Gemma Amor (Titan): This has such an interesting premise and the line up of authors is incredible. 

Fiend by Alma Katsu (Putnam): A wealthy family dynasty with an ancient cure. It's wonderful to see another Katsu horror novel on the horizon. 

Five for Friday - Baking Edition

While I emphasize over and over that bestselling/titles with many holds don't need our help, I know there are libraries and times when your supervisor or board may want a hot title used in your social media. My suggestion is to use that book to draw attention to other books. In the picture below, I have put Milk Street Bakes in a stack with four older books. At my library, cookbooks by Milk Street always have holds. I have placed it in this image with four other books including a book about Kwanzaa and a book by a black author. Given that Hanukkah and Kwanzaa have not ended, including books about both would be appropriate. Also, those celebrating any holiday can use other cookbooks to prepare baked goods for their celebrations. Keep cookbooks in mind for any cultural heritage month, by the way. It is the most popular display I put up for Black History Month. 

 

Book Display Basics - Signs and Decorations

 For some people, book displays refer to bulletin boards in a library or are a reason to bring out craft supplies and design a variety of embellishments for the display. As I say every time I speak about book displays, the books should be the focus of your display. The purpose is to market your collection and get the books unshelved and into the hands of readers. I have seen book displays with so many decorations that the books actually blended into the background instead of popping out. 

Even in retail bookstores where publishers provide cardboard displays or signage, the books remain the focus. Take some time to walk around your local big bookseller as well as those indie bookstores. You will see piles of books and books on easels, rather than elaborate paper cutouts and tons of display material unless it is also for sale. This is usually the case, even during the holidays. 

My recent post about the LaGrange Public Library (IL) shows a great way to use signage to highlight what the display is about and provide more information for patrons who are interested. Use a sign to link to an eBook shelf/display with read alikes or books on the same subject. You can also add a QR code to a blog post or additional resources. 

Another benefit to keeping things simple is that if the display empties out a few times, you can change it out without a lot of fuss. There won't be excessive decor to take down and have to replace. Instead you can switch out the sign, remove any remaining books, and get the new display up quickly. 

Since the primary reason we are putting up displays is to showcase backlist (older books) titles and those titles that need more attention to find their reader, the books should always be the star. 

ARRTCon 24 Presention - Marketing Your Collection, Programs, and Services With Better Book Displays.

I am a huge fan of Chicago-Area libraries and their library workers. Every time I visit, I learn something from the trip. Recently, I was fortunate enough to present at ARRTCon 24. ARRT is the Adult Reading Round Table and is dedicated to helping library workers with their readers advisory skills. The steering committee is filled with creative, enthusiastic librarians. 

My presentation was about how to market your collection with better book displays. I've embedded the slides above. I will be updating the presentation for next year. If you are interested in having me speak to your staff about how to use book displays and online book lists to market your collection, please reach out to me at Lila[dot]Denning[at]gmail[dot]com. 

Unshelving January: Book Display Ideas

 

It is almost 2025 which means it's time to work on your merchandising plan for your collection. Setting up a plan, several months in advance, allows your library to figure out which displays will go where and who will be responsible for them. This also will give you time to verify that which ever titles are picked include underrepresented authors and avoid bestselling, high profile authors where possible. Rotating responsibility for displays among staff will help a wide variety of titles to be unshelved while also encouraging every library worker in your building to dig deeper into your stacks. 

January has a variety of month long celebrations as well as celebration days. For January,I used a list sent out by the Florida Division of Library and Information Services which manages the state library.You can pick the ones that would best serve your community while giving them an opportunity to find something new. The month long events are fairly straightforward. For national hobby month, don't forget those fiction titles with references to hobbies in the title. There are tons of cozy mysteries which would qualify. Blood donors call to mind vampire titles for me. With an increased interest in that horror subgenre, it would be a great display. Poverty, mentoring, and financial wellness could all be combined with a partnership program from a community agency, even a passive one with information where patrons could get help and more information. 

 

Month-Long Events National Hobby Month National Blood Donor Month Poverty Awareness Month National Mentoring Month Financial Wellness Month  For New Year's Day, please avoid new year/new you and instead encourage patrons to discover, learn, and find something new. It's a more positive spin than endless displays of debt and diet books. Fiction can be added to all of these displays. Use books about building and engineering for LEGO day and police procedurals for Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. Thesaurus Day can include handouts with online resources related to grammar, books about words, thesauruses and dictionaries, as well as books with clever titles that involve puns as titles. Books by authors from those countries where the Lunar New Year is celebrated makes for a great display for adults. You can mirror these displays with titles for youth. Either mix them in or create a separate display, depending upon what your community prefers.  1: New Year’s Day 2: National Science Fiction Day 4: World Braille Day 9: Law Enforcement Appreciation Day 18: National Thesaurus Day 20: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; Inauguration Day;  21: National Squirrel Appreciation Day 27: International Holocaust Remembrance Day 28: National LEGO Day 29: Lunar New Year

Schedule those displays now and enjoy your holidays! 

Book Display Idea – Using a Book Buzz From a Conference

It is possible to get ideas from anywhere when it comes to figuring out which book displays you will set up for a given month. When you attend a conference or training session, keep the handouts and use them to create a book display. Recently, I attended ARRTCon 2024 in Naperville, IL. Sourcebooks attended and gave a great book buzz of their upcoming titles. They supplied printouts of their slides with all the upcoming book information.

Pay close attention to how the publisher’s staff talk about upcoming books. Look at how they describe them and what they compare them to. There could be something that catches your attention and leads you into your stacks to unshelve some books and create a display.

From the Sourcebooks presentation –

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead This was described as “a thriller that ties in true crime elements spectacularly” and “loosely inspired by the real Idaho murders, this is bound to resonate in a true crime obsessed world.” There are many crime novels now that are either based upon actual crimes or read like true crime books. Here are a few lists to get you started:

Books To Read if You Love True Crime – Penguin Random House
10 Unforgettable Novels Inspired by Real Crimes – Crime Reads
10 Novels that Read Like True Crime – Bucks County Free Library
Faux Forensics: 14 Novels Written Like True Crime – Book Riot

Think of books like Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.

A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling This “features compelling plotting, rich characterizations, and dry humor reminiscent of Fargo” and is crime fiction with a “dynamic queer main character written by a queer author”.

Books to Read for Fans of Fargo – New In Books
7 of the Funniest Crime Novels Ever Written – Electric Lit

Be Gay, Do Crime: 20 Must-Read LGBTQ+ Crime Novels – Book Riot
From Gritty Noir to Cozy Quozies: Queer Crime Fiction Summer Reads – Crime Reads

There were many more titles included but I hope that this has given you some inspiration. If you had either of these books on order, you could include signage that encouraged people to put the title on hold if they were interested. Remember, we can’t assume that everyone knows what services we supply!

 

 

 

Three brief reviews : Coup de Grace by Sofia Ajram, Kill Your Darling by Clay McLeod Chapman, and Candy Cain Kills Again by Brian McAuley

 I recently finished three horror novellas and thought I would write up something about them here since I didn't review them for Library Journal.

Kill Your Darling by Clay McLeod Chapman (Bad Hand Books) is up first. 

The summary from the publisher is: 

The body of Glenn Partridge’s 15-year-old son was discovered in a vacant lot nearly forty years ago. The police are still no closer to finding the murderer decades later.

Glenn refuses to let the memory of his son fade—or let anyone else within this small working-class community forget. His long-suffering wife signs him up for an amateur fiction-writing workshop at the local library, just to get him out of the house and out of his own head.

Rule number Write what you know—so Glenn decides to share his son’s story. The class offers him a chance to make sense of a senseless crime and find the fictional closure life never provided. But as Glenn’s story takes on a life of its own, someone from the past is compelled to come out of hiding before he reaches…

It is a perfect example of grief horror - the tight, suffocating, deeply personal nature of grief when a loved one dies. There is a terror when it overcomes you and it can transform you as much as any supernatural transformation. Glenn Partridge is changed by the death of his son into someone he would not have recognized. The devastation of grief has made him a man obsessed with finding what happened to his son and he learns what happens when the story wasn't meant to be completed.  No one writes about grief better than Clay. This book will break your heart as it fills you with dread. 

Candy Cain Kills Again by Brian McAuley is a sequel to his previous work for Shortwave Publishing's Killer VHS series. From the publisher:

After surviving the horrors of Christmas Eve at the Thornton house, Austin, Mateo and Fiona head to the Church of Nodland to get some confessions from Pastor Wendell and his congregation. Little do they know that Candy Cain is coming to town to wish one and all a very merry axe-mas!

It's a horror romp that will delight those who miss the experience of going into a video store with friends and pulling slashers off the shelf. In this fun, violent ride, the kills come quickly and are wildly creative. This is the kind of book that can smash a reading slump. The characters' relationships are complicated as they deal with the repercussions of the first book. The emotional fallout is handled with care and a deft sense of character development.  

We will end with Coup de Grace by Sofia Ajram. From the publisher: 

Vicken has a plan: throw himself into the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal and end it all for good, believing it to be the only way out for him after a lifetime of depression and pain. But, stepping off the subway, he finds himself in an endless, looping station.

Determined to find a way out again, he starts to explore the rooms and corridors ahead of him. But no matter how many claustrophobic hallways or vast cathedral-esque rooms he passes through, the exit is nowhere in sight.

The more he explores his strange new prison, the more he becomes convinced that he hasn’t been trapped there accidentally, and amongst the shadows and concrete, he comes to realise that he almost certainly is not alone.

A terrifying psychological nightmare from a powerful new voice in horror.

The book has the best sense of depression of any book I have read recently. Readers have the sense of Vicken's dark hopelessness and the endless, gray trap of his existence. Within this novella, Ajram is able to explore the movement between hope and despair within the claustrophobic, confined space of the subway system. The reader is brought along as Vicken wanders in the surreal labyrinth in which he's been trapped. This book is well deserving of the praise which has been heaped upon it. Settle in for an evening and lose yourself within the text. Hopefully, you will make it out. 

Examples of Great Marketing of a Collection - LaGrange (IL) Public Library

 While I was in the Chicago area for the Adult Reading Round Table conference, I stopped by the LaGrange Public Library with Becky Spratford who serves as a trustee there. I took some pictures to share some of the great marketing decisions they have made to unshelve their collection and bring it out in front of their patrons' eyes. 

When you enter the area with the adult non-fiction and fiction stacks, you are greeted by a display of books with the theme of Illuminating Winter Tales. There is one sign with only the title and suggestions of other books on the sign. 

The display itself is simple and clean with the emphasis on the books. It's also blends genres on the display. You could add a QR code with a link to an eBook collection with the same theme or a blog post about the theme. Overall, it's a great display that brings book covers to readers as soon as they enter the space. 

They make use of endcaps to provide more reading ideas. This one is tied into a reading challenge "Feeling Blue." They have used the only sign to provide more reading suggestions. This sort of display is easy for anyone to fill in. 

There is a "Warm Up With a Hot Romance" endcap. I love the visual effect of the multicolored covers. 

I love the idea of having a display with titles recently returned, especially if they are backlist titles that might be new to a lot of readers. 

There is not a season for those interested in genre fiction. I love the horror display up in December. While you should fill displays. Having one with empty spots will help reinforce to other patrons that the books are on display to be checked out. 

   

The first step in unshelving your collection and letting the covers help sell your backlist titles to patrons is putting easels up on the shelves like they have done here. It draws the eye to the shelf and is a simple way to put up faceouts. You will be surprised what will get checked out simply because it is faced out. 

Using Library Aware from EBSCO does make some of this signage easy but you can replicate these great ideas. Don't feel intimidated if your library can't afford that product. Use the idea and go from there. Offering readalikes for books with long wait lists is another way to draw attention to your backlist. 

Finally, this is a great use of a bulletin board in a public library, Encourage people to place holds so you know what will be popular!

I loved seeing how LaGrange promoted their collection. Hopefully, you saw some ideas that you can borrow for your own collection. I will try to post more pictures from libraries I visit. 

Five For Friday - Winter Horror

 To give you a peek behind the scenes, when I picked this theme, I wasn't sure we owned enough titles that weren't checked out to do this post. I requested a pile and then checked the books and authors to make certain that I had some diversity there before I took the picture. Sometimes, you might have to tweak the idea - I could have included more thrillers, suspense, or mystery titles - to make it work. I have several images below I included a cart filled with titles to provide an example of a display on a cart. Both sides of this cart could have been filled with books. 

The title is winter horror but don't hesitate to put suspense or thrillers on the cart. People will read across genres so you don't have to limit yourself. This also makes it easier to keep the display full.

I always suggest a simple sign and minimal decorations. The focus should be the books - not signage and decor. It's possible to completely obscure the books with too many signs!

Here are two option for Five for Friday. This picture can be used for social media or a blog. 

You don't need fancy fixtures for a book display. Create a display of five for your picture and then fill in the cart with other titles and leave it somewhere in your building where people can discover it. You don't have to put a fiction display near the fiction. Move it to a place where it will be a surprise!

This is just a small book cart with a sign. I've used them around our building and in programs. 

Book Display Basics – Diversity

 I have mentioned diversity more than once. Because they are planned in advance, there is no excuse to not include a diverse group of authors, authors from around the world, small press titles, and books about marginalized people. Bestselling, very popular books don't need our help to find their readers. The biggest names in publishing have media appearances and large advertising campaigns along with huge audiences. The nature of publishing in the United States is that it is dominated by people from similar backgrounds. Our job is to find titles that need the spotlight shown on them. 

Diverse books are part of any library's collection. Authors like Colson Whitehead write books that win awards and draw attention from readers. Most library's have collections which include his books. A walk through your stacks will reveal books by authors of color, LGBTQ authors, immigrant authors, and works in translation. Unless your collection development policy or purchasing rules are extremely strict, you will likely find small press titles as well. When these titles leave the new books area, they often get lost in the stacks. The new book area is a curated, smaller group of titles which does allow more attention to fall on the books shelved there. 

The truth is that we should actively work towards expanding the diversity in our book displays and book lists. If you constantly struggle to fill in a display or a list with books that are written by people are underrepresented then your collection development may need to be reviewed. The world is a big place filled with a huge variety of people. Don't presume that your patrons' interests are limited to books about people just like them. Feed their curiosity by displaying books that will introduce them to someone or someplace new. 

One way to increase your ability to provide the best readers advisory service to your patrons is by having your staff take a new ALA eLearning course called Actively Anti-Racist Readers’ Advisory Services. It's a two part webinar taught by Becky Spratford of RA for All and Robin Bradford, a collection development and readers advisory expert. The course is designed to change your mindset and "learn how to help your entire organization craft an actionable plan to seamlessly incorporate the values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging into your regular RA practices." Moving from having a passive approach where racism is acknowledged as something to be avoided to becoming someone who is active in promoting, sharing, and being an advocate for the underrepresented is a powerful transformation. I have taken course from Becky and Robin before and I encourage you to register for their course. 

Upcoming Appearances - ARRTcon

 On Friday, December 6 I will be speaking at ARRTCon 2024 which is being held at the 95th Branch of Naperville Public Library in Illinois. I will be presenting about book displays as part of merchandising your collection for effective readers advisory. There will be a horror panel, moderated by Becky Spratford, as well. Her post about ARRTCon is available here. 

You can register for ARRTCon here. ARRT is a great organization for Chicago-area librarians who are interested in readers advisory, genre studies, book discussion training and other adult reading professional development. 

If you are in the region and will be attending, come up and say hello I will be at sessions outside of my own presentation. I will also post my slides and photos after the conference. 

If you celebrate Thanksgiving in the US, I hope you have a relaxing and joy-filled holiday. I will be with family here in Florida.