Becky Siegel Spratford's Blog

Let's end this week with some fun. LitHub has been hosting a literary bracket challenge focused on the glory years of literary Twitter. From Day 1's post/voting:

What Was Literary Twitter? The BracketOR, WE USED TO HAVE FUN ONLINE

We are gathered here to celebrate the brief, bright, Roman Candle life of Literary Twitter, a mesmerizing and maddening place where the most talented writers used to rub shoulders with the most unbalanced shitposters. 

If you’ve ever had to stop a conversation to explain Kidney Gate to a confused loved one or quoted a Joyce Carol Oates banger in a group chat, welcome. This bracket is for you. 

Does a version of this community still exist on X, in some corner? Or on Bluesky with the joke scolds, or on Mastodon with the Linux hackers, or on Threads with the voice-forward brands? Perhaps. But the particular microblogging alchemy of Literary Twitter of the late 2000s to early 2020s will probably never again exist. Where else were so many opinionated readers and writers sloshing in the same warm pool water, where the frenzied, silly posting merged real life stakes with absolute, terrifying chaos? Where else could award winning writers pop off about nothing at all, and nobodies could rattle the ivory towers? Literary Twitter was a horrible, beautiful place. And now, for better or for worse, it’s gone. 

In an attempt to reclaim some of the fun (?) we used to have on this here internet, we at Literary Hub have plumbed the depths of our scrolling rotted brains to put together a list of the weirdest and most consequential posts, conversations, and personalities from those halcyonline years. (In the spirit of this thing, I’m sure you’ll let us know what we missed.) 

RIP Lit Twitter, we loudly knew thee.

Click here to see the full bracket

I have been following this over the last few days, Here is the voting schedule with links to the results where applicable:

Round of 64 Character Limit: Results

Round of “dang, only 32 likes?”: Results

Round of “sweet, 16 new followers”: Results

The Retweeted 8: Voting open Thursday, November 20th from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST 

The Quarter Finals: Voting open Friday, November 21st from 10:00 AM, until Sunday November 23rd at 7:00 PM EST 

The Finals: Voting open Monday, November 24th from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST

People have been voting on each round in a new post each day. So for example, here is the Day Four post from yesterday. You can scroll down and see results for every round previous. 

Today the Quarter Finals will open and you have all weekend to vote.

But it is not just the voting and the winners vs losers that are fun here. What I also love is that each round is its own story about recent literary history, news, and controversies. It is a great way take a big picture view of the larger book and publishing conversation over recent history.

So fun and learning for this Friday as we lead into the Holiday Season beginning in earnest.

Scheduling Note: next week, I will have 3 days of Attack of the Best Lists posts before taking Thursday and Friday off. 

We are running full speed into the gift giving season, but we are also approaching the time of year when many people also make their annual donations. I have an idea that is a great option for all book lovers and covers both categories and it is run by an award winning literary magazine here:

The Common's Author Postcard Auction

Bid to win a postcard from your favorite author!
Bidding closes at noon EST on December 1, 2025
This unique online auction gives literary fans the opportunity to bid on handwritten, personalized postcards from their favorite writers. Postcards will be handwritten for you or a person of your choice. A wonderful keepsake, author postcards make great gifts! In years past, authors have gone above and beyond when writing their postcards, including impromptu doodles, poems, and personalized stories. Winning bids are tax-deductible donations. 
All proceeds go to The Common Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to publishing and promoting art and literature from global, diverse voices. Read more at www.thecommononline.org. 
Not interested in bidding? You can still support The Common Foundation by donating here.

Each year the Common gathers some of the biggest names in the writing world and asks them to offer 1 handwritten post card to one bidder. And they donate all of the proceeds to the magazine. Now this magazine is more than a place to launch new voices, they are part of a vibrant college community and fund internships and post-graduate jobs for students interested in writing and publishing. More about this is on their "Support Us" page.

Full disclosure, I am a subscriber and a donor to The Common. They also employed by oldest as a Literary Editorial Fellow last year. This allowed them to have a meaningful, career starting job for a full year after graduation and the experience led directly to their current job as the Assistant News Editor at Publishers Weekly. 

The Common is doing the vital work to help to keep the literary community moving forward in what are very difficult times. 

And that is why you should look at this page and consider bidding on a post card.

But let's get practical here as well. Uber fans of authors like George Saunders, Percival Everett, Ann Patchett, Stephen Graham Jones, Julia Alvarez, Elin Hilderbrand, Hanif Abdurraqib, Lauren Goff and more, these people probably already own every book their favorite writers have published. There is also a good chance they have signed copies. But I bet they do not have a personal note from these people.

Take a look at the auction and make a bid for yourself or a loved one. What a great way to show your thanks to the writers who have filled our world with joy-- by giving back to an organization they are supporting.

Bids are open until 12/1 at noon EST.

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

Next week as we lead into the American Thanksgiving holiday, I will be posting a few key best lists. And while I have been doing this for a few weeks now, I want to make it clear to all of my readers-- I will not get to every list. In fact, that is very far from a goal for me.

The lists I chose to include here on the blog are usually the broadest and most useful to you as a resource. I also prioritize the lists that I can use to make some other tangential point or comment about how to best serve your readers.

But, I also understand that it means I miss lists that might be essential to helping you to help one of your readers. 

I'm okay with that though because every year since 2008, Largehearted Boy has us all covered. Here is the direct link to his list of 2025's most interesting best lists including this introductory note:

From 2008-2022, I aggregated every online year-end book list I discovered into one post.
This year (like last year), I will collect essential and interesting year-end book lists in this post and update it daily. 

Please feel free to e-mail me with a magazine, newspaper, or other online list I have missed. 

Please consider making a donation or leaving a tip to Largehearted Boyto support posts like these, the author playlists, and much more.

This is a best list archive you need to bookmark and return to as the lists keep rolling out. He is just getting started.

Also, please note that all of his backlist of best lists are available, by year, at the end of the post, meaning access to those books previously deemed "best" are one click away.

Remember, "best" does not have a shelf life. Sure the 2025 bests are shiny and new, and everyone is talking about them, but the lists from the last five years are still a treasure trove of sure bet suggestions for your readers. And chances are they are somewhere on your shelves, buried in the stacks, waiting for their best readers to find them. 

Give them a boost by using Largehearted Boy's archive to make a fund backlist best books display. You can play with the name. Suggestions-- Best Books Flashback; Best Books You Never Got Around to Reading; Forgotten Favorites; etc... you get the idea.

I have found that during this time of year, our library users really appreciate finding a book they might have missed from a year or two ago. These are hardcore readers. They will be aware of the best lists and in many cases, they have a plan to read the ones that are most interesting to them. But, they also know (as do we) that these 2025 best titles are going to have long holds lists. And while they wait, one of the best books from 2024 or 2023, or 2022 that they never got to, will fulfill their reading needs quite nicely.

(Remember, our job is to highlight the books that our readers would not find without out help.)

As a result, Largehearted Boy's list of the best lists becomes your go to resource for the best, best list action and your portal into the best lists of years gone by. 

And don't forget, when the attack of the best lists is over for 2025, Largehearted Boy's lists are still there, anytime, anywhere, ready and waiting to help you find the perfect suggestion for your readers.

Why do I want to talk about ghostwriting all of a sudden? It is because the ghostwriters are actively talking to the world about who they are and what they do. And, a lot of it is fueled by a "Just Say No to AI" undercurrent.

We all know that ghostwriting is a huge part of why and how some of the best selling popular memoirs get on our shelves. I have always been thankful for the work these writers do because the books they help write get people into the library, especially those people who don't consider themselves library users or even readers.

Recently there was a conference of ghostwriters and the New York Times wrote about it here (gift link). 

One of the groups mentioned in the article is The Gotham Ghostwriters. From their "About" page:

We’re in the Trust Business

While we may be a ghostwriting agency on paper, we’re really in the trust business. Our clients are looking for more than a good writer — they want a true partner devoted to their success. This means that while credentials matter, chemistry matters more. If the client and the writer don’t click, the relationship won’t stick — and most likely neither will the story.

Our Method

That’s why, before a connection is made or a word written, the first and most vital service we provide is to listen — to your passions, your principles, and your priorities. We will pay close attention to what is motivating you to tell your story, what you want to accomplish in doing so, and what kind of collaborator will mesh best with your style. And throughout the process, just as you’d expect from a true partner, we will talk straight and be transparent with you about the costs and tradeoffs involved in the writer selection and publishing process. No upselling, no pressure tactics, and no bait and switches.

Our TeamWe’re ex-agents and ex-editors, and we are your guide to navigating the path from idea to manuscript to published book. 

Our Core Services

We work with clients on books, book proposals, speeches, and thought leadership content.

This group is out there connecting people who need a ghostwriter, with the writers, and in fact, they organized the conference in the article. 

They have a separate arm for the writers they work with. They act like an agent connecting the writers with their clients. More info on their writers' network here.

This is a lot of background but I give it here so you understand the full picture. The short version is-- ghostwriting is coming out of the shadows because these authors deserve to be lauded for the work they do. They are helping some of our bestselling books even get on the shelves.

But also, hiding the fact that they are part of the process is very harmful. Without acknowledging the work of human helpers, the entire industry of celebrity and/or famous people memoirs could get inundated by AI slop. If we are not 100% clear that a human who is NOT the famous person on the cover took time and care to write the books, many people who want their stories out into the world might think AI can just do it for them.

Let me be even clearer-- having ghostwriters come out from the shadows is important for all of us to fight AI created books from becoming more prevalent. 

Gotham Ghostwriters didn't just host a conference-- which was a great way to connect all the people involved and get the word out-- but they also host an award-- The Andy Awards for Nonfiction Book Collaboration:

The Andy Awards for Nonfiction Book Collaboration™ honor the spirit of collaboration—the AND—in nonfiction book writing. The only award for ghostwriters and paid collaborators, the awards are jointly presented by Gotham Ghostwriters and the American Society of Journalists and Authors, bringing collaboration out of the shadows and into a well-deserved spotlight. 

Both Author and Paid Collaborator must jointly submit the book for consideration and agree to share the award. 

I love that the author and "paid collaborator" need to work together here. They are both honoring the best nonfiction book collaborations and making sure the partnership itself is being spotlit. 

They just announced the 2025 winners here. That link includes all of the finalists as well. There are books here I know you have at your library. Also, if you scroll down, you can see 2024's lists and more resources. 2024 was the first year of this award.

Although this post has a lot of useful info, I also thought it needed the perspective of an actual ghostwriter. Good thing that I know one. Scott Kenemore is a speculative fiction writer, member of the HWA (among other writers groups), and a prolific ghostwriter. You probably have books by him and those he had ghost written-- both-- on your shelves.

I asked Scott to write about his experience as a ghost writer to help you understand everything I am trying to get across here today.

Take it away Scott.

The Accidental Ghostwriter
By Scott Kenemore

I’m pleased to be asked by Becky to share some thoughts about working as a ghostwriter. It is something I very much fell into accidentally and never directly pursued. Yet, if readers of Becky’s blog are interested in possibly working as ghostwriters themselves, I hope that a brief accounting of my experience can be at least slightly helpful.

First of all, I feel like ghostwriters like to dance around the substantive details of their profession/avocation, so let me try to NOT do that here…

I ghostwrite about two books a year. I make more money ghostwriting than I do from my creative writing, but less than from my day job in corporate communications. (It is nice extra money, but you wouldn’t want to try to live on it.) Because I’ve been doing it for 15+ years, most ghostwriting inquiries now come to me; that is to say, I don’t have to hang out a shingle to get work.

I enjoy ghostwriting because I’m an introverted, quiet person, and ghostwriting forces me to go out and meet (or at least Zoom with) really interesting people. In the course of this work, I’ve met YouTubers who have become millionaires at half my age. I’ve met mafia soldiers who have “wacked” people (and were nearly “wacked” themselves).* I’ve met CIA and FBI agents. And I have met oodles and oodles AND OODLES of aspiring leaders in business, finance, and the arts.

I am very blessed to work a full time job in addition to my own creative writing and ghostwriting. I grew up in a family that imploded financially. My parents required a lot of financial help from me, especially toward the end of their lives. I have always had to make my way myself, and to hustle whatever jobs I could get. I don’t think that mindset will ever entirely go away, and I’ll probably always be open to setting aside nights and weekends for ghostwriting work.

I am, however, sort of suspicious – if that is the correct word – of people who are interested in ghostwriting ONLY for the monetary aspect. Whenever another writer is impressed by what I got paid to ghostwrite something, I always want to say: “Well, if you think that’s impressive, you know something else you could write – for even MORE money? The annual report for Goldman Sachs. And also, you could just go be an investment banker. Why not just do that instead, if money is the only goal?”

So anyhow, my first experience with ghostwriting probably came in 2002 when I moved to Iowa City and did some manuscript editing for Cheeni Rao at Iowa Book Doctors. People would send Iowa Book Doctors novels they couldn’t get published, and MFAs like me would punch them up and send them back. (I think we generally did more good than harm. Generally.)

After my first book – a horror themed self-help satire called THE ZEN OF ZOMBIE – was published in 2007, people started reaching out to me for assistance with editing and writing projects. Occasionally, my publisher would ask me to “punch up” a book that had already been written. Other times, I might be asked to work with someone who was an expert in a particular field and help them write a book from scratch.

Many of the “secrets” for building success in ghostwriting are traits and practices that would help anybody succeed in any field, anywhere. For example:

· Always do good work.

· Work quickly and try never to need extra time or ask for extensions.

· Be personable and kind to everyone you interact with.

· Don’t ask for too much money, at least not at first.

· Cultivate good social skills and interviewing skills; as a ghostwriter, you’ll be interacting with a wide variety of personality types.

· Don’t take things personally. You may deal with clients who insult you and/or your work. You may deal with clients who call your excellent suggestions terrible, and think that their own awful ideas are good. You’ll need to manage “strong personalities.” Remind yourself that all clients are temporary.

And when it comes to best practices specifically related to ghostwriting, I’d add:

· Try to get the hang of figuring out how someone’s life can fit into the accepted story arcs that people expect when they pick up a book. (Manuals like Robert McKee’s STORY or even Joseph Campbell’s THE HERO’S JOURNEY are not bad places to start if this is new territory for you.)

· Be flexible about your relationship to the work. For example, you may have clients who want it to remain super duper secret that they used a ghostwriter. They won’t want you to tell even your own husband/wife/partner that you worked on their book. Other clients may want the “with Scott Kenemore” beneath their name to be big and bold because they desire total deniability for the project. If someone dislikes part of the book (or the WHOLE book), they want to be able to say: “Yeah, THAT part? That was all the stupid ghostwriter.”

· Read the kind of books you’re going to be ghostwriting. For example, if you are hired to ghostwrite a “How to succeed in business” book, you should read several contemporary books in that category/genre.

· Keep in mind that many projects will fall apart or fail. That’s OK and normal. About one-third of the projects I’m contracted to do fall apart in some way and never get to the finish line. It’s frustrating, but apparently part of the gig. Always get an advance or negotiate a “kill fee” with an eye to this contingency.

I don’t know if I am typical, but ghostwriting seems to come about gradually. I always tried to do excellent work, quickly, and without asking for too much money – and I did that for a LONG TIME. I was reliable and consistently delivered. I could successfully tolerate strong personalities. This approach always led to more opportunities, and my terms and fees slowly improved. (When I get asked if I can do something now – but at a price point that’s too low for me – I try to share the wealth and refer the job to a writer who is trying to start out in ghostwriting.)

At this juncture in the essay, I’m acutely aware that my tale may be disappointing because: I can tell you how to become a ghostwriter over many, many years… but not quickly. And most people want things quickly. (Including me! I don’t want to read a book about how to become a millionaire by the time I’m 80. I want to get rich quick! I want that money now! Ah well.)

After all these years, I still enjoy ghostwriting because it’s a good way to meet interesting people and make extra money while still “being a writer” and pursuing my/your own creative work. Certainly, I have had times when I’ve taken on a whole bunch of ghostwriting to try to reach some financial milestone, but I never wanted to be “just a ghostwriter” for the money forever. (Again, just go work for Goldman Sachs or found a tech company if that’s you. It’s a much, much easier route to financial freedom.) But I’m fine with a life where ghostwriting is “part of the mix.” Two of my biggest literary heroes – HP Lovecraft and Gore Vidal – both did ghostwriting. It is certainly not beneath me. I still enjoy the challenge of learning all I can about a new topic and then working with my collaborator to turn it into an excellent book. But I think the GREATEST honor in ghostwriting is to be asked to help someone tell their personal life story, or the story of their family. To do that kind of work well, you can’t fake it. You really have to give a damn. I always try to.

To conclude then: Do good work. Give a damn. Be nice. Meet deadlines. Don’t take it personally. Cultivate your interpersonal and social skills – especially if you’re an introvert like me. Accept that it may take years to build a place for yourself in the racket.

And, oh yeah, good luck out there.

*The most disappointing thing I have ever learned in the course of ghostwriting is that mafia members do not actually say “wack.” Instead, they say things like: “He had to go away” or “He couldn’t be around anymore.”

But I still like saying wack.

Wack.

   

 It's LibraryReads day and that means four things here on RA for All

I post the list and tag it “Library Reads” so that you can easily pull up every single list with one click.I can remind you that even though the newest list is always fun to see, it is the older lists where you can find AWESOME, sure bet suggestions for patrons that will be on your shelf to actually hand to them right now. The best thing about LibraryReads is the compound interest it is earning. We now have hundreds and hundreds of titles worth suggesting right at our fingertips through this archive OR the sortable master list allowing you to mix and match however you want.You have no excuse not to hand sell any LibraryReads titles because there is a book talk right there in the list in the form of the annotation one of your colleagues wrote for you. All you have to say to your patron is, “such and such library worker in blank state thought this was a great read,” and then you read what he or she said.Every upcoming book now has at least 1 readalike that is available to hand out RIGHT NOW. Book talk the upcoming book, place a hold for it, and then hand out that readalike title for while they wait. If they need more titles before their hold comes in, use the readalike title to identify more readalike titles. And then keep repeating. Seriously, it is that easy to have happy, satisfied readers.So get out there and suggest a good read to someone today. I don’t care what list or resource you use to find the suggestion, just start suggesting books.
Please remember to click here for everything you need to know about how to participate. 

And finally, here is LibraryReads' extremely helpful Resources page.

Now let's get to the December 2025 list.... 

 , edusaTop Pick

The Gallagher Place: A Novel   

Julie Doar 

Zibby Publishing    

Marlowe is used to the drama that comes with spending holidays with her family, but nothing's come as close to blowing her world apart like this visit. When she and her brothers stumble upon a dead body, it leads to an investigation that may be tied to the decades old disappearance of her childhood best friend. Soon, no one's secrets will be safe.

—Sharon Layburn, South Huntington Public Library, NY

NoveList read-alike: Kala by Colin WalshAyana Gray

Now the rest of the list....

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books

Hwang Bo-reum

(Bloomsbury)

This is a thought-provoking book all about the various aspects of books and reading. It's impossible to read this short book of essays without reflecting on the joys and comfort that reading brings. So many books are recommended in the essays that readers will want their TBR tracker handy!

—Kelly Davis, Waukesha Public Library, WI

NoveList read-alike: On Bookworms , Libraries , and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed

Everyone in the Group Chat Dies

L.M. Chilton

(Gallery/Scout Press)

Kirby gets a message from a friend she's sure is dead. As she tries to connect with her other friends to figure out what's going on, disasters befall her and the group until she's in a race for her life. Witty, clever and creepy, this true-crime thriller is a fun, easy read for readers looking for something murderous that doesn't take itself too seriously.

—Carri Genovese, Indianapolis Public Library, IN

NoveList read-alike: A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay

An Arcane Inheritance

Kamilah Cole

(Poisoned Pen Press)

Ellory gets a full ride to an Ivy League university and isn't sure why. Within weeks she's dog-tired and feels like she's losing her mind. Strange things are afoot, and she has a nagging sense of déjà vu. Exploring themes of racism and elitism, this dark academia delight stands out for great character development, a fast-moving plot, and unexpected twists.

—Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, TX

NoveList read-alike: Babel by RF Kuang

A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death

Maxie Dara

(Berkley)

Nora is terrified of death but works for S.C.Y.T.H.E., a company that employs grim reapers. To complicate things further, her twin brother's file has shown up on her desk. To save him, the siblings go on the run with a parrot named Jessica. They find the perfect place to hide until she realizes it isn't just Capital-D Death after her brother, but someone else trying to kill him. An enjoyable romp.

—Vanneshia Crane, Love County Library, OH

NoveList read-alike: Ruby and Cordelia mysteries by Olivia Blacke

Dark Sisters

Kristi DeMeester

(St. Martin's Press)

This fast-paced, terrifying work of historical horror is unapologetically feminist and told in alternating chapters across three timelines: Camilla in 2207, Mary in 1953, and Anna in 1750 Readers will be compelled to learn the women's secrets and the origin of the powerful church called The Path. Recommended for fans of books about witches and women's power.

—Lila Denning, St. Petersburg Library System, FL

NoveList read-alike: The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Canticle: A Novel

Janet Rich Edwards

(Spiegel & Grau)

An intriguing historical fiction about a woman who, from a young age, is called to God. Set in 13th century Bruges, this is a particularly

timely look at gender politics, especially as they relate to religion—how far will men go to hold on to their power and standing, and to what lengths will a woman go to serve her god? A great pick for book clubs.

—Jayna McDaniel-Browning, Delaware County District Library, OH

NoveList read-alike: Matrix by Lauren Groff

The List of Suspicious Things 

Jennie Godfrey

(Sourcebooks Landmark)

In the late 1970s, the Yorkshire Ripper casts a shadow of fear over the locals. A young girl, Miv, makes a list of suspicious things in hopes of capturing the Ripper. As Miv and her best friends focus on the secrets, hopes, and tragedies of her neighbors' lives, she discovers the links that connect them all. Will be good for book clubs.

—Joan Hipp, LibraryReads Ambassador, NJ

NoveList read-alike: The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

The Bodyguard Affair 

Amy Lea

(Berkley)

In this slow-burn dual POV romance, Andi is the assistant to the Canadian Prime Minister's wife by day and writes steamy romances under a pen name by night. When her novel, The Prime Minister and

Me, comes out, people assume it is based in truth. In order to manage the PR disaster, Andi starts fake-dating the PM's bodyguard with whom she happens to have an awkward past. Very cute and cinematic.

—Cate Daily, Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH

NoveList read-alike: The Bodyguard by Katharine Center

We Who Will Die

Stacia Stark

(Avon)

One of Arvelle's brothers needs life-saving medicine, and the only way to get it is to make an unbreakable pact with a vampire. Now she must survive gladiator-style games and get close enough to the King to fulfill her vow, or her brothers die. But why has the Primus taken a dislike to her, and why is he always masked? A great plot twist will hook readers.

—Laura Sanders, Lafourche Parish Public Library, LA

NoveList read-alike: Crowns of Nyaxia duology by Carissa Broadbent

Board Bonus picks:

The Library of Fates

Margot Harrison

(Graydon House) 

Notable Nonfiction: 

A Danger to the Minds of  Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and 

the Fight to Modernize Literature

Adam Morgan

(Atria/One Signal)

See our social media for annotations of the bonus picks

Click here to see the entire Hall of Fame

The LibraryReads Hall of Fame designation honors authors who have had multiple titles appear on the monthly LibraryReads list since 2013. When their third title places on the list via library staff votes, the author moves into the Hall of Fame. Click here to see the Hall of Fame authors organized in alpha order. Please note, the current year's Hall of Fame lists are pulled out at the top of the page.

 In Your Dreams: A Novel

Sarah Adams

(Dell)

The Mating Game

Lana Ferguson

(Berkley)

Tender Cruelty

Katee Robert

(Sourcebooks Casablanca)

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

Time Magazine has had one of the most useful (to use) lists over the last 5 years. Why? because each year they give us their "100 Must Read Books." The books that entertained and enthralled them. Here is the link to the 2025 list.

Notice they don't call these books "best," they are "must reads." I love this language. It speaks perfectly to library users. These are books the editors think you should read for a variety of reasons. They are not trying to tell you to only read the most critically acclaimed books. They have chosen those but also bestsellers and titles that speak to our moment in history as well.

This is a list you can display proudly, and quite honestly, having looked through it myself, easily. Easily because you have these books already. Easily because there are many ways to promote it via their website, which has a visual representation of each cover that people can scroll through quickly or click on a specific title for an annotation with details. 

Here is the entry for The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones.

I love this entire concept as a way for you to have your year end "Best Books" discussions at your library. Ask your staff and patrons for their "Must Read Book of 2025." Don't be more specific than that. Simply use my conversation starter to displays post to ask for nothing more than what people's "must read book of 2025 was." Then sit back and watch the diverse and interesting list your library community creates. Not only will it be unique to your community but also, it will give you a sense of what titles have resonated with your readers in a way that is hard to capture. This is necessary information you need to craft your collections going forward.

And notice my advice does not limit people to the book having come out this year. The question is vague on purpose. You will get older titles. which leads to my reminder that it is not only this 2025 list that is a great choice for readers, but also, the backlist of lists. Time has been making this "100 Must Read Books" list since 2019. Here are the links to the last 5 years for you to use with your patrons immediately:

20242023202220212020Mine those backlists as suggestions, for book discussion titles, sure bets or great reads you may have missed displays. These are excellent titles for a general audience. They can and should be used now and as a resource all year long.
And keep the Time Must Read Books coverage bookmarked all year long. You can use these titles to suggest any time of year. And the past few year's as well. Not only is there an annotation for each title that you can "use the words of others" as a way to hand-sell the title to the reader in front of you, but also, the term "must read" in and of itself is enough to get someone to give it a try. 

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2024" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can  click  here.

At the end of last month, I wrote at length about Amazon's 25 Years of Best Books Lists as a Great Conversation Starter.

Today I am back to add Amazon's official 2025 Best Books Portal to my annual Attack of the Best Lists coverage.

Okay, okay, let's not get in an uproar here. Yes, there are reasons to not want to promote Amazon, but you need to understand why these lists are a good resource and how to use them with patrons.

In the case of Amazon, they want to sell books, first and foremost. Their best list is an extension of that. But they also want to show that they can recommend books that are both worthy of being held up in the "best" conversation while also appealing to a wide audience. I think they have done that well with their Top 10 list which you can see here. 

And to make it even easier for you to find the right book for you or for you to buy as a gift for someone, they (like B&N which I discussed here) have ways for you to explore further. As you scroll down you get the editor's person favorites, followed by their person Top 10 lists.
Then you get a whole bunch of categories to browse even more "best" options.
Below that you get other lists including that 25th Anniversary portal plus easy access to the best of the year list from 2024-2020.

Again all of it is here in the Amazon Best Books 2025 Portal

At the very least, make sure you have these books in your collections (in multiple formats) and keep an eye on requests because you may need to add a few extra copies.

I do this Attack of the Bests Lists coverage every year not only to help you stay on top of the lists, but also because I will eventually crunch all the numbers for you as offer my annual Readers' Advisory Year in Review. The last 2 years I have done it for NoveList but this year I am back to PCI webinars. Details on on my presentations page here, but here is the description of what you can expect:

Title: 2025 Readers' Advisory Year in Review
Description: 2025 has moved into our rearview, everyone is eager to jump into the fresh start of 2026, but hold up for just a bit longer. It is important, every year, to take a step back and look critically at the year that was before setting goals or service plans for the next year. Join noted Readers' Advisory expert, Becky Spratford as she walks you through the highlights [and lowlights] of 2025 in Adult Leisure Reading. From the biggest trends, to the authors, titles, and genres that broke through, Becky will break it all down for you, wringing out the best of 2025 to take with us as we plan our service to Adult readers for another new year.

Check if your library offers access to PCI Webinars now. 

And expect more of these posts as I gather all of the info and data I need to make that presentation worth your time.

The National Book Awards are coming up. When they had their long list, I had this post about how to use the award as a resource.

(Look I am still big mad that The Buffalo Hunter Hunter was not on the list but I digress.)

Over on LitHub, they did quick interviews with the nominees. Since readers will be asking for these books in the coming days and weeks, I want to point you to these because they will help you hand-sell these titles to their best reader. 

These questions are truly quick and very conversational. Things like "What is the first book you fell in love with (and why)?" or "What would you do if you weren't a writer?" Many titles are also mentioned throughout these short interviews.

Think about the fun display you could put up to celebrate The National Book Awards. Displays that go above and beyond the books and backlist nominees. Again, click here for my post on how to use these awards as a resource. 

These interviews from LitHub are a great place to find fun display ideas and to help you share tidbits about these books and authors with your readers. Here is the into of the piece: 

The winners of the 76th National Book Awards—given every year in Young People’s Literature, Translation, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction—will be announced next week in a ceremony hosted by Jeff Hiller at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Ahead of the festivities, Literary Hub caught up with the finalists to ask them a bit about their books, their reading habits, and their writing lives.

Click here to read the interviews.

I have been telling us all how bad we are at communicating what we do at libraries and how that has made us susceptible to censorship and budget cuts. Again, my point here is that WE are the problem, not the bad actors. 

I know that makes some people upset, but it is a hard truth that I don't think everyone is willing to come to terms with.

Here are some examples of where I have written about this at length:

This post from 1 year ago, "We are Terrible at Communicating Who We Are, What We Do, and Why-- Make a Commitment to Do Better in 2025" has more information, explanation, and links.I also have this post, "It is Imperative That We Do Better At Communicating E-Book Pricing to Our Patrons," from just over a year ago.

Please spend some time especially on that first bullet point. I have MANY links to more information on how we have been inadvertently causing ourselves harm AND how even when we realize that we are unwilling to change.

Our biggest issue is that we are unwilling to explain how we build our collections. We have allowed bad actors to define how we build collections. We are not out there screaming about the Masters level classes we had to take on collection development. How hard we work to have books that our patrons want and need. How we DO NOT buy everything that is published. And most importantly, how we want our collections to represent the world we live in, meaning we have titles at all age levels, for all identities.

I could go on and on. But the point is, as a profession, we have decided that we are better off not talking about it. We don't want to get extra attention. But this has proven to be more harmful that good (just like all soft censorship-- and yes, not talking about how we craft collections is a form of soft censorship).

Well, here is a great example of what we should be doing from an independent bookseller. First, independent book stores provide a great analogy to the local public library in terms of the portions of our collections that are part of our popular circulating materials. They are buying books for their community and want to have the books they want and those they might need.

Recently, Fisher the Bookseller had a great article explaining how bookstores decide what to carry here. And then Author Lincoln Michel reached out to Fisher to interview them and get even more detail here.

These posts give us a lot of talking points we SHOULD BE using. But again, WE ARE NOT.

Please look through those articles and try to heed my advice in this post (also linked above) and be more proactive about talking to our patrons about who we are, what we do any why. And then encourage them to get the word out.

I know I told you all to make this a goal for 2025. And I also know a lot of you DID NOT prioritize this. Well, guess what? It's still 2025. Get on it.

I took a break from reviewing for about 6 weeks this FALL to concentrate on my own book release and tour. At the end of October I started reviewing again, but this meant I have no reviews in the print November issue of Booklist. I do however have one E-only review that just went up.
Stories from the Motel Sick
Edited by Michael Allen Rose

Nov. 2025. 386p. RoShamBo, paper, $15.99  (9798349320866); e-book (9798349320873). First published November 5, 2025 (Booklist Online).

Wonderland Award winner Rose is back (Fragile Anthology) with another cleverly themed anthology. This time, Rose puts his authors up for the night at a haunted hotel, which as Bridget D. Brave clearly lays out in the volume’s first story, “Motel Guest Waiver & Agreement,” requires readers to agree to not “piss off” “THE ENTITY” who runs the “VOID” they are about to enter. 20+ stories from room numbers from 4? to Infinity (and anything in between), follow from authors like Cynthia Pelayo, Jeff Strand, and John Skipp, detailing increasingly weird and dangerous situations, from which escape seems impossible. Rose skillfully unites the stories into a single volume with the inclusion of illustrations by Courtney Rader and asides such as the hotel’s  “In Case of Fire” policy and a Room Service Menu.” A great introduction to the Bizarro genre, the existentially terrifying, absurdist cousin to Horror, suggest to fans of darkly humorous Lovecraftian works like  John Dies at the End by Pargin and also to those enjoy immersive hotel terror like Travelers Rest by Morris and Cranberry Cove by Piper.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Bizzaro, Hotel Horror, Existentially Terrifying but with Humor

Further Appeal: A note on the number of stories first. I wasn't sure if I should count the asides, which are very good and not only add to the unease of the entire volume, but they make it a unified book. And they were fun. 

As an editor Rose does an excellent job of not only putting the stories in a good order for the reader. I also liked that the room numbers the authors used were not normal and not in order.

This one is worth you going out of your way to order.

Readalikes: The ones above are all a great place to start. But checkout more Wonderland Award winners if you think this book sounds good because it is for the very best of Bizarro and Rose has himself won it twice. Click here for more by Rose.

Please note, Gabino Iglesias is a former Bizarro winner for Coyote Songs.