Librarians collect things. All sorts of things. 

While fictional librarians protect ancient mystical artifacts or guard an archive that contains all the knowledge in the multiverse, real-life librarians make our lives easier by helping us find the best of anything worth archiving.  

In keeping with that, the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has been publishing an official Reading List for years. If you haven’t checked these books out yet (wink), maybe get right on that before the year closes. The List includes a winner in each category, runners up, and also read-a-likes for the winning novel so you can just keep right on reading in your fuzzy slippers and “Bookmarks Are for Quitters” t-shirt. 

Here are a few of the winners in my favorite genres:

Fantasy: Foundryside: A Novel by Robert Jackson Bennett
Romance: Intercepted by Alexa Martin
Science Fiction: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Enjoy your towering TBR pile!