Acclaimed author Cormac McCarthy died on June 13 at the age of 89. McCarthy was frequently considered, including by many of his fellow authors, one of America’s all-time greatest writers, with literary critic Harold Bloom even calling him the “true heir” to giants like Herman Melville and William Faulkner. Among the many accolades and awards, he won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for the post-apocalyptic The Road and was also a recipient of the MacArthur “genius” grant back in 1981. His loss will be felt in the literary community for years to come.   

As the blog post about the 400-year anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio mentioned, one of our April Beanstack challenges (running April 1-April 30) will revolve around Shakespeare. While we’re celebrating the First Folio and the way it preserved the play texts, the truth is that most of Shakespeare’s work was meant to be seen, not read. In that spirit, this Beanstack challenge incorporates multiple forms of media.

This year is the 400-year anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio. While it has sometimes been described as the most important single book in history, you wouldn’t be alone if you don’t know what this is and why it matters, so please indulge my minor history lesson if you want to understand the concept behind our upcoming Beanstack challenge in April. You’ll be especially lucky in April since there will be a second Beanstack challenge, Celebrate Earth, to participate in.

As usual, the new year greets us with a deluge of exciting new books. Looking at the entire year ahead is a bit overwhelming, so I want to focus on the first quarter of 2023. Here are some upcoming titles garnering a lot of buzz that have release dates in the first three months. 

November is Native American Heritage Month, which celebrates the heritage and history of the Indigenous peoples of this land. It feels like a good time to recognize the fantastic books Native authors have been contributing to our collection in the last year or two. Below is a selection of some of those books, with a handful of upcoming November releases. The final few are, admittedly, not by Native authors but wonderful additions that focus on Native subjects.

This list focuses on adult books, but the teen and youth areas have plenty of titles to contribute, as well!  

It’s the best time of the year: October, when all things dark and creepy are celebrated. As has been my custom for a few years, I wanted to share appropriate reading material for the season. There are so many great horror novels that have been released this year that I decided to showcase one for every day of the month. So here are 31 books to get you through Halloween and well beyond.