#Libfaves18 Honorable Mentions!

And as promised, here are my honorable mentions from 2018!

Thursday, 12/20/2018 – My #Libfaves18 Honorable Mentions (#Libfaves18HM)

Had so many honorable mentions it's going to take 2 tweets, here's Pt 1: THE QUEEN OF SORROW by @sarahbethdurst; HELLO STRANGER by @LisaKleypas; SPINNING SILVER by @naominovik; EMPIRE OF SAND by @stshadrinkstea; & THE POPPY WAR by @kuangry #libfaves18hm 

And Pt 2: THE BEST COOK IN THE WORLD: TALES FROM MY MOMMA’S TABLE written & read by @rickbraggauthor; NOIR by @TheAuthorGuy, read by @johnnyheller; CLOCK DANCE by @AnneTylerAuthor, read by Kimberly Farr; & AN ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE THING by @hankgreen, read by Kristen Sieh #libfaves18hm

Already anticipating the release of some great titles in 2019 and can hardly wait to read them! 

More Tweets - My Top Ten Titles, Continued

It's been a great ten days tweeting about my favorites reads and watching to see what others librarians enjoyed during 2018! For your reading enjoyment, here is the second half of my #Libfaves18 top ten list:

My #Libfaves18 Top Ten Reads Published in 2018 Countdown, continued:

Saturday, 12/15/2018 - Day 6 & my day to tally votes! 

5: THE MORTAL WORD by @GenevieveCogman - Dragons, Fae & the Library in peace talks!?! Fast-paced action & mystery combine with witty dialogue & new developments for Irene, everyone's favorite librarian-in-residence & her former apprentice, the dragon prince Kai! #Libfaves18

Sunday, 12/16/2018 – Day 7

4: CIRCE by @MillerMadeline – debut narrator @PerditaWeeks enhances Miller’s tale of the maligned immortal witch that takes her from lonely approval-seeking child to angry, fierce avenger & as a single mother, determined to protect her son from divine vengeance. #Libfaves18

Monday, 12/17/2018 – Day 8

3: THE DARKEST CHILD by Delores Phillips. Bahni Turpin’s authentic & expressive narration of Phillips' modern classic draws listeners into the tale of Tangy May & her 10 siblings as they struggle to survive poverty & escape their unpredictable & abusive mother. #Libfaves18

Tuesday, 12/18/2018 – Day 9

2: KILL THE FARM BOY by @DelilahSDawson & @KevinHearne – a unique band of fantasy characters go on a curse-breaking, pun-filled quest spoofing all things folk & fairy tale. The ‘chosen one’ trope is turned hilariously upside down, then skewed delightfully sideways! #Libfaves18

Wednesday, 12/19/2018 – Day 10

1: EDUCATED: A MEMOIR by @tarawestover - an intense, unforgettable memoir about a young girl who defied her family & the odds to enter the larger world & become a scholar, masterfully narrated by @justjuliawhelan. Intriguing, horrifying, & inspiring. @Libfaves18

Tomorrow I will be tweeting about my honorable mentions (remember that mighty struggle to keep the list to ten titles ...), so watch for one more #Libfaves18 post! 

#Libfaves is Alive and Well (Again!) in 2018

Like many other librarians, I have taken to Twitter for the annual "Libfaves" event that occurs for ten days every December.  I struggled mightily to get my list down to just ten titles (so many great books this year!) and since Monday have been tweeting about my favorite reads for 2018.

Tomorrow I will be tallying votes as part of #Libfaves18 but here is my list of favorites so far, the rest will be posted on December 19.

My #Libfaves18 Top Ten Reads Published in 2018 Countdown:

Monday, 12/10/2018 – Day 1

10: THE WIFE BETWEEN US by @greerkh & @sarahpekkanen - a dizzying psychological thriller about the wife (or is it wives?) of a seemingly perfect husband, where nothing is what is seems & what is it with that sister of his? #Libfaves18

Tuesday, 12/11/2018 – Day 2

9: THE LAST COWBOYS: A PIONEER FAMILY IN THE NEW WEST by @JohnBanchNYT, audiobook read by @JohnPruden - a reporter’s you-are-there portrait of the Wright's, a family of cattle ranchers & world-champion saddle-bronc riders! The West isn't what it used to be! #Libfaves18

Wednesday,12/12/2018 – Day 3

8: FOUNDRYSIDE by @robertjbennett – a former slave/thief extraordinaire teams up with an unusually vocal lock-picking artifact, a re-awakened device from a bygone age that may be the ‘literal’ key to everything; 1st in a complex, action-packed fantasy series. #Libfaves18

Thursday, 12/13/2018 – Day 4

7: THE MUSIC SHOP by @RachelJoyceBooks, read by @StevenPHartley – Frank is a master at offering musical advice to others but resists real closeness himself. Checkout the playlist of tracks & artists https://tinyurl.com/yawoca2y mentioned in this delightful love story. #Libfaves18

Friday, 12/14/2018 – Day 5

6: PET SEMATARY by @StephenKing - @TheMichaelCHall's new recording of this contemporary horror classic is excellent! Great accents, pacing & expression build tension & suspense, pulling listeners into the growing terror & despair of a grief-stricken father. #Libfaves18

Library staff everywhere are invited to tweet about their top reads of the year, counting down from #10 and ending with their all-time #1 favorite for 2018. The rules are simple:  

• Use the #libfaves18 hashtag
• Titles must have been published in 2018
• Post one title a day (you can play catch up if starting after 12/10)
• Type the title in ALL CAPS
• Include the author 

Why not join the fun? What were your favorites reads in 2018? 

RA Tip: Rounding Out My #Libfaves16 Top Ten

The past few days have been great as I checked Twitter off and on for the #libfaves16 hashtag. Along with many other librarians, my personal TBRead pile has multiplied and I'll need the holiday break to try and deplete it a bit before getting into some of the titles I am anticipating for 2017! :-)

The previous blog post showed my #libfaves16 tweets for numbers 10 to 6, so for completion's sake, here are the tweets for my final countdown ... 

#libfaves16 No 5 – STILETTO by @DenimAlley: ROOK Myfanwy Thomas is back! Witty banter, paranormal paranoia & diplomacy? Such fun!

#libfaves16 No 4 – PENRIC’S DEMON by Lois McMaster Bujold: a clever, innocent, newly designated sorcerer teams up with an unruly demon!

#libfaves16 No 3 – Ben Winters’ UNDERGROUND AIRLINES read by William DeMeritt: terrific voice, what if tale of slavery in 21^st Century U.S.

#libfaves16 No 2 – THE FATE OF THE TEARLING by Erika Johansen: Kelsea/Kaite vs Row Finn; thrilling conclusion to great epic Fantasy series!

No 1 for #libfaves16 – THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY by Genevieve Cogman: good & evil librarians, a dragon, a vampire & a Great detective, OH my! 

Have I added a title or two to your TBRead pile? :-)

Tweeting Your Top Ten Titles for 2016

Every December for the last few years, over a ten day period, librarians tweet about their favorite Top Ten books of the year using a specific hashtag. This allows for tracking and compiling the titles to produce a final Top Ten list.

This year #libfaves16 started Monday, December 12 and will run for ten days until Wednesday, December 21; a final Top Ten list will be posted shortly after the 21st. Librarians everywhere are invited to tweet about their top reads of the year, counting down from #10 and ending with their all-time #1 favorite for 2016. The rules are simple: 

• Use the #libfaves16 hashtag
• Titles must have been published in 2016
• Post one title a day
• Type the title in ALL CAPS
• Include the author

I was curious to rediscover what titles I had tweeted about in the past so went and found my December 10, 2014 blog post - RA Tip: FAVORITE READS FOR 2014! Sadly, I neglected to compile my top ten titles for #libfaves15 but I have been participating this time and my first five #libfaves16 tweets are listed below:

#libfaves16 No 10 - BECAUSE OF MISS BRIDGERTON by Julia Quinn, read by Rosalyn Landor: historical, witty & thoroughly romantic

#libfaves16 No 9 - SHADOWED SOULS ed by Jim Butcher & Kerrie L Hughes: 11 thrilling supernatural tales by urban fantasy authors 

#libfaves16 No 8 - Paulette Jiles’ NEWS OF THE WORLD read by Grover Gardner: lyrical Western, former soldier & 10-yr old Kiowa captive girl 

#libfaves16 No 7 – SLEEPING GIANTS by Sylvain Neuvel: jaw-dropping ‘are we alone in the Universe’ speculation, 1^st in Themis Files series

#libfaves16 No 6 - MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON by Elizabeth Strout, read by Kimberly Farr: pull up a comfy chair & listen as Lucy tells her story

I will blog about 5 through 1 in a few days in another post.

FYI, on Saturday, 12/17/2016 I was privileged to participate in helping tally the results for #libfaves16. I had a great time monitoring the hashtag throughout the day and recording the titles! :-)

#libfaves14 Winners Announced on EarlyWord!

Yesterday's post was about the  annual event of library staff tweeting their Top 10 favorite reads for the year. The 2014 'event' ran from December 1 through December 10 and during that time, the tweets using hasttag #libfaves14 were being compiled on EarlyWord to create a full list of titles.

EarlyWord: The Publisher/Librarian Connection

'Votes' were also being counted to determine which favorite title (or titles) were tweeted about the most! The #libfaves14 winners were posted on EarlyWord this morning!

Were the winners one of your favorite reads for 2014?

RA Tip: FAVORITE READS FOR 2014!

For the last 10 days, library staff from all over have be tweeting TOP 10 titles for 2014. If you didn't know, tweeting about your Top 10 reads of the year has become an annual event with the titles posted once a day in reverse order from December 1 through December 10. [NOTE: you can play catch up if you miss the starting date or happen to skip a day ... ]

See last year's post RA Tip: FAVORITE READS OF 2013!

Using #libfaves14, participants list title, author and a brief description using fewer than 130 characters. I participated again this year so here are my Top 10 reads for 2014, posted on Twitter over the last few days: 

10. Gaiman’s THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE: part childhood reminiscence, mythology, & innocence lost, with lyrical language #libfaves14

9. DRACULA VERSUS SANTA - DeJesus & Power: hilarious Graphic Novel with Christmas symbols facing off famous monsters #libfaves14

8. THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY – G. Zevin: made me feel like I was wandering the aisles of a small cozy bookstore #libfaves14

7. THE BOOK OF LIFE: search for Ashmole 782 concludes with life & family becoming more complicated for Diana & Matthew #libfaves14

6. Cain’s ONE KICK: dynamic between Kick & Bishop is intense, 2 determined, flawed individuals working toward a common goal #libfaves14

5. DANGEROUS WOMEN: great anthology of new short stories by 21 different authors who write is multiple genres #libfaves14

4. STORM FRONT: listened to with family during long drive, believe have turned my children into lifelong Dresden fans!  #libfaves14

3. FIRST LORD’S FURY - on a Jim Butcher kick in 2014: finished listening to last title in his Codex Alera fantasy series #libfaves14

2. IN THE KINGDOM OF ICE: fascinating nonfiction about lost ship & crew searching Arctic passage to the North Pole in 1880s #libfaves14

1. THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING by Erika Johansen: an epic fantasy debut with magic, mystery, adventure; 1^st in series #libfaves14

What were your top 10 reads for 2014? Let's use the COMMENTS: link below and you'll only need to list the title and author. :-)