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I’m posting this one because Rielle Hunter’s memoir, What Really Happened, is out and making headlines for being a bust.  Perhaps people would rather read a novel where she was the model for the main character? In Jay McInerney’s (why oh why can I not manage to pronounce his last name correctly, ever?) slice-of-the-80s novel, [...]

So,  Karen has already offered read-alikes for Fifty Shades of Grey, but this recent blog post, “I’ll Show You Smut,” from our friend Nanette Donohue, gives an eye-opening look at more titles you can find on your library’s shelf while you languish on the hold list. She couches her list—a “Dirty Dozen Books that Brevard [...]

Sunday (4/22/2012) is Earth Day, and the fine folks over at Better World Books thought it was a great time of year to release their top 10 “green” books: 1. Natural Capitalism 2. The Lorax 3. An Inconvenient Truth 4. Silent Spring 5. Moral Ground 6. The Better World Shopping Guide 7. Hot, Flat and [...]

Well here at Shelf Renewal, we’re all about stealing other people’s great ideas giving credit where credit is due.  We should have come up with a readalike list ourselves, but we don’t need to—David Wright, Guybrarian Extraordinaire at the Seattle Public Library, has created 2 separate lists of readalikes for Boardwalk Empire, over on their [...]

When asked where he gets his ideas, writer Philip Pullman usually responds, “I don’t know where they come from, but I know where they come to, they come to my desk. If I’m not there, they go away again, so you’ve got to sit and think.” We’re all aware of the irony of the discipline [...]

In a recent Telegraph article, James Walton claims that Mad Men is the most literary show on TV. He cites the influences of Richard Yates and John Cheever. Why not see if your patrons agree? Recommend these sixties-themed reads. (And if your library shares playlists with your users, boost interest in your CD collection with a swingin’ soundtrack.) [...]

Perhaps you’ve heard of it, The Hunger Games? Normally here on Shelfrenewal we like to create read-alike lists to go along with what’s happening in pop culture, but heck, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel, since so many fab YA librarians have already done so. Instead I’d we’ll just showcase some of those lists [...]

Blush much? Doing RA for erotica can be a challenge. Especially when the patron doesn’t know that this is what she’s asking for. 50 Shades of Grey by E.L James  is popular right now because it’s popular. You have patrons lining up to get put on the waiting list who have no idea that they’re [...]

The Morning News Tournament of Books is here!

How do I love thee, PBS costume drama? Let’s start with Downton Abbey. I don’t need to understand whatever weird wistfulness is going on in the American psyche to make this series such a post-recession hit. I just know that it is, and because it’s British and it’s historical nobody watching feels guilty about making [...]