Booklist Reader

Published by Booklist, an imprint of the American Library Association. Booklist Reader features diverse book and audiobook recommendations, for readers and listeners of all ages. Filled with high-interest, themed lists that showcase books for your family or book discussion group.

From the Editor & Publisher

Booklist Reader

Books on the Environment • The best “green” titles eloquently and informatively grapple with and elucidate climate change and associated environmental and sustainability issues.

Wildfires • Wildfires have been increasing in frequency, size, and intensity and breaking out in unexpected regions, a new world of fire John Vaillant addresses with all due heat and light in Fire Weather. The books below, from works of history and science to memoirs and fiction, offer more perspectives on rampaging fires, climate change, and the impact on all earthly life.

See the Forest and the Trees • The old saying, “can’t see the forest for the trees,” reminds us that we tend to focus on what’s right in front of us instead of looking at the big picture. Tunnel vision has prevented us from fully recognizing and acting on dire environmental destruction and climate change, and nowhere is this more readily discernible than in our decimation of the planet’s once enormous, thriving forests. These recent books help us clearly see trees and forests as the essential life-sustaining entities they are.

What We Extract from the Earth • Every object and device we rely on is manufactured with resources extracted from the planet, and while this industrial effort benefits us enormously, it also does serious environmental harm and damages our health and communities. The books below reveal the true costs of mining, drilling, and fracking while reflecting on how we value and live on the earth.

Something Fishy • If you can’t be in in the water to hang out with your fishy buddies, immerse yourself in a book instead! Also, octopi have arms, not tentacles. Better to hug you with…

Adult • Get your hands on these hotly anticipated books, all out this month.

Funny and Charming Romance Novels • In Happy Place, Emily Henry’s latest sharply witty, shrewdly characterized love story, the author effectively plays with such popular romance-genre tropes as a second chance at romance and fake dating, as do these equally humorous and heartfelt romances.

July 2023 • The Top Ten Adult Fiction and Nonfiction Chosen Monthly by America’s Library Staff

HALL OF FAME TITLES • The LibraryReads Hall of Fame designation honors authors who have had multiple titles appear on the monthly list since 2013.

PBS Program Feature • VISIONS OF AMERICA in Celebration of the U.S. Semiquincentennial (America250)

Camille T. Dungy • Camille T. Dungy, author and narrator of Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden, first turned to audiobooks to prepare for teaching a class in 2016. “These were classics I’d read multiple times, but I loved the fact that I could fit reacquainting myself with beloved novels into my busy schedule. While commuting to work, or gardening, or doing the dishes, I immersed myself in the worlds these great writers created. Once I figured out how well audiobooks fit into my life, I started listening to new-to-me books as well. Now I engage with a significant portion of my books via audio. It’s probably the only reason that the tally of books I’ve completed during the first decade of my daughter’s life has remained so high.” Booklist talked with Dungy the week her self-narrated memoir debuted in May.

Sci-Tech & Environment Audiobooks • Narrators up to the task of conveying complex and intriguing elements of science are rare gems indeed, as these laudable audiobooks display.

Books on the Environment for Youth • Activism, interdependence, and responsible land...