Autumn is such a fun time to host a book club. You can have so much fun with decorations, costumes and Pumpkin Spice everything. Even if you don’t get into Halloween or Pumpkin Spice specifically, fall is a gorgeous time to read with friends. The weather is nice and cool, perfect for sipping mulled wine by the fire pit while you discuss your latest read.

I am including six books on my Fall 2020 Book Club list. Two are pretty traditional book club choices, The Vanishing Half and The Midnight Library. Three are dark, spooky seasonal choices, The Haunting of Hill House, The Sun Down Motel and The Five. One to Watch is on the lighter side, but still has plenty to discuss.

All of these books (except Haunting of Hill House) have at least a four-star rating on Goodreads and thousands of reviews. I included the classic, Haunting of Hill House, as a personal recommendation.
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I have included links to discussion questions for all suggested titles.

This will be an interesting September.

Most kids will be back to school in some capacity. Some kids will be business as usual with added safety precautions and mask requirements, and some kids will be learning from home.

I know parents have agonized over their options. I hope that whatever choice you made or situation you find yourself in, that you are healthy and safe. 

Luckily, there are some amazing books being released in September! A little something to look forward to and distract you from how crazy everything is right now!

I love Taylor Swift. I am not going to lie. I am a full on adult and I just love her.

I even liked her when there was that whole Kardashian “scandal”. Not sorry. I will never side with the Kardashians over Swift, I don’t care how many bitchy recordings they have of her! Not gonna happen!

I think most people would agree that Swift’s music is generally upbeat, catchy and fun. It might not be your absolute favorite music, but you probably won’t switch the station either. Unless you’re like a total metalhead or something, but even then…

Happy August readers! We have officially begun our last full month of summer. For some of you that means more time inside curled up with a good book, avoiding the heat. For others it means getting a little bit more time reading outside in the nice weather. Wherever you are, I hope you read some great books this August!

Follow this link for new release books, August 2020 Can't Wait Book List.

I always encourage people to use their local library to access free books, ebooks and audiobooks. Unfortunately, that is not always an option. So it is nice to know that many online bookstores provide inexpensive access to thousands of ebooks. Sorting through their selections can be overwhelming, which is why I compiled this list of best e-books for $3 or less.   

Some of these books are by well-known popular authors, some of these books are by new and upcoming authors. Most have hundreds, if not thousands of four and five star reviews. All of these books are relatively new, having been published within the last two years.   

When the world went on lockdown, book bloggers responded one of two ways. They either immediately published a list of doomsday books or a list of uplifting books. I was in the second category. I was beyond stressed about our situation and needed something to help me relax. So I published this list of Funny, Happy, Cozy Books to Help You Relax! If you are still really stressed, please check it out!

At this point, however, many of us have started to accept our “new normal”. We know that if we practice social distancing, wear masks, and wash our hands we can limit our chances of contracting the virus. For now, our food supply chain is operational. We don’t have the shortages we did when this started. Things are different and they will be for a long time, but I have less uncertainty, fear, and anxiety than I did in the beginning. I hope you feel the same.

After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of August New Release Books to these seven exciting titles. I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books.

There are so many good books coming out this month, it was hard to narrow down this list! I ended up including the best upcoming books from a variety of genres including, Political Fiction, Non-Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Romance. These are the seven stand-out titles for August! Hopefully there is something for everyone!

I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal. 

Reading can be an expensive hobby! Especially if you like to buy new hardback editions of popular books. If you read a new book every week, your hobby can add up quickly. You could easily spend $1300 per year on books!

I always encourage people to use their local library to access free books, ebooks and audiobooks. Unfortunately, that is not always an option. So it is nice to know that Amazon provides inexpensive access to thousands of ebooks. Sorting through their selection can be overwhelming, which is why I compiled this list of Best e-books for $2 or less.  
 
Some of these books are by well-known popular authors, some of these books are by new and upcoming authors. Most have hundreds, if not thousands of four and five star reviews. All of these books are relatively new, having been published within the last two years.   
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After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of July New Release Books to these eight exciting titles.

I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books.

​I try to include a variety of Fiction, Non-Fiction and even Young Adult books. This month’s selections include a dark fairy tale, a cutesy romance, and zombie horror, to name a few. Hopefully there is something for everyone!

I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal. 

Karin Slaughter is one of those intense thriller authors that fans can’t seem to get enough of. Every book she publishes leaves her readers begging for more.

Luckily her fans never have long to wait as she publishes about a book per year. Between her popular Will Trent series and her standalone books, she always has a new book on the horizon.

Her upcoming book, Silent Wife, is the tenth Will Trent book. I know it can be daunting to see that a series is on #10 if you haven’t started it, but stay with me. You have options!

The Will Trent series can be read as a standalone and out of order. So you could read, Silent Wife, and then go back and read book three, if you wanted. However, fans recommend starting at the beginning and binge-reading the series in order.
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I love the idea of finding my next favorite author by following the book awards. Unfortunately, the reality is a little different.

Most well-known book awards are published on unwieldy websites that are damn-near impossible to navigate.

​In addition to being difficult to track down, the winning books are often selected by critics for critics. These are books that critics read and then congratulate each other for reading. They are just too unpleasant and pretentious to attract most readers.
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​I created this list in an effort to find the award winning books that people actually want to read. I started with the 30 most well-known book awards and narrowed the list to these eleven. Many of these awards are still listed on websites designed by MC Escher, but the books tend to be well rated and widely read.

Every year libraries host Summer Reading Clubs for all ages, including teens.

The main goal of the program is to help reduce the loss of knowledge that occurs every summer, known as the “Summer Slide”. Studies show that students lose about 20% of their school year knowledge during summer break (Austrew, 2019).

As you can imagine, this year will be particularly bad because of the early school closures. Luckily, Summer Reading Clubs have shown to help prevent and reduce the Summer Slide.

Libraries are operating a little differently this year.
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This is the perfect year to join your local library Adult Summer Reading Club program!

Summer Reading Club will certainly be a little different this year, but in some ways that will be great for adults.

Most libraries have taken this situation as an opportunity to streamline their Summer Reading Programs. You will likely be able to sign up online, through email, or over the phone, even if your library is not currently open.

A lot of libraries are even still offering prizes for curbside pickup along with books and other materials. Prizes vary by community, but I have seen everything from restaurant coupons, to drawings for a brand new iPad. It comes down to local funding and donations. Your library will have a list of prizes.

After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of June New Release Books to these ten exciting titles. I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books. I try to include a variety of Fiction, Non-Fiction and even Young Adult books. This month’s selections are a little on the dark side, with a couple of fun humorous options thrown in. Hopefully, there is something for everyone!

I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal.
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Please note, publication dates are shifting due to the Coronavirus epidemic. I verified the publication dates on multiple sources, however they may still change. Thank you for your understanding, if some of these become inaccurate. 
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Stephen King is such a prolific author that a scientific study is required to understand which of his published books are his very best. In order to scientifically determine his best works one needs to consider, not only all of his novels, but the author as well. 

I wanted to include a quick biographical section on Stephen King in my scientific study, so naturally I went to his website stephenking.com 

I expected to find how many books King has published, but determined that the number is incalculable. He does have a list of his written works, so if you have a strong scrolling ability, you can try to determine the total that way. Please let me know if you find the answer. I suspect it’s a constantly changing variable.

There is some interesting biographical information on his website. Stephen King is 6’4” tall, which is unexpected and newsworthy. He met his wife in a library, which is the most appropriate and adorable thing ever. Much more about his life, parents, where he lives, etc. on his website.

Don’t you love it when you find a good dark and thrilling mystery? The kind of book that keeps you reading late at night because you just can’t put it down. Isn’t it great when a book gives you the creeps? When writing gives you goosebumps? These are the best mysteries.

This list was made for fans of Gone Girl, and The Woman in Cabin 10. If you love dark mysteries with lots of plot twists, these books are for you. These stories feature haunted hotels, spooky local folklore, accidents, murder and mistaken identity. All the elements of great creepy thrillers.

​The following books were published within the last two years and have been keeping people up at night ever since. Check out the summaries below to pick your next favorite dark mystery!

Don’t get me wrong! I love World War II Historical Fiction! It’s just, there is so much more to history than WWII. History starts one second ago, and goes all the way back. Everywhere. Have you ever wondered what life was like in Japan, in the 1600s? How about Russia, in the 1920s? With historical fiction you can go just about anywhere at any time.

I compiled this list with the help of some librarians and book bloggers on Twitter. All of these titles are rated at least four stars on Goodreads and most of them have hundreds-of-thousands of reviews. About half of these books were published within the last few years and the other half are considered to be classics. All of them are readily available for check-out or purchase.
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These books make varying attempts to be historically accurate. The Giver of Stars is loosely based on true events and will make you feel like you are living in depression era Kentucky. The Underground Railroad features a LITERAL underground railroad. The author may have taken some artistic liberties with that, but the result is amazing! All of these books will transport you to another time and place with their own unique style.

After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of May New Release Books to these seven exciting titles. I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books. I try to include a variety of Fiction, Non-Fiction and even Young Adult books. I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal.

Please note, publication dates are shifting due to the Coronavirus epidemic. I verified the publication dates on multiple sources, however they may still change. Thank you for your understanding, if some of these become inaccurate. 

A lot of people are discovering their library’s online collection for the first time and are still getting used to the process. Most libraries will have all of the newest and most popular books purchased, but there is going to be a wait list. So, while you are waiting for, Where the Crawdads Sing, and The Splendid and the Vile, consider reading something you may have missed a few years ago.

Follow this link if you have questions about accessing your library’s online collection, read the e-book and e-audiobook section.

The following books were published at least two years ago and are available for check-out in all of the library systems that I checked. I cannot promise what may be available to you, but you should have a pretty good chance at getting most of these books right away! 
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​The Coronavirus is creating a lot of stress and anxiety for kids and teens right now. As parents we like to think that our kids have nothing to worry about, but it’s simply not true.

No matter how much we try to shelter our kids from the hard news of the world, they still know. My oldest is only six and she is absolutely worried and being affected by what is happening.

A Twitter friend asked me to suggest some gentle reads for teens. After reaching out to other librarians and bloggers, I have narrowed the suggestions to the following funny, happy, or cozy books and series, to help young readers relax.

Follow this link for a list of Funny, Happy, Cozy Books for Adults.
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As I am writing this my county is on lockdown. I know many people across the world are living under similar orders, whether they are official or not.

We are dealing with empty grocery stores. Worrying for the first time in our lives, if we will be able to get milk for our babies. We are not allowed to leave our homes, except for groceries, medicine and daily outside exercise. We must maintain a social distance and not spend time with anyone outside our household.

It is a real-life nightmare.
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A Twitter friend asked me to find gentle reads for her kids and I thought I should do the same for adults. I am limiting my entertainment to light comedies as much as possible right now and I figure lots of other people are doing the same.

Here are some options from a variety of genres that will hopefully help you relax.

​I have included a summary excerpt from Goodreads followed by my thoughts on the books.  
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