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Essential titles reviewed in our April 2021 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, romance, graphic novels, horror, fiction, social sciences, and more.

The 30+ reference titles honored as the best of 2020 speak to today’s issues and range across arts, literature, health, science, history, and more.

Librarians and readers looking for reliable and useful free web resources will find these top picks from 2020 worth exploring. 

The best databases of 2020 address the medieval world, social change, literature, and more. 

Essential titles reviewed in our March 2021 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, romance, fiction, self-help, social sciences, science and technology, and more.

Essential titles reviewed in our February 2021 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, romance, graphic novels, parenting, fiction, social sciences, and more.

Essential titles and great reads in our January 2021 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, horror, romance, audiobooks, nonfiction, and more. 

This year’s top audiobooks, selected by LJ’s audio editor and reviewers, represent the best recorded literature published between November 2019 and December 2020. In a year that’s been like no other, these picks moved us, provided escape, and made us think critically and reflect upon the society in which we live. We hope these lists provide a means for readers’ advisory and (socially distanced) conversation.

This list features an even split between reissued classics and recent feature films that stand the test of time.

These Best Documentary selections include films newly available to libraries that are both important and intriguing. We hope these picks provide a means for readers’ advisory and (socially distanced) conversation.

Ravishing verse, lyrical contemplations, limpid language. The best poetry books published in 2020.

Toni Morrison, Ravi Shankar, and Richard Avedon star in the best arts books published in 2020.

Malcolm X, Rose Pastor Stokes, Natasha Trethewey. The best biographies & memoirs published in 2020.

Pan-banging cookies, baking simplified, science of cooking. The best cooking and food books published in 2020.

Birds and whales and eels, oh my! The best science & technology books published in 2020.

Caste and control, the power of protest, a portrait of boys. The best social science books of 2020.

A girl with a louding voice, a bawdy observer, a woman making her own happy ending. The best pop fiction novels published in 2020.

A railway magnate, a brothel owner, and two gamers all find love in the best romance novels published in 2020.

Supervillains, an ancient storyteller, gods and monsters. The best science fiction & fantasy novels published in 2020.

Historical corrections, a fascination with science, burdens of the past. The best short stories published in 2020.

Translated novels first written in French, Farsi, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean comprise the best world literature published in 2020.

Kent State, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse, a loving look at a comics icon. The best graphic novels published in 2020.

In a year that many would call one of the worst in recent memory, we were still rewarded with great books. The LJ Best Books of 2020 gathers 144 titles across 15 categories to help get libraries and readers through to better days. Comfort reads mix with fresh new perspectives in this selection of outstanding titles published in 2020.

A wheelman-turned-family man, four crafty retirees, a newly made vigilante. The best crime fiction published in 2020.

Belonging and acceptance, ecological disaster, Shakespeare's child. The best literary fiction published in 2020.

Zombies, vampires, and assorted monsters stalk the pages of the best horror novels published in 2020.

Essential titles reviewed in our September 2020 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, romance, fiction, social sciences, and more.

Essential titles reviewed in our July 2020 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, romance, fiction, social sciences, and more.

Essential titles reviewed in our June 2020 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, graphic novels, fiction, social sciences, and more.

Essential titles reviewed in our May 2020 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, romance, self-help, parenting, fiction, social sciences, and more.

In 2017, David Remnick of The New Yorker remarked that Condé Nast was in “a dignified state of panic,” driven by the need to adapt to an industry with “constantly pivoting digital realities” that required it to operate with low margins, resulting in smaller staffs and spaces, and titles being sold or ended. In 2019, the year saw some publishers close down or sell off long-lived titles, others tried creative adaptation in an effort to survive, while still others bravely entered the field with fresh ideas.

Essential titles reviewed in our April 2020 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, horror, romance, graphic novels, nonfiction, and reference.

Essential titles reviewed in our March 2020 print issue, spanning fiction, graphic novels, romance, mystery/suspense, sf/fantasy, and more.

LJ's best databases of the year are a wide assortment, from a one-stop shop for fashion students to archives of sex and sexuality.

A roundup of the best free resources, from a way to identify bots on social media to an app geared at helping those with low vision. 

This year's Best Reference articles are marked by stunning visuals, from the stirring Protest! A History of Social and Political Protest Graphics to the quirky Atlas of Poetic Zoology.

Essential titles reviewed in our February 2020 print issue, spanning fiction, graphic novels, and mystery/suspense.

LJ editors rely on reviewers' dedication, expertise, and trusted insights throughout the year. As 2019 wound to a close, we took the opportunity to highlight some of our exceptional reviewers.

The best mysteries, thrillers, and suspense works published in 2019.

Read with the light on! The best horror published in 2019.

Radiant. Soaring. Extraordinarily original. The best literary fiction published in 2019.

Read on the plane, train, beach, and with your book club. The best pop fiction published in 2019.

Dukes, spies, and dating apps. The best romance published in 2019.

Aliens, magical gangsters, and demons welcome here. The best sf and fantasy published in 2019.

These shorts linger long. The best short story collections published in 2019.

Tales from Iceland, Spain, China, Syria, and around the globe. The best world literature translated into English and published in 2019.

Dig in for music history, trailblazing animators, and incisive critiques of film and TV. The best arts titles published in 2019.

Lives and times. The best biographies and memoirs published in 2019.

Mouth-wateringly good reads. The best cooking and food books published in 2019.

Pure artistry on the page. The best poetry published in 2019.

Explorations of faith, history, and culture. The best religion and spirituality books published in 2019.

Disappearing ice, air pollution, the wonders of algae. The best science and technology titles published in 2019.

Deep dives into contemporary issues of mass incarceration, gun violence, systemic injustice. The best social science books published in 2019.

Parenting, self-help, and self-care. The best wellness titles published in 2019.

Visual storytelling at the higest level. The best graphic novels published in 2019.

The ravages of the opioid crisis, an elusive serial killer, ghosts of past and present. Stories spanning Regency England to Depression-era Kentucky to 1980s Australia. Explorations of racism and privilege, a journey through music history, and searing indictments of systemic injustice. Achingly intimate memoirs and practical guides to living one’s best life. Readers will discover all of these themes and more in our selection of the most distinguished titles published in 2019.

Essential titles reviewed in our October 2019 print issue, spanning fiction, nonfiction, and media.

Essential titles reviewed in our September 2019 print issue, spanning fiction, nonfiction, and media.

Essential titles reviewed in our August 2019 print issue, spanning fiction, nonfiction, and media.

With magazines going online-only, some publishers are emphasizing the brand rather than the print product. Nonetheless, new journals continued to debut in that format in 2018. Here are ten of the best. 

A roundup of excellent subscription databases reviewed by LJ in 2018.

Though reference works are generally thought to be purely informational, no book is free from its author’s point of view. Many of the titles this year demonstrate that reference can take a stand.

What's better than free? Our resident InfoDocket guru curates 2018's best gratis reference sites and apps.

LJ editors and reviewers and our Fast Scans columnist have chosen the year's best audiobooks and films for those continually popular media collections. One thing is clear: Mr. Rogers is a hit no matter the format. 

LJ’s annual Top Ten Best Books of the year, selected by our editors, as well as Top Five lists for genre fiction, nonfiction, poetry and literature, graphic novels, and SELF-e titles.