Stuck in a reading rut? Want to expand your reading horizons in 2026? You’re in luck! Every month this year, we will be delving deep into popular genres at the library. If you’re already a fan, find readalike suggestions for popular authors and ideas for similar genres to explore. If you’re brand new to the genre in question, you will find a helpful explanation of the hallmarks of the genre, a breakdown of its most common subgenres, and explanations of what readers find so appealing about the most popular authors writing those types of books. Let’s explore fantasy for March!
Continue reading “Exploring Genres: Fantasy”Category: fantasy (books)
Book Buzz: Sweet Rom-Coms, New Mysteries, Classic Thrillers, Horse Diving, Mountain Men, Dragon Horror, and Nonfiction for Everyone
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For March, we’re looking at funny Christian romances, an eerie new mystery about family secrets, a series about a young Ojibwe woman who finds herself in the middle of crime cases in the 1970s Midwest, a classic thriller that may be new to you, historical fiction about 1920s carnivals, a Western series that follows a mountain man and his adventures, dragon fantasy horror, and nonfiction that ranges from celebrity memoir to true crime to constitutional history to self-help.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Sweet Rom-Coms, New Mysteries, Classic Thrillers, Horse Diving, Mountain Men, Dragon Horror, and Nonfiction for Everyone”Book Buzz: Contentious Divorces, Tribal Elections, Obituary Writers, Science Fiction Espionage Thrillers, Tiger Castles, Gangsters, the Cherokee, and Rogers
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For November, we’re looking at rich people behaving badly, a heated tribal election on a Anishinaabe reservation, the humorous tale of an obituary writer falsely declared deceased, new science fiction and fantasy releases, a novel on audiobook about the infamous Virginia Hill, a history of the Cherokee Nation, and nonfiction about Rogers, Arkansas, just the next county over.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Contentious Divorces, Tribal Elections, Obituary Writers, Science Fiction Espionage Thrillers, Tiger Castles, Gangsters, the Cherokee, and Rogers”Kay Chronister’s The Bog Wife
Love gothic horror? Don’t love horror but want to read something suitably spooky for Halloween? You have come to the right place! Kay Chronister’s haunting, atmospheric The Bog Wife is most definitely horror but not of the blood-and-guts slasher variety.
Thanks so much to Kelli for suggesting the book to me! I enjoyed it very much!
Continue reading “Kay Chronister’s The Bog Wife”Book Buzz: Espionage, Curses, Romance, Surreal Historical Mystery Sequels, Contemporary Mystery Debuts, Audiobooks, and Healthy Nonfiction Reads
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For September, we’re looking at a new-ish contemporary espionage thriller series, this year’s If All Arkansas Read the Same Book pick, romances and mysteries–both historical and contemporary, audiobooks in a range of genres, and nonfiction on healthy living.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Espionage, Curses, Romance, Surreal Historical Mystery Sequels, Contemporary Mystery Debuts, Audiobooks, and Healthy Nonfiction Reads”Book Buzz: Summer 2025 Book Tasting Edition
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For July, we’re looking at the book menus used for yesterday’s book tasting, and filling in the gaps of what hasn’t already been covered on the blog.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Summer 2025 Book Tasting Edition”Book Buzz: Beach and Summer Reads
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For June, we’re looking at the perfect read for summer, whether you’ll be at the beach or on a staycation.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Beach and Summer Reads”Book Buzz: Reissued Classics, Roman Mythological Fiction, Island Fiction, Science Fiction Metafiction, Vermont Mysteries, Historic Flights, The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, and Monarch Butterfly Migrations
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For March, we’re looking at a re-release of Shogun, a retelling of the founding of Rome, two different novels set on remote islands, a unique science fiction novel about a science fiction novel, a new historical mystery series set in 1960s Vermont, an audiobook about a race to fly across the Pacific in the 1920s, Western true crime about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and a chronicle of following the over 10,000-mile annual monarch butterfly migration on a bicycle.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Reissued Classics, Roman Mythological Fiction, Island Fiction, Science Fiction Metafiction, Vermont Mysteries, Historic Flights, The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, and Monarch Butterfly Migrations”Book Buzz: Navajo Mysteries, YA Fantasy, Western Short Stories, French Historical Mayhem, Victorian Dinosaurs, and the Berlin Wall
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For January, we’re looking at a mystery series set on the Navajo reservation with a supernatural twist, a YA fantasy that’s been described as The Hunger Games with magic, an anthology of Western short stories, a highly entertaining fictional series about the lead-up to the Hundred Years’ War, a nonfiction audiobook about when the Victorians met dinosaur bones for the first time, and a unique commemorative on the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Navajo Mysteries, YA Fantasy, Western Short Stories, French Historical Mayhem, Victorian Dinosaurs, and the Berlin Wall”Book Buzz: Literary Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Show-Stopping Entertaining, and Series Galore
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For December, we’re looking at literary fiction set in North Dakota, Hawaii, and Sarajevo; a delightful cozy women’s fiction series about a librarian set in rural Ireland; dark fantasy; nonfiction about eye-catching charcuterie boards; and a couple of very different series of audiobook historical mysteries.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Literary Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Show-Stopping Entertaining, and Series Galore”
Berryville Book Buzz 