LibraryThing: State of the Thing - December

LibraryThing: State of the Thing Dear {NAME}, Welcome to the December State of the Thing, coming to you early to beat the end-of-year rush! We’ve got an invitation to our annual Holiday Card Exchange, a job offer, our annual Top Five Books, lots of book world news, and 3,282 free books. If you'd rather receive a plain-text version, [edit your email preferences](. You can also read it [online](. You can like LibraryThing on [Facebook]( and follow [@LibraryThing]( on Twitter for up-to-the-minute site news and updates. Holiday Card Exchange LibraryThing’s eighth annual [Holiday Card Exchange]( is now live. Buy or create your own holiday cards for your fellow LibraryThing members, and receive as many in return as you send out. How it works: - Mail a holiday card to a random LibraryThing member. - You can mail a handmade or store bought card. Add a note to personalize it. - You’ll get one from another member. Sign-ups close Wednesday, December 8th at 12pm EST. Please be aware that specific postal service delays may affect the timely delivery of holiday cards this year. » [Sign up for the Holiday Card Exchange]( Holiday Store LibraryThing’s annual [Holiday Store]( opened on Cyber Monday (November 29th), and will run through Epiphany (January 6th). Check it out for great deals on your favorite LibraryThing and TinyCat gear: - CueCat barcode scanners for $5. - Barcode labels starting at $5 for the first packet in each set (that’s half off!). - Book stamps starting at $6. - Our favorite, oversized, organic-cotton tote bags for just $19. » [Shop the Holiday Store now through January 6th]( SantaThing Update Entry for our [SantaThing]( holiday book exchange has closed, the gift selection process has been completed, and the ordering is underway! All orders from [Kenny's Bookshop]( (Ireland), [Time Out Bookstore]( (New Zealand), and [Reading's]( (Australia) have been placed, and ordering from [Book Depository]( is currently underway. [Longfellow Books]( (Portland, ME), [BookPeople]( (Austin, TX), and [Powell’s Books]( (Portland, OR) will be next. We have 427 entries this year, with 394 LibraryThing members participating, and 1,131 gifts that will soon be dispatched to lucky Santees! Join the conversation over in [Talk](, to stay current with the latest developments, and be sure to check in on our [Picking Help thread](, if you are interested in lending a hand. Remote Job: LibraryThing Needs A Great Library Developer [HireDeveloper_3](LibraryThing is looking for a great developer to work on our library projects. This is a remote position open to anyone eligible to work in the U.S. This developer will be focused on what LibraryThing does for libraries. These include [Syndetics Unbound](, co-developed with [ProQuest](, and [TinyCat](. If you can find LibraryThing that developer, you get $1,000 in books from a bookstore of your choice. Think you might be a good fit or have someone to recommend? You can [read more about the job on the blog](. Staff Top Picks for 2021 As 2021 draws to a close, it’s time for LibraryThing’s annual December tradition: sharing our staff’s [Top Five Books of 2021](. We read in a wide variety of genres, so it’s always interesting to see what everyone comes up with. This year, with [Lucy]( and [Abigail]( joining the company, we have nine lists for you to peruse. Come take a look at this year’s [blog post](, add your own top 5 books to our [December List of the Month]( (more below), and join the conversation in [Talk](. List of the Month Come join LibraryThing’s List of the Month project, as we create a new thematic book list each month. Like all of our [Lists](, the List of the Month draws upon the knowledge of the LibraryThing community, while also aiming to provoke discussion around each theme. See our [wiki page]( for a complete List of the Month list, and join us over in our [Talk group](, for further discussion of the project. December List of the Month. The year is coming to an end, and our December List of the Month is dedicated to members’ [Top Five Books of 2021](. This list was created in tandem with our annual [Staff Top Picks]( blog post, highlighted above. Head over to our list of [Top Five Books of 2021]( to add your top five choices. Check out other recent Lists of the Month: - November. [Stories of War and Revolution]( - October. [Scary Stories for the Season]( - September. [Native American / Indigenous Literature](25252F-Indigenous-Literature) - August. [The Cookbooks of Home]( - July. [Best Beach Reads]( - June. [Favorite Caribbean Books]( The Talk of LibraryThing What conversations are going on in our groups? - [Annotations of the French and Latin passages]( in [James Branch Cabell’s]( [Chivalry]( are being offered, over at [The Rabble Discusses Cabell](. - The work of author [Nevil Shute]( has been selected as the [January 2022]( topic of discussion, over in [Monthly Author Reads](. - Inspired by an online article, a discussion of the [Categories of Magic Systems]( is ongoing in the fantasy-focused [Green Dragon]( group. - Favorite [Holiday Traditions]( are being shared by the members of the [Readers Over Sixty]( group. Speaking of Groups, if you're new to LibraryThing, there's a group for that: [Welcome to LibraryThing](21)! Free Books! Early Reviewers is our program where you can win free copies of new and forthcoming books to read and review. This month we’re pleased to feature a newly translated [collection of short stories]( from Iranian author [Shahriar Mandanipour](, the new [children’s novel]( from [Gregory Maguire](, and a [new biography]( of [Lorraine Hansberry](. Explore the full list and [sign up to request books](. Our December batch of Early Reviewers has 3,282 copies of 95 books. The deadline to request a book is December 27th, 6pm Eastern time. Did you win a book recently? When you receive your book, make sure you head over to your [Books You've Won]( page to mark it received. After you've read your book, add your review to LibraryThing. First, add the book to your LibraryThing catalog. Then click the pencil-shaped "edit" icon next to the book, or click "edit book" from the work page. Type your review into the Review box, and click "submit" to save it. Reviewing your books gives you a greater chance of winning books in the future, while neglecting to review lowers your odds. For more information, vist the [Early Reviewers Help Page](. Book World News: Awards Awards and Prizes. The winners of the 2021 [An Post Irish Book Awards](20Book%20Award) have [been announced](, with [Sally Rooney]( winning Novel of the Year for a second time in a row for her [Beautiful World, Where Are You](. Other winners include [Fintan O’Toole]( for Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year for his [We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958](, and [Emer McLysaght]( and [Sarah Breen]( for Best Popular Fiction Book of the Year for their [Aisling and the City](. LibraryThing’s EU partner for [SantaThing](, the Galway-based [Kennys Bookshop and Art Gallery](, has won Bookshop of the Year. This year’s winners of the Scotland National Book Awards, also known as the [Saltire Society Awards](20Society), have also recently [been announced]( in [several categories](. Fiction Book of the Year has gone to [Ely Percy]( for her novel [Duck Feet](, while [Peter Ross]( has won Non Fiction Book of the Year for his [A Tomb with a View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards](e2%80%93-the-stories-glories-of-graveyards/9781472267801/). Poetry Book of the Year has gone to [Daisy Lafarge]( for her [Life Without Air](, while [Maria Hayward]( has won History Book of the Year for her [Stuart Style: Monarchy, Dress and the Scottish Male Elite](. The Lifetime Achievement Award has gone to [Douglas Dunn](. The [Royal Society Science Book Prize](20Society%20Prize%20for%20Science%20Books) has [been awarded]( this year to [Merlin Sheldrake]( for his [Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures](, described by one of the judges as “science writing at its very best… scientifically rigorous and most of all an entertaining read.” The [Canada Council for the Arts]( has [announced the 2021 winners]( of the [Governor General’s Literary Awards](20General's%20Literary%20Award), with books honored in fourteen categories. For English-language books, [Norma Dunning]( has won in the Fiction category for her [Tainna: The Unseen Ones](, [Sadiqa de Meijer]( has won in the Non-fiction category for [Alfabet/Alphabet: A Memoir of a First Language](, and [Tolu Oloruntoba]( in the Poetry category for [The Junta of Happenstance](. The winner in the Drama category is [Hannah Moskovitch](, for her [Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes](, while the award for Young People’s Literature (Text) went to [Philippa Dowding]( for her [Firefly](. [David A. Robertson]( and [Julie Flett]( won in the Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Texts) for their [On the Trapline](. For French-language books, [Fanny Britt]( has won in the Fiction category for her [Faire les sucres](, and [Serge Bouchard]( and [Mark Fortier]( have won in the Non-fiction category for their [Du diesel dans les veines: La saga des camionneurs du Nord](. See the other winners [HERE](. [The John Dos Passos Prize for Literature](, given annually to "an underappreciated writer whose work offers incisive, original commentary on American themes, experiments with form, and encompasses a range of human experiences," [has been awarded this year]( to novelist and essayist [Monique Truong](. It [has been announced]( that the winner of the 2021 [Financial Times and McKinsey & Company Business Book of the Year Award](Times+and+Goldman+Sachs+Business+Book+of+the+Year+Award) is [Nicole Perlroth](, for her [This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyber Weapons Arms Race]( [Marjoleine Kars]( has [been announced as the winner]( of the 2021 [Cundill History Prize](20Prize) for her [Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast](. A history of a little-known 18th-century slave revolt in the Dutch colony of Berbice (present-day Guyana), the book was described by the jury chair as “a winner that brilliantly combines what our prize is seeking: mastery of the historian’s craft, a compelling narrative, and a fresh perspective on a topic that couldn’t be more relevant today.” The New York Times has released their list of the [100 Notable Books of 2021](, with selections like [Wole Soyinka’s]( new novel, [Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth](, and [Damon Galgut’s]( Booker Prize winner, [The Promise](, making the cut. The Times has also named their list of [Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year](, chosen together with [The New York Public Library](. Titles honored this year include [I Am the Subway]( by [Kim Hyo-Eun](, [The Night Walk]( by [Marie Dorléans](, [Time Is a Flower]( by [Julie Morstad](, and [It Fell From the Sky]( by [Terry]( and [Eric Fan](. [The New York Public Library](, in the meantime, has presented their own collection of “Best of 2021” lists, with [almost 300 titles being recommended]( for [adult]( [teen]( and [child]( readers, as well as [children reading in Spanish](. [The Washington Post]( also recently announced their year-end book list, with their [10 Best Books of 2021]( including such titles as [The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War]( by [Craig Whitlock](, [Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future]( by [Elizabeth Kolbert](, and [Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir]( by [Ashley C. Ford](. The 2021 [Baillie Gifford Prize](20Johnson%20Prize%20for%20Non-fiction) for excellence in non-fiction [has gone]( to [Patrick Radden Keefe]( for his [Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty](, an exploration of the Sackler family’s role in the US opioid crisis which the jury chair praised for “its moral rigour, its controlled fury, its exhaustive research, the skilful writing, the bravery it took to write it.” On a more lighthearted note, the 2021 [Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year](20Prize%20for%20Oddest%20Title%20of%20the%20Year) has [been awarded]( to [Is Superman Circumcised?: The Complete Jewish History of the World's Greatest Hero]( by [Roy Schwartz](. Freedom of Expression Issues of freedom of expression have been prominent in the book world this past month, with two publishing houses winning international awards for their bravery in the face of persecution, and a Nobel Laureate once again facing criminal charges in his home country. The Lebanese publisher, Dar Al Jadeed Publishing House, [has been awarded]( the 2021[IPA Prix Voltaire]( by the International Publishers Association’s Freedom to Publish Committee, in honor of their commitment to printing “cultural works free from ideological conflict or partisanship.” One of the publisher’s co-founders, Lokman Slim, who has been publicly critical of Hezbollah, [was murdered this past February](. In the Americas, the Guatemalan publisher [F&G Editores](, which has faced decades of persecution from state forces and other actors, [has been awarded]( the 2021 [Association of American Publishers International Freedom to Publish | Jeri Laber Award.]( F&G’s 1997 publication of the Guatemalan criminal procedure code marked the first time that country’s legal decisions were available in print. They have also published the work of [Miguel Ángel Asturias](, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967. Another Nobel laureate, Turkey’s [Orhan Pamuk](, has found himself [in trouble with his nation’s government once again]( this time facing charges of insulting [Mustafa Kemal Atatürk](—the founder of modern Turkey—as well as the Turkish flag in his new novel, [Veba Geceleri]( (“Nights of Plague”). Pamuk, who has been charged with “insulting Turkishness” before, faces up to three years in prison, if found guilty. Other Book World News COVID-19 Updates Covid-19 conditions continue to affect the book world, from decisions around public gatherings such as conventions and book festivals, to supply chain disruptions that are being felt during the busiest season of the bookselling year. After a hiatus last year, [AnimeNYC](, an annual convention featuring Asian popular culture (including manga) [returned to New York City this past November](, with some 53,000 people in attendance. Sadly, one of the first confirmed US cases of omicron variant [has been traced to this event](, leading to concerns for attendees. The [Irish Book Awards Ceremony](, scheduled for this past November 23rd, had been set to go ahead as a live event, when it was announced that [it would be moved online]( due to rising Covid cases in Ireland. The [Jaipur Literature Festival](, in the meantime, has declared that [it will go ahead as a hybrid event]( in late January. Facemasks are [once again compulsory in bookshops]( in the UK, due to the arrival of the omicron variant, while a new lockdown in Austria is [threatening the Christmas bookselling season](. Covid regulations in Australia have led to a rise in assaults on bookselling staff, including one case where an employee was pushed down an escalator, leading a Dymocks bookstore in Melbourne [to hire private security]( as a result. In [last month’s State of the Thing]( we reported on the [Publishers Weekly list of titles]( whose publication dates had to be postponed due to supply chain disruptions. Now booksellers in [Canada]( the [UK]( and [Australia]( are all reporting major delays in book order fulfillment, due to a diverse range of supply chain issues. Book Sales & Publishing The consolidation of publishing houses has been in the news over the last year, and now it would appear that similar trends are afoot in the world of audiobooks. It was recently announced that Swedish audiobook streaming company [Storytel]( [had purchased]( website [audiobooks.com](, and that [Spotify](, another Swedish company, [had purchased]( the audiobook creation and distribution company [Findaway](, leading some [to worry about a streaming monopoly](. In unrelated audiobook news, JukeBooks, a new Greek-language audiobook service, [will soon be launching](. In the US, [print book sales were up in mid-November](, while [fiction and audiobook sales have been on the rise throughout 2021]( in the UK. In New Zealand, the easing of restrictions in Auckland has led to [a recent rise in book sales](, while [the yearlong rise in book sales in Italy]( continues. In [last month’s State of the Thing]( we reported on the measures being taken by various European governments to aid their bookselling industries, from [France moving to enact legislation]( that would protect independent booksellers from being undercut on shipping rates by Amazon, to the Netherlands [offering aid to physical bookstores](. It has recently been announced that Latvia has joined their ranks, [reducing their tax rate on books](. Literary News Canada Post has [unveiled its new postage stamp]( celebrating novelist [Margaret Atwood](. The stamp features a photograph of the author and a line from the poem, “Spelling,” which can be found in Atwood’s [True Stories](. In exciting news for medievalists and textual scholars, a fragment of a lost 12th-century epic poem about Guillaume d’Orange [has been discovered by an academic in Oxford’s Bodleian Library](. The fragment of the “Siège d’Orange” was found in the binding of a book published in 1528. [NPR]( has recently announced that their annual “Book Concierge”—an interactive, year-end book guide featuring more than 360 titles recommended by their staff—[has been rebranded and renamed]( as [Books We Love](covers&year=2021). The migration of many well-known authors—[Salman Rushdie](, [Chuck Palahniuk](, [David Kushner](, [Jeanette Winterson](—to Substack, something we have chronicled in previous editions of State of the Thing, continues apace, as it was recently announced that [George Saunders]( had [also joined the site]( in order to [launch his new Story Club newsletter](. Hot on LibraryThing - [The Dark Hours]( by [Michael Connelly]( - [The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story]( by [Nikole Hannah-Jones]( - [The Sentence]( by [Louise Erdrich]( - [Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight]( by [Janet Evanovich]( - [The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity]( by [David Graeber]( - [Termination Shock]( by [Neal Stephenson]( - [Lore Olympus: Volume One]( by [Rachel Smythe]( - [Better Off Dead]( by [Lee Child]( - [Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential]( by [Collin Hansen]( - [Gilded]( by [Marissa Meyer]( - [The Judge’s List]( by [John Grisham]( - [Oh William!]( by [Elizabeth Strout]( - [State of Terror]( by [Hilary Rodham Clinton]( - [A Marvellous Light]( by [Freya Marske]( - [Silverview]( by [John le Carré]( - [The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music]( by [Dave Grohl]( - [Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone]( by [Diana Gabaldon]( - [A Line to Kill]( by [Anthony Horowitz]( - [The Promise]( by [Damon Galgut]( - [The Wish]( by [Nicholas Sparks]( Hot in Libraries Here's what's hot in the last month across thousands of public libraries in the United States: Or, in list form: - [The Judge's List]( by [John Grisham]( - [The Dark Hours]( by [Michael Connelly]( - [The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel]( by [Mitch Albom]( - [The Lincoln Highway]( by [Amor Towles]( - [Better Off Dead]( by [Lee Child]( - [Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight]( by [Janet Evanovich]( - [Apples Never Fall]( by [Liane Moriarty]( - [Never]( by [Ken Follett]( - [Mercy]( by [David Baldacci]( - [The Wish]( by [Nicholas Sparks]( - [Cloud Cuckoo Land]( by [Anthony Doerr]( - [The Last Thing He Told Me]( by [Laura Dave]( - [The Midnight Library]( by [Matt Haig]( - [Dune]( by [Frank Herbert]( - [The Sentence]( by [Louise Erdrich]( - [State of Terror]( by [Hillary Rodham Clinton]( - [Oh William!]( by [Elizabeth Strout]( - [Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone]( by [Diana Gabaldon]( - [Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot]( by [Jeff Kinney]( - [Wish You Were Here: A Novel]( by [Jodi Picoult]( This data was collected by Syndetics Unbound, a LibraryThing/ProQuest project to enrich the library catalog. The search data is fully anonymized the day it is collected. For more information about Syndetics Unbound, please visit [Syndetics.com](. Read the [Syndetics Unbound blog post here](. TinyCat [TinyCat]( is the online catalog for small libraries, created by LibraryThing. It turns your existing LibraryThing account into a simple, professional, web-based catalog. Library of the Month. Every month, one special TinyCat library is selected as the Library of the Month. For December, we are highlighting the [Library & Learning Resources at Gnomon’s School of Games, Visual Effects & Animation]( in Hollywood, California. Kristi interviewed Library Director Lucy Bellamy on the [LibraryThing Blog]( this month. Q. Who are you, and what is your mission—your “raison d’être”? My name is Lucy Bellamy. I am the Director, Library & Learning Resources at Gnomon’s School of Games, Visual Effects & Animation in Hollywood, California. I came to Gnomon to help build their library from the ground up when the college was accredited to offer their first Bachelor of Art program. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that not many librarians experience. Gnomon is an accredited technical college that offers bachelors programs, a two-year certificate program, Foundation in Art & Design courses, as well as individual courses for career professionals wanting to enhance their industry skills. You can find the full interview on the [LibraryThing Blog](. TinyCat Webinars. Our last live webinar of the year was on December 1st, but you can watch one of our recorded sessions anytime from [LibraryThing’s YouTube channel](. That’s also where you can find Tiny Tutorials for using TinyCat and LibraryThing. Live webinar sessions will start back up by January 12th, so stay tuned for details. If you'd like to schedule a webinar at another time or if you have other questions about TinyCat, you can reach Kristi at tinycat@librarything.com. That's all for the Thing this month! Happy reading, Abigail PS: Our apologies if you received another copy of this email. It probably went to your spam folder; it was sent incorrectly. This message was sent to {NAME}. Click to [edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from future emails](.