PW Launches List Season!

Probably the exclamation point was unnecessary, since (A) PW always kicks off the pack and (B) it’s November when the season always launches.

BUT!

It’s still exciting. And full of surprises! And books I haven’t read, which is always a concern. Why are there so many books? Why must we all have to pick and choose? Why can’t we read instead of sleep?

(These are the questions I ask every year, so at least in that respect, some things are exactly as expected.)

On the exciting side, so many of the books we’ve covered or planned to cover are on PW’s Young Adult list. Critical consensus: it’s a thing. (Although it gets way more interesting to examine when we reach critical mass on lists.) Still, here’s what PW recognized that we’ve already discussed: Simon VS the Homo-Sapiens Agenda; The Game of Love and Death; Saint Anything; All the Bright Places; The Hired Girl; X; Challenger Deep; and Nimona. As a corollary, they also named 7 titles that we know we’ll be discussing in the next 4-6 weeks (and by know, I mean they were already on our list): A Song for Ella Gray; Symphony for the City of the Dead; Shadowshaper; All American Boys; Bone Gap; MARTians; and The Shepherd’s Crown.

On the surprises! end of things, what what Magonia? We had this on our list early on, then we took it off (and then it went back on, and then off again). I started it and wasn’t blown away, no one is talking about it, and really all the attention seemed to fizzle once it was more than a blurb from Neil Gaiman (which seemed to be the genesis of a lot of the early buzz). Did we give it up too soon?

On the even bigger SURPRISE! side of things, with a dash of concern (personal, not regarding the list): two books that weren’t on our radar at all are now waving for attention, Drowned City and Trouble is a Friend of Mine. Have you read either? Should we?

And finally, speaking of so many books, on the PW Middle Grade list, the other three of our four (thus far) Printzbery candidates showed up (Echo, Roller Girl, and Goodbye Stranger).

So what do you think? It definitely skews to the commercial side of things — perfect for PW — but it’s nicely rounded and overall has something for (almost) everyone.

Filed under: Books to look for, Year end lists