After all the buzz programs, author presentations, and hours walking the floor at BEA, what impressed librarians most? The Librarians’ Shout ‘n’ Share panel, organized by the AAP and Library Journal is a good indicator. In just one hour, librarians buzzed nearly 75 titles. Many of them are available on Edelweiss or NetGalley, so you can play along at home. Below are titles that were on many librarians’ lips (a full list of all the titles from Shout ‘n’ Share, including ordering information and which are currently available as digital ARCs, through Edelweiss and/or NetGalley, is on our downloadable spreadsheet Shout-n-Share-BEA 2013).

Bringing cheers from the audience when it was mentioned was The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic (Penguin/Dorman, Aug. 1), a debut by Emily Croy Barker. Angela Carstensen, SLJ‘s “Adult Books For Teens” columnist noted, “Pamela Dorman’s pitch at LJ‘s Day of Dialog was incredibly persuasive. She called it The Magicians for girls and Jane Eyre crossed with Harry Potter.” Digital ARC’s are availalble on Edelweiss and on NetGalley (the book is also part of First Flights, the Penguin Debut Author program — more information is here).

John Searles clearly won fans during the AAP librarian’s dinner. His Help for the Haunted, (HarperCollins/Morrow, Sept. 17) was mentioned wherever librarians gathered. Kaite Stover, the female half of Booklist‘s described its appeal; “Deftly shifting between a traumatic past and present, Help for the Haunted delivers the gripping story of recently orphaned Sylvie Mason,whose parents aided souls with paranormal afflictions before their sudden death in an abandoned church. Immediately prior to their deaths, Sylvie’s parents were searching for her sister, Rose, who later becomes Sylvie’s guardian and may even have had a hand in their parents’ death. The novel explores the tension between the two sisters as Sylvie with the help of a detective struggles to remember what exactly happened the night of her parents’ death. Murky, and yet straightforward, Help for the Haunted haunts the reader from cover to cover, drawing her deeper into the investigation as the detective and Sylvie circle the conclusion of the case.” Download Kaite’s full presentation here: BEA Shout n Share – K. Stover

Among Alene Moroni picks was  Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (RH/Crown), which explores what happened to many of the patients and the heart-breaking decisions the staff of a New Orleans hospital had to make after Katrina.  It was also one of the titles featured in the closely-watched “Edtiors’ Buzz Panel,” (see USA Today story).

Doug Lord, LJ‘s “Books for Dudes” columnist was enthusiastic about The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay (RH/Doubleday, Sept. 10), a memoir by an Iranian-American who not only decided to move to Tehran during a particularly turbulent year, but also brought his blonde, blue-eyed wife and young son with him.

Robin Nesbitt of Columbus [OH] Metropolian Library said her collection development goal this year is to raise circulation through books, (not DVD’s), so she is searching out titles that will connect with her public. Thus, Night Film, by Marisha Pessl, (Random House, Aug. 20) is on her radar. The author, whose 2007 debut, Special Topics In Calamity Physics was structured around a syllabus for a college literature course, switches focus to a different art form in a literary thriller about a reclusive movie director.

Librarians were also buzzing about a novelty board book they discovered in the aisles, Little Penis, which incorporates a puppet (the subtitle; A Finger Puppet Parody Book). Published in January, it will be followed this fall by “the perfect stoccking stuffer,” Little Penis Santa Clause, (both by Craig Yoe, published by S&S/Cider Mill Press). For some reason, neither was picked by the panel, although Stop Tweeting Boring Sh*t: The New Rules of Work (Chronicle, July 23) was. It just may be more workplace appropriate.

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