Libraries: Rapid Readers' Advisory: Finding More Bestsellers and Award-Winners

Personalized Selection Services

The StoryGraph helps readers track their reading, choose their next book based on their mood and favorite topics and themes. It can suggest books to readers based on past reads and ratings! It is free to register and set up an account. (Readers can also import previously established book lists from GoodReads.)

Bookclubs.com tries to inspire meaningful connections through reading and discussion. They believe in the power of book clubs to enhance the reading experience, support lifelong learning, and build community. Their vision for Bookclubs is grounded in a deep appreciation for the positive transformation that takes place in book clubs. We help book clubs get organized, so they stay together.

Account registration is free and readers can search through their directory based on theme, keyword, or location (including online-only) for book clubs to join. They can also peruse a shortlist of recommended reading that changes monthly.

Bestseller and (Highly Recommended) Resources

Gulf Coast Reads Selection(s)
Gulf Coast Reads: On the Same Page is an annual regional reading initiative focused on promoting the simultaneous reading or listening to a selected title by those living along the upper Texas Gulf Coast.
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Each year, a representative committee of librarians selects a title that has a broad appeal to adults in our communities, is recognized in authoritative and professional journals, is available in multiple formats from print to downloadable content, and preferably, is available in multiple languages. The title should also lend itself to related programming about the themes or subjects within.
Houston Chronicle's Books | Preview
Check out bestsellers, featured book titles, and local author book news from the Houston Chronicle.
The New York Times Best Sellers
Authoritatively ranked lists of books sold in the United States, sorted by format and genre.
NPR's Best Books/Books We Love
This annual list from NPR lists dozens of highly recommended book titles in 33 different categories.
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Multiple categories can be selected at once to find the "just right" book for the reader.
The Spirit of Texas (SPOT) Reading List
The Spirit of Texas (SPOT) is a recommended reading list developed by public and school librarians in the Young Adult Round Table (YART) for TX middle- and high-schoolers.
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The purpose of the list is to encourage youths in grades 6-12 to explore a variety of current, quality books from Texas authors and illustrators, develop critical reading skills, and to encourage greater interaction between Texas authors and illustrators, Texas librarians, and Texas youth.
TAYSHAS Reading List
The goal of the TAYSHAS reading list is to motivate high schoolers and young adults to become lifelong readers and to participate in the community of readers in Texas.
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TAYSHAS takes its name from the Caddo Indian word meaning “friends or allies.”
The Texas Maverick Graphic Novels Reading List (TMGNRL)
The Texas Maverick Graphic Novels Reading List (TMGNRL) is a recommended reading list developed by public and school librarians in the Young Adult Round Table (YART) for middle- and high schoolers.
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The list’s purpose is to encourage students in grades 6-12 to explore a variety of current graphic novels.
Texas Topaz Reading List
The purpose of the Texas Topaz Reading List is to provide children, teens, and adults with recommended NON-fiction titles that stimulate reading for pleasure and personal learning.
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2023 Texas Topaz Children and Teens
2023 Texas Topaz Adults
2023 Texas Topaz List Youth Annotated
2023 Texas Topaz List Adult Annotated

Award-Winner Resources

ALA Book, Print & Media Awards
The ALA publishes a long list of different awards for books that you can explore here alphabetically.
Bath Flash Fiction and Novella-in-Flash Awards
Our goal is promote flash fiction for both writers and readers and to bring the genre to a wider audience. Running a three-times-a-year rolling flash fiction award with substantial prizes and chance of publication gives writers a big incentive to create great flash. And our novella-in-flash award provides the opportunity to have a longer work released in a quality publication.
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BFFA hosts two international flash fiction writing competitions; the Bath Flash Fiction Award, and the Bath Novella-in-Flash Award.
Best Indie Book Award
The annual Best Indie Book Award® (or BIBA®) is an international literary awards contest recognizing self-published and independently published authors from all over the world. Entries are limited to independently (indie) published books, including those from small presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors across multiple categories.
The Black Orchid Novella Award
The Black Orchid Novella Award is a blind, annual contest. The winner will be announced at The Wolfe Pack’s Annual Black Orchid Banquet in New York City on the first Saturday of December.
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Novellas are an important part of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe opus. To celebrate this format, the Wolfe Pack and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine have partnered to sponsor the Black Orchid Novella Award.
The Booker Prize
The Booker Prize is the world’s leading literary award for a single work of fiction.
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Be sure to check out the books that were Longlisted and Shortlisted for the prize.
Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers Association
Each year, the Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement, named in honor of Bram Stoker, author of the seminal horror work, Dracula. The Bram Stoker Awards were instituted immediately after the organization’s incorporation in 1987.
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Multiple categories are awarded
The Clay Reynolds Novella Prize from Texas Review Press
Established in 2001, The Clay Reynolds Novella Prize highlights one book a year that excels in the novella format.
Gotham Book Prize from Literary Hub
Gotham Book Prize is an annual award that began during the first year of the pandemic to honor and support the best writing (fiction or nonfiction) about New York City.
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The list of finalists is released first, then the winner announced later in the year.
The HFC Book Awards
A Book of the Year Contest from The Historical Fiction Company.
The International Booker Prize
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for the finest single work of fiction from around the world which has been translated into English and published in the UK and Ireland.
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Be sure to check out the books that were Longlisted and Shortlisted for the prize.
Locus Awards
The Locus Science Fiction Foundation honors the year's best science fiction, speculative fiction, horror, and more in many categories, including novels, novellas, short stories, and anthologies.
National Book Awards
Established in 1950, the National Book Awards are American literary prizes administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization. They offer category prizes in Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature.
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Don't forget to check out their book Finalists and Longlisted titles. The 5 Under 35 program honors five young fiction writers selected by past National Book Award Winners and Finalists, or previous 5 Under 35 Honorees.
Nebula Awards
Since 1965, the Nebula Awards® have been given each year to outstanding novel, novella, novelette, and short stories eligible for that year’s award. The Damon Knight Grand Master, SFWA’s award for lifetime achievement in writing science fiction and/or fantasy, is an honor presented annually to no more than one living writer.
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The Nebula Awards® are voted on and presented by full, senior, and associate members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization began with a charter membership of 78 writers; it now has over 2,000 members, among them many of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.
Nobel Laureates in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature (Swedish: Nobelpriset i litteratur) is awarded annually by the Swedish Academy to authors for outstanding contributions in the field of literature.
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Use the Library Catalog to find books authored by Nobel Laureates.
The Pulitzer Prizes
The Pulitzer Prizes and Fellowships, established in Columbia University by the will of the first Joseph Pulitzer, are awarded by the University on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board. The Board meets twice annually. There are 23 categories across journalism, books, drama and music. The Prizes are announced during the spring.
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The formal announcement of the Pulitzers, made each spring, states that the awards are conferred by the president of Columbia University on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board. This formulation is derived from the Joseph Pulitzer will, which established Columbia as the seat of the administration of the prizes. Today, in fact, the independent Board makes all the decisions relative to the prizes. In his will Pulitzer bestowed an endowment on Columbia of $2,000,000 for the establishment of a School of Journalism, one-fourth of which was to be "applied to prizes or scholarships for the encouragement of public service, public morals, American literature, and the advancement of education."
Southern Book Prize from SIBA
Books are selected by the Southern Independent Book Sellers Alliance. A book must be set in the South, or the author must be Southern, or both, and it must have been published in the previous calendar year. Books must also be in print and generally available to the industry at standard wholesale terms.
Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards
The Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards were established in 1991 (known first as the Violet Crown Awards before being renamed in 2008) to recognize the year’s best among those stories and to celebrate the exceptional writers behind them.

Rapid Readers' Advisory: Finding More Bestsellers and Award-Winners

Personalized Selection Services

Bestseller and (Highly Recommended) Resources

Award-Winner Resources

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