October 2008 marked the first birthday of LJ's e-newsletter BookSmack! Published the first and third Thursday of every month, BookSmack! aims to alert librarians and book fiends to damn good books, whether forthcoming, in print, or backlist. We thought we'd ring in 2010 with a retrospective of content hits in case you missed them. Enjoy and subscribe so you're in the know. Sign up by going to our homepage under Newsletters/BookSmack.

Written by former LJ Self-Help columnist Douglas Lord, "Books for Dudes" was designed to help librarians attract Gen-X, Gen-Y, and Millennial males. Chortle and learn with this LOLercoaster-cum-collection development tool.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Punk Rock Bibliography (7/1/09)
• Read-Togethers for Couples (11/5/09)

Martha Cornog, one half of the brains behind LJ's print "Graphic Novels" column, offers quasi-regular roundups by theme. Great for catch-up collection development.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Webcomics Redux: Help Yourself to Octopus Pie, Harvey Pekar, and xkcd (10/1/09)
• Read This in Moderation: Ten Booze-Infused Graphic Novels (12/17/09)

The child-rearing genre has exploded in the age of helicopter parenting, so we hired librarian and mother Julianne J. Smith to put it in razor-sharp perspective.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Natural Birth, Bilingualism & Slowing Down (10/15/09)
• Ethics & "Endless Adolescence" (11/19/09)

With "RA Crossroads," Neal Wyatt takes reader's advisory to the bleeding edge with recommendations that intermingle fiction, nonfiction, and multimedia. Couple it with "The Reader's Shelf," which Wyatt edits.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Digital Fiction (1/22/09)
• Ekphrastic Art (6/3/09)

Kids are growing up faster than ever—and their literature has something serious to offer adults. The latter demographic is lucky to have Angelina Benedetti's showcase of YA fiction and nonfiction they'll love.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Tales of Burning Love (2/19/09)
• The Best YA for Adults 2009 (11/19/09)

Whatever you call it—urban fiction or street lit—this controversial genre is red hot but has lacked adequate review coverage. Enter Rollie Welch and Vanessa Morris.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Word on Street Lit (5/19/2009)
• The Word on Street Lit (12/17/09)