Barnes and Noble – The Creative Life of Liz

Back before the COVID-19 pandemic, back before everything in the world felt wrong and weird, Barnes and Novel started their second “Book Club” collection.

The Barnes and Noble Book Club had be going for about a year at this point, focusing on adult books. While I didn’t take part in any way (I was still in the “I still only read YA books, away this those adult books, they are all full of horror or sex and I’m just not comfortable reading that, though I don’t judge those books or those who read them” mindset), I knew about it and kept an eye out for them.

The picks were of all different genres. The only thing that seemed to be a constant is that each choice was usually a debut author or an author changing genre or type. The books were usually well received as well.

Then in June of 2019, Barnes and Noble announced that they were started a second book club, this one focused on the Young Adult Genre. Again, it got off to a great start. The picks were wild and diverse, some of which that have gone on to be loved and beloved, some have been optioned for TV or film (with one off the top of my head having already released a season, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, March 2020’s pick.

I myself discovered my local B&N was hosting the YA book club just after the second pick, We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal. I ended up reading the third pick and made it a point to go, even though travelling to that B&N on a Tuesday night was somewhat difficult with my job at the time. August 2019, I ended up reading Wilder Girls by Rory Power and attended my first meeting.

Surprisingly, it went well! I wasn’t sure how I would do with being in a book club for the first time (this was long before the book clubs I joined in 2023/2024). In fact, I kept attending, reading all the books and enjoying most of them.

And then COVID.

We had a socially distanced meeting in March 2020 for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, with the hopes to meet again in person the next month. This didn’t happen. The in-person meetings were cancelled for the foreseeable future. Barnes and Noble took everything online, doing mediated interviews with the authors, where readers could ask questions directly.

Post-pandemic, the clubs didn’t return immediately. Most of the stores didn’t start up, and those that did only held the Adult Book Club. The YA Book Club was usually ignored.

The books were still being picked. They still have somewhat of a place of respect at the stores and on the website… but they weren’t be promoted. December did not get a pick for every year of the YA Book Club’s running life, beyond 2019.

In March of 2025, Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven was released. It had a decent reception. It sold well, from what I can see.

April 2025, there wasn’t a pick. May? Nothing. By June, it was clear that the Barnes and Noble YA Book Club had been quietly cancelled. From what I found on Reddit, for booksellers at B&N, this wasn’t much of a surprise.

I enjoyed the collection. I obviously do, I have all 66 selections on my bookshelves. I just wasn’t surprised to see it go. It was getting harder and harder to find the choices in store (where I preferred to buy them).

It’s been nine months since that last book was picked. I still think about it, still have my sticky notes out so I can mark the next book, still have enough space on my shelf for probably three more pics. But that said, I’m not surprised anymore. I’ve moved on a bit. While I’m not reading the Barnes and Noble Book Club picks, I am reading books outside my comfort zone, thanks to my book clubs now.

I just… miss it. Nostalgia is a weird thing.

Happy reading!

Today was not the best of days by a long shot, but it topped off in a hilarious fashion that I never could have expected.

Earlier this afternoon, Barnes and Noble announced on their social media that they were releasing the highly anticipated novella Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman early. The novella, part of the Heartstopper universe, has an official release date of January 2, 2023. However, B&N put on a promotion to release it in stores today, with a limited quantity of enamel pins.

So, like any fan of good quality media, I decided that as soon as I finished my day at work, I took off for the bookstore. I was only about to brave a store if I had a very good reason. And honestly, for this? Yep, good reason.

I got to my local Barnes and Noble and began the search. And if you’ve been keeping up at home, you can see where this is going. I walked the entire store, checked all around, couldn’t find it. I knew what the cover looked like, I knew about how big it was. Two of Oseman’s other books were on the shelves, but not this one. It wasn’t on an endcap or on one of the display tables. I looked everywhere.

I should also point out that it was incredibly crowded with people making their last minute purchases. Booksellers had people all around them asking questions about books. Even the help desk was backed up, though the two women were incredibly helpful.

When I finally was able to get to the help desk, I did my best to be kind as they looked so very stressed. I just said, “Excuse me, you’ve probably been getting this question all day, but I was wondering if you still had any copies of Nick and Charlie?”

One of the workers shook her head and told me about the street date, which would mean that it wasn’t available. I quickly flipped through my instagram to the official Barnes and Noble account and turned it around. “Oh, that contradicts what the official B&N account says,” I had said, or something along those lines. I didn’t raise my voice, but I was polite.

To their credit, they decided to check it instead of just sending me off like a child. And boom, there it was. One worker went three sheets paler. The other looked as though she’d seen a ghost. I actually felt bad for about 30 seconds.

Less than five minutes later, I was in live for checkout, Nick and Charlie and pin in hand.

The reason why this was an adventure? I am so beyond not comfortable speaking up when I need to. But I was able to when I needed to. And it actually heled out, as while I was standing in the checkout line, I had three different people ask me where I found the book.

I can’t wait until Christmas morning to actually read it! It’s going under the christmas tree as a gift from my uncle (he’s not the best at buying gifts, so usually Mom and I will by for him and he just wraps and labels.

Until next time!