Book Riot - The Podcast

Vanessa Diaz sits in for Rebecca this week and talks to Jeff about the challenges of making a best books of the year list before getting into the news of the week.

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Amazon’s best books of the year

David Szalay has won the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel Flesh

B&N’s best book of the Year is Mona’s Eyes

The 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards. 

I’m bookmarking this deep dive into the fashion industry’s recurrent interest in literature for knife-and-fork reading this weekend

Reader’s Digest asked three professional designers to pick the best book covers of the year

Kindle translate

Somebody is Walking On Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez

Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman

Devouring Time by Tod Goddard

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Flashlight by Susan Choi

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This is a bonus preview of our ⁠Patreon-only⁠ episode in which Jeff and Rebecca talk about what they've been doing with their lives recently, outside of the world of books.

To listen to the full episode and all previous bonus content, ⁠become a Patreon member here⁠.

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Jeff and Rebecca talk about the books they still want to get to before 2026 gets here.

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Flesh by David Szalay

Maggie by Katie Yee

Kaplan's Plot by Jason Diamond

Who is Government? by Michael Lewis

Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer

The Uncool by Cameron Crowe

Joyride by Susan Orlean

A Truce That is Not Peace by Miriam Toews

Trying by Chloe Caldwell

Next of Kin by Gabrielle Hamilton

Girl Warrior by Joy Harjo

The Season by Helen Garner

Does This Make Me Funny? by Zosia Mamet

Palaver by Bryan Washington

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Black-Owned by Char Adams

This is for Everyone by Tim Berners-Lee

Every Screen on the Planet by Emily Baker-White

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

Heart the Lover by Lily King

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood

A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar

The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie

Squirrel by Nancy Castaldo

Isola by Allegra Goodman

We The People by Jill Lepore

The History of Money by David McWilliams

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

The Emergency by George Packer

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott

Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart

Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree

The Librarians by Sherry Thomas

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

The Persian by David McCloskey

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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We're in a lull of current publishing industry news, so Jeff and Rebecca speculate about upcoming book awards, year-end announcements, and the book of the year, as well as touch on the impact of AI on writing.

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New Report Examines Writers’ Attitudes toward AI [Publishers Weekly]

My Students Use AI. So What? [The Atlantic]

The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers

Erin Somers interview on First Edition

The Running Ground by Nicholas Thompson

Craftland by James Fox

Make your Holiday Book Recommendation requests to podcast [at] bookriot.com

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Jeff and Rebecca talk Zadie Smith's Dead & Alive.

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Jeff talks to Dhonielle Clayton and Caroline Richmond of We Need Diverse Books about censorship, book bannings, and the ongoing drive to diversify books and reading in the U.S.

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We Need Diverse Books

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

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Jeff and Rebecca consider 10 contenders for the title of It Book of November.

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Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood

The Look by Michelle Obama

The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes

The Emergency by George Packer

The Eleventh Hour: Stories by Salman Rushdie

Palaver by Bryan Washington

The Pelican Child by Joy Williams

Brimstone by Callie Hart

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Jeff and Rebecca put on their rain gear as the best books of the year storm approaches.

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The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network.

Discussed in this episode:

Check out Zero to Well-Read!

Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life.

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Barnes & Noble kicks off Best Books of the Year season

Amazon revisits 25 years of #1 Book picks

We might have called it wrong about Frankenstein: the reviews are good

Federal judge finds Texas READER Act unconstitutional

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin

Replaceable You by Mary Roach

The Unveiling by Quan Barry

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Book Riot's managing editor, Vanessa Diaz, returns to re-examine the strange and influential life of Edgar Allan Poe.

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The Book Riot Podcast Patreon

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Jeff and Rebecca applaud the news that Jeff Hiller will be hosting the National Book Awards in November before talking about more book news from the week.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network.

Check out Zero to Well-Read!

Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life.

Discussed in this episode:

The Book Riot Podcast Patreon

Maggie by Katie Yee wins the Barnes & Noble Discover Award

Jeff Hiller will host the National Book Awards

First book acquired from The Black List

Texas school district bars students from school libraries

The Millions fall book preview i

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