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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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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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.

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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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With Guillermo del Toro's Netflix adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in the news, we thought we would bring out an episode we did for Annotated several years ago. It's a great story and we had fun doing this one. Enjoy.

This episode of Annotated was written by me, Jeff O’Neal, and directed by Jeremy Desmon.

Sound editing and design by Kyle O’Neal. Our thanks to Mahvesh Murad for being our Mary Shelley, Bob Schinsky for being our Lord Byron, Amanda Nelson for being our Jane Clairmont and Kyle O’Neal for taking on the role of Percy Shelley.

Further reading recommendations:

Mary Shelley by Miranda Seymour

The Lady and Her Monsters by Roseanne Montillo

Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon

Mary Shelley by Muriel Spark

Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality by Emily W. Sunstein

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Prof. Laura McGrath joins Jeff and Rebecca to talk about what some studies can tell us about just how much readers care (and don't) about genre.

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Discussed in this episode:

Laura's newsletter: TextCrunch

English, James and J.D. Porter, "The Eclectic Reader." JCA: The Journal of Cultural Analytics. August 20, 2025

Peterson, Richard A. “Understanding Audience Segmentation: From Elite and Mass to Omnivore and Univore.” Poetics, vol. 21, no. 4, 1992, pp. 243–58

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Sharifah Williams joins Jeff to talk about the 2025 Nobel for Literature, National Book Award finalists and more award season news. Then, Hachette CEO David Shelly talks to Jeff about book banning, inclusivity, and other issues facing the publishing world.

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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.

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature

2025 National Book Award Finalists

Kirkus Prize Announced

Baker & Taylor going away?

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Audition by Katie Kitamura

Near Flesh by Katherine Dunn

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