Welcome to The Best of Book Riot, our daily round-up of what’s on offer across our site, newsletters, podcasts, and social channels. Not everything is for everyone, but there is something for everyone.
Welcome to September, where the vibes are all about kids being back in school, many readers are hoping for relief from the excessive heat that will come with fall weather, the countdown for Halloween has begun, and a bunch of great book clubs have announced their new picks! As per my monthly tradition I’ve rounded up book clubs that offer a variety of great choices, are almost all virtual — or have a virtual component — and allow you to join in as much or as little as fits with your reading life.
On the latest episode of the Book Riot podcast, Jeff O’Neal and Rebecca Schinksy talk about the most anticipated fall adaptations.
I don’t know why, but my brain is wired to endlessly come up with ideas of how to talk about books. I never get bored of it. Every day, I have to stop in the middle of what I’m doing (having a shower, walking the dogs, editing a post) to note down a post idea.
So, I thought I’d guide you through a brief tour of five ideas off my list I never got around to writing, and likely never will.
This year has brought a ton of amazing new magical realism books for us to dive into when we’re looking for that bit of magic. The eight reads below include both historical fiction and contemporary stories, a little bit of romance, and even a work on nonfiction exploring magical realism and the effects of colonization on our collective imaginations.
A video of Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz at the national dinner for the Human Rights Campaign has gone viral. In it, he addresses the warped priorities of the Republican party, which is pushing to ban books like And Tango Makes Three — a picture book about two male penguins raising a chick together, based on real penguins — instead of addressing school shootings.
Some books on this list come from political journalists who had close access to candidates, while others are from historians taking a long view approach to the history of the election. In setting the stage for the current “unprecedented” American election, there are multiple books that resonate with contemporary issues, and these are great places to start to contextualize our current political moment.
As long-time readers know, Book Riot does our own challenge — the Read Harder Challenge — and has for many years. While it can sometimes be tricky to find romance novels that satisfy all the prompts, it is a challenge that I like undertaking sometimes. The one I’m helping out with today is “Read a Book That Went Under the Radar in 2023”, which is relatively easy, since it is all subjective to the reader. These are my recommendations for that one.