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.
Ta-Nehisi Coates and Louise Erdrich have books coming out that are sure to be bestsellers, while Lauren Ling Brown’s debut Society of Lies feels like it’ll be the dark academia mystery of the season. Here are books of different genres, chosen by Book Riot writers as the best books coming out in October.
The following is a letter and endorsement from Book Riot.
We find ourselves, again, approaching an election season where it is imperative to lend our voices to the call for every American to vote and be heard. The last time we published a political endorsement, we had not yet witnessed the January 6th attack on the Capitol, which resulted in at least seven deaths and more than 150 injuries in connection with the insurrection as well as a shaken nation. Roe had yet to be overturned, placing politicians between doctors and patients and giving states often catastrophic power over the reproductive health and family planning decisions of many. Book bans and censorship had yet to reach a critical point, with political groups standing in front of parents, librarians, and educators, telling them what their children and students can and cannot read. Americans who have witnessed their country’s descent into a regressive age demand freedom and change.
We stand among them and endorse Kamala Harris to be the next president of the United States of America.
Understandably, some authors have taken a page from the dramatic world of books to create wonderful mysteries and shocking thrillers. Some focus on the publishing world, others on the relationships between authors and other authors and/or friends/family/enemies. Some have dived into the fascinating world of antiquarian and rare books.
So, if you like your mysteries and thrillers bookish, here are eight mysteries and thrillers set in the world of books.
It was difficult to narrow that down to these 15 books — in fact, it was originally supposed to be ten books — but I’ve painstakingly selected just the most exciting releases in a variety of genres with a range of representation. October is Halloween season, so you can find plenty of horror here, but you might be surprised to discover that it’s also a big month for Christmas romance releases.
There’s truly no limit to what can happen in comics or romance, so I’ve aimed these recommendations at readers of certain subgenres within romance. I’ve also focused on books that have been published in print with English translations because I know how much spicy book readers love physical media. Hopefully a couple of these can make it onto your keeper shelf.
October is my favorite month. I already look forward to October all year long, but you know what had me really counting down to October in 2024? Some of these highly anticipated book adaptations that are finally hitting our screens this month. If you’re wanting to cozy up on the couch this month and flip on a Netflix show while you enjoy your second (or third) pumpkin spice latte of the day, you’re going to have plenty to watch this month. If you’re wanting to hit the theater and grab yourself a big popcorn instead, there are some really cool adaptations that are getting theatrical releases this month as well.
Today, you’ll find a vast assortment of stories to tickle your SFF fancy. There’s a demon and an angel working together to rebuild a city; an empire powered by the drained magic of necromancers; a cozy, enemies-to-lovers romantasy with swordfights; a new fairy tale set in the world of the classic Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell; a surreal tale of a warrior lost in a post-apocalyptic world after death; a speculative story collection from an award-winning legend of the genre; and more…
If you’ve been struggling to understand how we arrived here, with an insurrection in our recent past and political violence becoming almost commonplace, take an eye-opening journey with an award-winning journalist who has breached the digital and real-life spaces where hate and conspiracy coalesce. In this excerpt from Elle Reeve’s Black Pill, we meet a woman who joined a misogynistic white supremacist movement, became one of its champions, and revealed its chilling secrets.