Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Here Comes the Rooster
The Morning News has released the longlist for the 2025 Tournament of Books, which doubles as their recap of the notable fiction of 2024. The 70 longlisted titles will be whittled down to a shortlist of 16 books that will face off in a bracket-style tournament in March. If you’re thinking this is March Madness counter-programming for nerds, by nerds, you’re not wrong.
The ToB always contains multitudes, pulling in some of the biggest books of the year alongside under-the-radar and small press picks. That sounds relatively straightforward, but the ToB vibes tend toward chaos, and that’s part of the charm. The question isn’t so much if things will get weird as it is when and how. For example, the first round of this year’s tournament pitted The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, the unequivocal Book of 2023, against Open Throat by Henry Hoke, a critically acclaimed but much less well-known novel. This was a softer year for big titles all around, so there’s real potential for some surprises and upsets. Let the games begin!
ICYMI: Two of the Best Literary Profiles of the Year
Percival Everett is having a fantastic year, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve had almost as much fun reading about him as I’ve had reading his books. James Yeh wrote a terrific profile of Everett for Vulture earlier this year when James was first hitting shelves, and an updated version of the piece is floating around the bookternet in the wake of Everett’s National Book Award win. It’s worth a few minutes of your time, as is Maya Binyam’s profile of Everett for The New Yorker, which includes the first instance I can recall of an author allowing an interviewer to give them a tarot reading. Rare is the author whose enigmatic persona is literally written into their work, not to mention their book promotion. What a treat.
Look for the Helpers
Literary activism comes in all flavors, and this is a very inspiring one. For the second year, author Jami Attenberg, who also runs the popular #1000wordsofsummer communal writing project, has gathered her community to sponsor a Scholastic Book Fair for an entire school. Every last one of the more than 650 students at Schaumberg Elementary School in New Orleans, where Attenberg lives, got to pick out a free book. Attenberg describes it as “the best day of the year,” writing, “I feel so lucky I got to watch these kids run into the school library so excited to pick out a book they could take home and keep “forever and ever,” as a few of them said.” May her efforts continue to succeed.
The Best Gift Books of 2024
What books should you give to the historical fiction fan who’s over World War II stories about librarians who are also spies? Or the home cook who loves to read about food as much as they love to make it? We’ve got recommendations for all kinds of readers this week on the Book Riot Podcast.
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