Best of Book Riot

The Most Popular Stories of the Week

Rebecca Joines Schinsky

Chief of Staff

Rebecca Joines Schinsky is the executive director of product and ecommerce at Riot New Media Group. She co-hosts All the Books! and the Book Riot Podcast. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccaschinsky.

Welcome to your weekend highlight reel! Here are some of Book Riot’s most popular stories of the week.

7 Horror Books to Read for the 2024 Read Harder Challenge

It’s October, which means it’s Halloween month! This is the time of year when I try to read as many horror and horror-adjacent books as I can — exactly the books I avoid the rest of the year. Despite not usually gravitating toward this genre, October is usually my best reading month: I read more because I’m trying to beat the clock and fit in as many horror books as I can before November. I won’t tell you how many titles are on my TBR this month, but let’s just say I’m inching dangerously close to my library’s very generous checkout limit.

The Best New Books of the Week

It is what it says on the tin!

South Carolina Public Library Won’t Buy New Books for Kids

Thanks to a new proviso in the South Carolina state budget, at least one public library system in the state has made the decision to acquire no new books for those under the age of 18. In a statement released across York County Public Library’s social media late last week, the library board chair announced the moratorium on new purchases until the State better clarifies what is and is not permitted in public libraries.

Etsy Finds For Your Dark Academia Wardrobe

Catch this darkly academic mood with me by sporting the gothic jewelry and ancient Greek and literature-inspired fashion.

5 Stellar SFF Books Now in Paperback

I will admit, I do not always have the patience to wait for a book to come out in paperback, but when I do, I pick really great ones. And to help you pick great ones, here are five SFF novels from 2023 that I loved, recently out now in paperback. They are all fantacular, and weirdly, they all retained the artwork from their hardcover versions. But that’s an investigation for another time. Enjoy!