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Best of Book Riot

The 2024 Booker Prize Shortlist, Must-Read Indigenous Nonfiction, and More

Vanessa Diaz

Managing Editor

Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.

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.

Recent Must-Read Indigenous Nonfiction

There was also a story I came across a few days ago about Kamloops Indian Residential School, a school in Canada where there were unimaginable horrors committed against children by Catholic priests. Though I started writing this list last week, D’Pharaoh’s demonstration and the article on Kamloops, are perfect examples of why we need more Indigenous nonfiction, and the authors below explore different facets of the Indigenous American experience—grandparents describe their time at Indian boarding schools, native Mixe speakers advocate for Indigenous languages, Waorani activists fight for the climate, and more.

The 2024 Booker Prize Shortlist

The Booker Prize is awarded to a work of fiction written in English, from writers of any nationality, published in the UK or Ireland. At the end of July, a longlist of 13 titles was announced, which you can read here. Now the top contenders for the award have been narrowed down to a shortlist.

8 Captivating Comics About Cults

There’s something irresistible about cults. Well, I guess that’s their whole thing. What I really mean is, there’s something irresistible about stories about cults. Perhaps it’s related to the charismatic nature of cult leaders and big promises of secret truths only they know — the same dangerous things that draw real people into cults. Cult stories can take many forms: drama, satire, dystopia, mystery, horror, and perhaps most gripping, nonfiction. All of them explore humanity’s relationship to religion, belief, and truth, as well as the dark power of groupthink. If you also find yourself fascinated by cults both real and fictional, check out these graphic novels and comics about cults.

The Book Riot Podcast: The 2024 National Book Award Longlist, GOOD OMENS Season Three ‘Paused,’ and More

10 selections for The National Book Awards Fiction Longlist, Good Omens production pauses amid the accusations against Neil Gaiman, Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake, and an author interview chestnut we would like to see roasted, once and for all.

The 2024 Ignatz Award Winners Are Here

If you love independent comics, then get to know this year’s slate of Ignatz Award winners. The Ignatz honor outstanding work in indie comics, as well as small press graphic novels and minicomics. They’ve been given since 2017 and this year’s winners were presented with their brick-shaped honors at the Small Press Expo on September 14, 2024.

10 New Queer Science Fiction Books, from Cozy to Cataclysmic

There are so many excellent queer SFF books coming out every week, but the sheer number of fantasy books can make it hard to find the new queer science fiction releases. That’s why I have put together a round-up of the most exciting new queer science fiction books of 2024. This is in no way a complete list! I had trouble narrowing it down to just these ten, but these are some of the biggest and most exciting new queer sci-fi books out this year.

All the Books: New Releases and More for September 17, 2024

This week on All The Books, Liberty and Emily discuss Such Lovely Skin, Ruin Road, Gaslight, and more great books!