Best of Book Riot

Our Most Popular Posts of the Week

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. Here are most popular stories from the last week.

The Literary Landscape and Response to the Los Angeles Wildfires

There are no mincing words: climate change bears significant responsibility for the fires and subsequent destruction. It is not the first major series of wildfires in California even in the last decade, nor will it be the last we see of such wildfires impacting life in the state and beyond. While it is important to understand what happened, this is not the space to do so, and often, those answers are cold comfort. They point to the same things we all know: how we live our lives right now is unsustainable, and these actions have grave consequences.

The Oscar Nominations Are Out—7 of 10 of the Best Picture Nominations Are Adaptations

The 2025 Oscar nominations were just announced this morning after being delayed twice because of the Los Angels wildfires. So far, the fires have consumed around 40,000 acres, more than 14,000 buildings, and have resulted in 28 people dead. The Academy has donated $1 million to wildfire relief efforts, and this year’s Oscars ceremony will honor Los Angeles.

Historical Fiction About Little Known History

These five books all feature elements of history that were either entirely new to me or strike me as things outside of common public knowledge. From forgotten historical disasters to pioneers of culture and technology, these historical fiction books about little-known history bring the more obscure sides of history to light.

Check Out The 2025 National Book Critics Circle Finalists

The finalists for the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced today. The 30 finalists are spread across six categories — which include autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, general nonfiction, and poetry — and were published in 2024.

Check Out The Finalists for the 2025 Edgar Awards

‘Tis the season for all of the book award announcements. This week the Edgar Awards announced the nominees for best mystery fiction and nonfiction across over a dozen different categories. It’s the 79th year for the Edgar Awards, and winners will be announced at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City on May 1, 2025.

How to Be Alone

While dictionary definitions tend to equate solitude with aloneness, I’d argue that solitude is aloneness with a positive valence. Solitude = aloneness + satisfaction/enjoyment/appreciation, if you will. That part about positive valence is where a lot of people get tripped up. Modern societies are not great at solitude, and they’re even worse at silence. We need connection, absolutely, but constant connection, largely mediated by devices and algorithms, is not it. We need to learn how to be quiet sometimes. We need to learn how to step back. We need to learn how to be alone. Here are a few books that might help.

U.S. Book Sales Grew Last Year…Baaaarely.

Circana released some 2024 sales stats this morning, and the overall picture is….mixed. Topline growth of 1% in unit sales (units being books themselves, not dollars) after back to back declining years. In case you were wondering, BookTok author (as defined by Circana), posted 20% growth after growing for five consecutive years prior. Weak spots are middle grade (down 1.5 million units year over year) and young adult fiction (down 1.2 million units). This is anecdata, but I have a early teenager and many of his cohort have been pulled away from YA by Romantasy titles.

Power Ranking the Books of 2015

On the Book Riot Podcast, Jeff O’Neal and Rebecca Schinksy back and power-rank the books of 2015. Ten picks each, minimal cheating.