Today in Books

The News Book Riot Covered This Week

Jeff O'Neal

CEO and co-founder

Jeff O'Neal is the executive editor of Book Riot and Panels. He also co-hosts The Book Riot Podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @thejeffoneal.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. On Sundays, we round up what we ourselves covered.

Barnes and Noble has Announced its 2024 Book of the Year

In response to the win, Percival Everett said, “As my teenagers would say, ‘Cool.’ This honor is unexpected and quite amazing. B&N has already done a remarkable job selling my novel and now this. To have the novel in front of so many readers is what all of us want. Thank you.”

The Winner of the 2024 Booker Prize

Yesterday, British writer Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for her novel Orbital. The meditative book follows six astronauts from different countries who are orbiting the earth for 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets. They complete everyday activities, like preparing dehydrated meals and exercising, while contemplating the cosmos.

The Best Books of 2024, According to Amazon Books Editors

Amazon has announced its picks for the Best Books of 2024, chosen by its Books Editors. There is an overall #1 pick, a top 100 list, and a list of 20 titles in a range of categories—including mystery and thrillers, romance, literature and fiction, cookbooks, children’s books, and more.

700+ Books Removed From Florida Schools

If you follow Kelly Jensen’s weekly Censorship News roundups, you’ll likely recognize Texas county Corpus Christi: they have been pushing for book bans in public libraries for quite a while. The newest developments are that they are considering a new “parent/guardian must be present” library card, which would block these minors from accessing self-checkouts and would require them to check out books only while their parent is present, who must show their ID. The updates to equipment would cost about $10,000.

TIME’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

Rejoice! For we have another best-of 2024 book list to fawn over, this time from TIME. The publication’s must-read list of 2024 is full of fiction (mostly of the literary variety) and nonfiction, with bestselling and debut authors alike.

TIME describes the list as being full of “Gripping novels and short stories, eye-opening histories, moving memoirs, and more. These are the books that entertained and enlightened us.”

The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week

The top five most read books on Goodreads this time around are the same as last week, but there are some less familiar titles in the top ten: Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage, which came out last week, and Lights Out by Navessa Allen, which came out in August, but seems to be getting more attention recently.

The Best Queer Books of 2024, According to Amazon Books Editors

A couple weeks ago, I shared The Best Queer Books of 2024, According to Publishers Weekly: I looked through their overall Best Books of 2024 list and pulled out all the queer books I spotted to share with you. This week, I’m doing the same thing with the Amazon Books Editors’ Best Books of 2024.

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