Book Riot - The Podcast

Vanessa returns with another surprise topic from literary history: Christopher Marlowe: Playwright, lover, thinker, spy (?). Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read and its brand new companion newsletter, and follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca look at some 2025 sales numbers, are astounded by the rise of Heated Rivalry, applaud a new subscription box, have some harsh words for Oreo, and more. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read and its brand new companion newsletter, and follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Print book sales rose slightly in 2025 There’s a new Heated Rivalry book coming later this year Bridgerton author Julia Quinn has launched a romance subscription box Book Riot’s best fantasy books of the century so far The Royal Shakespeare Company is bringing Hamnet to U.S. stages Give yourself the gift of this George Saunders interview Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca run through the notable adaptations coming this year (at least the ones we know about). Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read and its brand new companion newsletter, and follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vanessa and Sharifah sit in for Jeff and Rebecca to discuss a poll on American reading habits, this year's most anticipated books and adaptations, and more. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read and its brand new companion newsletter, and follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. A survey of American reading habits reveals 40% of Americans didn't read a single book in 2025. Barnes & Noble's most anticipated fiction and nonfiction of 2026 Book Riot's Most Anticipated Books of 2026 Utah bans three more books at all public schools, leading the U.S. in book bans Book Riot's guide to fighting book bans and censorship 2026 adaptation roundups from The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a bonus preview of our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon-only⁠⁠⁠⁠ episode in which Rebecca and Jeff compete to compile the best basket of 10 new releases for the season. To listen to the full episode and all previous bonus content, ⁠⁠⁠⁠become a Patreon member here⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca consider 10 finalists for the title It Book of January. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca look at what we know of the 2026 publishing calendar to pick 10 books we are most excited about (with some quibbling and caveats). Lots to like this year. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon Come to Powell's to see Gabriel Tallent in Conversation with Jeff O'Neal Vigil by George Saunders On Morrison by Namwalli Serpell Language as Liberation by Toni Morrison Kin by Tayari Jones Brawler by Lauren Groff Python's Kiss by Louise Erdrich London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe My Dear You by Rachel Khong Go Gentle by Maria Semple On Witness and Respair by Jesmyn Ward Country People by Daniel Mason Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead Exit Party Emily St. John Mandel American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee Transcription by Ben Lerner Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez Depths of Wikipedia by Annie Rauwerda Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney The Glorians by Terry Tempest Williams The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood Screen People by Megan Garber Inside the Box by David Epstein Land by Maggie O'Farrell The Missed Connection by Tia Williams The Typing Lady by Ruth Ozeki Whistler by Ann Patchett This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca discuss the award-winning books, pop culture phenomena, book club picks, and crossover hits of 2025 and attempt to identify the ones that might someday join the canon. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to help you get the most out of your reading life. Email us: zerotowellread@bookriot.com Zero to Well-Read is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca talk about how the story of the year in books was that there really wasn't a story. Except the big one. AI. Plus, NBCC longlists, getting boomers off slop, recent reading, and more. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon NBCC fiction longlist PW names the top 10 bookselling stories of the year The Wedding Date is getting a Netflix adaptation The Book Gossip of 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a bonus preview of our ⁠⁠⁠Patreon-only⁠⁠⁠ episode in which Jeff and Rebecca talked about the books they wanted to read but didn't, they want to read and might still, they definitely are OK not reading, and other subtleties of which books went unread in 2025. To listen to the full episode and all previous bonus content, ⁠⁠⁠become a Patreon member here⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a bonus preview of our ⁠⁠Patreon-only⁠⁠ episode in which Jeff and Rebecca talk about their favorite non-book things of 2025. To listen to the full episode and all previous bonus content, ⁠⁠become a Patreon member here⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca list their favorite books of the year, and then are joined by a series of Book Riot editors to share their picks: Kelly Jensen, Danika Ellis, Erica Ezefedi, Sharifah Williams, and Vanessa Diaz. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca talk about Book Riot's 2025 Read Harder Challenge, PW's 2025 Salary & Job Survey, a new Gen Z book club, and resurrect the spirit of Annotated for a very cool story about the women who invented the audiobook. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon The 2026 Read Harder Challenge 2025 PW Salary & Jobs Report Let’s check in on The Odyssey Hello Sunshine launches Gen-Z book club Check your sources before you ask a librarian or bookseller for a title AI recommended to you Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rebecca sits down with Vanessa Diaz to discuss the adaptation of Hamnet, in wide theatrical release this week. They talk about the film as a standalone piece of art, how it works as an adaptation, the key differences between the book and the movie, and how to tell if it's for you. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. We’ve got the chops to match the book lover in your life with their next favorite read. And it only takes a few clicks to gift Tailored Book Recommendations! Simply head to mytbr.co/gift to get started. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this Episode: Even as a Shadow, Even as a Dream Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca talk about the Goodreads Choice Winners, the NYT's 10 Best of the Year, NPR's excellent year-end round-up before talking to Katie del Rosario of Spotify about the year in audiobooks and Spotify's Audiobooks Wrapped. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon Spotify Audiobook Trends for 2025 NYT 100  Notable Books of 2025, which does, in fact, contain its top 10 NYT Top Ten NPR’s “Books We Love” WaPo’s top ten Goodreads Choice Awards Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca look back on their It Books selections from 2025 to see what they got right and wrong. But first, take a look at a pretty uninspiring slate of December new releases. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon December Releases: House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear by Gyles Brandreth A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls by Adam Morgan A Long Game by Elizabeth McCracken The Tower and the Ruin by Michael Drout Every Day I Read by Hwang Bo-Reum Feast on Your Life by Tamar Adler An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits For a complete list of It Books discussed in this episode, visit our website. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca wrap up the 2025 Holiday Recommendations. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez 2 AM at the Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helen Bertino The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Pachinko by Min Jin Lee The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr The Slough House series by Mick Herron My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie Jane Harper Tilt by Emma Pattee A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean The Unveiling by Quan Barry Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy Riverman by Ben McGrath The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy Kevin Wilson People Like Us by Jason Mott Marie-Helene Bertino Katie Kitamura Colson Whitehead Tom Robbins Oreo by Fran Ross Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey Something From Nothing by Alison Roman Start Here by Sohla El-Waylly Good Things by Samin Nosrat Six Seasons of Pasta (and/or Six Seasons of Vegetables) by Josh McFadden Now & Again by Julia Turshen The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri East of Eden by John Steinbeck The Lost Man by Jane Harper The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo Like a Mother by Angela Garbes Essential Labor by Angela Garbes Splinters by Leslie Jamison Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead Jonathan Evison Model Home by Rivers Solomon Reign & Ruin by J. D. Evans So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport The Imposter Cure by Jessamy Hibberd Life in Three Dimensions by Shigehiro Oishi The Broken Shore by Peter Temple Light Years by James Salter I Married You for Happiness by Lily Tuck Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levitan Ross Gay Hanif Abdurraquib Ada Limon Sarah Kay This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca are back with another holiday recommendation show. Part 2 coming on Monday. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon Little Blue Truck Little Pea by Amy Rosenthal I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy Real Americans by Rachel Khong A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst The Lost Man by Jane Harper Highway 59 series by Attica Locke Tilt by Emma Pattee The Secret History by Donna Tartt The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl Katabasis by R. F. Kuang The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin The Wright Brothers by David McCullough The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee We the People by Jill Lepore Bad Blood by John Carreyrou It’s Only Drowning by David Litt The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt The Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood Blob by Maggie Su The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff Matrix by Lauren Groff The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale Survivor’s Guilt by Robyn Gigl Jinx Ballou series by Dharma Kelleher How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe by Charles Yu Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson Audition by Katie Kitamura A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar Palaver by Bryan Washington Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff Mr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen Winter by Ali Smith This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca inhale a slew of best books of the year lists. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon Book Riot’s Best Books of 2025 National Book Award winners Shein partners with Alibris to sell books Lit Hub’s Book Twitter bracket Libro.fm's top 10 audiobooks of the year Audible’s best of 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vanessa Diaz is back to talk with Jeff and Rebecca about what magical realism is, where it comes from, and how to talk about it. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read! The Book Riot Podcast Patreon One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriela Garcia Marquez Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende Labyrinths or Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar The Storyteller’s Death by Ann Dávila Cardinal The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez Magical/Realism by Angelica Villareal The Week of Colors by Elena Garro, Megan McDowell (trans.) The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, Christina MacSweeney (trans.) This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices