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The Most Popular News of the WeekThe NYT's best books of the year so far, the latest BookTok conspiracy theory, and more of the week's bookish news. |
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Another week on the books! Catch up with the stories Today in Books readers were most interested in this week.
The NYT‘s Best Books of the Year So Far
It feels a little early to be listing the best books of the year so far, and not just because of the calendar. As Big Books go, 2025 has been pretty quiet. While we haven’t yet seen the kind of literary hit that leads to “book of the year” chatter, there have been some standout releases, and the New York Times captures many of them in its list of the best books of the year so far. I can vouch for We Do Not Part, was delighted to see Stone Yard Devotional get a mention, and am a bit surprised that Katie Kitamura’s excellent Audition didn’t make the cut. How many of the 15 featured titles have you read?
Call the Swifties, There’s a New BookTok Conspiracy
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a debut novel is going viral on BookTok, and a lack of information about the author has prompted speculation and conspiracy theories from readers. Here’s the deal: the cover of Silver Elite by Dani Francis doesn’t have an author photo. Neither does Francis’s Instagram page. The absence of details has driven some BookTok creators to speculate that Dani Francis is actually a pen name for an established author. Or maybe the book written by AI! Why would the publisher bother with foil edges and special editions if it weren’t secretly written by someone who is already famous? As in most conspiracy-tinged controversies, the truth is almost guaranteed to be way less exciting than the theories. (Did we really learn nothing from the Argylle shenanigans ?) When the most interesting thing about a book is the author’s anonymity, it’s time for publishing and readers alike to take a good long look in the mirror.
24 Books to Read This Summer
Oh, how I love to see a seasonal reading list that thinks beyond frontlist! The Atlantic offers up a refreshing spin on the summer reading list with 24 recommendations that range from cult classics to buzzy new releases, one-sitting page-turners to doorstoppers that might take you the whole season to finish. R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis, the virtually indisputable most-anticipated book of summer, makes an appearance, as does one of my longtime faves, The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (you might think you don’t want to read a biography of cancer, but I promise you’re wrong). It’s a list with real range that—more important—understands that most readers don’t live and die by the new release shelf, and it even introduced me to a few books I hadn’t heard of before.
Creating a Fantasy League for Books
What would a fantasy league for books even look like? Sharifah Williams and Professor Laura McGrath joined me and Jeff O’Neal to draw up rules, talk strategy, and draft teams of 2025 new releases on today’s episode of the Book Riot Podcast. It’s fun and chaotic, and yes, you can draft your own team.
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