
Book Riot - The Podcast
News in the world of books and reading, including hot industry releases, adaptations, publishing industry events, and more with Book Riot’s Jeff O’Neal and Rebecca Shinsky.Book Riot is the largest independent editorial book site in North America and home to a host of media, from podcasts to newsletters to original content, all designed around diverse readers and across all genres.
Latest episodes

Dec 16, 2018 • 1h 11min
#291: The Year in Review
Jeff and Rebecca review the most memorable stories from the year in books.
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Dec 10, 2018 • 53min
#290: Outsource Your Legs
This week, Jeff and Rebecca get back to the news with a bunch of listener feedback, B&N announces largest number of new store openings in years, Atwood writing a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, and much more.
This episode is sponsored by:
Book Riot's TBR
The Great Courses Plus
Bombas
Links discussed in this episode:
Becoming is the bestselling book of 2018
NYT picks the 10 best books of the year
Bill Gates Best of 2018 Youtube Video
Barnes & Noble to open up to 15 new stores in 2019
Margaret Atwood writing Handmaid’s Tale sequel
Hero of the week: Baltimore’s longest-serving employee is a librarian who’s been on the job for 56 years
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Dec 3, 2018 • 1h 1min
#289: 2018 Holiday Recommendation Show, Part 2
Jeff and Rebecca wrap up their 2018 holiday recommendations.
This episode is sponsored by:
Fight Like a Girl by Clementine Ford
Wizard Pins
Penguin Random House Audio's Holiday Guide
Books recommended in this episode:
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
Pere Giorot by Balzac
Incarceration Nations by Baz Dreisinger
The Emperor of All Maladies or The Gene
Naked at Lunch
The Noble Hustle by Colson Whitehead
The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Fit by Rebekah Weatherspoon
The Nest by Cynthia d'Aprix Sweeny
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Beverly Jenkins romances
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
SPQR by Mary Beard
Long Division by Kiese Laymon
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
Music for Wartime
Time and Again by Jack Finney
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give
How to Be Married
The H-Spot by Jill Filopvic
Educated by Tara Westover
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
Killing It by Camas Davis
Negroland by Margo Jefferson
Sapiens by Yonah Nuval Harari
Saga by Vaughn and Staples
Gridiron Genius by Mike Lombard
The Console Wars
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Nov 26, 2018 • 1h 2min
#288: 2018 Holiday Recommendation Show, Part 1
Jeff and Rebecca respond to listener recommendation requests.
This episode is sponsored by:
Book Riot's TBR
Park Row Books and Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners by Gretchen Anthony
Care/of
Bombas
Books recommended in this episode:
Yes We Still Can by Dan Pfeiffer
How We Got to Now by Steven Johnson
Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik
A Nation Forged by Crisis by Jay Sexton
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
A Separation by Katie Kitamura
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
Good and Mad and Eloquent Rage by Rebecca Traister
American Overdose by Chris McGreal
Not That Bad edited by Roxane Gay
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
Between the World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coates
Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley
Flush by Virginia Woolf
Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown
Hammerhead by Nina Maclaughlin
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibrahim X. Kendi
Lumberjanes
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Cat Valente
Atlas Obscura's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid
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Nov 19, 2018 • 1h 8min
#287: Shruggie Parade, Updated
In this episode, Jeff and Rebecca talk about Publisher’s Weekly’s 2018 Salary Survey, the National Book Award winners, WH Smith’s new bookstore format, and much more.
This episode is sponsored by:
Book Riot Insiders
Julian is a Mermaid by Rebecca Love
In/Half by Jasmin B. Frelih
The Great Courses Plus
Links discussed in this episode:
WH Smith Least Popular UK Retailer
BR’s own Kelly Jensen featured on WaPo 10 Best Kids Books of 2018 for Don’t Call Me Crazy
National Book Award Winners
Michelle Obama’s memoir is BECOMING a sensation
Sorkin’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD play opens Dec 13 (and therefore apparently was not struck down when performed in court)
PW Publishing Salary Survey 2018
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Nov 11, 2018 • 57min
#286: A Tinfoil Hat Built For Two
This week, Jeff and Rebecca take a second look and Indigo's financial results, the news the WHSmith was the "book retailer" interested in buying Barnes & Noble, look over Amazon's 20 Best Books of the Year list, and much more.
This episode is sponsored by:
Book Riot Insiders
Inkshares Horror Contest
Bombas
The Great Courses Plus
Links discussed in this episode:
Follow-up: but is Indigo doing well?
Barnes & Noble’s mysterious would-be buyer was WH Smith
Update: Pennsylvania walks back plan to restrict prisoners’ access to books
Amazon releases 20 Best Books of 2018
Another woman quits the Swedish Academy
Antiquarian booksellers prevail after worldwide strike against Amazon subsidiary AbeBooks
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Nov 5, 2018 • 55min
#285: Exaggeration for Effect
This week, Jeff and Rebecca continue to follow the increasingly nasty Barnes & Noble lawsuit, look over the Goodreads Choice Awards nominees, give an up date on Moira Donegan's book deal, and much more.
This episode is sponsored by:
The Great Courses Plus
Chooseco, publisher of the Weregirl trilogy, Weregirl: Typhon
The Darkest Star by Jennifer R. Armentrout
Penguin Random House Audio
Links discussed in this episode:
Follow-up: Moira Donegan gets a book deal about dealing w/ sexual harassment
Barnes & Noble details sexual harassment claims against Parneros
Goodreads choice awards are open
Bananapants news: Arctic scientist stabs colleague who kept telling him the end of books
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Oct 29, 2018 • 57min
#284: You Are Your Own Nanny
This week, Jeff and Rebecca spend most of the time on reader feedback, but then also finally get to the talk about the winner of the Great American Read.
This episode is sponsored by:
Midterm Elections HQ from Oxford University Press
What Would Cleopatra Do? by Elizabeth Foley and Beth Coates
The Great Courses Plus
Bombas
Links discussed in this episode:
Jessica's Indigo Slideshow!
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD wins Great American Read b/c of course it does
Stephen King lets teens option a story for $1
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Oct 22, 2018 • 1h 1min
#283: The Streisand Effect
This week, Jeff and Amanda follow-up about the suit against Moire Donegan, talk about the Man Booker 2018 winner, give first reactions to the Indigo opening in Short Hills, NJ, and much more.
This episode is sponsored by:
The Kingfisher Secret from McClelland & Stewart
Penguin Random House Audio
Links discussed in this episode:
Man Booker winner announced:
Time’s Up founder to represent Moira Donegan:
Indigo NJ is open!
New kindle paperwhite is finally waterproof
BBC Sherlock’s Creative Team Is Bringing Us Dracula
Research Study Finds People Who Grow Up With Home Libraries
The hexing, though
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Oct 15, 2018 • 54min
#282: Big Mood
This week, Sharifah joins Jeff to talk the awarding of the New Academy Prize (aka, The Alternative Nobel), the meh-tastic finalists of The Great American Read, rage-inducing #metoo responses, Macarthur "Genius" winners, and much more.
This episode is sponsored by:
The Devil's Thief by Lisa Maxwell
Curtain Call by Wilifred Lupano
Bombas
Links discussed in this episode:
Alternative Nobel goes to Maryse Conde
Nobel shenanigans: Swedish Academy elects new members
Great American Read top 10 finalists
Stephen Elliott sues Moira Donegan
Amazon gives employees another pay bump to make up for lost bonuses
Kelly Link among MacArthur Genius Grant Winners
2018 National Book Award finalists
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