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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.
Looking for some quick thrills and oh-so-satisfying chills? You’ve come to the right place. I’ve got 10 must-read new horror novels, ranging from light scares to nightmare fuel, waiting for you.
Post-apocalyptic fiction takes many forms. These books include elements of dystopia, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, literary fiction, and even comedy. (Because at the end of the world, what else can you do but laugh?) Whether it’s a close-to-home story set in the near future or a space opera set centuries from now, these stories envision a path for our world with varying levels of fear and hope. There’s a lot we can learn from imagining where human behavior — the good, the bad, and everything in between — might lead. May these books inspire you to take care of your neighbors, your community, our planet, and our collective future with a little more intention.
It’s no fun to look forward to a book all year only to pull up the catalog on the day it comes out and discover a holds line that rivals its number of pages. Many libraries let you request a purchase for or put a hold on a book at least a few months before it comes out. Plan out your TBR list now and put these eight highly anticipated books on hold before the busy season of winter holidays and the start of 2025 reading resolutions begins.
Traveling alone is one of my favorite activities, and my favorite place I’ve been is Scotland. Edinburgh is on the list of best cities for writers, and there are a ton of literary tourist destinations you can visit as well. As a country, Scotland has inspired countless novelists to delve into the history of the country — there are the decades of war over the borders with England, the many purportedly haunted locations, and the beautiful nature in which to set dramatic tales. Having spent some time in the Highlands, it’s one of those places where the borders between the past and the present feel tenuous.
Yes, books can become outdated and go out of print, but in general, they don’t expire. I don’t want to miss out on continuing to enjoy a series and watching the characters develop over time just because I’ve created an absurd reason to feel guilty. When a thing you love becomes your job or a part of your job, it will change your connection to it no matter how much you promise that it won’t. Change is the nature of life after all, regardless of how much we refuse to get on board sometimes.
And so it happened to me.
Clear your calendars and grab your TBR list. It’s time to cozy up with one—or several—of this week’s new YA book releases. If you have to do that thing where you give over your time in exchange for a paycheck, then at least make sure you jot down the titles that catch your eye. It’s a slower release week compared to the last several, but that means you’ve got a little more time to catch up with this very pushed fall publishing season.
October is ADHD Awareness Month, a time to learn and educate others about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. ADHD is often the butt of jokes and misunderstood, and stories featuring neurodivergent people frequently focus on the downsides of being different. That makes it all the more important to spotlight graphic novels like Stand Up!, a fun comic with neurodivergent characters that was created by a neurodivergent author, Tori Sharp. For this ADHD Awareness Month, I interviewed Ms. Sharp about her book and the power of positive representation.
I got a taste of my favorite kind of weather and basked in a late summer, early fall glow for a minute here in North Carolina. The air was crisp but not too cold and the sun was out but not beating down on me. I set up the tea kettle, the couch blankets, and, of course, the books. The following week, the temp broke my heart and went back up to the mid-80s, but it’s only a matter of time and I am prepared for the true start of cozy season. In honor of the recent autumnal equinox and because I want everyone to live their best fall life, I’m sharing some of my cozy reading season essentials and some wish list items to upgrade my supplies. I’ve got beverages, home goods, and more (yes, including a book) to make this heavy reading season brighter.
Some books cast a furious spell over me, drawing me deep into the worlds they build, making it almost impossible to focus on anything except what’s going on with the characters. Other books, though, cast quieter, longer-lasting spells. Today I’m highlighting a remarkable debut that cast the second kind of spell on me. It’s a slow, detailed, meandering sort of book, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I read it back in June.
