Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Spotify Expanding Audiobooks Plans in Most Confusing Way Possible
Look, getting 15 hours of audiobook listening as part of a regular Spotify subscription has been great. I use it every month, mostly to experiment with stuff that I then go borrow or buy elsewhere. It’s not quite as simple as “1 audiobook” per month, but manageable. How Spotify is expanding beyond this base offering is a little bananas, though. In some countries (not the US for now), Spotify is adding a couple of tiers Audiobooks+ and Audiobooks+ for Plan Members. Here is how they explain what these plans are:
Audiobooks+: Available to Premium Individual subscribers as well as Family and Duo plan managers, this add-on unlocks an additional 15 hours of listening each month for the existing base plan—a great option for booklovers seeking more audiobook time, including fans of longer titles.
Audiobooks+ for Plan Members: For the first time, additional members on Premium Family and Duo can access 15 hours of monthly audiobook listening through this recurring add-on. Plan members just need to request audiobook access from their plan manager, who can purchase the add-on on their behalf. They can also purchase a one-time 10-hour top-up if they run out of hours before their monthly billing cycle refreshes.
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First one makes sense. 15 more hours for some (unstated amount of money).
The second one? I think if you have the phrase “Plan members just need to request audiobook access from their plan manager, who can purchase the add-on on their behalf” in your product description. You can’t just say “just.” It actually has to be the thing.
Publishers Weekly Releases Fall 2025 Adult Book Preview
There are a few internet gifts I get to unwrap during the year, and one of them is the Fall Books Preview from PW. Across multiple genres and publisher sizes, it is simply the most efficient way to get a sense of what publishing’s biggest season has to offer. New books from Patricia Lockwood, Salman Rushdie, Dan Brown, Zadie Smith and other heavy hitters, plus titles I wouldn’t notice on my own, even as someone with an Edelweiss workflow.
The New York Public Library’s Summer Reading For Adults
In the starter pack for today’s bookish adults is a fondness for pizza-related summer reading challenges for kids. Of late, some organizations have also rolled out pretty involved summer reading challenges for adults. I haven’t seen anything quite as lucrative as what the NYPL (partnered with The National Book Award) is offering to one winner who submits a completed challange card:
Complete all the activities to enter the drawing for the grand prize: airfare, hotel, and two tickets to the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony in NYC on Wednesday, November 19, 2025! Winners will be notified in September. For any prize-related questions, visit the National Book Foundation website.
That’s the equivalent of quite a few personal pan pizzas.
Today on The Book Riot Podcast, Jeff and Rebecca talk about a bunch of mid-year lists: best-ofs, best-selllers, and more. Then Erica Ezeifedi talks to Rodney Freeman, former librarian and producer of the documentary Are You a Librarian, about the rich & overlooked history of Black librarianship in the US.