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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The New York Times‘s 100 Notable Books of 2025
I think the day the New York Times drops its 100 notable books of the year is my favorite day of Best Books Season. The selections are reliably well-rounded, making it the kind of list you could happily build a year (or several) in reading around, and it’s fun to tally up how many you’ve read and make note of new titles for your TBR. But the best part of the 100 notables list is what isn’t on it because the thing that comes after the 100 notables list is the top 10, and that’s what I’m really after. When a book I’ve loved doesn’t make the NYT’s 100 notables, I can project/hope/place my bets for it to have made The Big List. This year, the book I’m pulling for is Katie Kitamura’s Audition, and I’m delighted to report, at least until the top ten comes out next week, that it’s not on the 100 notables.
Also notable is if/where the big award winners appear. Lucas Schaefer’s The Slip, which won the Kirkus Prize for Fiction, appears on the notables, as does Booker winner Flesh by David Szalay. Rabih Alameddine’s National Book Award-winning True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is not to be found. Given the warm-but-not-glowing tone of most reviews and the absence of a full review in the Times, I’d be surprised to see it crack the top 10.
We’ve talked about a bunch of the books that are on the list on the Book Riot Podcast this year. Eavesdrop on our book club convos:
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Bookshop’s Best of 2025
The good folks at Bookshop.org have shared their lists of the best fiction and best nonfiction of the year. The selections include quite a few frequent fliers from the 2025 best-of season so far mixed in with small press and under-the-radar picks. It’s a nice variety that seems pretty reflective of Bookshop’s indie sensibility, I just wish it came with blurbs from the Bookshop team about how and why they’ve chosen these specific titles.
We Just Want to Help, Carol
Ain’t no TV like Vince Gilligan TV. If you’re as excited about Pluribus as my household is, good news: Liberty Hardy has recommended five books to keep the vibe going.