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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‘ Favorite Hidden Gem Books of 2025
We love an under-the-radar read here at Book Riot, so I hurried over to this New York Times list of the Book Review staff’s favorite and lesser-known personal best-ofs. The list includes a massive graphic novel that took a decade to complete (More Weight by Ben Wickey), a “disorienting” novel in translation (Eye of the Monkey by Krisztina Toth, translated by Ottilie Mulzet), and a tense debut following a group of young men on a wilderness road trip (The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana). I have, in fact, not run into most of these titles. Now if only there was endless time to read all of the great books published this year.
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Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic Author, Dies
The author of the bestselling Confessions of a Shopaholic series and mother of five died from brain cancer on Wednesday. Sophie Kinsella’s rom-com books about a woman with a shopping habit and the mounting debt it incurs spun out into 10 novels with millions of copies sold worldwide. The books were written under a pseudonym; she’s written books under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, as well. After her glioblastoma diagnosis, Kinsella wrote the novella What Does It Feel Like? about a mother who has brain cancer. Speaking about the novella with TV personality Robin Roberts, Kinsella said, “I thought people might be curious to know what it’s like to go through this. I hope it’s full of optimism and love most of all.”
Free Comic Book Day is Back
Free Comic Book Day, where comic book stores give away copies of free comic books, has been in flux ever since it was purchased as an asset from major comic book distributor Diamond Comics. FCBD will return May 2, 2026 alongside a parallel event currently dubbed “Comics Giveaway Day” through Universal and Penguin Random House, respectively. FCBD is set to expand into games territory with Universal involving cross-industry partners and game stores. Read more about the evolution and return of FCBD at Comics Beat.
What Books Showed Up Across All The “Best Of 2025” Lists? Let’s Dig In!
There’s always something to learn from comparing best books of the year lists, if you’re a big nerd who’s into that sort of thing. Well, we are! And Kelly Jensen did the work of diving into the major Best Ofs to share which books were big hits across lists, and more interesting data. Get your book nerdery on here.
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