The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 was awarded this morning to László Krasznahorkai, "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art." (Hint: his last name is pronounced pretty much as it looks "kraz-nah-hor-kai.")

Krasznahorkai, who was born in Gyula, Hungary in 1954, is known for writing sprawling, postmodern novels. (His most recent book to be translated into English, Herscht 00779, is over 400 pages long and consists of a single sentence.)

Here is a mini-reading list to get acquainted with him and his work:

• A free-to-read short story of his in The Yale Review: "An Angel Passed Above Us."
• The New York Times review of Herscht 00779
• "This society is the result of 10,000 years?": Krasznahorkai interviewed at The Guardian.
• " Sátántangó will devour you, you and everything you know.": The Nation on Krasznahorkai’s most popular book in English (at least according to the number of Goodreads reviews, for what that’s worth).

The National Book Award judges just released their 2025 shortlists across five categories. Finalists each take home $1,000, while the winner in each category receives $10,000 and a bronze sculpture. The winners will be announced November 19th.

The five categories include Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. You can find the finalists for all categories on The National Book Award site, but here are the finalists in fiction and nonfiction.

2025 National Book Awards Shortlist for Fiction:

• The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
• A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
• The Antidote by Karen Russell
• North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford
• Palaver by Bryan Washington

2025 National Book Awards Shortlist for Nonfiction:

• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
• Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy by Julia Ioffe
• Things In Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
• Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care by Claudia Rowe
• When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas

Love Slow Horses? Know someone who does? Then you (and they) can discover the novels that inspired the hit Apple Original Series (Season 5 now streaming on Apple TV+).

New York Times Bestselling author Mick Herron’s Slough House series follows Jackson Lamb and his office of misfit spies as they try to protect the country, save their necks, and resurrect their careers. The latest installment, Clown Town, finds the crew again dealing with MI5’s shady past and shaky future.

Check out Clown Town and the rest of the Slough House series.

Let’s take a tour of what a few of the major book clubs are reading in October.

Roxane Gay’s The Audacious Book Club: The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

Blurb to grab your attention: "Wonderfully ambitious…. Flournoy explores the complexity of friendship, family, and home in a voice that is expansive yet intimate, humorous yet devastating. I loved this book." —Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half and The Mothers

The Today Book Club, #ReadWithJenna: The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill

Blurb to grab your attention: “A sparkling debut, The Irish Goodbye is a rich, compassionate novel about sisterhood, marriage, grief, and forgiveness.” —Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street

Good Morning America’s GMA Book Club: Twice by Mitch Albom

Blurb to grab your attention:  “Think of Mitch Albom as the Babe Ruth of popular literature, hitting the ball out of the park every time he’s at bat.” 
—Time

Browse a wide array of October picks from some other book clubs here.

We love independent media companies, and not just because we are one.

Since 2013, The Bitter Southerner , based in Athens, Georgia, has published print magazines, books, records, and podcasts with the goal of connecting "an activated and vocal global community working to make the South, and America, a better place."

They also make awesome stuff. (I would know, I wrote this while wearing their "Abide No Hatred" rainbow tee.) Proclaim your support for books, libraries, and freedom of speech year-round with their wide array of apparel, and grab a "Read Banned Books" flag while you’re at it. – RS

For four days only, every dollar you spend earns double rewards points! Whether you’re shopping our best prices, exploring already discounted ThriftBooks Deals, hunting for rare collectibles, or pre-ordering those must-have sprayed edges, now is the perfect time to treat yourself and get FREE US Shipping on orders over $15.

Aura Print decided to do a little mucking about with Goodreads reviews to figure out which books most often confuse readers. They looked at books with 50,000+ reviews and then searched for ones that used the word "confusing." Straightforward enough. The list of the top 20 most confusing books has a bunch of really popular books (no surprise, that’s what they were filtering for). But of course, the most popular books are going to have the most reviews expressing confusion, simply because they are going to have more reviews in general.

I did a little second pass to look at the ratio of the reviews with the word "confusing" in it to the total number of reviews. For example, Onyx Storm has 8013 reviews with the word "confusing" in them, which is the highest raw number. But as a ratio of its total reviews? These account for just 4.3% of the book’s 187,000+ total reviews. Now the second ranking book is interesting: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle has 6328 "confused" reviews, which comes out to more than an 11% "confusion rate." This is the highest ratio of all the books in the top 20 by a factor of two, though I have to admit that makes me rather more interested in it than less.

You can browse the full list here.

Less than two years ago, David Shelley moved to New York from the U.K. as part of a job change, adding CEO of HBG in the U.S. to his existing title as CEO of Hachette UK. I had a chance to talk to Shelley about the challenges publishers are facing in this era of book banning and Hachette’s continued efforts to make books and reading more inclusive. Here are a few highlights:

On the crucial role of librarians and teachers:

"I’ve always taken the stance of trusting librarians and educators: that’s what they’re trained to do."

On how younger readers want more diverse characters and books:

"One bit of consumer insight we know is that for younger readers, so if you’re looking at 16 to 24-year-old readers, they now largely are very unwilling to read books that aren’t in some way a diverse cast of characters."

On what the job of a publisher should be:

"Our mission here at Hachette is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment, and opportunity. 
Fairly simple mission: bringing as many books as possible to as many people as possible."

Listen to my full conversation with David Shelley on First Edition.

You deserve a good night’s sleep—one that leaves you feeling refreshed and ready for the day. Brooklinen’s sheets will get you there. The breathable Classic Percale sheets are crisp and cool, making them the perfect choice for hot sleepers. For a limited time, you can save up to 30% on bundles. Treat yourself to the sleep you deserve!

Author Abdi Nazemian’s newest book Exquisite Things is a response to book bans and a reminder that love and community are stronger than hate and division. He’s on Book Riot today discussing the power of books to tell history and what happens when those books are removed from shelves in an attempt to erase that history.

In my widely banned novel Like a Love Story , I write, ‘Tell your story. Because if you don’t, it could be wiped out.’ And also, ‘What we did. What we fought for. Our history. Who we are. They won’t teach it in schools. They don’t want us to have a history.’

Keep reading... – KJ

🎨 Toni Morrison’s backlist will get a paperback makeover.

🧩 Merriam-Webster has a new word game for you to manage your obsession with Wordle.

😳 A popular kids’ book series has been pulled over a weblink to a pornographic website (the link here goes to the story, not to the website in question—in case you were worried).

⍰ What did Jane Austen think about slavery?

💸 Book wholesaler Baker & Taylor plans to shut down, which could get verrrry messy.

🛁 Go from bath time to cozy reading time with this super-plush robe, 48% off right now.**

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Written by Jeff O’Neal, Rebecca Schinsky, and Kelly Jensen. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.

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