Book Riot - The Podcast

Jeff and Rebecca wrap up recommendation season.

Discussed in this episode:

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Julie Otsuka

Susan Choi

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

The Hike by Drew Magary

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

Kin by Tayari Jones, go back to

Fates & Furies by Groff

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Siracusa by Delia Ephron

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

From Scratch by Tembi Locke

Beautiful Runs by Jess Walter

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Go Like Hell

The Tusk That Did the Damage by Tania James

By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah

The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Hemingway

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Unbound by Steph Jagger

Riverman by Ben McGrath

In the Shadow of the Mountain

So Old, So Young by Grant Ginder

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez

Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham

Life in the Three Dimensions by Shegihiro Oishi

So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

Congratulations, By the Way by George Saunders

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

The List of Things That Will Not Change

The Vanderbeerkers of 141st Street By Karina Yan Glaser

Dragon Pearl

The Eyes of the Impossible

Daughter of the Deep

The Story That Cannot Be Told

Who is Government by Michael Lewis

Two Women Living Together by Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reily

The Sparrow,

Wild Dark Shore

Whidbey

The Dream Hotel

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers

Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

Interpreter of Maladies,

Tenth of December

Almost Famous Women

Lost in the City by Edward P Jones

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

Eat a Peach by David Chang

Life is Meals by James & Kay Salter

Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal

Go Gentle by Maria Semple

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Pincher Martin by William Golding

Black No More by George Schuyler

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

The English Understand Wool by helen dewitt

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel

Still Life with Woodpecker by Tim Robbins

Transcription by Ben Lerner

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

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Head to quince.com/bookriot for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too!
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Jeff and Rebecca talk about the 2026 Pulitzer prizes, best books of the year so far, summer book previews, and more of the week's book news.

Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Join The Book Riot Podcast Patreon for bonus content and ad-free listening.

Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life.

The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network.

Discussed in this episode:

Pulitzer winners

NYT best books of the year so far

5 publishers and Scott Turow sue Meta & Mark Zuckerberg over AI copyright infringement

TikTok releases first BookTok bestseller list (note, UK only)

PW’s big summer preview

Greta Gerwig’s Narnia moves to 2027

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Thanks to our sponsor, Merit Beauty. Right now, Merit Beauty is offering our listeners their Signature Makeup Bag with your first order at meritbeauty.com.

Head to quince.com/bookriot for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Rebecca try to pick the It Book of May 2026.

Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Join The Book Riot Podcast Patreon for bonus content and ad-free listening.

Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life.

The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Thanks to our sponsor, Merit Beauty. Right now, Merit Beauty is offering our listeners their Signature Makeup Bag with your first order at meritbeauty.com.

Head to quince.com/bookriot for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 1 of our Spring 2026 Moms, Dads, and Grads recommendations extravaganza.

Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Join The Book Riot Podcast Patreon for bonus content and ad-free listening.

Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life.

The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network.

Discussed in this episode:

Emma Straub

Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Go Gentle by Maria Semple

Marie Helene Bertino

God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Abby Jimenez

Sarah McLean

The Hacienda by Isabel Canas

Claire Lombardo

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

Percival Everett. Maybe also

Matrix by Lauren Groff.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Small World by Jonathan Evison,

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Behind the Bedroom Wall by Larry Woiwode

Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol

Alone Time by Stephanie Rosenbloom

This Land is Your Land by Beverly Gage

The Women I Think About at Night by Mia Kankimaki

James by Percival Everett

Han Kang

Katie Kitamura

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

 Palaver by Bryan Washington

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante

Light Years by James Salter

Splinters by Leslie Jamison

Literary Theory by Terry Eagleton

Professing Literature by Gerald Graff

Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison

No One Tells You This by Glynnis MacNicol

Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed edited by Megan Daum

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Thanks to our sponsor, Merit Beauty. Right now, Merit Beauty is offering our listeners their Signature Makeup Bag with your first order at meritbeauty.com.

Head to quince.com/bookriot for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prof. Laura McGrath joins Jeff to talk about her new book, Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction. Literary agents try to stay out of the spotlight, but they shape what you read. We talk about why agents came into being, how they have developed over time, and how American fiction wouldn't be the same without them.

Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Join The Book Riot Podcast Patreon for bonus content and ad-free listening.

Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life.

The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Use code THEBOOKS for 20% off at Cozy Earth.

Go to quince.com/bookriot for free shipping and 365-day returns.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices