On Putting Together a Best Books of the Year List
Book Riot - The Podcast
11/17/25
•57m
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Vanessa Diaz sits in for Rebecca this week and talks to Jeff about the challenges of making a best books of the year list before getting into the news of the week.
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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:
Check out Zero to Well-Read!
Amazon’s best books of the year
David Szalay has won the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel Flesh
B&N’s best book of the Year is Mona’s Eyes
The 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards.
I’m bookmarking this deep dive into the fashion industry’s recurrent interest in literature for knife-and-fork reading this weekend
Reader’s Digest asked three professional designers to pick the best book covers of the year
Somebody is Walking On Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez
Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman
Devouring Time by Tod Goddard
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Flashlight by Susan Choi
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Previous Episode
Fall Media Diet Check-In (Plus Other Life Pursuits) [Teaser]
November 14, 2025
•6m
This is a bonus preview of our Patreon-only episode in which Jeff and Rebecca talk about what they've been doing with their lives recently, outside of the world of books.
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Next Episode
What is Magical Realism?
November 19, 2025
•58m
Vanessa Diaz is back to talk with Jeff and Rebecca about what magical realism is, where it comes from, and how to talk about it.
Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
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:
Check out Zero to Well-Read!
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriela Garcia Marquez
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Labyrinths or Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
The Storyteller’s Death by Ann Dávila Cardinal
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
Magical/Realism by Angelica Villareal
The Week of Colors by Elena Garro, Megan McDowell (trans.)
The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, Christina MacSweeney (trans.)
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