The Year in Review

Jeff and Rebecca look back at the books & stories that defined 2024.
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Discussed in this episode:
Book Riot’s TBR
The Book Riot Podcast on Instagram
The Book Riot Podcast Patreon
The 2025 Read Harder Challenge is live
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The dust settled as publishing’s earnings rebound in H1
Barnes & Noble is back, baby, and they bought a beloved indie
The Discourse:

Remember the moment when some people thought Taylor Swift wrote Argylle?

PRH dismisses Reagan Arthur & Lisa Lucas

NYT’s top 100 books of the century so far

NaNoWriMo’s PR fail with AI

only 20k serious readers of lit fic?

Coming Attractions:

Spielberg in talks to produce James adaptation directed by Taika Waititi

Liz Moore signs Sony deal for Long Bright River & God of the Woods

Meryl Streep in adaptation of The Corrections

Florence Pugh in East of Eden for Netflix

The Black List expands to fiction & highlights publishing’s most-wanted adaptations,

Book banning news:

Idaho library to become adults-only

High school shuts down library due to book banning law

Big Five and Authors Guild sue over Florida law

PRH hires a public policy role

Many states have banned book bans

In memoriam:

Daniel Kahneman

John Gierach

Edna O’Brien

Francine Pascal

Nikki Giovanni

Paul Auster

The #metoo trifecta of Cormac McCarthy, Alice Munro, and Neil Gaiman
The robots are coming:

authors sue Anthropic

Roxane Gay & Margaret Atwood among authors helping create AI reading guides

Number go up: US audiobook sales hit $2 billion in 2023
One to watch: ByteDance’s 8th Note Press to publish print books in 2025
This is why literacy matters: Florida dept of education recommends Pride & Prejudice as a book about American pride
Listener feedback award: the surprising origins of publishing’s seasons, Sophia’s It Books tracker
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