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Welcome to the Sunday edition of Today in Books, where we round up the stories readers clicked on the most this week. Come on in and catch up!
Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2024
Going to to a little longer one just one story today. My second favorite best of list just dropped (I won’t keep you in suspense: the NYT’s 100 Notable Books list is #1), and Everett is the cover, continuing James‘s romp through the early going of awards/best-of season. I had a reader email from someone inside the business saying James was going to sweep in a way we may never have seen anyone sweep before. The blurb for why James is one of the 10 Best Books of the Year from this PW list I think gets it exactly and succinctly right: “Everett has ascended to blockbuster status without leaving behind what makes him special.” Wish I had put it so well.
November’s Best New Releases
The last two months of the year tend to be on the quieter side for new books, and that is doubly true in election years, when publishers are rightfully concerned about competing for readers’ time and attention. Nevertheless, this November will bring some exciting releases, including a contemporary romance from BookTok’s reining romantasy queen, Rebecca Yarros and—high on my list—a new book from Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Barnes & Noble Picks Its Best Books of 2024
B&N is out of the gate first among the major makers of annual (and semi-annual, and monthly, and, and, and) best books lists. This year, they’ve dialed back on the the more bespoke (precious?) categories from last year and gone back to familiar genres, though with a couple of notable wrinkles. First: “smart thinking books” becomes a category for the sort of non-fiction that encompasses productivity, idea-forward business books, and other kinds of books that are non-academic, but claim to help you understand the world, and yourself better. That long, fuzzy description shows that “smart thinking” is a good moniker.
Second, and this is a first as far as I can remember, there is a section for the best Spanish language books of the year. This is a) very cool and b) another manifestation of something I have been told by major publishers themselves–they want to get into the lives of more Spanish-speaking readers and also Latinx people who don’t speak/read Spanish. Trend to watch in 2025 and beyond.
Scribd Hits the Limit on “Unlimited”
Everand, the ereading platform from Scribd, Inc., has pivoted away from its unlimited subscription model in favor of a two-tiered credit system. Under the new model, all users retain unlimited access to magazines, podcasts, and a select catalog of ebooks and audiobooks. The new Standard plan ($11.99/month) includes access to one premium title, while the Plus plan ($16.99/month) unlocks access to three. The move comes as Scribd has negotiated expanded licensing of Big Five titles and eliminated the waiting period between books’ public releases and when they become available on Everand.