We’re celebrating the 15th anniversary of Book Riot entering the independent literary media scene this October, and you’re invited!

• All month, we’ll be looking back on the last 15 years in books and publishing.
• Our readers, listeners, and followers are invited to join us on the journey, sharing more than a decade of literary controversies we’re still talking about, Book Riot’s best-kept secrets, and a mailbag special for All Access members.

Make sure you follow us on social (@BookRiot everywhere), subscribe to the Book Riot Newsletter and the Book Riot Podcast, and visit us at BookRiot.com for all of our 15th anniversary content.

Want an invite to our 15th Anniversary Mailbag Special? Unlock this bonus feature and more exclusives by becoming an All Access member.

For a limited time, we’re offering 15% off annual memberships, so now is a great time to join if you’ve been holding off.

Art imitates life in three very different explorations of American society leading this week’s new releases.

• Terry McMillan meets The Righteous Gemstones in Deesha Philyaw’s sharp and sexy send-up of Southern megachurch culture. This was one of my most-anticipated books of 2026, and it did not disappoint.
• Pachinko author Min Jin Lee returns with another critically acclaimed multigenerational saga, this time about a Korean American family navigating their own ambitions and the evolving definition of the American Dream.
• Malcolm Gladwell moves into the most serious territory with an examination of America’s gun violence epidemic.

Also hitting shelves:

• Your favorite horny hockey romance gets a gorgeous collector’s edition.
• A legendary reporter reveals his secrets.
• A hit-and-run accident sparks a spiritual awakening in a Pulitzer-winning poet’s latest novel.
• A young man takes a drug-fueled road trip to Canada in hopes of dodging the draft.
• Learn to bake anything with this comprehensive guide.

Bust your TBR with even more new titles. More of this week’s new releases. — RJS

Have you heard of the book club that was born from high-quality shoes? No? Well, Footnotes is a six-year-old book club with quarterly meetings that was started by the founders of the eco-friendly shoe brand Margaux.

• After starting their shoe company, the two leaned into their mutual love of books and created something more focused on community than retail. Thus, Footnotes was born, which has now partnered with authors such as Kiley Reid, Jenny Slate, and Belle Burden for in-person meetings. 

But the punnily-titled Footnotes isn’t the only book club that came from something unexpected.

• We’re used to it now, but back in the day, Oprah was first met with skepticism when she proposed discussing books on her show. The idea had come from her senior producer, Alice McGee, with whom she often discussed books.
• Their shared love of books has since totally transformed the industry, with Oprah’s Book Club playing an instrumental role in the success of many books in the last 30 years.
• Not only that, but we most likely have Oprah’s club to thank for Reese Witherspoon and pop star Dua Lipa’s book clubs. 

Apart from the many celebrity book clubs, this era seems to have them popping up everywhere, attached to all sorts of things.

• There are book club camps for adults—like Camp Bad Bitch Book Club and the Pages and Pines Retreat—where grown folks can gather à la summer camp for everything from bonfires to dance classes, archery, crafts, water activities, and more.
• The Congressional Cemetery in D.C. has its own book club—started by two cemetery workers on a whim—which meets every other month in the Historic Congressional Cemetery Chapel.
• There was even a book club centered around going topless that sought to change public attitudes around bare breasts, though it has since disbanded.

Sometimes, all you really need is a love of books, and the rest kind of just shakes out.—EE

It’s a tale almost as old as time, and it’s landing on Netflix this Friday.

John Steinbeck’s East of Eden is an epic, magisterial novel about fathers and sons, family legacies, and the question of free will.

• Based on the story of Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis, the substantial tome cemented Steinbeck’s legacy and contributed to his Nobel win a decade later.

The 1955 adaptation directed by Elia Kazan made James Dean a movie star, but it left a lot—like, two-thirds of the book—on the cutting room floor.

• The series adaptation arriving this week, directed by Kazan’s granddaughter Zoe, appears to be aimed at filling in some of those gaps.

Look for more emphasis on the monstrous madam, Cathy Ames, played by Florence Pugh, and a long overdue moment for Lee, the Trask family’s servant and resident philosopher, played by Hoon Lee.

• Mike Faist, Ciaránd Hinds, Christopher Abbott, Joseph Zada, Martha Plimpton, and Tracy Letts are among the big names rounding out the blockbuster cast.

Get a deep dive into East of Eden to prepare you for the show on Zero to Well-Read.

Last week, a single trading card of Dallas Mavericks young star Cooper Flagg sold for just over $8 million dollars. This is not Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth, but a young (though much-lauded) player yet to even make the NBA playoffs. But the juice was in the rarity: it is a one-of-one card, with a patch from the uniform Flagg wore during his first professional game. 

I’ve long wondered if publishers could do more to stoke interest in collecting books, which currently is the domain of aftermarket dealers. The Flagg card is a collaboration between the league (how else are you going to get the rights), the player (how else are you going to get the patch), and the card maker. 

Sports cards have a much longer history and a larger base of collectors, but could there be something here for the book industry? What if rather than John Green signing so many books that it loses meaning, there was some special 1:1 thing (or 1 of 10, but you get the idea) that you had a shot at if you bought a physical copy of the book? Maybe each comes with a bookplate or something, but there is also a Wonka-life element as well: maybe a section of the manuscript or a handwritten letter from Green’s editor or something from when they were working on his first novel. 

Maybe some folks would try to buy multiple copies for a shot at it, but what a special object really does is collect attention. You and I are never going to own that Flagg card or anything like it, but for some of you, you probably didn’t know who Cooper Flagg was until just now. See how that works? —JO

If you’re a bookworm with some wanderlust, a dream, and a few coins (or points) to spend, you’re going to want to bookmark this list: a book lover’s guide to the world’s most literary hotels.

The 11 highlighted properties offer a few different flavors of bookish appeal, from boasting famous authors among their esteemed guests to features like private libraries or partnerships with local bookstores.

You don’t need a passport to book (heh) your stay, with plenty of U.S. options to choose from:

• New York has a couple of bookish hotels, including one with over 60,000 books on the premises and a 24-hour reading room offering coffee, tea, and snacks .
• In New Jersey, Hilton restored a 1918 building just off Princeton’s campus and made it a book lover’s cozy paradise, one whose lobby resembles an old-school campus library.
• In New Orleans’ French Quarter, the hotel where William Faulkner wrote The Sound and the Fury is also home to the cocktail bar favored by Truman Capote.

If you are in the mood to globetrot, consider:

• A lux hotel in the Bavarian Alps with its own bookstore, dedicated library spaces, and a whole calendar of literary events.
• For a warmer locale, a Grand Cayman resort offers a Library by the Sea, where patrons can pair books with cocktails made with vintage spirits inspired by famous works of fiction

Dream up your perfect bookish itinerary with the full list. —VD

Did you know? While serving in the Spanish Navy, Cervantes was captured by Barbary pirates and was held prisoner for five years before he was ransomed.

Another novelist has been accused of using AI to write an award-nominated book.

Plan your October reading with 26 picks from the New York Times.

Take a sip of these fantasy books about potions, poisons, and brews.

These hard-to-find books are so worth reading.

Anna Kendrick is hyped about directing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

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

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