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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The Atlantic‘s Best Books of 2025
Alert alert! We have another major best books list in the ether. The Atlantic released a list of their picks for the 10 best books of the year. Hats off to any outlet able to whittle it down to so small a number. If you’ve been scouring all of the lists, you won’t find any surprises here and, as a note, this isn’t where one would turn for genre picks. Among the 10, we have books recognized by major literary awards and book clubs (A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar, for one), a Kirkus Prize winner (King of Kings, The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson), and the newest from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author (We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris). Are we now approaching the end of Best Books season? Who knows!
For the Historical Fiction Girlies
If you’re looking for a more specific, more historical fiction-flavored best of list, The New York Times has that for you (ahem, so do we). Historical fiction is eternally one of the most widely-read genres and the list includes some books you’ve probably seen everywhere, like The Antidote by Karen Russell, which was a National Book Award finalist this year alongside The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, also listed. We also have some books I certainly didn’t hear enough about this year, like This Here Is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry, a debut novel about plantation life in the Virginia Colony, and A Calamity of Noble Houses by Amira Ghenim, a multigenerational story of two Tunisian families. I am really surprised The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones isn’t on this list and wonder if it’s because it’s more heavily speculative? Can’t wrap my head around it. Check out the full list here.
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Chloé Zhao Speaks Shakespeare For Us All
I came across a clip of Chloé Zhao speaking to The New Yorker magazine about how a conversation with Paul Mescal changed the way she thought about Shakespeare and impacted the filming of the highly anticipated adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet. Hamnet (the film) writer and director Zhao, who doesn’t speak much English, said Mescal told her that, when Shakespeare is performed right, “you feel it in the body. The language is written like that.” This brief conversation about Shakespeare so succinctly and beautifully captured what I and I’m sure so many Shakespeare enthusiasts feel about The Bard’s works. I first encountered Shakespeare in the fourth grade playing Juliet (NO BIG DEAL) in our class production of Romeo and Juliet, and let me tell you I was no Shakespeare scholar back then but I felt Juliet’s balcony monologue and performing the work even at such a young age turned me into a Shakespeare fan. If you know someone who’s hesitant to enjoy a performance of a Shakespeare work because the language seems inaccessible, send them this clip.
Book Riot’s 2026 Read Harder Challenge
The time has come! For all of you who enjoy a good reading challenge and are looking to broaden your bookish horizons, we have your 2026 reading goals. Our annual Read Harder Challenge begins at the top of the year and, to help you prepare, we’ve announced the 24 challenge tasks. As always, we lean on inclusivity, originality, and fun to make your reading life more thoughtful, interesting, and engaging. Hop on in and check out what’s in store for the 2026 Read Harder Challenge.
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