Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

Barnes & Noble Picks Its Book of the Year

This year’s Barnes & Noble’s book of the year had been popping up a little even before it was one of the retailer’s finalists. And Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser feels a little like a throwback. It’s a novel about a a girl who is losing her vision and her grandfather’s quest to show her works of art, one a week for a year, across Paris’ museums. The cover is a close-up of a painting that appeared on another crossover breakout, and the theme of sucking the marrow out of life on the precipice of loss is not without precedent among books that have become sensations. And its publisher, Europe Editions, had a global bestseller that had a similar bittersweet, affirming message. Intrusive thought: did attention for this book have anything to do with people getting excited about the Louvre because of this?

You Can Stay in the Goodnight, Moon Room.

Is this the stuff of dreams or nightmares? Probably depends on how many times you have read Goodnight, Moon in the middle of the night to try to get a squirming toddler to go to sleep. The room is available for booking through February, 2026, but I have to admit I had a hard time finding a night that was available. In addition to the vibrant green walls and uncannily accurate furnishing, you will get a book-faithful bowl of mush. And if you read Goodnight, Moon in the Goodnight, Moon room, you might just rip a hole in the space-time continuum.

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Time’s 100 Best Books of the Year

Time puts together a nice browsing experience for its Best Books of the Year List. Good breadth that seems to pretty much cover the waterfront of books that have been in the conversation this year. If I were Czar of Books though I would institute the following: if you have a list of more than 50 books, you have to name a top 10. Curate your curation, folks.

The Year is Not Over Yet, Though.

Believe it or not, there are still books that have not been released this year, and while they were considered for the big year end lists, they haven’t made it in front of all of us yet. There might be something here that jumps your reading queue still.

The post Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year Feels Like a Throwback. In Good Way. I Think. appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

Barnes & Noble’s Discover Prize Finalists

Barnes & Noble has selected the six finalists for its Discover Prize celebrating new writers. The most recent winners of this prize were The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (2023) and Swift River by Essie Chambers (2024 – I read it and loved it). Here are the finalists for the 2025 Prize:

• Tilt by Emma Pattee: a woman nine months pregnant reflects on her life and uncertainties as she walks the wreckage of Portland, OR after a big quake, bearing witness to humanity along the way.
• The Artist and the Feast by Lucy Steeds: A young journalist spends time with a reclusive artist and his niece and, together, they unlock long-held secrets and new passions.
• Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin: Race, class, and history clash as a queer Black Stanford graduate arrested for cocaine possession wrestles with himself in his hometown of Atlanta and New York’s underworld.
• Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee: A woman undergoes a journey of grief and healing after learning her husband has been having an affair and that she has breast cancer; she names the tumor after the other woman.
• Lonely Crowds by Stephanie Wambugu: The story of a lasting but volatile friendship that forms between the child of recent immigrants to New England and a Panamanian orphan, from their years as scholarship kids at a Catholic school through their adulthood in New York’s art scene.
• Kaplan’s Plot by Jason Diamond: A listless, unsuccessful man returns to Chicago and, through unraveling the mystery of his gangster grandfather, opens the door to a brighter, more honest relationship with his dying mother.

Congrats to all of the finalists!

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Michael Crichton’s Estate v. The Pitt

Please don’t take one of my favorite shows away! I white-knuckled my way through the first season of The Pitt, following a Pittsburgh ER through the most intense shift, and was blown away. I first caught wind of a legal storm brewing over the show from my colleague and fellow armchair doctor, Vanessa, who mentioned there was some dispute about the show being a little too inspired by that other hit hospital drama, ER. I have never watched nor paid attention to ER so it was news to me that The Pitt star and creator Noah Wyle was the star of ER. Well, Michael Crichton wrote the screenplay for the ER pilot and his estate has intellectual property rights to the show. Before The Pitt became a thing, Wyle was in discussions with the Estate and Warner Bros. about an ER sequel that was on the cusp of being made before it fell apart over disagreements. Now, Sherri Crichton, the Jurassic Park author’s widow, is suing, alleging, in essence, that The Pitt is that ER sequel in thin disguise. Whoof. Read all the details here.

Scholastic to Launch Streaming Service

The publisher made famous by its book fairs has announced the launch of a streaming app for kids and families. The app will include more than 400 hours of ad-supported content from its IP catalog, including The Magic School Bus, Goosebumps, and The Baby-sitters Club. You can download the app and start streaming nostalgic content if you have Roku or Amazon Fire TV. Read more about it here.

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The post Barnes & Noble’s Discover Prize Finalists Celebrating New Writers appeared first on Our Story Insight.