Jeff and Rebecca talk about a bunch of mid-year lists: best-ofs, best-selllers, and more. Then Erica Ezeifedi talks to Rodney Freeman, former librarian and producer of the documentary Are You a Librarian, about the rich & overlooked history of Black librarianship in the US.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Sign up for the Book Riot Podcast Newsletter and follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky.

Get more industry news with our Today in Books daily newsletter.

Looking to elevate your reading life? Tailored Book Recommendations delivers reading recommendations hand-picked just for you by real human book nerds. Plans start at just $18!

The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network.

Discussed in this episode:

Book Riot’s best books of 2025 so far

The top 10 bestselling books of the year so far

Bookshop’s bestsellers of the year so far

Constance Grady explores whether there actually is a crisis with kids’ reading

Sarah J. Maas has completed the first draft of the 6th ACOTAR book

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices