Book Riot – The Podcast

Episode: On Putting Together a Best Books of the Year List

Date: November 17, 2025
Hosts: Jeff O’Neal with guest host Vanessa Diaz

Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, Jeff O'Neal and guest Vanessa Diaz (sitting in for Rebecca Schinsky) take listeners behind the scenes of how Book Riot assembles its anticipated “Best Books of the Year” list. The conversation weaves through Book Riot’s editorial processes, the complexities and philosophies behind year-end book lists in the industry, recent major award winners like the Booker Prize and Barnes & Noble Book of the Year, and the ever-shifting landscape of reader-driven lists such as the Goodreads Choice Awards. The episode’s warm, lightly humorous tone—plus engaging reflections on translation, AI in publishing, and personal reading goals—makes this a must-listen for anyone who wonders how annual best-of book lists come together.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Anatomy of Book Riot’s “Best Books of the Year” List

• List Construction (03:33):
  • Book Riot’s process is a blend of staff nominations and submissions from a wide contributor network.
  • The list "can get pretty big," nearly 60 titles for 2025, having almost doubled from initial nominations.
  • Vanessa, as managing editor, oversees the intricate selection and reduction process.
  • The list intentionally embraces "idiosyncratic" and “delightfully weird” tastes, reflecting the contributors' wide-ranging reading interests.
  • Discussion about whether to mimic others (like the New York Times, which lists 100 notables and then ten best), or have a staff-vs-contributor list division, but each approach has trade-offs.

“Our people read so widely and made such compelling cases for why this particular book was impactful to them this year, that it ended up as big as it did.” — Vanessa Diaz (06:50)

• Methodology Transparency (04:26):
  • Jeff notes that providing a detailed methodology for such lists is essential, and that Book Riot’s process stands out for its diversity and breadth of voices, especially compared to more centralized lists.
  • Bookstore lists—Barnes & Noble’s in particular—use store voting for winners, emphasizing community engagement over editorial curation alone.

“I think methodology, a link to methodology for all these year end lists would be very helpful.” — Jeff O’Neal (04:26)

• Challenges of Curating a Top Pick (07:43):
  • Book Riot has considered, but not implemented, picking a single definitive “Book of the Year”—debating whether to limit voting to staff or open to contributors.
  • The discussion highlights the tension between editorial authority and inclusivity.

2. Reflection on Award Lists & Major Industry Picks

• Booker Prize 2025: Flesh by David Salay

  • Rebecca has started the book and was "bothered" by the protagonist’s affair with a woman aged 42—a running joke about reckoning with aging. (17:01)
  • The book is praised for its innovative narrative structure—told through multiple points of view, mythologizing the protagonist—which intrigues Jeff and Vanessa.
  • Vanessa, pivoting back into literary fiction after genre-heavy reading, finds several Bookers this year compelling.

• Barnes & Noble Book of the Year: Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Lesser (20:13)

  • A translated novel about a young girl going blind, taken on weekly museum visits by her grandfather—a deeply emotional premise.
  • Discussed as an example of a title that "came from the bottom up" rather than from publishing hype.
  • Book evokes comparisons with high-emotion “heartstring-tugging” novels like Tuesdays with Morrie.

“But this feels like a real underground hit. Like it really came from the bottom up. I didn’t see anything about this...” — Jeff O’Neal (21:47)

3. Broader Reflections on Year-End Lists & Industry Constraints

• “Impossible to Cover It All” (13:11):
  • Even large outlets like the NYT, Publishers Weekly, or Kirkus can’t read everything—especially indie/self-pub and niche genres.
  • If a list has odd omissions or inclusions, it may reflect stretched staff, editorial preferences, or simple chance.

“The eternal truth of our business is it’s an impossible field to cover. It's just...so, so many books...” — Jeff O'Neal (13:11)

• The Value of Backlist & Unusual Lists:
  • Ideas floated for “non-required” or alternative lists—limiting to books with small print runs, or excluding major publishers.
  • Jeff and Vanessa muse about a Goodreads-style list for backlist books (33:35), given the impact of platforms like TikTok in reviving older titles.

4. Insights on the Goodreads Choice Awards & Genrefied Lists

• Romance Category Critique (28:10):

  • Vanessa comments on the diversity problem, specifically the redundancy of one author (Ali Hazelwood) appearing twice, when more diverse authors could have been featured.
  • Agrees that Goodreads could do more editorial curation before handing the vote to the public.

• 2025: No Runaway Book of the Year (30:19):

  • Laments the lack of a dominant, breakout title (unlike previous years). In both literary and genre fiction, the year felt fragmented, with no single book taking the crown.

• Genre List Observations:

  • Vanessa mentions that for genres, she follows outlets like Tor.com and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for best-of picks but notes a disconnect: “Why didn’t I read any of the things on these lists? … it came down to when it came out.”

5. Tech & Translation: AI Enters Publishing

• Amazon Kindle Translate Announcement (37:51):
  • Free AI-powered service lets Kindle Direct Publishing authors translate books between English/Spanish and German/English.
  • Vanessa is skeptical—AI translation can’t capture nuance, and translators lose work.
  • Worries about future prevalence of “bad” translations.

“Translating is not just a matter of this word in English is now this word in Spanish, as we all know.” — Vanessa Diaz (40:05)

• AI-Generated Kindle Books?
  • Jeff describes buying a suspicious SAT-prep ebook that repeated question structures identically—he suspects it was generated by AI. (42:49)
  • Despite lots of reviews and a high rating, the repetitive errors and patterns seemed clear.

“So I, who am a. I would say a high information buyer of books... totally fell for it. Totally fell for it, Vanessa.” — Jeff O’Neal (44:55)

Notable Moments & Quotes

• On Weird and Wonderful Lists:
  “Ours is…delightfully weird in a way I think people come to expect from us.” — Vanessa Diaz (08:00)

• On Reading and Age:
  “One of my favorite bits is that Rebecca realizes that she is aging… Sophia Loren was what, 37 in The Graduate? And that's a hard pill to swallow.” — Jeff O’Neal (17:01)

• On Book Trends:

  • Vanessa notes a resurgence of books about art and museums, possibly linked to current events (e.g., art heist news) and a cultural turn toward “high culture” during uncertain times. (25:21)

• On End-of-Year Reading and Aspirations:

  • Both hosts talk about “blitz” reading to catch up for year-end lists (51:51), acknowledging ambitious aspirations that inevitably compete with page counts.

Timestamp Guide to Major Segments

[01:04] - Jeff and Vanessa open; Book Riot’s end-of-year “smorgasbord” and preview of upcoming list
[03:19] - Behind the scenes: How Book Riot assembles their best-of list
[06:05] - Embracing “weirdness” and contributor diversity
[09:40] - List-making struggles; size vs. selectivity, staff vs. wider community
[10:53] - Genre-specific best lists and reading coverage
[13:11] - Publishing's impossibility: "the eternal truth" about covering all books
[17:01] - Booker Prize winner “Flesh”; Rebecca’s reaction; literary ambition
[20:13] - Barnes & Noble Book of the Year: “Mona’s Eyes” deep-dive
[28:10] - Goodreads Choice Awards—Romance picks and diversity critique
[33:35] - Should there be a “backlist” or “discovered-this-year” award?
[37:51] - Amazon Kindle Translate & the limits of AI for translated literature
[42:49] - The problem of AI-generated Kindle books in the wild
[47:05] - Frontlist Foyer: What Jeff and Vanessa are reading right now
[52:10] - End-of-year reading blitz strategies and wish-lists
[53:29] - Vanessa’s love for The Secret History, podcast in-jokes, and the desire for a Muppet adaptation
[55:10] - Humor: Muppet-mania, podcast nerdiness, and listener shoutouts
[57:32] - Closing notes, holiday rec requests, preview of next week

Book Recommendations & Reading Plans

Vanessa’s Picks:

• Someone Is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez
  • A travelogue/meditation on cemeteries and the rituals of death, penned by a leading Latin American horror writer.
• Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman
  • Accessible, soapy history on Elizabeth I’s succession crisis—engaging even for non-history buffs.

Jeff’s Pick:

• Devouring Time: A Writer’s Life of Jim Harrison by Todd Goddard
  • A “writer’s biography” of the hard-living, genre-defying author. (Currently on sale in audio and ebook formats.)

Books They’d Like to Get to Before Year’s End:

• Mona’s Eyes
• One Day We Will All Have Been Against This
• The Loneliness of Sonja and Sunny
• Flashlight

Memorable Moments & Quotes (by Timestamp)

• (06:50) Vanessa Diaz: “Our people read so widely and made such compelling cases for why this particular book was impactful to them this year, that it ended up as big as it did.”
• (13:11) Jeff O’Neal: “The eternal truth of our business is it’s an impossible field to cover. It’s just...There’s just so, so many books...”
• (21:47) Jeff O’Neal: “This feels like a real underground hit. Like it really came from the bottom up.”
• (28:10) Vanessa Diaz: “There's a bit of a hoopla that I think I agree with that like Ali Hazelwood…is on here twice and folks were like, listen… did one author need to have two books on this list?”
• (40:05) Vanessa Diaz: “Translating is not just a matter of this word in English is now this word in Spanish, as we all know.”
• (44:55) Jeff O’Neal: “I, who am a…a high information buyer of books…I totally fell for it. Totally fell for it, Vanessa.”

Final Thoughts

This episode demystifies the year-end “Best Books” list production—revealing the editorial dilemmas, aspirational thinking, and fun quirks powering Book Riot’s own wide-ranging best-of list. Jeff and Vanessa provide witty commentary on industry trends, reader awards, list fatigue, translation, and the impact (and pitfalls) of AI on publishing—all with tangible love for books and the people who read them.

For those who haven’t listened:
You’ll walk away understanding the imperfect art behind every “Best Books of the Year” list, feeling inspired to create your own idiosyncratic reading goals…and possibly daydreaming about a Muppet adaptation of The Secret History.

Contact: podcast@bookriot.com
Find show notes & links: bookriot.com
Contribute your reading goals or holiday book requests!