Book Riot – The Podcast

Episode Summary: "The Best-Selling Publishers of the Year, NBCC Finalists, Adapted Screenplay Oscar Noms, and more."
Date: January 26, 2026
Hosts: Jeff O’Neal & Rebecca Schinsky

Episode Overview

In this news-packed episode, Jeff and Rebecca wade through blizzards—literal and figurative—to bring listeners the latest in the book world. They discuss the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) finalist announcements, deep-dive into which publishers topped the bestseller charts in 2025, analyze the cultural sway of celebrity book clubs, break down Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nominees, and highlight notable new releases. Their discussion swerves (on purpose) from lobster hoarding during snowstorms to the existential challenges of modern reading, all while maintaining Book Riot’s characteristic blend of irreverence and industry insight.

Weather, January Blues &… Lobster?

Casual, Cozy Banter (00:40–07:28)

• Struggle with the New Year: Both hosts comically bemoan how hard it is to mentally transition to "2026," with Jeff botching years in various contexts and Rebecca relating existentially long Januarys.
• Richmond Snow Watch: Rebecca details pre-blizzard prep in Richmond—empty stores, neighborly onion trades, and, oddly, a run on lobster.
  • "I waited... because I got a tip on the local Reddit about which grocery stores were getting restocked overnight last night." (03:03 – Rebecca)
  • "A lot of people were buying lobster, which was fascinating." (03:29 – Rebecca)
• Nostalgia & Snow Day Rituals: Sledding, hearty meals, and cozy weekends get their due as the duo reminisce about the Midwest and the joys of a well-timed snow day.
  • "I am a menace on a sled." (05:19 – Rebecca)
  • "When I was a kid, sledding was the number one thing..." (05:25 – Jeff)

Housekeeping & Recent Episodes

(07:04–09:21)

• Zero Well Read Feed: Joy Luck Club episode highlighted for upending reader expectations about “what the book is.”
  • "Most of these books are not what people think they are if they have not read them. And the Joy Luck Club is one of those." (07:19 – Jeff)
• Upcoming Content: Jeff hints at a “patient zero” book for the “not what you think” phenomenon, likely tied to new adaptations.
• Patreon Teasers: Hot List first of the year incoming; conversation with author Gabriel Talent (about his new novel Crux) to follow—spoiler: "friendship novel and also about rock climbing." (08:43)

The NBCC Finalists: Why This Award Matters

(11:36–21:05)

Industry Calendar Placement

• The NBCC list bridges the post–National Book Award/pre–Pulitzer lull—giving it a unique position in the awards ecosystem.
• Both hosts confess they'd like all book awards to be announced before the year ends, but NBCC's timing still brings attention.

NBCC vs. Other Awards

• "It's a more consistent voting body... professional critics in some capacity." (13:12 – Jeff)
• Unlike the pulsing, ever-changing committees of other prizes, NBCC’s consistency appeals to Jeff & Rebecca.

Standout Fiction Finalists (14:03–15:05)

• The Antidote – Karen Russell

• Audition – Katie Kitamura (hosts’ favorite; rooting for a win)

• On the Calculation of Volume, Book Three – TikTok hit, omnipresent on lists

• We Do Not Part – Han Kang

• The Wilderness – Angela Flournoy

  "Honestly, like, I would be... interested in whichever one of these wins. I would be thrilled of course to have Audition finally win something..." (14:32 – Rebecca)

Discourse Around Series Length & Adaptations

• Longing for clarity: Series that are “Schrodinger’s Volumes”—not knowing when it ends is stressful for readers like Jeff.
• Martin Watch: The hosts lament George R.R. Martin’s public statements and “Shakespearean tragedy” levels of self-sabotage.
  • “It’s almost a Shakespearean tragedy... he really is in his own way, like, he can’t let go of the adaptations enough to focus on the writing.” (17:02 – Jeff)
  • Rebecca finds Martin’s “Steampunk Santa” moniker poetic.

NBCC’s Breadth

• The awards stretch into debut (John Leonard Prize), translation, memoir, criticism, etc.
• "Citation for excellence in reviewing"—a rare prize to see. (20:32 – Rebecca)

Libro.fm's New Annual Subscription & Audiobook Market Shifts

(21:05–24:58)

• Libro’s New Model: Now offers an annual, upfront payment option: 12 credits for $169.99/year (+ bonus credit), making it more competitive with Audible.
  • "If you're an audiobook person... you can just like set it and forget it." (22:51 – Rebecca)
• Supporting Bookstores: Upfront payments are best for indies—stores receive revenue at once.
• Both hosts consider shifting their audiobook allegiance to Libro.

Top-Selling Publishers of 2025: Surprises, and the Big Six?

(24:58–30:55)

• Publisher Ranking by Bestseller Count (not sales):
  • Penguin Random House leads hardcover fiction with 99 titles—"feels light" given their market share. (25:19)
  • Macmillan surprisingly takes second place in hardcover fiction (50 titles), likely boosted by its genre imprints.
  • Sourcebooks takes trade paperback crown—notable for a publisher typically considered indie, hinting at its potential “Big Six” status.
    • "I'm kind of wondering, when is publishing reporting—like what Publishers Weekly does—going to... include Sourcebooks in the Big X?" (28:50 – Rebecca)
  • Debate over whether industry media should formally acknowledge a return to a “Big Six” model as Sourcebooks’ commercial performance rivals or surpasses longstanding houses.

Celebrity Book Clubs: Curation, Not Conversation

(32:55–37:39)

• Katie Couric's Book Club? News flash: Nearly every huge substack seems to launch a “club.”
  • "We're approaching the place of, like, when everyone has a book club, no one has a book club. It's almost meaningless now." (33:44 – Rebecca)
• Real vs. ‘Book Club’ Experience: With thousands of “members,” these are plainly curated lists, not actual book clubs fostering conversation.
  • "We need a different word for it... it's namespace pollution." (34:07 – Jeff)
• Exceptions & Dynamics: Anne Helen Peterson’s Discord-based club attempts actual dialog at scale—but systemically, “book clubs” have become more like recommendation engines.

Barnes & Noble’s Resurgence

(39:01–41:13)

• Daunt’s Paperback Push: James Daunt faces criticism for steering B&N toward more paperbacks and fewer hardcovers, aligning with UK trends and consumer price sensitivity.
  • "He wants fewer hardcovers and more paperbacks. But this is the thing. That's what the Brits do." (39:36 – Jeff)
• Footprint Expansion: Over 700 stores, record new openings in 2026, all signaling a healthy market rebound—and possibly positioning for an IPO.

Analog Yearning & Disconnection from Social Media

(41:13–46:55)

• Noting a meaningful uptick in “bricking” phones (deliberately disabling smart features) as a backlash against aggressive advertising and AI on platforms like Instagram.
  • "Bricking your phone seems to have gone mainstream as a phrase..." (42:26 – Rebecca)
• "Not being online [is] the new status symbol," Jeff jokes, summarizing a growing trend to treat internet absence as aspirational.

Oscars 2026: Best Adapted Screenplay Noms

(48:08–54:45)

• Nominees:
  • Hamnet (from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel)
  • Train Dreams (Denis Johnson novella)
  • Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
  • One Battle After Another (adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland)
  • Begonia (a twist—adapted from a Korean sci-fi film, not a book)
• Hosts’ analysis:
  • Hamnet v. One Battle After Another as likely screenplay front-runners.
    • "The award is not ‘how good of an adaptation is it?’ The expectation is… the voting body is not familiar with any of the source material. It’s how good of a screenplay is it that happens to be based on [a preexisting work]." (50:13 – Rebecca)
  • “Grief porn” critique of Hamnet adaptation dismissed; both agree the book and film offer nuanced engagement with loss.

Book Recommendations & Recent Reads

(56:37–76:55)

Rebecca’s Audiobook Picks:

• Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

  • "It lives in [Year of Magical Thinking]'s long shadow... giving a different lens on something we're all going to deal with." (58:00 – Jeff)
  • Beautifully written reflection on grief, rituals, and the absence of communal structure for mourning.

• Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block

  • Memoir of a creative boy pulled into unregulated homeschooling by a well-intentioned but deeply flawed mother.

Jeff’s Recommendations:

• Palaver by Brian Washington

  • Novel about a Black man who immigrates to Japan, exploring estrangement, cultural identity, and fraught family ties.

• The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel

  • Philosophical look at personal finance—less “give up your lattes,” more about aligning spending with what genuinely brings fulfillment.
  • "What do I like better than [reading about] emotionally spare but close-to-the-surface books? Not a lot, Rebecca..." (68:31 – Jeff)
  • "With enough information, all behavior is explicable. If you don't understand behavior, you probably don't have enough information." (77:16 – Jeff quoting Housel, a concept from the book)

Special Interview: Gabriel Talent on Crux

(78:59–End)

Noteworthy Moments, Quotes, and Themes

On failure, creative struggle, and meaning in art, climbing, life:

• "Throwing away entire projects because they don’t work is soul crushing." (80:12 – Gabriel)
• After writing and discarding huge failed manuscripts, Gabriel found ‘Crux’ through personal crisis and the “reawakening” that fatherhood brought during the pandemic.
• The story focuses on two working-class teens, Dan and Tama, whose passion for climbing is a metaphor for pursuing any consuming dream—writing included.

On friendship:

• "Friendship is this undermined relationship... it's just not a relationship which in literature is often given very much weight." (93:17 – Gabriel)
• Climbing (and writing) is about the process, failure, and learning together, rather than solo accomplishment.

On risk, agency, and the American dream:

• The myth of safe choices: "If you do nothing, it's a riskless situation" is a fallacy. (102:03 – Gabriel)
• For the protagonists, the real fear is not failure, but a life unlived.

On “small mistakes, big consequences”:

• Whether in climbing or in life, one minor error can have cascading effects.

On depression & hope in fiction:

• "Depression is really hard to make present for readers... impossible to understand from the outside and almost impossible to overcome from the inside." (110:54 – Gabriel)

On perseverance:

• The need to “string enough days together” of doing what one loves, not because you’re “owed” success, but because the act itself is meaningful.
  • "Doing it makes it possible in a weird way that I cannot explain, but that is my experience." (121:18 – Gabriel)

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Most of these books are not what people think they are if they have not read them. And the Joy Luck Club is one of those.” (07:19 – Jeff)
• “It’s almost a Shakespearean tragedy… he can’t let go of the adaptations enough to focus on the writing.” (17:02 – Jeff, on George R.R. Martin)
• "We need a different word for it... it's namespace pollution." (34:07 – Jeff, on celebrity ‘book clubs’)
• "I'm kind of wondering, when is publishing reporting... going to... include Sourcebooks in the Big X?" (28:50 – Rebecca)
• "If everyone has a book club, no one has a book club. It's almost meaningless now." (33:44 – Rebecca)
• "Doing it makes it possible in a weird way that I cannot explain, but that is my experience." (121:18 – Gabriel Talent, on climbing, writing, and life)
• "All along writing gradually worse books because you have fewer and fewer people in your life and chasing awards that when you get them, you... feel you have only satisfied the minimum of your ambition." (125:15 – Gabriel Talent)

Segment Timestamps (Selective Reference)

• [03:03] – Lobster runs and snowstorm grocery anecdotes
• [07:04] – The Joy Luck Club isn’t what you think
• [13:12] – NBCC voting body analysis
• [21:05] – Libro annual subscription news
• [25:19] – PRH’s hardcover fiction dominance: “feels light”
• [28:50] – Sourcebooks: Is it time for the Big Six?
• [33:44] – "When everyone has a book club, no one has a book club"
• [41:13] – Rise of analog and quitting social media
• [47:58] – Oscar Best Adapted Screenplay nominees
• [56:37] – Rebecca reviews Memorial Days
• [78:59] – Gabriel Talent interview begins (Crux)

Closing Thoughts

As always, Jeff and Rebecca combine serious industry insight with bookish banter. This episode is a microcosm of the contemporary reading landscape: uncertainty and consolidation among publishers, a push-pull between analog and digital culture, the complicated legacy of awards and celebrity influence, and the reminder that the books we love are often far more complex than their reputation or marketing. Crux (Gabriel Talent’s new novel) becomes a perfect metaphor for all of it: whether in art, love, or climbing, meaning is found not in reaching the summit but in the daily, imperfect striving.

(You can find this and more at Book Riot – The Podcast or support their bonus content at Patreon.)