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Book Riot - The Podcast
The Hot List for June 2026
00:42:47
Rebecca and Vanessa break down the books topping the best-of and bestseller lists as we near the halfway point of the year.
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- [00:00]
Rebecca Schinsky
This podcast is supported by Merit Beauty. I'm always trying to streamline my getting ready routine and I have to tell you, if something takes too many steps or requires me to have precise skills, I'm probably not going to do it. That's just one of the reasons that I've really been liking Merit Beauty lately. Merit is a minimalist beauty brand that makes elevated makeup and skin care minimalist and Elevated is kind of my whole philosophy in life. It's everything I aspire to. So Merit Skincare that's designed to help you look put together in minutes is perfect.
- [00:32]
Vanessa Diaz
Perfect.
- [00:32]
Rebecca Schinsky
For me, everything is really intuitive and easy to use. It's very much a less is more approach, which is my only approach. I've especially been using the Minimalist, which basically replaces both foundation and concealer in one step, along with their Flush Balm, which gives you that natural, healthy glow without looking like you're overly made up. And on non makeup days I just reach for their great skin serum because it gives that fresh, hydrated look with no effort. I also love that Merit's products are clean, vegan, cruelty free, and made with skincare ingredients that actually leave your skin looking better over time. Right now, Merit Beauty is offering listeners a free signature makeup bag with your first order at meritbeauty.com that's M E R-I-T beauty.com for a free signature bag with your first order.
- [01:18]
Vanessa Diaz
Merit beauty.com the 2026 FIFA World cup
- [01:22]
Rebecca Schinsky
meal at McDonald's is underway with one of nine legendary cups in the lineup. Christian Pulisic, David Beckham, Lam Mino Mall,
- [01:30]
Narrator
Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Son Hyung Min, Alphonso
- [01:35]
Rebecca Schinsky
Davies, Santi Jimenez and between the posts, it's Grimace. Get one of nine collectible cups with
- [01:43]
Narrator
a FIFA World cup meal at participating
- [01:45]
Rebecca Schinsky
McDonald's for a limited time while supplies last. All rights reserved. 2026 McDonald's at FIFA World Cup 2026. You're listening to the Book Riot Podcast. I'm Rebecca Schinsky. I'm here this week with our managing editor Vanessa Diaz while J is on vacation. Vanessa, thanks for hopping back in the sidecar with me.
- [02:06]
Vanessa Diaz
I gotta say, I think I've been set up to fail because I decided to go back and listen to the last episode of what we're about to Do Today and realize that I have to compare with Emotional hentai and that is just a strange chair to be sitting in. But I'm still happy to do it. Very happy to be here.
- [02:22]
Rebecca Schinsky
You never know what's going to come out of Jeff's mouth when he's had a long day and it's feeling kind of punchy. We had recorded so many episodes in that like two or three day stretch where that happened. So Jeff is off running around Europe and hopefully getting refreshed and we are here together to do this month's installment of the Hot List. This is what is everybody talking about trending books this month? If it's your first time hearing a Hotlist episode, we're talking about award winners, books that maybe are big on pre order even though they're not coming out for a while, bestsellers, book club picks, adaptations, stuff that Booktok is really into and sometimes it's even backlist that got a big relevance bump from whatever is going on in the news. We've got got some updates on frequent flyers of the Hot List and some new titles that have joined this month and we will get into all of that after this first break. This episode is sponsored by Eleven Reader. It's an award winning audio app with more than 100,000 premium titles. Stick around after the show to hear an excerpt from their upcoming audiobook edition of the Odyssey. You know that feeling when you're excited about a new book? You hit play on the audiobook and the narrator just kills it. And not in a good way. Maybe the voice doesn't fit the story, maybe it's flat. Sometimes the ebook doesn't even have an audio version yet. 11 reader helps with that. It's a brand new audiobook app that features over 100,000 titles from bestsellers to hidden gems, guilty pleasures, you name it and here's what's making it different. For many of those titles, you can choose the voice. With over a thousand stunningly natural narrators, you pick the one that fits the story. They have iconic voices like Michael Caine, Burt Reynolds or Maya Angelou with voices that read to you aloud. You can set a sleep timer. You can even add background soundscapes so that thriller actually sounds tense and the romance actually sounds warm as you drift off to sleep. The best part is it starts at 8:25amonth for 20 hours of premium audiobook listening. And no limits on turning your own text like PDFs or documents into stunning audiobook quality listening. Try it for free search 11 reader on the app Store or visit their website to get started with 10 hours. Yours for free 11 reader that's 11 reader in the app store to get 10 hours for free free. Start today. Again, stick around after the show to hear an excerpt of the Odyssey, their new audiobook production.
- [04:49]
Vanessa Diaz
Today's episode is brought to you by 11 Reader, an award winning audio app with more than 100,000 premium titles plus any PDF article or document you bring. So 11 Reader is having us rethink what we know about audiobooks in a good way. The new award winning audiobook app comes with more than a hundred thousand premium titles and the ability to turn any text you want into natural sounding audio. That means eBooks, PDFs, docs, articles, research papers, anything can become an audiobook. Plus, it's cheaper than Audible and gives you more hours. So you can get 20 hours of premium audiobooks for as little as$8.25 a month with the annual membership. There are no credits and there's flexibility to switch between books whenever you'd like to. You can choose from bestsellers by publishers like HarperCollins, Blackstone and more. There are also hidden gems, niche genres and more. All yours to explore in the app. Start with a free 10 hour trial today and hear the difference. Just visit 11 reader.com that's E L E V E N R-E-A--E-R.com thanks again to 11 reader for sponsoring this episode. Today's episode is brought to you by Penguin Young Readers, publisher of the Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham now this is kind of like a retelling that's like magical and whimsical and it's like it's Sleeping Beauty, but it kind of has essence of Alice in Wonderland. You'll see what I mean in a second. So it's been a century since Gildan's last heir fell into an enchanted sleep and the kingdom has crumbled into ruin. Corin, skeptical thief, ventures underground to find her missing sister Ellie, who ran away searching for the legendary sleeping Princess. Instead, Corrin discovers a portal into Princess Amelia's subconscious and follows Ellie inside. In a dream world of ice castles, sunflower mazes and starfield seas, the sisters meet Briar Rose, who is, get this, Emilia's whimsical alter ego, and Malicene, a sharp tongued demon with a gift for magic. But beneath the paradise lies dangerous secrets waiting to awaken. So this is a lush and thrilling fantasy reimagining of sleeping beauty from YouTube star Cindy Pham. It sounds fabulous. Make sure to pick up the Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham. And thanks again to Penguin Young Readers for sponsoring this episode.
- [07:23]
Rebecca Schinsky
All right, Vanessa, we're going to start with Theo of Golden by Alan Levy and the Correspondent by Virginia Evans, which have been on the hot list for as long as it's existed, which is really only three or four months in this form here on the main feed. This is a feature that grew out of our Patreon feed. Where are you on Theo of Golden? Do you know anything about this?
- [07:44]
Vanessa Diaz
I only know about it because we have a post that is sort of hotlist adjacent that goes up on the site every week that's the bestselling books of the week. That is Danica Ellis joint, but basically is, you know, covering all the bestsellers. And these two books in particular just docked at the top of that list and have been pretty consistently for much more than three months, like over and over again. So finally one day, Theo of Golden, in particular, the correspondent I had started to know a little bit about. And maybe it's because the title kind of gives a little bit away of what I was getting into, but Theo of Golden is just proof that you can be really entrenched in the book world and still have something completely bypass you. And I didn't know anything about it, like, not even a smidge. When I saw it popping up on bestseller lists, I was like, oh, okay, so, like, now I know what it is, but have I read it? No. Here we are.
- [08:30]
Rebecca Schinsky
It was also a surprise to me. I was just telling you off mic that I spent the weekend at a resort not far from Richmond just having a little decompression getaway. And I saw several copies of Theo of Around the Pool. So I can speak to this is out in the world. It has been knocked out of the number one position on the New York Times combined print and ebook list by none other than Ann Patchett. We're gonna talk about her in a little bit. And it is currently number two on that list, so still doing quite well. It is number one on the New York Times paperback fiction list. If you are just catching up. Theo of golden is a paperback original, came out last year. It has been selling like hotcakes for the entirety of this, um, and it had dipped on the PW overall list, but it is back in that number one position this week. More than 49,000 units sold last week and it's closing in on a million copies year to date. That's not even counting everything that it sold in 2025. So just an undeniable huge hit for our boy Theo.
- [09:31]
Vanessa Diaz
One million year to date is bananas in June.
- [09:34]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, it's June.
- [09:37]
Vanessa Diaz
Like, toll premise of that book is one that if you had actually asked me sight unseen, I might have guessed that he was gonna do well, just. Cause it seems prime for the kind of thing that people, you know, the. Yeah, this is the setup of like the portraits and stuff. So like, I guess I get it. But I would never, ever have guessed that kind of number. I would have thought, oh, yeah, it'll be buzzy. A million. Yeah, go.
- [09:56]
Rebecca Schinsky
You never know. There is no predicting what's gonna be a big deal. Also, just to catch us up on the Correspondent by Virginia Evans, it seems to be lagging a little bit. It's in hardcover. That can happen even when a book big. So it has fallen out of Publishers Weekly's top 25 hardcover fiction books. But it's at number four on the New York Times hardcover fiction and number 13 on their combined print and ebook list. So, like, what does this tell us when a book falls off of a Publisher's Weekly list, which is constructed entirely by sales numbers but is still on a New York Times list? And my theory is like, this is where we see the New York Times list. Voodoo happening.
- [10:38]
Vanessa Diaz
Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
- [10:40]
Rebecca Schinsky
And it's not just about sales. That list is compiled by reporting from qualified bookstores, both chain stores and independent. And there is some kind of curatorial secret sauce that's happening. But the correspondent still getting some visibility there from the New York Times. And it was just named the winner of the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction. So we're seeing a combination of critical acclaim and sales for Virginia Evans continuing into this year.
- [11:10]
Vanessa Diaz
Did you end up getting any feedback on what people would call this brand of. I think you called it like older folks getting their groove back. Because I think Jeff referred to as like old people fantasy. So I was like, jefe.
- [11:24]
Rebecca Schinsky
And not that I've seen. I did pop. Usually, you know, Jeff checks our email, but usually I popped in there this morning and I didn't see any new suggestions for what we should call this genre. But I've been thinking a lot about a story that you and I are going to talk about on the news show later in the week where some researchers prompted LLMs to create like 20,000 stories. And the stories all contain like, they didn't prompt them to all contain similar things, but a ton of them ended up containing similar themes and similar ideas. And it seems that the headline there is that like AI generated fiction regresses to the like least offensive kind of story that will appeal to the most readers. Of course, the correspondent and Theo of Golden not AI generated that any of us are aware of. There have been accusations about that, but that lands they both land to me, they seem to have the flavor of like, this isn't going to offend anybody. It's very palatable, goes down easy. Not a lot of rough edges or things for readers to bump on. Maybe it's like smooth brain fiction. Although, is that. I don't mean that for that to be insulting, but I feel like someone is really mad at me already.
- [12:39]
Vanessa Diaz
Going for the jugular. Yeah, I think smooth brain fiction is absolutely going to take somebody off. I don't know.
- [12:47]
Narrator
There's.
- [12:47]
Vanessa Diaz
There's got to be some other way to put it, because I totally get what you mean. And like, palatable is the like, non, non gimmicky way of saying it. But yeah, it's just again, when like, the premise of both of these was one that I said, yes, I understand people who are looking, which is not a bad thing. But just to have, like a nice, enjoyable experience, it doesn't cause a lot of, like, mental friction.
- [13:04]
Rebecca Schinsky
There you go.
- [13:05]
Vanessa Diaz
Just, you know, go. But Frictionless, it works too. Yes.
- [13:08]
Rebecca Schinsky
Sorry.
- [13:08]
Narrator
Frictionless.
- [13:09]
Rebecca Schinsky
Sorry.
- [13:10]
Vanessa Diaz
Frictionless.
- [13:10]
Rebecca Schinsky
Of course, this comes out of my mouth when Jeff is on vacation and will not be running interference for me in the inbox.
- [13:18]
Vanessa Diaz
It's fine.
- [13:18]
Rebecca Schinsky
Starting off spicy. Let's carry on. Kin by Tayari Jones is returning to this list. She was on it early in 2026 when we were still doing this behind the Patreon paywall. But this was just named the best book of the year so far by Amazon editors. I took my victory lap for having called that in advance. It also appeared on the New York Times Best of the so far list, the Barnes and Noble list, the New Yorkers list, many, many others. And at the time of this recording, it is number 172 of all books on Amazon. Quite good. It has not returned to any of the bestseller lists, at least not yet. I would not be surprised to see that happen by the end of the year when this book is probably being nominated for awards and appearing on best of list. And I think we're going to be talking about Kins into next year, especially as its paperback release will hit. This is like, in that sweet spot of critically acclaimed, very popular with readers. It sells. Tayari Jones is just like, really in her bag right now.
- [14:25]
Vanessa Diaz
I love me some Tyree Jones. I also think that there's a, you know, TBD book. Riot's own list of best books so far is coming soon. And. Well, you know, I'm just gonna say that this book got nominated and there was definitely some, like, no, I want to talk about that book. No, I want to talk about that, but I want to talk about that book. And obviously one person, but, yeah, this is just one of those. It feels like it'll have a tail, even if it hasn't returned to the bestsellers. Like, it's just gonna keep on. It's Terry Jones. It'll just have a life, I think.
- [14:51]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, I think it will as well. All right, we mentioned at the top of the episode that Ann Patchett was responsible for knocking Theo of Golden out of that number one position over on the New York Times. Do you wanna tell me how Whistler, which is not really about a horse, is doing Vanessa?
- [15:07]
Vanessa Diaz
Oh, first of all, I've been calling it the Horse for two weeks, which is the total mistake. Anyway, Liberty talked about the Horse.
- [15:12]
Rebecca Schinsky
The Horse by Ann Patchett.
- [15:13]
Vanessa Diaz
No. And it's funny because Liberty, on the podcast that we record on all the books said, like, it's not called the Horse, even though it's got a cover. And that is all my brain needed to latch on to say, nope, this is. We're calling it the Horse.
- [15:23]
Rebecca Schinsky
So I wonder if Ann Patchett is having regrets because she was on it. Was either Colbert or Seth Meyers talking about this and, like, making sure that everyone knew that it was not a book about a horse.
- [15:34]
Vanessa Diaz
Yep. Well, then. Then that cover came out and, like, so sorry for you, but y. This is now number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list. It's number one on the combined print and ebook fiction list. So just number one. All the lists. Number two, a Publisher's Weekly overall, and apparently moved the same number of units in his first week as Theo of Golden moved last week for scale, which.
- [15:56]
Rebecca Schinsky
Oh, and about just under 50,000.
- [15:58]
Vanessa Diaz
I was gonna ask. Is it about that same. Yeah. And I can't remember if it was if Ann Patchett. I know, but she either blurred Theo of Golden or the Correspondent. So it's just fun to know that she's now, like, ha, ha, my turn.
- [16:09]
Rebecca Schinsky
Oh, yeah. I mean, she feels very in the same zone as Virginia Evans. And, like, I am having regrets. Live about even having paired Theo of Golden and the Correspondent together in my Frictionless category, because I do not think that they are of the same quality. I understand the Correspondent to be like, Jeff, really enjoyed it. Other folks I respect have really liked it. And of course, we're seeing awards come out for it as well. That feels very Ann Patchett Coded.
- [16:36]
Vanessa Diaz
Coded. Yeah. We're not yet seeing it on the PW hardcover fiction list, which does seem, again, like we there's, there's questions about how those, the way that these bestseller lists get compiled, as we always say in that best selling books post it talked about is to some degree just a black box of.
- [16:52]
Rebecca Schinsky
It's a dark magic.
- [16:53]
Vanessa Diaz
Yeah, we're like, cool. Every week we just sort of look at it and it goes sweet. But yeah, given the sales data, I do also wonder, but there's the lag in the way reporting gets done. Like you will, as you, I think you even said on this show, there's times when you're like, I know for sure this book is gonna land on this list and there's a whole week lag before you actually start seeing it trickle to others. So I wonder maybe next week, but we'll see.
- [17:13]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, we're recording this on Monday afternoon. The numbers might have been updated for Tuesday by the time this show comes out on Wednesday. So it's always a moving target. I made these notes originally last week and had to update a bunch of numbers this morning. So, like, as much as I would like to know exactly when and how these lists are controlled, it remains mysterious.
- [17:32]
Vanessa Diaz
The mystery mystery sauce.
- [17:34]
Rebecca Schinsky
One thing that is not mysterious is the success of Frida McFadden.
- [17:39]
Vanessa Diaz
You know, she is printing money.
- [17:42]
Rebecca Schinsky
She truly, she, she truly is. You know, Bob had this hat from like financial meme stock stuff that happened during COVID that said money printer goes brrr. And it was like, yep.
- [17:55]
Vanessa Diaz
Well, someone send that to her.
- [17:56]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yes. And that's what I'm thinking about for Freeda McFadden. She's always on the bestseller list, but she's got a new book joining the list this week, the Divorce. It's a paperback original that is out from Sourcebook. Good job. Sourcebooks on the paperback original that will help a book like this thriller that is a, you know, commercial, like really commercially marketed to sell very well. And indeed it is selling very well. It came out of the gate last week at number one on the PW overall list. It knocked out, or it was knocked out by Theo of Golden and Elle Kennedy, who we're going to talk about in a bit. It's currently at number four on the Publisher's Weekly overall list, number one on their paperback front list, and sitting at number three on the New York Times paperback list and number five on that combined print and ebook list. So we're in the top five on all the lists here for Frida McFadden. And she's got multiple other books on some of these other lists as well.
- [18:51]
Vanessa Diaz
Always shout out to her graphic designer who until this book, which actually did diverge for a while, I swear, was just like, this is the design. We're gonna switch out the font color and the background, but we're keeping it the same.
- [19:02]
Rebecca Schinsky
Otherwise, we're doing a visual brand with a good thing.
- [19:06]
Vanessa Diaz
Yeah. I was like, go, hey, collect that track. It's fine. People love. Have you ever read a Frida McFadd?
- [19:11]
Rebecca Schinsky
I was just about to ask you. I have not. I listened to, like, the first 30 minutes of the Housemaid, and that was enough for me to conclude that I don't think it's my flavor.
- [19:21]
Vanessa Diaz
I do love a thriller and every once in a while, want something even. And again, no shade. Again, I don't. Not yucking people's yum. But, like, I'll do, like, a thriller of this variety if I just kind of want, like, a little mental reset. But, yeah, I also tried to get into the Housemaid. It kind of wasn't working. Decided to watch the movie and decided Sydney Sweeney is maybe not my flavor.
- [19:42]
Rebecca Schinsky
Okay. Okay.
- [19:43]
Vanessa Diaz
I was like, I don't know. I'm not sure. I still watched it. It was, you know, a good enough time, but, like, somewhat predictable, I thought. But again, this formula's working for her. Like, she's just. Yeah, she's domestic thriller from all the angles. I feel like if I tried really hard right now, I could probably tell you what, like, five of the books was kind of about without really trying. And that is something people really like.
- [20:02]
Rebecca Schinsky
So I think somewhat Predictable might be a feature, not a bug here. Correct. I think I have been sort of earmarking the movie for a future flight. Like, at some point, I will be at 35,000ft.
- [20:14]
Vanessa Diaz
That is exactly the right move because there is some fun to be had. I think my brain was just trying to figure out what to do with Sydney Sweeney because for reasons of her kind of putting in very specific roles that are all about her physical appearance. And this was one where for a while, they tried to pretend that she was homely, which is just kind of a joke. And then, like, moved on to the. But no, she's not. And I don't know. I just wasn't sure. I really love Amanda Seyfried in general.
- [20:37]
I love.
- [20:39]
So I kind of was watching for her after a while, but there's an angle to the way they treat the. Like, yeah, watch it on a plane. And Frida McFadden keep on printing that cash because, again, it's working for her. So go off.
- [20:51]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yes. Yeah. And I'm glad that Amanda Seyffrit is out there getting to have fun making movies like this after she's coming off of something like the Testament of Anthony eventually. We both really loved and kind of had our socks knocked off by. But you know, make a thriller. Have a good time out there.
- [21:08]
Vanessa Diaz
Sure.
- [21:10]
Rebecca Schinsky
In the rare Romantasy appearance here on the hot List, we've got Anna Wong's Twisted series. These books have been out for a while, but there are new hardcover collector's editions of all four of the titles. They're called Twisted Love, Twisted Games, Twisted Lies, and twisted hate. All four of those dropped last week and all four of them made Publishers Weekly's top 25 hardcover fiction list with 40,000 copies in combined sales across those four. That's probably the work of a successful pre order campaign. Yeah, that's nice for those collector's editions, but we are watching this. Anna Wong, no stranger to these bestseller lists as well, her novel King of Gluttony has been floating around the PW Top 25 hardcover fiction list for the last couple of months. It just fell off. I wouldn't be surprised if it resurges, but we've seen that series. There have been a couple other Romantasy series that have popped in and that in addition to being like TikTok favorites, have really put up enough numbers to be making it onto this. I could not tell you the difference between any of Twisted Love, Twisted Games. Have you seen these?
- [22:22]
Vanessa Diaz
So this entire time when I looked at this agenda in my head had decided that they were the new Ana Huang series, which is the King of Gluttony. And those are all. Well, now I know a. That they're different in my head. I just combined them and yeah, the King series is one that's all based on. Each book in the series is based on one of the seven deadly sins. So like that is. I know that. And that reminded me because of this one, the one, the most recent one was called King of Gluttony. I went looking what the Twisted Ones were about because I was like, oh, okay, this is a different series. And I don't get. I want to say that the description I saw was like stories of trauma, redemption and revenge. And I was like, oh, okay, so got it. Like anytime this is trauma, I don't know if that's my specific speed. But again, it's a romance, I guess, you know, you're getting the hea.
- [23:06]
Narrator
Great.
- [23:07]
Vanessa Diaz
But I think that's where the Twisted part is coming in.
- [23:09]
Rebecca Schinsky
There's a lot of like, it's the whole dark romance Dark romanticism thing. I'm happy for everybody. If that's your jam. Carry on.
- [23:17]
Vanessa Diaz
I've heard she's lovely. I do actually want to read her at some point, but I did not know what the twist is. But, hey, go off, you've got a new series. And now this next one with the heart. Because usually me in the special editions, I'm like, ugh. But if that's putting some of her backlist back on the again, go ahead, collect your textbook.
- [23:32]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, it's impressive to see that happen. I did not know that with King of Gluttony, each one of those in the series was based on the seven deadly sins. I might regret asking you this, but, Vanessa, how many of the seven deadly sins can you name?
- [23:45]
Narrator
Ooh.
- [23:45]
Vanessa Diaz
I used to be able to rattle them off really easily, and now I'm like. I think in my mind I'm getting to like, five. Okay, maybe now I'm like, second guessing myself. There's greed. Wait. Yeah. Greed is separate from gluttony.
- [23:59]
Rebecca Schinsky
Okay, that's two.
- [24:00]
Vanessa Diaz
Is it lust?
- [24:02]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yes, lust is one. Envy.
- [24:05]
Vanessa Diaz
Envy, Exactly. And now I'm capping at four. Wait, Sloth. Yeah. I was like, sloth. And that is where my brain capped out.
- [24:12]
Rebecca Schinsky
That's all I've got to. All right, well, we got five out of seven.
- [24:17]
Vanessa Diaz
I'm only like five out of seven. Sinful. It's great.
- [24:20]
Narrator
Cool.
- [24:20]
Vanessa Diaz
But I really. The King of Bloody.
- [24:24]
Rebecca Schinsky
Is there going to be one called. Is there going to be one called King of Sloth?
- [24:27]
Vanessa Diaz
So I wonder how they're going to name them. Because I want to say that when I looked at the series, that they weren't necessarily all named outright for the sin. Or I could be wrong. But that when you look it up,
- [24:35]
Rebecca Schinsky
that's what it's about. So maybe it'll be something like idleness.
- [24:39]
Vanessa Diaz
I really would love for it to be called King of Sloth. That would just please me deeply. But I don't know for sure.
- [24:43]
Rebecca Schinsky
It's not about Sloth.
- [24:45]
Vanessa Diaz
No. And even this, I was like, what is the romance tie in here? And the conceit of that one is that it's a. I think a billionaire romance where the billionaire is the head of, like, a foodie. Like a food empire. Culinary empire. And the gluttony thing. Correct. Yeah. So that's where it comes in. Because I was curious where they were going to go with some of these sins. It's like gluttony feels like it could get kind of interesting. But, yeah, it's like he's at the top of an empire and, like, he's about to get disinherited or something. Something, something, something. So, anyway, great.
- [25:13]
Rebecca Schinsky
Have fun. I really also want it to be King of Sloth. And then she can go sit with Ann Patchett, and they can both be like, these books are not about animals.
- [25:21]
Vanessa Diaz
Not the horse and King of Sloth.
- [25:25]
Rebecca Schinsky
King of the Sloths is a whole other thing.
- [25:27]
Vanessa Diaz
I would buy that.
- [25:29]
Rebecca Schinsky
All right, let's jump into now our special segment called Everyone's Talking about this is sponsored by Random House, and we are featuring their Silver Elite series by Danny Francis. Speaking of dystopian romance, this one is sizzling. The first book is called Silver Elite. In the world of the story, psychic gifts are a death sentence. And there are rules to your survival. Trust no one, lie to everyone. And whatever you do, don't fall for your greatest enemy. You know she's gonna fall for him. You just do. Wren Darlington, the main character, has spent her whole life in hiding. She's honing her psychic abilities, and she is aiding the rebel uprising in small ways on the continent where they all live. Being modified means certain death, and Ren is one of the most powerful mods in existence. But when one careless mistake places her in the hands of an enemy, she is forced to join their most elite training program. And she is handed the perfect opportunity to strike a devastating blow from inside their ranks. So we've got, like, woman on the inside getting her revenge. There's a sequel called Broken Dove, in which Wren finds herself caught in the middle of two wars. One for the fate of her home and won Vanessa for the fate of her heart. Cause it, of course, is romance that's happening here. But the war is growing more brutal every day. And with her own role in the conflict becoming more essential, Wren has to confront these really difficult questions of who is she fighting for and who is she willing to lose? And these books have cliffhangers that are gonna make you ready to cancel your plans and jump right into the next read. So those are the Silver Elite books. Silver Elite and Broken Dove by Danny Franc. These were all over the place when they first came out. TikTok especially really loved them. And again, there are so many romanticies happening that it's really difficult for a title to break through and get that much traction for people to be chattering about it. So Silver Elite by Danny Francis. Definitely like broke Containment. And now that the second book, Broken Dove, is out, you can continue your journey here. What is the last book that you read that had, like, a Cliffhanger. That was good enough. You were just gonna cancel all of your plans? I'm curious.
- [27:49]
Vanessa Diaz
I was literally thinking. You asked a question I was trying to ask myself while you were talking. And I don't think I've actually ended on a cliffhanger in a really long time, because the books that I've. It's funny, you said a phrase on this show the last time on the Hot List that I was like, oh, I think that might be me. That you're, like, constitutionally averse to hype. I didn't always think of myself as doing that, but for me, it's often kind of the o' Neill's Razor of, like, series, where I'm like, eh, I'll wait until some of that has died down. So by the time I decide to pick up a book that I know ends on a cliffhanger, I'm like, eh, I can keep going. But the most recent one that I just now thought of, that is now concluded, so you can go are the Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson. Both of those first two end on, like, a.
- [28:32]
Rebecca Schinsky
Excuse me.
- [28:35]
Vanessa Diaz
And I did read those in real time, so, yeah, those are fine. I haven't read them.
- [28:39]
Rebecca Schinsky
It sounds like these Silver Elite books might be up your alley then, if you like. And I like the internal cliffhanger, like, where it's cliffhangers between chapters, because I don't want to be on the hook for waiting and waiting and waiting in between books. But at least here with the Danny Francis books, when you finish the first one, you can immediately go into the second one. So if those sound good to you folks, you just pick up both of them. And that is our everyone's Talking about segment. Thanks again to Random House. I'm sure that you can find Silver Elite and Broken Dove wherever books are sold. Vanessa, talk to me about Elle Kennedy. And off campus, it's like, oh, more
- [29:14]
Vanessa Diaz
horny hockey, people is the exact phrase that came out of my mouth when
- [29:19]
Rebecca Schinsky
I saw the title.
- [29:20]
Vanessa Diaz
Yes. I didn't, again, know much. I mean, I knew who E.L. kennedy is, and I knew that she had a series. But then, because that Amazon show started to get kind of put onto all my, you know, algorithms and was like, oh, this is off of a book series. And so, yeah, horny hockey is the absolute kind of the gist of what's going on here.
- [29:39]
Rebecca Schinsky
Of off campus, yes.
- [29:40]
Vanessa Diaz
Of off campus, yes. Three books in the top 10 on both of the major lists, which, again, big, big deal for this series.
- [29:50]
Rebecca Schinsky
I saw these by the pool as well this week.
- [29:52]
Vanessa Diaz
I was about to ask. Cause I saw them on a plane, so I was wondering if you saw them. So the deal, which is book one in the Off Campus series, is number three on the New York Times combined print and ebook list and number two on the paperback list, just behind our little view of golden that just keeps popping up everywhere.
- [30:07]
Rebecca Schinsky
I just love the. I don't know where is Jeff when I need someone to tell me if it's ironic or not. But the idea of the horny hockey books being the thing that might knock Theo of Gold off the list or just like.
- [30:18]
Vanessa Diaz
Or back down, pleasant, wholesome, is like, no, we want the hockey. We want it now.
- [30:24]
Rebecca Schinsky
I don't think it's the hockey that they want, Vanessa.
- [30:26]
Vanessa Diaz
I don't think so either. I'm just, I say, testing the bounds of what I can say on the show, knowing what I said at the top of the show about Jeff. Yeah. Anywho, people love them. Some morning.
- [30:35]
Rebecca Schinsky
It's a different stick
- [30:39]
Vanessa Diaz
scene. We're just keeping the jet vibe going. It's great. Oh, my gosh. But yes, back to Off Campus. It's also number three on Publishers Weekly overall, 42,000 copies in the last week. 42,000 copies again.
- [30:57]
Rebecca Schinsky
It's a lot of copies. And that's just the first book.
- [30:59]
Vanessa Diaz
Just the first book, yeah. Books two and three, which are the mistake and the score, also appeared on the Publisher's weekly top 10 and the new York Times paperback and combined print and ebook lists. So of course, as you probably have guessed from this, Amazon is really, really hoping to cash in on some of that heated rivalry phenomen with this. And from what I can tell, I don't know if it'll get quite as big and to a point, I actually hope it doesn't because Lore, the yes, the circle. We have gone on, baby.
- [31:25]
Rebecca Schinsky
We've got spicy.
- [31:27]
Vanessa Diaz
Real spicy. Every day I log on, there is something to do with that show that has tipped into the creepy. And I feel so bad. I mean, I feel I'm glad they have some fame, the main stars of the show, but, ooh, the theories people spin between the cast and the relationship. This is too much. So I hope.
- [31:44]
Rebecca Schinsky
I don't know what it is specifically about the horny hockey situation, but remember when that story broke a couple years ago in the times that like, actual hockey teams were having to be like, ladies, chill out.
- [31:57]
Vanessa Diaz
And there was one girl in particular who was like, vocally on Tick Tock Talk, like Sal, like saying really graphic.
- [32:03]
Rebecca Schinsky
It was just harassment. Yeah, yeah.
- [32:06]
Vanessa Diaz
Super. And when she was kind of called to the front for. I was like, no, I'm allowed to do that. And the talking player's wife had to be like, hey, that's my spouse. Yeah.
- [32:13]
Rebecca Schinsky
What a person who doesn't deserve to be objectified on the Internet. I'm really sorry to tell you that that is already happening to the stars of Off Campus. I saw that. I think it was the social media accounts for the show had to put out a thing that was like, hey, stop doing this. If you are gross in our comments, we are gonna block you. Everybody be cool. So let's just enjoy our horny hockey books and. And like. And be happy normal people, please. Please.
- [32:42]
Narrator
Geez.
- [32:43]
Vanessa Diaz
There's no horny hockey for you.
- [32:45]
Rebecca Schinsky
No horny hockey for you. Another new addition to the list this week is Night Objects by Eli Raphael. I just read this over the weekend. Yeah, I will tell you about it in a second. It was a surprise inclusion on Amazon's best books of the year so far list. It came in at number five. This is a debut mystery, thriller, suspense. It has a big blurb from Liz Moore, who's the author of God the Woods, which of course was a huge book. Was that just last summer?
- [33:14]
Vanessa Diaz
I was actually trying to ask myself whether was last summer the one before that? And I feel like it might be the one before the Time is a Flat Circle.
- [33:21]
Rebecca Schinsky
Time is a Flat Circle had a big starred review in Publishers Weekly. This is a huge deal for a debut novelist, especially a debut novelist who hasn't had a lot of press in other places to just get plopped into or not plopped. Plucked really into Amazon's top five books of the year so far. I had not heard of it. So I went and picked it up. I was like, a thriller Sounds great. While I'm gonna be laying by the pool. It's about a teenage girl who's. After her mother dies, she is sent. She and her father move to Washington state, and she gets sent to a really elite boarding school. And there's a secret society at this really elite boarding school where not only is she one of the poorer students. Cause it's a really elite board boarding school. And everybody's. Everybody's rich. Like their dad owns yacht companies. That kind of rich. Or is friends with congressmen or maybe is a congressman. She's also one of the few people of color at this boarding school. And she falls in with the crowd that runs the secret society. She gets a tap for it. And of course, things do not go the way that she expects them to go, or really the way that anybody expects them to go. Much like the Secret History. This book opens with us knowing that someone is. Is dead. And then she spends the. The main character spends the rest of the story unfolding how they arrived at that person being dead. She wants us to know from the start that she didn't murder him and what all happened. I will not say it gives Secret History vibes because that is such a specific thing. And like, and the Secret History is so bookish, but if you like that whole thing, sort of outsider comes into an elite institution. Things like the social situations are fraught and she's trying to navigate them. It's a very page turny read. And like, I famously am terrible at predicting what's gonna happen in thrillers, so I'm always surprised, like, oh, that's where you went. But I found it to be really surprising. The writing is really lovely. There are some great elevated sentences here. So I think that that is of the things that must have pushed it into, you know, the Amazon editor's awareness. I will give trigger warnings for sexual assault. That happens pretty late in the book, but was a surprise. So just FYI, if that's a thing that you're sensitive to. But I'm really stoked anytime we get to see a debut novel get this kind of attention, sort of out of nowhere, it's a huge thing to have happen for your book. And so I'm going to be keeping an eye on Night Objects by Eli Wright.
- [36:09]
Vanessa Diaz
Oh, that is. Yeah, I checked off a lot of my boxes on something I'm kind of in the mood for. It's the summer hits and then Pacific Northwest setting and yeah, there's.
- [36:16]
Rebecca Schinsky
There's a whole lot. It rings a bunch of the same bells as God of the Woods. Like you have sort of a class clash situation and teenagers dealing with themselves and each other is always fraught. Yeah, it was fun.
- [36:31]
Vanessa Diaz
That gave me flashbacks to being a freshman at the University of Southern California and asking the girl next to me if she had where she had gotten her knockoff purse. And her looking at me like, what do you mean knockoff? Oh, yeah, I'll go away now. Anyway, I can't wait to read this.
- [36:50]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yeah, that is the vibe for a lot of this.
- [36:56]
Vanessa Diaz
Today's episode is brought to you by Harper Audio, publisher of Designed to Succeed written and narrated by Kevin Olusola and Donovan D. Danelle, Grammy Award winner Kevin Olusola of the multi platinum acapella group Pentatonix and international life coach Donovan D. Dinelle have seen it all In Design to Succeed, Kevin and Donovan challenge our deeply held notions about success. They reconceptualize what it means to be a high performer, showing us that it is sustainable through faith. Narrated by Kevin and Donovan, this is a Can't Miss Listen audiobook. By combining personal stories with actionable insights, the art audiobook encourages listeners to redefine success as a life marked by peace, meaning and sustainability, not just recognition or results. Kevin and Donovan share how personal identity can become tied to performance and why separating self worth from accomplishments is essential for long term well being. Make sure to listen to Designed to Succeed, written and narrated by Kevin Olusola and Donovan D. Donell and thanks thanks again to Harper Audio for sponsoring this episode.
- [38:11]
Rebecca Schinsky
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- [39:40]
Vanessa Diaz
this episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome?
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- [40:05]
Rebecca Schinsky
It is time now to check in on Yesteryear by Carol Claire Burke. Have you read this? Are you going to read it with us?
- [40:11]
Vanessa Diaz
I literally just messaged somebody, Emily Martin, Hey. A couple days ago. Be like, do I need to read this? She was like, she. I mean, I'll save her review. But basically was like, look, I had to read this because I just can't stand being outside of discourse. And I was like, you know what? Fair. Because that is also probably why I'm going to read it. I similarly to the lore that you dropped on this last time, was like trying to decide based on people that I know's like review of the book whether this was something I was going to want. Because the setup of it, I'm like, yeah, that sounds like something. As somebody who unfortunately watched and kind of hate enjoyed the secret lives of Mormon wives, I was like, yeah, yeah, sounds like a good time. Yeah, we all contain multitudes and sometimes my multitude foods are bad. But this is one that I was like, okay. And so I think I'm gonna read it now. I think I just, I also wanna be part of the discourse and just kind of get. Get it. But I have heard that towards the end, maybe some of. Some of the. Yeah, so those noises are what we're going at. But I think I'm gonna read it.
- [41:08]
Rebecca Schinsky
Well, then I'll just recruit you into the Patreon Book Club that Jeff and I are gonna do about it. Great. It is doing quite well yesteryear. It's at number one on the Publisher's Weekly hardcover fiction list. Number two on the New York Times Hardco. Sitting at number four on the New York Times combined print and ebook list, and number seven on a Publisher's Weekly. Overall, that's really good. That's a really high number for a book that has been out for a couple months already. It was also at the top of Barnes and Noble's best books of the year so far list, which is unranked and drives me nuts. Tell us, what is your number one?
- [41:45]
Vanessa Diaz
I know. Even though ours is completely unranked too.
- [41:48]
Rebecca Schinsky
Yes, but ours is alphabetical. Like there is a system.
- [41:51]
Vanessa Diaz
Correct? There's a system. Yes, there is.
- [41:53]
Rebecca Schinsky
The Barnes and Noble list is just, just here are books in some order and we won't tell you if the order means anything.
- [41:59]
Vanessa Diaz
True, true. Absolutely.
- [42:00]
Rebecca Schinsky
It was also number three on Amazon's Best Books of the year so far list. So the retailers are really seeing value in yesteryear. And 270,000 copies sold so far for the year, more than a quarter of a million. That is a big deal for a work of literary fiction yesteryear. We're gonna it's going to be one of the IT books of the year. Jeff and I will probably be fighting until the last minute about whether it is the IT book of the year.
- [42:29]
Vanessa Diaz
I can't wait for that. I'm really interested to get into that conversation specifically with these three particular people. The three of us. That should be fun.
- [42:39]
Rebecca Schinsky
There's a reason some things go behind the paywall. When I feel like Yep, when we get into the discourse, you just kind of don't know what's going to happen.
- [42:48]
Vanessa Diaz
You call people another
- [42:52]
Rebecca Schinsky
God, please don't send me emails about that. I'm so sorry.
- [42:56]
Vanessa Diaz
I apologize for the hehe. That just came out of my mouth. It replaced the witchcackle.
- [43:00]
Rebecca Schinsky
Anywho, I was thinking it has no friction. The opposite of friction is smooth and then it Free association on podcasts is tough people. It is. Let's go back to the hot list. Vanessa let's save me from this quicksand that I have jumped into. Another new book on our list this week is Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu. This is a novel with where a big alarm goes off that a ballistic missile is incoming and you have like not long before probably everyone's going to die. But it turns out it's a false alarm and the book weaves together what everybody did in those minutes that they thought the missile was about to hit and what that reveals about them, how they feel about having done that. Like did you confess your love to someone and now you have to live with knowing that they know that kind of thing. Jeff really liked this. I just picked up a copy. I can't wait to read it. But it was on Barnes and Noble's Best of the Year so Far list. It is a finalist for the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize, which is for debut novels. And it was at the I think in that top five or six from Amazon as well. Maybe not the top five. It was on that Amazon on the list. We are keeping our eyes on Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu. I feel like there might be some awesome reward stuff that could happen.
- [44:22]
Vanessa Diaz
I think there could be talk about a that is one of my actual nightmares. Like my I want to read this but My heart is pounding thinking about it, like, as a person who lives very far, geographic or, you know, ish from people. Oh, my gosh.
- [44:32]
Narrator
Like, what.
- [44:32]
Vanessa Diaz
What would those few minutes look like? So I'm going to read this one when I have lowered cortisol.
- [44:39]
Rebecca Schinsky
Did you read Tilt by Emma Paty last year?
- [44:42]
Vanessa Diaz
No. I tried and it was, as you know, I had a kind of tumultuous family year. And I, like, had, funny enough, same story with Kin by Terry Jones. Had it in my bag to read it. When I got the notification that someone I knew was, like, going to a hospital, I was like, oh, no. And we're putting that on a different pile. So twice in a row, I've gotten out of reading two books I intended to read for, like, stressy reasons. But this does sound. I'm keeping my eye on this one, too.
- [45:06]
Narrator
Okay.
- [45:07]
Rebecca Schinsky
I'm really looking forward to it. So stay tuned. And then our last update this week is on Strangers by Belle Burden, of course, the big marriage memoir, divorce memoir of the year. It's currently number two on the PW hardcover nonfiction list and number four on the New York Times list. It has fallen off the New York Times combined print and ebook list. So, like, I think we're slowing down on Strangers. It was so, so buzzy. I kind of like. My feeling is I think most of the people who were going to read this and like, chatter about it read it pretty early on. It was in all the group chats. And then we'll probably see it pop back up when it hits paperback next year. But it was number four on Amazon's best books of the year so far. A huge, huge get for a debut memoir. That was the highest ranking memoir on the list. It was also on Barnes and Noble's Best of, and I just read it last week and yelled about how her ex husband is trash on this podcast. So, yeah,
- [46:10]
Narrator
that's.
- [46:10]
Rebecca Schinsky
That's that. Do you have. Do you do divorce memoirs? I don't know if we've talked about this. Is this one of your genres?
- [46:15]
Vanessa Diaz
I haven't. And I don't know how much of it is because I've never been married or just my. My threshold for bad men is that I'll start screaming in public for a
- [46:26]
Rebecca Schinsky
person who loves mess the way that you love mess, though that's what I
- [46:30]
Vanessa Diaz
was gonna say is like. And whenever I make that sentence, people go, this is exactly the kind of reading. And I'm like, yeah, you know, you're probably not wrong. So I actually haven't done. I used There was a. I think this is maybe the better answer to the question. There was a bit when I was just reading so much memoir, particularly when I was trying to become an audiobook listener. Now I very much am. But at the time. And memoirs are a Dipping my toe. Yeah. And so for a bit there, I was just housing memoirs left and right, especially if they were read by. And this is the other distinguishing factor is that I tended to go. And the ones that are buzzier typically because we know who that person is already.
- [47:02]
Right.
- [47:02]
They're a celebrity of some sort. But now there's this whole other crop of other types of memoirs that I should be getting into. But I think I read so many of those for. So I was looking at my old. I don't have audible anymore, but I went in there to look at something and the first. I don't know how many scrolls was like. I was like, oh, I was really in that bag for a bit. Yeah.
- [47:24]
Rebecca Schinsky
Such a good gateway drug for audiobooks like that was how I got into audio as well was. I think it was like Bossy Pants by Tina Fey was one of the.
- [47:30]
Vanessa Diaz
Oh, I read all of them. All of those that were in that category. Year of. Yes. What's the Amy Poe anyway? All the Amy Poehler one. Yeah. There's so many. But anywho, Because I love mess, this is maybe what the hell get into. Yeah.
- [47:45]
Rebecca Schinsky
I would personally love to talk with you about Strangers by Bell Burden. That's a text I want to get.
- [47:51]
Vanessa Diaz
Great.
- [47:51]
I walked away with a reading list. Yeah.
- [47:53]
Rebecca Schinsky
So that's our hot list for June 2026. You can shoot us your thoughts, your questions, not your feedback about smooth brain fiction.
- [48:03]
Vanessa Diaz
None.
- [48:03]
Rebecca Schinsky
None to podcastookriot.com you can join us on the patreon@patreon.com bookriotpodcast where we do our exclusive bonus content. Up in early July, we will be doing our book club about yesteryear, which apparently Vanessa will be joining us for. That's always a good time getting Vanessa to come do discourse with us. And the Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Vanessa, till next time, thanks for having me on. Thanks so much for listening today. Hope you enjoyed this audiobook excerpt from the Odyssey by Homer, of course, produced by our sponsors at 11 reader book
- [48:48]
Narrator
one visit of Athena to Telemachus. Tell me, O Muse, of that sagacious man who, having overthrown the sacred town of Ilium, wandered far and visited the capitals of many nations, learned the customs of their dwellers, and endured great suffering on the deep his life was oft in peril. As he labored to bring back his comrades to their homes, he saved them not, though earnestly he strove. They perished all through their own folly, for they banqueted madmen upon the oxen of the sun, the all o' er looking son, who cut them off from their return. O goddess, virgin child of Zeus, relate some part of this to me now. All the rest, as many as escaped the cruel doom of death, were at their homes, safe from the perils of the war and sea, while him alone, who pined to sleep, see his home and wife again. Calypso, queenly nymph, great among goddesses, detained within her spacious grot in hope that he might yet become her husband, even when the years brought round the time in which the gods decreed that he should reach again his dwelling place in Ithaca. Though he was with his friends, his toils were not yet ended. Of the gods all pitied him, save Poseidon, who pursued with wrath implacable the godlike chief Odysseus, even to his native land. Among the Ethiopians was the God far off the Ethiopians, most remote of men, two tribes there are, one dwells beneath the rising one beneath the setting sun he went to grace a hecatomb of beeves and lambs, and sat delighted at the feast. While in the palace of Olympian Zeus the other gods assembled, and to them the father of immortals and of men were speaking. To his mind arose the thought of that Aegisthus, whom the famous son of Agamemnon, prince Orestes, slew of him, he thought, and thus bespake the gods.
- [50:42]
How strange it is that mortals blame the gods and say that we inflict the ills they bear, when they, by their own folly and against the will of fate, bring sorrow on themselves, as lady Aegisthus, unconstrained by fate, married the queen of Atreus son, and slew the husband just returned from war. Yet well he knew the bitter penalty, for we warned him. We sent the herald Hermes, bidding him neither slay the chief nor woo his queen. For that Orestes, when he came to manhood and might claim his heritage, would take due vengeance for Atreides slain. So Hermes said. His prudent words moved not the purpose of Aegisthus, who now pays the forfeit of his many crimes.
- [51:38]
At once, Athena, the blue eyed goddess,
- [51:41]
thus replied, O father, son of Kronos, king of kings, well he deserved his death. So perish all guilty of deeds like his. But I am grieved for sage Odysseus that most wretched man, so long detained, repining and afar from those he loves, upon a distant isle girt by the waters of the central deep, a forest isle, where dwells a deity, the daughter of wise Atlas, him who knows the ocean to its utmost depths, and holds upright the lofty columns which divide the earth from heaven. The daughter there detains the unhappy chieftain, and with flattering words would win him to forget his Ithaca. Meanwhile, impatient to behold the smokes that rise from hearths in his own land, he pines and willingly would die. Is not thy heart Olympian touched by this? And did he not pay grateful sacrifices to thee beside the argive fleet in the broad realm of Troy? Why then, O Zeus, art thou so wroth with him?
- [52:47]
Then, answered cloud, compelling Zeus, my child,
- [52:52]
what words have passed thy lips? Can I forget? Godlike Odysseus, who in gifts of mind excels all other men, and who has brought large offerings to the gods that dwell dwell in heaven. Yet he who holds the earth in his embrace, Poseidon, pursues him with perpetual hate, because of Polypheme, the Cyclops, strong beyond all others of his giant race, whose eye Odysseus had put out. The nymph Thoosa brought him forth a daughter, she of forces ruling in the barren deep, and in the COVID of earth hanging rocks, she met with Poseidon. For this cause the God who shakes the shores, although he slay him, not sends forth Odysseus, wandering far away from his own country. Let us now consult together and provide for his return. And Poseidon will lay by his wrath for vain it were for one like him to strive alone against the might of all the immortal gods.
- [54:02]
And then the blue eyed Athena spake again.
- [54:05]
O father, son of Kronos, king of kings. If such the pleasure of the blessed gods, that now the wise Odysseus shall return to his own land, let us at once dispatch Hermes, our messenger, down to Ogygia, to the bright haired nymph, and make our steadfast purpose known as to bring the sufferer Odysseus to his home. And I will haste to Ithaca and move his son, that with a resolute heart he call the long haired Greeks together, and forbid the excesses of the suitor train who slay his flocks and slow paced beeves with crooked horns to Sparta. I will send him and the sands of Pylos to inquire for the return of his dear father. So a glorious fame shall gather round him in the eyes of men.
- [54:52]
She spake, and fastened underneath her feet the fair ambrosial golden sandals worn to bear her over ocean like the wind, and o' er the boundless land. In hand she took, well tipped with trenchant brass, the mighty spear, heavy and huge and strong, with which she bears whole phalanxes of heroes to the earth when she, the daughter of a mighty sire, is angered. From the Olympian heights she plunged and stood among the men, men of Ithaca, just at the porch and threshold of their chief Odysseus. In her hand she bore the spear and seemed the stranger Menteshe, who led the Taphians. There, before the gate she found the haughty suitors. Some beguiled the time with draughts while sitting on the hides of beeves which they had slaughtered. Heralds were with them, and busy menials. Some who in the bowls tempered the wine with water, some who cleansed the tables with light sponges, and who set the banquet forth and carved the meats for all. Telemachus the godlike was the first to see the goddess as he sat among the crowd of suitors, sad at heart, and thought of his illustrious father, who might come and scatter those who filled his palace halls and win new honor and regain the rule over his own.