The It Books of August 2026

Summary

Book Riot – The Podcast

Episode: The It Books of August 2026

Hosts: Jeff O’Neal & Rebecca Schinsky
Date: August 5, 2026

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Overview

In this lively episode, Jeff and Rebecca determine the "It Book" of August 2026, spotlighting the releases garnering the most buzz, critical acclaim, and sales potential. The hosts employ their playful "play-in" mechanic to highlight debut and nonfiction contenders before whittling the month's most notable releases to a single “it” pick. Along the way, they unpack themes shaping what readers are gravitating towards—genre dominance, literary intrigue, and the sway of book-world gossip.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction: The “It Books” Format

• [03:02] Jeff outlines the rules: Fiction traditionally wins out, but new mechanics allow nonfiction and debut fiction to “play in” for main event consideration.
• Rebecca notes that, as always, the episode is more a "vibe check" than objective measurement.

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Debut Fiction Play-In

[08:16 – 12:01]

• Plant Lady by Min Young Kang (trans. Shana Tan, 8/4)

  • A Korean protagonist runs a plant shop with dark secrets. Jeff pitches: “Korean Little Shop of Horrors … but also a woman on her own trying to make a way in the world.”
  • Rebecca: “People do love plants … so far not an end to the number of plant-related, gardening … if you’re a witch in a garden, especially, like, those books are going to sell.”

• Kitten by Stacy Yu (8/4)

  • An adrift young woman’s deepening obsession with her boyfriend’s cat threatens her other relationships.
  • Rebecca’s deciding factor: “Our colleague Kelly Jensen has read this. Liked it. So that goes a long way for me.” [10:26]
  • Jeff: “What if blob but cat Rebecca? Am I onto something here?” [10:08]

• A Very Special Episode by Camille Acker (8/18)

  • Thriller set inside Washington, DC’s Black elite; offers sharp social commentary on legacy and power.
  • Rebecca is tempted: “My heart wants to go with A Very Special Episode, but I’m speaking for the politics junkies among us … Kitten is also the only one of these three that I’ve seen just pop up in my own wanderings.” [11:25]

Play-in Winner: Kitten by Stacy Yu

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Nonfiction Play-In

[12:04 – 16:48]

• The Story of Your Life by Kathryn Jezzer Morton (8/14)

  • How social media and platforms shape how we experience life.
  • Jeff: “This is going a little bit off some of these stories. Marshall McLuhan’s ‘the medium is the message’ territory.”

• The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore

  • Explores dependence on data, AI, and the costs to society and nature.
  • Rebecca: “Hatred of AI and data centers seems to be, like, the one bipartisan issue we can all agree on right now.” [15:46]
  • Jeff: “I think Don’t Be Evil might be about 15 years late to make an impact … like, there’s weird stuff in your garbage. Disposable. Yeah. Like, I know. I don’t really want to spend a lot of time down there. I kind of get it.” [16:49]

• Don’t Be Evil by Claire Stapleton

  • Memoir from a longtime Google insider; exposé of company culture.

Play-in Winner: The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore

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Fiction vs. Nonfiction Play-In

[17:06 – 17:52]

• Kitten (fiction) vs. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State (nonfiction)
• Rebecca: “Almost always the fiction would win, except when the nonfiction is by Jill Lepore.”
• Winner: The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore advances.

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Main Event: The Heavyweights

Each book faces off in “brackets” as the co-hosts zero in on the final “It Book” pick.

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1. Aetna by Paul Yoon

[17:52 – 19:43]

• Story of a military dog navigating a fictional, post-war world.
• Jeff: “Set in a fictional country in the present day … told through the eyes of an ex-military dog.” [18:07]
• Rebecca: “I’m going to assume that my heart is safe with Paul Yoon and that the dog is gonna be okay… I think we’re gonna go with Paul Yoon. Wow.” [19:38]

2. The Unknown by Riley Sager

[20:12 – 24:07]

• The 10th book in a popular thriller series: Five women disappeared in 1926 from a remote island; it’s happening again a century later.
• Jeff: “The thriller situation is out of hand. Like it has really displayed. There are some romantasy and stuff, but it’s a thriller world we’re living in right now.” [21:44]
• Rebecca: “Mysteries and thrillers have always been a big deal … looking at those Goodreads list, it is like genre all the way down.” [22:08]
• Decision: Sager will sell, but Paul Yoon is “more likely for awards, end-of-year lists.” Aetna advances.

3. Triage by Claudia Rankine

[24:26 – 26:46]

• Genre-defying blend of memory, essay, and narrative about friendship and history.
• Rebecca: “Something that lives in this like high art genre-defying space, That's hard to pitch to people. It's hard to get traction for it… She will probably be in awards conversation if folks can decide what category.” [25:56]
• Decision: Yoon advances again.

4. Life of M by Rachel Cusk

[26:46 – 30:26]

• A short, “literary assassination” novel rumored to be about Natalie Portman by her (possibly) real-life friend.
• Jeff: “I don’t think I’d ever heard the phrase ‘literary assassination’ before.” [27:00]
• Rebecca: “Rachel Cusk is so beloved by the Joan Didion tote bag crowd … her books don’t tend to become pop culture or mainstream hits.” [29:10]
• Consideration of book-world gossip giving it extra buzz, Rebecca: “For the gossiping potential … we’ll go with Life of M.”

5. Day by Edwidge Danticat

[30:41 – 33:00]

• Haitian-American real estate agent reevaluates her life after surviving a random act of violence.
• Jeff: “Danticat … has been a fixture on the American literary scene since the days of Oprah…she’s firmly ensconced in the mid lane, making books people like. But she hasn’t done a … breakout.”
• Rebecca: Leans toward Life of M for “It Book” status.

6. Fruit Fly by Josh Silver

[33:00 – 34:29]

• Biting literary satire: a washed-up author tries to claw back to relevance by appropriating a young gay man’s tragic story. Comps to Yellowface.
• Jeff: “No joke … number five, most anticipated for Goodreads.” [34:05]
• Rebecca: “Potentially really buzzy. More of a plot than Life of M … So I think I’m gonna go with Fruit Fly here.”

7. Sunrise by Téa Obreht

[36:47 – 40:06]

• After a plane crash in the Wyoming mountains, a woman stumbles on a mysterious town.
• Rebecca: “I am kind of beside myself this month… Should we go back? Should I put Life of M? You got to keep trundling through … Let’s stick with Fruit Fly. That’s a catchy. That sounds like a catchy setup.”

8. Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty

[40:06 – 42:04]

• Sequel to Big Little Lies: ten years later, high-schoolers and their parents contend with a principal who receives a severed finger in the mail.
• Rebecca: “This will sell more than any of the books we’ve talked about today … There’s some end-of-year potential, some like, social media buzz potential. Probably not awards consideration. So I don’t think I can like give her the trophy for the month… Also, you just can’t proceed to the next round when the book is both a sequel and a standalone. On principle.” [41:24]

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The Final Showdown: Fruit Fly vs. Life of M

[42:04 – 47:42]

• Rebecca wavers: “If not, then life, then it would be Life of M. Can I do two? Can I split my cards?”
• Jeff: “No, that’s worse. It’s better to be wrong.”
• Fruit Fly becomes Rebecca’s official selection for “It Book” of August, after much consternation, but Life of M “could have taken it in another inning.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Jill Lepore’s book:
  Rebecca ([15:46]): “Hatred of AI and of data centers seems to be like the one bipartisan issue we can all agree on right now … I have learned not to bet against Jill Lepore. She just won the Pulitzer. There will be huge articles.”

• On the Rachel Cusk/Natalie Portman rumor:
  Jeff ([27:03]): “I don’t think I’d ever heard the phrase ‘literary assassination’ before … apparently people are identifying the figure … as Natalie Portman.”

  Rebecca ([28:32]): “I have heard … that Rachel Cusk and Natalie Portman are at least acquainted and might be friends. And that Natalie Portman is kind of in on this. Which if Natalie Portman is in on it, that’s really different than this is actually, like, a with teeth attack. It makes it more of a marketing gimmick.”

• On book trends:
  Jeff ([21:44]): "The thriller situation is out of hand... it's a thriller world we're living in right now... they're eating up some of these other spots."

  Rebecca ([22:08]): "Mysteries and thrillers have always been a big deal ... but looking at those Goodreads lists ... it's Romantasy and thrillers, the algorithm likes them ... there are connections between those things and our diminished attention spans."

• On Fruit Fly's hype:
  Rebecca ([34:16]): "Potentially really buzzy. More of a plot than Life of M. ... So I think I'm gonna go with Fruit Fly here. Keep it interesting."

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Timestamped Highlights

• [03:02] — Game rules and structure for choosing the It Book
• [08:16] — Debut Play-in begins
• [12:04] — Nonfiction Play-in begins
• [15:46] — Jill Lepore’s relevance and AI anxieties
• [17:52]–[19:43] — Paul Yoon’s Aetna and “dog in fiction” chat
• [21:44] — Thriller genre takes over August
• [27:03] — “Literary assassination” and the Cusk/Portman debate
• [34:16] — Fruit Fly’s plot and BookTok potential
• [40:25] — Big Little Truths: Moriarty’s beach read dominance
• [42:04] — Final It Book selection: Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
• [45:30] — Debating the reality of celebrity inspiration and PR spin in Cusk’s novel

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Final "It Book" Pick

Fruit Fly by Josh Silver

Rebecca’s choice, based on buzzy plot, early media coverage, and its sharp, zeitgeist-capturing satire.
Rebecca: "You know, maybe I'll just go boldly and see Fruit Fly and maybe I'll be vindicated when we're doing the end of year stuff." [43:11]

Jeff (dubiously): "As opposed to the asteroid of attention and energy that is Fruit Fly... I appreciate. You got to keep it interesting, you know?” [47:30]

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Wrap Up

Rebecca and Jeff acknowledge this month’s picks reflect the tension between literary ambition, marketing buzz, and changing reader appetites. The episode is packed with candid “behind the curtain” book world analysis, offering listeners a thorough, personality-driven tour through August’s most talked-about releases.

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Membership info: Patreon.com/bookriotpodcast
Listen for next week’s news and deals round-up!

Transcript

[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Rebecca Schinsky]

Hey, folks, Rebecca here to tell you that Book riot is turning 15 this fall and we're running a membership drive to celebrate. A lot of things have changed in the 15 years we've been covering books and the publishing industry, but one thing remains true. The independent media landscape is wild and ever changing. We're so proud that we've been able to do this work without any corporate investments or publisher subsidies and. And we couldn't be more grateful to the readers and listeners like you who help make it possible through paid memberships. Right now you can get 25% off an annual membership to the Book Riot podcast Patreon, which includes ad free listening, early access to new episodes and exclusive bonus episodes and book club conversations, plus the satisfaction of knowing you're supporting human creators who make everything you read, watch and listen to by hand. There's no AI in any of our content. Go to patreon.com bookriotpodcast right now to start your membership. That's patreon.com bookriotpodcast to start your annual membership for 25% off today. Thank you so much.

[Jeff O'Neill]

This is the Book Riot Podcast. I am Jeff o'. Neill.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And I'm Rebecca Schinsky.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's August, Rebecca, which is usually the dog days of the book publishing calendar outside of sort of December, but it's a pretty strong August. September is so jammed. I think some things got pulled pushed kicking and screaming maybe into some part of August, but a really good month for the dog days, as they say over in the zero to well read feed this week. Gone girl. Always a joy to revisit.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Such a good time.

[Jeff O'Neill]

What a. What a good time over there. What are we doing? Are we doing something on Patreon this week? I've lost track. What's.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We are not. We're off on Patreon this week. We will be doing deals, deals, deals. Is next week good?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yes. Kind of interesting. Deals, things. One of those stories might creep into the regular show on Thursday. We shall see. Are we still limited timing Patreon annual membership? Is that still happening?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's still happening. You can still get yourself an annual membership to the Patreon for 25% off which is about three months free that is available just for a limited time and it gets you regular feed episodes early and ad free. Also access to our two, sometimes more than two bonus episodes per month and the warm glow of knowing that you are supporting an independent media company where we make everything by hand. There's what, 15 of us, 16 of us, we're doing it all.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yes, we do it all and and sometimes twice on Sundays. Have some saw some people join at that level over the weekend. Really appreciate you all joining along so much. So we could do things like One of our favorite shticks is the IT Books of the Month. I introduced a new mechanic this summer and I'm doubling down on it. So we had a debut play in we're going to continue to continue to have that but we the people of AST Rebecca and they want a non fiction play in. So we're doing a non fiction play in as well. I am as it's really true. Nice of you to notice. So how this works if this is your first time joining us for an IT Books episode. Our job here, our calling even is to identify the IT Book of the Month based on buzz, critical acclaim, Zeitgeist awards, potential sales is definitely part of the factor here. All those things get thrown into the cauldron and we stir it up to select the IT Book of the Month. So how this works with the two subcategories. Very hard for a debut or a non fiction to be the IT Book of the Month. Just generally fiction tends to win and usually you have to have some sort of track record. But people want to know about what the other books are. So this is a way of getting some of those names into the mix. So spots one and two will be determined by playing. They unfortunately will have to Hunger Games themselves out one of them. Only one of them can get into the main event here. We'll do a quick sponsor break, Rebecca, and then we're going to get into it.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Today's episode is brought to you by the audiobook edition of the Case Study by Nicole Lundrigan, a new thriller from Penguin Viking. Now if you love the voyeurism and creeping dread of the silent patient, and you like a messy capital M messy psychological thriller. The Case Study is your next read. To further explain why, I will start you off with a question now. Why do you think a wife would secretly use mirroring software to spy on her husband's virtual therapy sessions with a patient to answer the question because she's obsessed with the patient. Yes, the patient, who is a former teen killer with a rare psychiatric disorder. Now, while the wife feeds her true crime addiction by spying on her, she's unaware that an eerie game is playing out in reverse and the patient has a deviant his plan of her own. Now see, that's why you can't just be out here doing everything. Okay, now to find out what happens next though, make sure to push play on the audiobook edition of the case study by Nicole Lundrigan. Narrated by Athena Carcanis and Michelle Duresski. Thanks again to Penguin Viking for sponsoring this episode. Today's episode is brought to you by USG Audio, Same Boat Productions and Peacock. Now, if you're into a bookish kind of boozy kind of delicious good time, it's perfect for book clubs, I got something for you. Join best selling author Ellen Hildebrand as she unpacks every moment of the five Star weekend with the show's cast and crew. They discuss all the joy, the drama, the tea and of course the food. Now guests include Jennifer Garner, Chloe Sevigne, Regina Hall, Gemma Chan, Darcy Carden Harlow, Jane West Duchovny, all the people friend and the series showrunner and directors. You can stream all eight episodes of the five Star weekend on Peacock, where you can also watch this podcast. Now I did say boozy, right? So on that on the Rock, Spark Tender Created Cocktails has partnered with the podcast to bring fans deeper into the story through sponsored quote unquote book talk segments where Ellen enjoys it on the Rock, ready to drink cocktail and answers questions from book clubs and fans across the country. Like I said, a boozy good bookish book club time. Check it out on Peacock. And thanks again to USG Audio, Sameboat Productions and Peacock for sponsoring this episode.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

This episode is brought to you by Del Rey, publisher of the Winged Game by Sophie Kim. Stick around after the show to hear an excerpt from the audiobook. Fantasy meets sports romance in this sizzling slow burn novel in which the disgraced star of a brutal magical sport must team up with the rival who destroyed her career, Kerry Witchett. The violent rugby esque game played atop winged beasts was once Taissa Cho's whole life. She was the UK's most promising player until her nemesis, rival player Keyon Locke, destroyed her career in a single moment. When Taissa is offered the chance to redeem herself and her career, she can't refuse, even if the offer is coming from the man who ruined everything in the first place, it's close to a dream come true. Except for that pesky contract clause that demands that she and Kian enter a fake relationship for team pr. When rivals collide, sparks will fly again. Stick around after the show to hear an excerpt from the audiobook edition of the Winged Game by Sophie Kim from our sponsors at Delray. All right.

[Jeff O'Neill]

On the debut front, up first in translation, this is Plant lady on sale August 4th from Berkeley, I believe. Note to you on Edelweiss. Please put your whole name, not just your. What's that thing they call it Colophon. I don't know all the colophons by heart. I didn't do like Navy flag school where I learned all the flags. I'm sorry. I believe this is Berkeley.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Lucky for you, no one cares about imprints.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, that's true. It's a good point. So they're really doubling down on that. A Korean writer in the heart of a quiet town, a young woman tends to her plant shop. But beneath the surface of our lush green sanctuary lies something far darker. Will you dare to disrespect her? Plants so cozy but with dark. I'm getting like Korean Little Shop of Horrors, but also a woman on her own trying to make a way in the world. So that is Plant lady by Min Young Kang. Translated By Shana Tan August 4 Rebecca, what do you think about that? Sounds pretty cool, I thought.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Sounds compelling. People do love plants and we know that like there is so far not an end to the number of plant related gardening if you're a witch in a garden, especially like those books are going to sell, people seem to have bottomless appetite for them. So that seems interesting to me. I. I love Little Shop of Horrors. So let's do it.

[Jeff O'Neill]

You'll notice a theme with the play ins for debut fiction. Debut novels especially. Kind of high concept. So up next is Kitten by Stacy Yu. August 4th from Random House. So both of these books are out today as we're recording a magnetic, stirring debut novel about an adrift young woman whose growing fascination with her boyfriend's cat ushers her into the possibilities of her own life. But not without first threatening to unravel it. Because if Katie's learned anything from her estranged mother, it's that devotion comes at a price. As Katie's affection for the cat deepens, all of her other relationships begin to falter. Soon Katie must confront what it is she desires from her life and what she might risk to get it. What if blob but cat Rebecca? Am I onto something here.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I think you are onto something. And our colleague Kelly Jensen has read this. Liked it.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I missed that.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

So that goes a long way for me.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I love to see 304 pages. So should we give them all three in the mix? You can consider them all together. We'll. We'll allow this for the debut so you don't have to do head to head already. And last but not least, August 18th from Camille Acker, a very special episode in Washington DC's powerful black elite. Legacy is everything. When a young heir to one of the city's most influential institutions seeks funding to cement her future, a shadowy organization offers to help. But it cost her. Could cost her far more than she's willing to give. A whip smart and sly social commentary on the complex interplay of race, class and family legacy, A very special episode will keep you on the edge of your seat. So kind of a a thriller. Sounds like there's a mystery. I love a shadowy organization. You know I do. Normally these are haunting white people, but here it sounds like we are going to be in the upper crust of black Washington dc. So that's a very special episode by Camille Acker.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay, my heart wants to go with a very special episode, but I'm speaking for the politics junkies among us, and I understand this to be an increasingly small group of people. We're winning with you out, especially as the midterms approach. So that plus the fact that I have on good authority that Kitten is good from a colleague I trust. And Kitten is also the only one of these three that I've seen just pop up in my own wanderings. So all the caveats, but this whole episode is a vibe check.

[Jeff O'Neill]

That's right.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

So I'm gonna play Kitten in.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay, let's see. So now we're on to nonfiction. Let me pull up my troika for that one. He said they're all over the place. So we've got three here as well. First up, the story of your life. How social media shapes the way we experience everything. By Kathryn Jezzer Morton Aug 14 so again, another screen time kind of a book. But this particular one, she's a New York magazine columnist, looks at the algorithm platforms, but also shaped the content itself. So this is going a little bit off of some of these stories we've seen recently, like Marshall McLuhan's the Medium is the message. So how does actual form matter here? Not just the algorithm, not just the David's Hardest thing, but these little bits of information. So our attention spans are short and our stories reflect that. And what does that mean? How do we talk about milestones, our homes, relationships, hardship, politics and more? That is Story of your life by Katherine Jezzer Morton. Okay, okay. Up next, a name we both know. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore. A bit of a theme happening with us today on the nonfiction play in this is Jill Lepore, who has written a bunch of books. She's a constitutional scholar and historian. This one is built on her 2024 New Yorker essay Increasing dependence on and strangulation by data, including political campaigns, bots, multinational corporations. Pushing one thing versus the other with Orwellian overtones. I think you can't write a book like this and not say Orwellian overtones. Double points to you if you can. Sobering about the proliferation of dizzying, ever changing schemes, prophecies and predictions is that the artificial state has come at the expense of the natural world, leading to catastrophic loss of wildlife, habitat and biodiversity. Not exactly an upper of a read. I would not say that the rise, excuse the story of your life is either. But you know this, this is on the folks mind. The people wonder, the people yearn for information about it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And I believe to be truly Orwellian, we would need to give Jill Lepore double plus good.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Double plus yes. Yeah, that, that we'd have three entrants and four would come out of. This thing would have to happen as well at the same time. Okay, last but not least, don't be evil. This is from Harper Collins. I'm not sure which imprint, but as you so wisely reminded me, no one cares. Don't be Evil by Claire Stapleton. Bad bosses, fake promise. In my escape from big tech, Chris, Excuse me. Claire Stapleton was a 12 year insider of Google and this is a, I don't know, whistleblower. I'm not sure it's gonna be congressional hearings, but this is how Google operates and I doubt they're gonna love how this happens. Maybe they learned from the careless people saga not to press too much. The famous don't be evil dictum. I think this was Sergey Brin. I can't remember which of the early Google folks it was. No one is there anymore because that was one of their if not, if not one of it was their early slogan that we weren't going to be evil. But as these things happen, the arc of the corporate technological universe bends towards evilness. And Google got bent. And that is what Claire Stapleton is writing about. So Rebecca, your choices are the story of your life. The rise involved the Artificial State and Don't Be Evil.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I have learned not to bet against Jill Lepore Fair. She just won the Pulitzer.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

There will be huge articles. I think people are really interested. Like, hatred of AI and of data centers seems to be like the one bipartisan issue we can all agree on right now. And folks on all sides of the political world are concerned about the way that AI might be undermining our democracy, our social lives, the way, like, the very fabric of society. These books are always a hard sell, like, because nobody wants to be depressed, but I'm confident in Jill Lepore's ability to create something that's important to have in the record. I am probably going to listen to Don't Be Evil. I like the tech exposes, but also I've read a billion of them. And at this point, we all know what's happening in these companies. Like, it's kind of hard to imagine what could be going on. That would be surprising at this point because I assume the worst is happening in most of the places. So I'm going to go with Jill Lepore here for.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I think that sounds right.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Artificial State.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I think Don't Be Evil might be about 15 years late to make an impact. It's like saying, like, there's weird stuff in the. Your garbage. Disposable. Yeah. Like, I know I don't really want to spend a lot of time down there. I kind of get it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Right. I've seen the Dyson canister after I. Yeah. Need to talk about it.

[Jeff O'Neill]

We all know the Canister of shame. We don't need to talk about it and look at it at the same time. Okay. So that brings us to our play in Play in Between the Rise and Fall of the Artificial State and Kitten by Stacy Yu. Which is why these gimmicks are so weird, because that's what we end up doing.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Well.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And having to face nonfiction off against fiction. Almost always the fiction would win, except when the nonfiction is by Jill Lepore.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Okay.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And usually the first round here does not make it much farther than the first round.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Oh, so you're going to abdicate your responsibility to make a good choice through

[Rebecca Schinsky]

how these things work.

[Jeff O'Neill]

All right.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Give a girl some credit. I am. We're going to go with Jill Lepore into the first slot here. Rise and Fall of the Artificial State.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay. It kind of works out because the first competitor in the main event now is not unlike Kitten by Stacy Yu. It is Aetna by Paul Yoon. A most anticipated book by many sources in A best book of the summer by a bunch. More. So Paul Yoon has won the story prize. This is the unforgettable story of a working dog, Aetna, who, after a devastating war, embarks on an odyssey in the hopes of returning home. Set in a fictional country in the present day, this is a story told through the eyes of an ex military dog. Did you see that Brad Pitt movie trailer before your screening of the Odyssey? Did you get that one?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I didn't see it before the Odyssey, but I have seen it.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So this is like what if that movie, but no Brad Pitt, which for some people may be a plus and maybe others will be a minus.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

But it's a dog. I mean, the book is narrated by the dog. He has made it out of war and he's telling us the story. So I'm going to assume that my heart is safe with Paul Yoon and that the dog is gonna be okay. Whatever that Brad Pitt movie is, I do not feel comfortable with the danger that that dog is in. And I don't want to talk about it anymore.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay. I wondered. It's a tough look. The Odyssey was tough enough for dog lovers, but to get that trailer in front of it, a very tough beat.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I know. We went over the weekend. Bob hadn't seen it yet. And we were taking some friend, a friend's kids. And in the car on the way, I was like, I just need everyone to know the dog stuff is tough, but it's okay. Prepare yourself. Just prepare yourself. Okay, so Jill, the poor against Paul Yoon.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Lots of comments, 208 pages just to tell you about. Just it's a slight novel. This is not a big chunky boy.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And seeing lots of coverage of it, there was a profile of him in the New York Times. The dog in the book was inspired by his own dog. This is play into all of my heartstrings. So I think we're gonna go with Paul Yoon. Wow.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Fiction has a better chance in general of getting traction and could get a book club selection. Paul Yoon is free. He is beloved by the MFA crowd and I would like to see this be a breakout. But that means he is also in the conversation for things like the National Book Award or the nbcc. So we're gonna go with Paul Yoon here. Big look for him. I might regret putting anybody above Jill Lepore. We'll see. We'll see how this goes.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I think if the Lepore that it just feels like we. Again, we kind of know that. I get it. I get it. And that doesn't mean it's any less pressing. But anyway, okay, so I try to reserve a spot for the most anticipated August book. According to Goodreads, like all the shelvings and everything. That's this spot here. This is the Unknown by Riley Sager. This apparently is the 10th installment in a long running horror thing. Anyway, the. The blurb here is in 1926, five women disappeared from a remote island in Vermont. Now 100 years later, it's happening again. I actually don't know that you need to know. That's it. That's the blurb. I can go into specific about who these people are, but I think we sort of get what this book is. Riley Sager I guess I'll say this about the list of that Goodreads. The. The composition of that Goodreads list. The. The thriller situation is out of hand. Like it has really displayed. There are some romanticy and stuff, but it's a thriller world we're living in right now. It's like we're back to the 90s. But it's. It's so many psychological. I mean it's. Of course I'm seeing through the eyes of Gone Girl, but it's hard not to see this as sort of the long tale of psychological thrillers written by and about women. I think was Riley Sager. Actually there's one of these authors that was a man writing as a woman and I cannot remember this. I don't think think it was

[Rebecca Schinsky]

right.

[Jeff O'Neill]

This is a man and the. One of the early books there was some. Wait a minute. We're not so sure about this. Long story short, I just want to put a pin on. Wow, there's a lot of thrillers. I don't know if this is Freda McFadden's influence now that now people are in the thriller mode. Kind of like after the Colleen Hoover there was a bunch of like relationship sort of books. I'm not really sure what to make of it. Do you have a better theory than I do?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Mysteries and thrillers have always been a big deal. Like you know, Patterson is a staple I think. I don't think there's anything surprising really. Thrillers are so dominant. But looking at those Goodreads list, it is like genre all the way down. That's not the place to go if you're a literary reading kind of reader. And that's fine. There are plenty of places to. To look for things like that. But I was looking at that list as well for our flagship newsletter this week and it's like it is. It's Romantasy and thrillers, the algorithm likes them. They're generally easy to read. You know what to expect. Like there's trope ification and there's a formula. And I, you know, don't want to get into like too much editorializing, but I do think there are connections between those things and our diminished attention spans. And that if you have a diminished attention span for paying attention to reading something that really grabs you, where there are cliffhangers, where there is literal suspense built into the story and you know it's going to get resolved at the end or whatever genre you're reading, you know what kind of beats to expect. Like that removes some of the cognitive load of the reading experience. And I think for a lot of reasons people are being drawn to those kinds of books right now.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. But even I. You're right, of course. Mysteries and thrillers are always on the top of the charts and taking a lot of positions. But I feel like kudzu. It's crowded out some of those spots for romantasy and romance and even some of the other things we've seen. Now this is just my eyeball test. I didn't like make spreadsheets and do data analysis, but I was like, there's just a lot and they're eating up some of these other spots.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't know if it's crowding out the romantasy stuff or if romantasy is just on the decline a little bit. And so thrillers are coming back to

[Jeff O'Neill]

be A and B. Yeah, could be a little bit of both, I suppose. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay. To do the rundown.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. Aetna or Riley Sager is the.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Riley Sager is going to move more

[Jeff O'Neill]

units and in six months no one will be thinking about it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Exactly. But when we get to end of the year, Paul Yun has a much better chance for awards end of year lists as evidenced by those same lists you were referring to in the Paul Yoon segment. Like it's on a bunch of best of the summer. It's on a bunch of most anticipated. So we will carry Aetna by Paul Yoon forward one more round at least.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Going from super hardcore genre into resisting all genre actively and always. Claudia Rankine's new book Triage, August 4th from Gray Wolf. Even the synopsis is trying to harden to figure out how to pitch this book. Memory, art criticism, lyrical essay and narrative triage.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Nobody knows how to talk.

[Jeff O'Neill]

The turbulent friendship between the N, the narrator and the theorist. Unnamed but real identified sisters who struggle to define their wounded histories and shared lives. During college they invented a game of collapse. Every time they saw each other they both had to stop and fall to the ground. Triage becomes an essential argument for both the necessity of seeing and grieving and the demand for conviction and action are time of relentless loss. Wow. CR continues to do CR things here I was expecting a bit more fanfare like this is out today. I haven't seen a big profile, anything. I don't know if you have either, but I don't know what to make of this. Rebecca.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't think anybody knows how to talk about whatever this is from Claudia Rankine. I have it on my list. I'm always interested in what she's doing. But something that lives in this like high art genre, defying space, that's hard to pitch to people. It's hard to get traction for it. Bookiness. She will probably be in awards conversation if folks can decide what category, right?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Totally.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Very likely a candidate for end of the year best of list. It wouldn't be a surprise at least to see her there. But this is slippery, complicated kind of work that she does. And I think that especially coming off of the big Claudia Rankine moment with Citizen and that is a collection of poetry and people know what to do with that. But most of her work is stranger and I think more interesting experimental art

[Jeff O'Neill]

writing weirdness, which I love.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

But yeah, but it's hard to. It's just hard to get your arms around and so it's hard to market to people. People and then it's hard to sell especially in a thriller and romantasy dominated book landscape. So I think it's gotta be Paul Yoon for another round here. But I'm really, really glad that you pulled Claudia Rankine into this.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I haven't heard a story of pre buzz in some time. Really Never like this because I don't think I'd ever heard the phrase literary assassination before. And I don't know if you've seen the buzz about what Life of M by Rachel Cusk is all about.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Sarah Knightley, right?

[Jeff O'Neill]

No.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh no.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Natalie Portman, doppelganger. Yes, Natalie Portman. This is a 192 page novel by Rachel Kuskin. I don't know how it came out. I haven't followed the White Rabbit all the way down into Wonderland to figure this out. But apparently people are identifying the figure that is the subject of this novel as Natalie Portman. Let me read you a little bit about it. The movie star M is one of the most recognizable faces of our time. Her image is everywhere. It's been like that she was a child. Now a writer has decided to pay close attention attention to M's life in the hope of understanding who she really is. But what truce about the very experience of living might this proximity allow the writer to briefly capture in this astonishing nod? While Rachel Kosk hunts for these truth without ever swerving away into self deception, her pursuit leads us across olive groves and beaches, behind the smoked windows of limousines and through beautiful cities considered by the great considered the great masterpiece of civilization. It's a thrilling investigation of who we are and who we pretend to be at this age of modern life when we are mesmerized more and more by the images we see everywhere. That does not read to me like literary assassination. So I am guessing that there are some teeth in the middle of this book that they are not describing here. Rebecca, what could this even be?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't know. I have not seen this literary assassination headline, but I gather from that that it must not be like an altogether flattering imaginary.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I wouldn't think so.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I have heard and I don't know if this is true or not, but that Rachel Cusk and Natalie Portman are at least acquainted and might be friends. And that Natalie Portman is kind of in on this. Which if Natalie Portman is in on it, that's really different than this is actually like a with teeth attack. It makes it more of a marketing gimmick. Yeah, Rachel Cusk is so beloved by like the Joan Didion tote bag crowd

[Jeff O'Neill]

that even to the point where the the like the branding of the books are like this beige with really stark black simple images on the front.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Very surprising that they her books don't tend to become pop culture or mainstream hits. This is not going to be on the Goodreads end of year list. It could be on some of the more literary end of year lists. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rachel Cusk in general in an awards conversation. But to my knowledge she doesn't typically win them.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Though maybe she's due. Maybe this is a big play for Nick Now Laura Miller did a pre pub thing in Slade and like it's getting, it's getting buzz. People are talking about it. The COVID itself for those of you don't know, it's like you know, movie star illustrated eyes in the middle of something that looks like a gun sight. Gets pretty arresting.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Also seems like if the Tik Tok girlies got a hold of it like that might be an interesting hook for content. Feels pretty tough weighing this against Paul

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yoon because they're both this crushes Paul Yoon.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I mean for the gossiping potential. Okay, let's go with it. We'll go with life.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I appreciate you giving some space for the the Dog book, but come on. Literary session is Natalie Port and written by her friend. Come on.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I know, it's just like. Is it actually an assassination or is it a marketing gimmick?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Well, we're it booking here. We're not not actually giving awards. We're just trying to see what's got some.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

You said it's short, right?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, 192 pages.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Maybe we should read that instead of reading the Housemaid.

[Jeff O'Neill]

But you're not going to get out that easy. Speaking of short. 256 pages. On sale August 25 Day by Edwig Dondicott New novel A woman whose sense of self inflammation called into question when she gets caught in the random act of violence one sunny Florida day. The main character is Magnolia. She's a successful Haitian American real estate agent and she hears gunfire. She takes shelter and she holds it back and doesn't tell everyone about it. But then she starts to have some reaction and it starts to get her to reevaluate her life and her place in the world. It sounds like maybe told in flashback and forward. This moment got her to think about things that are happening in the past. It moves from Brooklyn to Miami to Haiti and back and forth forth. Dan decavs of course has been a fixture on the American literary scene since the days of Oprah. Gosh, in the 90s. I think she was one of the picks during the peak of the Oprah years and continued making really interesting books. And so this is her most recent one so Day by Edwidge Dandicat.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Rebecca I don't know what to do with this. It might get an Oprah selection because Oprah does tend to go back and repeat folks that she has featured their books before. And I keep waiting for Danticat to have a big modern moment like she had that moment in the mid to late 90s. But none of the recent, none of her recent novels have broken out. I don't know if it is something about how they're marketed, like she's a great writer. So I just don't know what's going on with getting traction.

[Jeff O'Neill]

She firmly ensconced in the mid lane like making books that people like. But she hasn't done a, you know, a Terry Jones or a Barbara Kingsolver of breaking out from books that really people really like to being immediate book club selections and best sellers.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And it's confusing because her books are in that same zone.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I don't think there's plot. Friendly. I don't think they are. I don't think there's plot.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

They are a little bit more difficult. They are a little more writerly, maybe is a better word than difficult. But there's. They're a little heavier on the art than the. The story of it all, which of course is challenging for marketing too. So I. I think here I will lean on Life of M. This is a month I'm finding, like there's a real gap between what my heart wants and what my brain says I should pick.

[Jeff O'Neill]

That's fair. That's fair. This one was number five on the Goodreads chart, which I was shocked to see. I had pegged it early as something I was interested in. It's called Fruit Fly by Josh Silver. It's coming out from Crooked lane books. The BBC called it a must read book of 2026. Go gay, go sad, go dark. Is that the tagline here? A washed up author will stop at nothing to claw her way back to relevance relevancy, even if it means appropriating a young gay man's tragic story. The comps to yellowface have been like, you can't see this without yellowface. I think it's in there, maybe a bit more. Yellowface was satirical, but it didn't really play broadly. And it sounds like this one may be playing a little bit more broadly. Rebecca. It's 384 pages, so it's not a short one, but it's got this very strange cover of like the close up of an orange peel with a fly on it. I have no idea what Fruit 5 is regarding. And it's got this electric neon green color in the background. So number five, most anticipated for Goodreads is. No, no joke. So I put it here.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. And the, like, the press and the profiles for this are starting to hit. It could be recency bias because I saw a lot of this this morning when I was going through the news,

[Jeff O'Neill]

but out today, out today.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Potentially really buzzy. More of a plot than life of him, or at least more of a synopsis you can hang a hook on than life of him has. So I think I'm gonna go with Fruit Fly here. Keep it interesting. Interesting.

[Jeff O'Neill]

This is a wild take. Okay, we'll come back and we'll cover your bones later here at the end.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm suspicious of the. It's a thinly veiled thing about a celebrity who's actually in on the thinly veiled like, is it gonna be good? Come on.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I didn't say any of these were gonna be good, just that people are. People are talking.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay, up next, this podcast is supported by Quint. This time of year is always a little tricky to dress for for especially here in the South. It's still really hot outside, but every restaurant, movie theater and airplane seems determined to convince me that it's November. So I've been reaching for the same Quince piece over and over again. Their lightweight cotton cashmere cardigan. It's become my travel mvp. I throw it in my carry on because it's perfect when the cabin gets chilly. I keep it handy for overly air conditioned restaurants and movie theaters, and it's exactly the kind of layer that makes the the transition into fall so much easier. It's soft, lightweight, beautifully made, and it goes with just about everything I packed. If you're doing capsule or Sudoku packing, you definitely want this piece. And that's what I love about Quince in general. They make high quality essentials that you actually wear on repeat. And because they work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen, everything is priced 50 to 80% less than similar luxury brands. You're paying for quality, not the label. And it's not just clothing. Quince also has beautiful bedding, bath essentials, kitchen staples and thoughtfully designed furniture. Upgrade your everyday Download the quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com bookriot get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's quince.com order book riot

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[Jeff O'Neill]

And to stay ahead, you need to

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[Jeff O'Neill]

Hey there. I'm Travis Hoyam, one of the hosts of Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing each weekday on Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing, we talk through the business news you need to know and the stories moving stocks on Wall Street. On weekends, we game plan personal finance strategies and dive into the industries shaping tomorrow and host the experts, authors and executives that understand them. Tune in for insights and a long term perspective on investing. And of course, stock ideas. Plenty of them. To quote a listener, it pays to listen. Check us out and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Tia Obrett, who has not unlike Edwidge Dandy Cat, had a big sort of breakout a while ago and continues to write books that people really like. I have not checked anything else since the Tiger's Wife, though I've kind of always circled it. This new one is called Sunrise. It comes out August 11th. In 2024, Nina's small engine plane crashes into a lake in the Wyoming mountains. Boyfriend is nowhere to be found who is flying the plane, and she stumbles upon Sunrise in town of the Old west that is strangely well maintained but seemingly abandoned 20 years earlier. Sunrise's golden boy call begins to direct a town's annual historical reenactment when he is linked with a scandalous incident. And then in 1902, a town founder, a gunslinger and pulp hero return to Sunrise and quickly take charge of a group searching for a missing boy. So there's a stranger separated by time. There are secrets. I don't know if we're going to be time traveling here back and forth. I'm not really sure. It sounds pretty cool. 336 pages. So this has now entered my orbit. I'm looking at this book. I think I'm gonna pick this up, give it a thumb, thumb through, read 20 pages. Because I like stories like this Is she her last book had a little bit of Emily St. John Mandel vibe to it. At the same time I remember if the synopsis and I like that flavor and if she can give me a version of that with her own spin. I don't want copycats. I'm not saying that's what she does, but this literary, lightly spec fic, also kind of arty at the same time. I've got room in my life for something like that.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Okay.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I think I have room in my life for it too. And I've been waiting, like you were saying with Danticat, I've been waiting to see Obra sort of have a return after the Tiger's Wife. And it's been long enough now that there are a lot of readers in the ecosystem who never heard of the Tiger's Wife and don't know that Taya Obret had this one big hit and hasn't had one since then. This sounds like an interesting hook. It also sounds like they might be able to Kind of position it for people who liked yesteryear. Like, you've got this, oh, interesting Western thing and multiple timelines and what's actually happening. Obra's a great writer. I don't know. Good end of year potential. It's been on a bunch of most anticipateds. I also saw that they're sending out, like, splashy influencer galley packages with little gifts and stuff, which can mean all kinds of things. Sometimes it just means you're with an imprint that likes to spend money that way. Yeah, I don't know. I am kind of beside myself this month, Jeff. Should we go back? Should I put Life of M. You

[Jeff O'Neill]

got to keep trundling through

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

then I'm just.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Let's stick with Fruit Fly. That's a catchy. That sounds like a catchy setup.

[Jeff O'Neill]

All right, we're getting down. Last couple here. August 25th. 464 pages. So a big one. Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty. A new novel that is her first ever sequel, but is also a standalone. Congratulations to synopsis writer. You cannot do that. But I appreciate the effort.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Bonus points for trying.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. The last time we saw the women of Big Little Lies, their children were five years old. If someone was invited birthday party, their feelings hurt. But now 10 years have passed and their kids are in high school. And the minute the principal of the high school receives a severed human finger in the mail, everyone's in an uproar. And someone's behaving oddly. And a strange man begins lurking around. And then they go figure out what it does. It takes place near Sydney, Australia. That is Big Little Truths by the great and famous. And of course, there's a big series. If I remember right, this has already been optioned to. We're going to get the gang back together to do another one of these.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Okay.

[Jeff O'Neill]

A big print run. This will be the last big summer read. There's just like a giant wave on the COVID It's like beach. Surprised it didn't come out earlier, actually, to be honest.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We should just print books in August that are called Beach Beach, Sand, Waves.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, waves.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

This will sell more than any of the books that we've talked about today. Leanne Moriarty really moves units. Folks really do like her. And the books can be pretty good. So I think there's some end of year potential. There's some, like, social media buzz potential. Probably not awards consideration. So I don't think I can, like, give her the trophy for the month. Also, you just can't proceed to the next round when the book is both a sequel and a standalone. On principle.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I want to put a full flag on that.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm sorry, I just can't allow it. So I guess we're going ahead with Fruit Fly.

[Jeff O'Neill]

And I lied to you because that was the last pick because I wanted you to have no recourse. You couldn't wait for anything. So Rebecca Shinski has selected Fruit Fly by Josh Silver as the it book of August. In a world in which there is an Rachel Cusk literary assassination, there's a Claudia Rankine, there's a new Riley Sager, there's a Lion Moriarty, a sequel to a giant hit.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Aren't you going to bail me out here? You get veto power sometimes.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I don't know. I mean, this is. This is what happened. This happened.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I have redacted, like, we've done the rewind before.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I will allow you if you would like to make an alternate selection because this happens in real time. You don't know what's coming out. I mean, what. What are your. If it. If not fruit fry, then what?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

If not, then life, then it would be life of M. Can I do two? Can I split my cards?

[Jeff O'Neill]

No, that's worse. It's better to be wrong.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

You know, maybe I'll just go boldly and see Fruit Fly and maybe I'll be vindicated when we're doing the end of year stuff.

[Jeff O'Neill]

That would be a real turnaround for you and a real bad look for me. I don't want that. Even though I hope all the best thing for Josh Silver. This puts me in the weird position of sort of hoping Life of M is a literary assassination, which is so beyond my interest as a person. I don't really care about celebrities. I. You know, this is not something I'm super interested in, but not something I expected out of. Out of this particular writer. Do probability PI here for this book. What is the most probable situation that Portman is in on it or not in on it?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

In on it because you don't want to get sued.

[Jeff O'Neill]

And so how big of the Pac man is in on it? You know, is it. Is it. Is it like this or is it. Is it bigger? Is it like an obtuse angle, an oblique angle? Like what.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I would think Portman has read this and knows the whole deal. Is my where what my money's on. Like, if she and Cusk are friends or friendly, then I don't know what the conversations would have been. But if it's like, hey, this is gonna come out. And also there are Going to be rumors that it's based on you. Sidebar. Where did those rumors come from

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

then?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, I think it's a big. So let's say there are sort of three big possibilities, abilities, big chunks. One is that Portman's. Let's assume it's about Portman in some capacity, because if it's not, then it's just speculation and hype. If it is Portman adjacent or central, there's sort of three possibilities. One is she doesn't know anything about it and is a real kind of. You're friends with a writer, you're playing with fire. This happens sometimes.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

There's a middle version which is it's sort of about her and sort of not. But it's like no one would be pissed off about it. It's, you know, a celebrity, but she knows a little bit of the celebrity world because of this friendship, whatever you want to call it. And then the third thing is that it's not really. It's just generic Gen X actress and kind of a portmanteau of Portman and other people.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

A composite character.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Composite character of some kind.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

This just feels like publicists are hap. Like the. It's based on Natalie Portman had to come from somewhere, and it didn't come from Rachel Cusk. And the way that it just kind of appeared in the water leads me to believe that some publicists have had something to do with it.

[Jeff O'Neill]

And there's been. I mean, I'm sure there's. She's. Cusk has been riding long enough that her team and people in the industry would know that she has friends of some. I mean, so it would be easy to make that as assignation if it were true. We also know that Portland has been adjacently connected to weird literary stuff before in the form of Jonathan's. Jonathan Saffron Foers pen pal crush situation. I don't know exactly. He had a court of correspondence with her that may or may not have led to his divorce with Nicole Krause. That's for the real heads out there. So that suggests to me that Portman is willing to have connections to people in the writing world to get embroiled twice with this. She's like, no more. If you're a writer trying to make Natalie Portman's friendship right now, good luck if the doors are closed.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. I mean, there's something to be said for, like, you're friends with a writer. These things can happen.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

But if they are friends, then Cusk isn't going to do Anything that's going to like, really damage that friendship. Like, you're not gonna write a book that would tear your friendship apart. I'm just.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I mean, you wouldn't. You wouldn't.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

But this does happen, I guess. I don't know. Rachel Cusk. Maybe she's not nice.

[Jeff O'Neill]

What is the literary history of frying your friends in fiction? It's like Hemingway. Absolutely. Cooking F. Scott Fitzgerald. Like, where are we at? I need. I need.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

But they weren't like buddies to begin with.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Dude, have you read any of those letters? They were friends that you. They were friends.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm sticking with fruit fly. I just think this is a big old PR situation.

[Jeff O'Neill]

As opposed to the asteroid of attention and energy that is fruit fly. I appreciate.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

You got to keep it interesting, you know?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay. All right. You can shoot us an email podcast

[Rebecca Schinsky]

book riot.com if it's about how I'm wrong. Just address it to Jeff

[Jeff O'Neill]

Confine Show Notes Book riot.com Listen, go join the Patreon. There's a link in the show notes there patreon.com bookrat podcast go check out zero to well read. We'll be back with Deals Deal Deals on the Patreon regular news show. Kind of mopping up the summer and then the fall cometh here, Rebecca. And we're start thinking about summer draft previews. We got some other stuff in the hopper. Thank you all so much for listening. Remember, this may be your last chance to get a limited time discount on annual membership to the Patreon. We see and appreciate all of you listeners, but a special shouts to those people who are willing to throw in a few duckets into the hat. Thanks so much, Rebecca. A good time as always.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We'll see how this one goes. Thanks so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed today's show and we hope you'll also enjoy this audiobook excerpt from the Winged Game by Sophie Kim, provided by our sponsors at Del Rey.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

With a flourish, she turns the tablet so they can look at the image splashed all over an article from Inquire ukhc. No, no, no, no. The photograph is of Teysa and Cion pressed together in the train compartment. From the angle of the picture, the Playbook is nowhere in sight. And it looks like Teysa's head is leaning on Keon's shoulder as he stares directly into the camera with a furious slant to his mouth. Teysa, on the other hand, looks somewhere between bemused and exhausted in the picture. Flattering. The headline above reads Spotted Stimps Captain Keyon Locke and former Wyvern star Teysa Cho get snuggly rivals in a romance. Read on. Fucking hells. Groans Cion. Language. Warns Bill. Isn't this great? Squeals Neeve. Wipe it, says Tessa in absolute horror. Get this taken down right now. Now she's really going to boke. I don't care who you have to bribe or extort or murder to do it. This needs to be squashed. There's a faint chime. Neve turns the tablet back around, clicks something and grins. And here come the emails. Kill it, Teysa repeats, wringing her hands. Kill it with fire. Slander. Keon growls. Defamation. Get a lawyer in here, Bill. Fuck. He drags a hand down his face. I knew this would happen. Now everybody will know we've recruited her. We won't have the element of surprise anymore. Unless, Murmurs Neve, smiling like she's a five year old girl and it's her birthday. Unless. Unless. Unless. I don't like the way you're saying unless, says Teysa. For once we're in agreement, grumbles Cion. No, listen. There's an excited gleam in Neve's eyes. Does the headline say anything about Teysa joining the team? It says something even worse, taser mutters. The answer is no, neve corrects. And the rest of the article doesn't say anything either. Inquire hasn't even entertained the possibility. They're too busy speculating about whether or not you're dating. Which we are not. Cian looks like he has a headache. Well. Niamh thoughtfully taps her chin with a manicured nail. You could be. Tysa chokes on her own spit. Excuse me? Keep going, Neve, bill says slowly. He's rubbing his chin thoughtfully. If you want to keep Tace's recruitment a secret, at least until the first match, there's a way to do it from a PR perspective. Of course. The elf beams and sunshine sparkles literally on her skin. Summer tides, then. The papers already think you two are dating. Let's give them more of that. An excuse as to why you were spotted together. I'll arrange dates, outings. You two can go out for some ice cream, the movies, maybe even to karaoke. Dates, repeats Tessa, her voice sounding like the croak of a frog. As in dating dates. Those kinds of dates. Maybe if she says the word date enough, it'll lose meaning. So far, though, it still feels like sandpaper on her tongue. Fake, Neve clarifies. But then she beams. Unless you'd like to make it official. That would make my job so much easier. I would rather jump into a vat of hot oil. Oh my, that doesn't sound very comfortable. You can't be serious. Keon has stalked over to Bill's desk and is now snarling, fists planted on that perfectly polished mahogany. This is the maddest, most pointless, deranged idea in the entire fucking world. The club owner looks absolutely unfazed. He's smirking. And yet you know it will work. Cion slaps his desk, pushing off with a groan of frustration. Neve is beginning to frown. I don't understand the problem. You get to keep your secret and we all get an influx of good press. And you know what comes with press? Tessa hesitates. Money, she whispers, just as Keon says headaches. Their eyes meet. She feels her cheeks heat. She knows he saw her stack of bills in the kitchen. Bills she can't pay off. At least not yet. Neve is right. Good PR brings public interest. Sponsorships. After the fallout, she lost her brand deal with Neat, the biggest sportswear and shoe company in the Hidden Cities. For the brief time she had it, she raked in quid just by wearing a pair of their trainers app. And she'd snag that deal right around the time she was involved with Everest Huang. That short lived relationship gave her enough popularity and relevance to interest the Neat execs. Why her massive athletic accomplishments on their own hadn't been enough to land her a neat deal was due to a fun little thing called sex sexism. Something especially present in the good old sport of Kara Witchett. If she were to get involved with Locke after years of their rivalry, people would be very interested. Even as despised as she is right now, the money would come quickly. She could have enough money to pay her bills twice over and to help her mum out. And maybe the idea of the world hating her a little less is enticing too. Fewer photos of her crying behind skip bins. Sounds like a good thing, hmm? Yes, A very good thing. Ok, she says, her mouth suddenly dry. I'll. We'll do it. As Cion swears under his breath, she glares at him. It's our only choice, you numpty. And you right well know it. Sodorf, he says, which she and Neave take to mean, yes, you're right.