The It Books of November 2025

Summary

Book Riot – The Podcast

Episode: "The It Books of November 2025"

Hosts: Jeff O’Neal & Rebecca Schinsky
Release Date: October 29, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, Jeff and Rebecca dive into the most anticipated "It Books" of November 2025—a monthly tradition where they debate and decide which upcoming releases have the best combination of hype, literary merit, sales potential, and cultural impact. Along the way, they riff on industry programming, recent projects like Zero to Well Read, and deliver lively bookish banter. The episode is helpfully structured as a “knock-out” round, where each title’s prospects as the month’s must-read—or must-gift—are weighed head-to-head.

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Episode Highlights & Discussions

1. State of November in New Releases [01:06]

• Jeff and Rebecca note that November 2025 offers a better-than-usual slate of anticipated titles, even if it isn’t “stacked.”
  • "I've got a couple honorable mentions. You know, it wasn't...it's not stack stacked, but there's enough to keep most readers interested..." — Jeff [01:09]
• Discussion of release date strategy—why do some big books cluster on certain days? Neither host knows for sure, but Rebecca mentions publishers are still picking through the schedules for spring 2026.
  • “There just are days where books cluster and I don't know what to make of it. ... Why does nobody like March 3rd. I don't know.” — Rebecca [01:33]

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2. Programming Notes, Side Projects, and Listener Feedback [02:30]

• Announcement: On the Patreon feed, Jeff and Rebecca have power-ranked Amazon’s 25 Best Books of the Century.
• Preview: Upcoming episode will feature an interview with leaders from We Need Diverse Books about book banning and censorship ("I wanted to see their take on the state of book bannings and censorship and what they're doing and how they're reacting." — Jeff [02:30])
• Shout-out to the “Zero to Well Read” project, which is gaining popularity. The next book covered will be "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.
  • They discuss feedback: listeners enjoy book background/context, not just plot summaries.
    • “No one has written in saying, you know what, actually, guys, just stick to the stuff between the covers of the book.” — Jeff [06:58]
• Reflection: Hosts enjoy the process of deep reading and conversing about classics.
  • “I always like the book more after the conversation than I did going in, even if it's something that I loved going in.” — Rebecca [08:06]

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3. What Makes an "It Book"? [12:46]

• Recap of their selection criteria: a true "It Book" is a four-quadrant hit—buzz, sales, critical reception, and broader cultural reach.
  • "We are trying to pick the book of the month that is best going to capture the IT bookiness which means some combination of buzz which is sales attention. It's got something to it. A little, a little chew, a little al dente." — Jeff [12:46]
• Process: Jeff picks 10 contenders, which are then (playfully) pitted against one another, Hunger Games style.

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The "It Books" Showdown (Main Book Segment)

1. Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite [14:26]

• Overview: Second novel from the breakout author of "My Sister the Serial Killer."
  • Premise: A woman gives birth the day her cousin is buried—and they look alike. Themes of reincarnation, family, superstition, and love, told with dark humor.
• Anticipation: High—Braithwaite’s debut was a major success (“sold over a quarter million copies,” Booker longlisted, Women’s Prize shortlisted, etc.).
  • “My Sister the Serial Killer was such a good time and I'm looking for more good time books that also have some substance to them. And I think she does that really well.” — Rebecca [16:27]
• Category Fit: Upmarket commercial—book club potential.

Result: Easily advances to the next round as the book to beat.

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2. Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood [20:10]

• Overview: Atwood’s “memoir of sorts,” spanning her career as a literary icon.
  • Noted for its unconventional format—Atwood is “a weirdo, so the format might be interesting.” — Rebecca [20:40]
• Sales Potential: High for gifts (Thanksgiving/holidays), but mainly attracts avid readers or Atwood devotees.
  • Release date: November 25th.
  • Fun Fact: The memoir is over 1,000 pages! ("It’s way up there… rivaling the Streisand" — [21:59])
• Final Judgment: “Just has a barrier to entry… a much lower floor than something like Cursed Daughters.” — Rebecca [20:10]

Result: Cursed Daughters advances.

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3. The Look by Michelle Obama [22:00]

• Overview: Coffee table book documenting Michelle Obama’s style evolution—cultural significance, huge gift appeal.
• Buzz: Massive, likely to outsell most literary books but more of a cultural/documentary artifact.
  • “I love it for her, the moment that she's having right now… She had to keep herself really boxed in during her husband's term… now she can lean into her fashion.” — Rebecca [22:27]
• Final Judgment: Cursed Daughters stays; potential impact, but less “al dente” for core reading crowd.

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4. The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes [24:23]

• Overview: Pulitzer-winning playwright & "In the Heights" writer’s debut novel; short (176 pages), about a young mother’s short-lived escape.
• Host Take: Recognized for its “debut” underdog status—impressive, but “very tough to be a debut author in any IT books list.”
  • “This does sound really interesting. And 197 pages. I would love for editors to be so strategic with debut authors to be like, let's make it a low risk for readers.” — Rebecca [25:52]

Result: Cursed Daughters advances.

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5. The Emergency by George Packer [26:47]

• Overview: Acclaimed journalist’s fiction debut—speculative future novel about empire, decline, and identity. “Station Eleven” is a comp.
• Host Skepticism: “I don't know what the appetite is for something like that… It could be a page turner but also a bummer, dude.” — Rebecca [28:26]
• Critical Buzz: High; keep on the radar.

Result: Cursed Daughters advances.

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[Sponsor Break and Side Banter]

• (Ads and witty asides omitted.)

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6. Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie [33:00]

• Overview: Quintet of stories written post-attack on Rushdie, about “life’s final act.” Relates to themes of aging, legacy, and self-reflection.
• Cultural Context: Discussion of how Rushdie prefers to be known for his work, not the attack.
• Host Admiration: High literary anticipation, but short story collections are a tough sell for mainstream buzz.
  • “The name Salman Rushdie on the cover of a book intimidates a lot of readers. And short stories either intimidate a lot of readers or they just don't have an appetite for them…”— Rebecca [36:16]

Result: “In terms of acclaim, best of the year lists, I expect we'll see Rushdie. ... But for it books ... it's Braithwaite.” — Rebecca [37:33]

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7. Palaver by Bryan Washington [38:33]

• Overview: Highly anticipated new novel from the author of “Memorial”—story of a young gay American grappling with family and identity in Japan, and his mother’s surprise arrival.
• Buzz: High; 100,000 copy print run—a strong sign of publisher faith—and early best-of-year nods.
  • "I think that I'm going to swing for it and give this one to Brian Washington. I would love to see him carry the month." — Rebecca [40:20]
• Host Reflection: Title may be a barrier for some (“Why do authors do this?” — Rebecca [40:33]), but book club and awards potential is through the roof.

Result: Palaver knocks out Cursed Daughters; advances as top contender.

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8. Pelican Child by Joy Williams [42:18]

• Overview: National Book Award–longlisted story collection; Joy Williams is a respected, slightly under-the-radar literary figure. Features surreal stories (Baba Yaga, Sontag, etc.).
• Host Take: Strong but niche, unlikely to cross into mainstream conversation.
  • “Joy Williams also weirdly also 176 pages just like the White Hot. ... I am glad to see her in the conversation here.” — Jeff [42:48]

Result: Palaver continues.

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9. Brimstone by Callie Hart [45:57]

• Overview: Sequel to BookTok sensation "Quicksilver"; highly anticipated in romance/fantasy ("romantasy") circles, especially on Goodreads.
  • “I continue to feel that Booktok is its own snow globe universe. So I think what we have here is that Brian Washington is carrying the month.” — Rebecca [46:41]
• Host Observation: These books are massive in certain circles (million-copy print runs), but largely invisible outside them.

Result: Palaver remains the winner for It Book—hosts note the split between BookTok/romantasy and their more literary crowd.

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10. Honorable Mentions & Other Notable Releases [48:50]

• Third in Travis Baldry’s Legends & Lattes series: "Breggins and Bread Knives."
• "American Revolution: An Intimate History" by Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward (to accompany PBS series).
• "Some Bright Nowhere" by Ann Packer (November 11th).
• "Notes on Being a Man" by Scott Galloway (for contemporary masculinity readers).

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Conclusion and Notable Quotes

• Winner for "It Book of November 2025":
  • Palaver by Bryan Washington, with strong contention from Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite.
  • “I think that we will get to watch Brian Washington and Oyinkan Braithwaite, like, duke it out over the course of the month. It's going to be interesting.” — Rebecca [47:29]
• On the BookTok divide:
  • “We're over here with our 16% of literary fiction readers or whatever.” — Rebecca [47:22]
  • “We are in the snow globe universe. We're the snow globe and they're the outer world, which is fine. I'm fine with that.” — Jeff [47:21]
• On the enduring appeal of literary projects:
  • “The project itself has been a real standout. I'm happy to be reading this way.” — Rebecca, on Zero to Well Read [08:06]

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Notable Fun/Banter Moments

• Fantasy picks for animal legs as a Baba Yaga hut [44:27–45:32].
• Reflection on how to be a man today: “Text him back and just be cool. You could do worse, man.” [49:59]
• Playful moaning about title choices, print runs, and the hurdles of reader engagement.

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Next Episode Teasers

• Zadie Smith discussion (exact structure TBD, will likely include each host’s top picks from the new essay collection).

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For Listeners New and Old

If you’re looking for keen analysis of the month’s most buzzed-about books—with a side of wry humor, publishing industry insight, and off-the-wall tangents—Book Riot’s It Books round-up delivers. Whether your tastes run to literary fiction, pop culture memoirs, short stories, or BookTok phenoms, this episode serves as a lively guide to what’s coming and what’s hot for November 2025.

Transcript

[Rebecca Schinsky]

When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Learn [e-mail] this episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast Smart move. Being financially savvy Smart move. Another smart move having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer, availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligible vary by state. This is the Book Riot podcast. I'm Jeff o'. Neill.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And I'm Rebecca Schinsky.

[Jeff O'Neill]

And it's time for the it books of November. Sometimes November can be a little slim pickings. I didn't have much trouble finding 10 here. I've got a couple honorable mentions. You know, it wasn't. It's not stack stacked, but there's enough to keep most readers interested to some degree. And I don't know, I feel like there's more November releases out. I mean, for example, there's a Rushdie we'll talk about. November 7th is a weird date for that. Why is that November 7th, Rebecca?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't know. I was looking at that as well. Like mid October has been. Has been really stacked. We're coming out of a really big reading month. September was pretty significant as well. But November, I agree, does not look as quiet as November's can be. December is a different story. I'm interested in always the case, what we're gonna do here together next month. Yeah, November 7th is a really interesting day. Maybe on the Rushdie part, like you're a publisher, you're looking for a day where somebody with a name like that isn't sharing the spotlight with so many with quite as busy of a release day. But there are also, it seems like that just happens. I've started working on like our database of new releases for the spring of 2026 and there just are days where books cluster and I don't know what to make of it. I'm through five out of the six big catalogs I want to get to and there's like two books on March. Like what? Why does nobody like March 3rd. I don't know.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Curious. So we're gonna get it Books in a moment. Programming notes. We in the Patreon feed right now, we power ranked our top 10 books each from Amazon's list of the 25 best books of the centuries so far in which they just basically relisted their number one picks. They didn't go redraft which I respect them. Like we're gonna try to hold on to these takes. I think you get more points per take if you hold the take. You know. Yes, take times time equals value I guess there. And next week we are going to be talking about Zadie Smith. I'm taking a little pto so we're going to kick that off by a week. I'm going to be off on Thursday. What you're going to find in this feed instead is I had a very good conversation with a couple of the folks from we need diverse books Carolyn Richmond and Danielle Clayton to take to take. I wanted to see their take on the state of book bannings and censorship and what they're doing and how they're reacting. We had a really good conversation and they. I don't know if they were trying to butter me up, Rebecca but when I stopped recording they're like those are such good questions and I make me feel so good. And so if there's no easier way to get a. To get an interviewee, a journalist or such as I am on your side is to compliment the question 100 that made me feel good.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm going to say that those were well earned. My experience is that you, you do your homework, we know that and you do ask good questions.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Well, one of the reasons it's easy to talk to them is because we're so aligned in our interests. There's just more boots on the ground. Like I follow the news and they said, you know, you wouldn't imagine the basic sort of questions we get. And I was like oh okay. You know, I'm an outlier of my knowledge and experience of the news cycles and we need verse books and the whole situation.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Nerd is a good time.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's a good time so that please do listen along for that. Also please listen if you haven't yet check out zero to well ready. A lot of people are joining us over there. We Lew past our 150 rating milestone in which we said we'd unlock something. So far Pastor, we're up to 265 or something now which means we have unlocked for ourselves. There's no. There's no trunk. It's just us. You know, there's no like Geraldo Rivera vault thing we're trying to get into. It's just us. We're going to do A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in the fall as we approach holiday time. I have read, though, if people want to keep the momentum going, apparently those ratings and reviews, the ratings especially have value of people finding and believing that this is a real show up until about 500 ratings past that is there's diminishing returns. So if you want to keep pushing, we're going to keep mentioning it, but we're having a really good time over there.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

To Kill a Mockingbird is important.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Kill a Mockingbird came out just now. I don't want to give away the next ones. I think it's fun that people are surprised, though I will say there's a lot of people that want to have read the book for when it comes out like that. You know, they wanted to know is to Kill a Mockingbird so that they're ready to listen right now. Which there's part of me that really understands that. So I don't know if there's something we could do in the future. We have a Patreon or something else reserved well read where if you want a different kind of experience. But I think there's something to what's new opening up the Christmas package.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, I think, I mean, my experience of like listening to shows about, say, movies is that either I will listen even though I haven't seen the movie yet, or I will listen up to the point of spoilers and then go see the movie and come back. Or if it's something that I'm really excited about, like I just saved the episode and I go see the movie and then I come back and listen to it. And I think that's, to me, one of the beauties of the Zero to well Read project is that it's not like these are evergreen books. They're things that we've been talking about in most cases for years or decades and sometimes centuries. So it's not that you have to have read it the day that the episode comes out. We did give Patreon members to the Book Riot feed access to the reading list this time around with big caveats of some of these things might change and some of them indeed have changed. So that's another hesitation is we're responding to like, you know, we're trying to do an adaptation anchor and the movie date gets moved around or we decide at the last minute we don't want to do that Rushdie. We want to do this other Rushdie. We want to give ourselves some flexibility there. So I don't know. That's. That's about as much information as I'm comfortable giving anybody up front as here's what we're planning to read. But it. I mean, that show has really taken off. We've been joking around my house that I am a new pop sensation in the Ralph Wiggle voice from the Simpsons.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And. And I don't think it's. I don't know. I don't think it's that big of a deal that you haven't read the book that same.

[Jeff O'Neill]

No, I just. I can understand it. I'm not saying you can't please everybody. Also, thanks to folks who wrote in about the background and context. No one has written in saying, you know what, actually, guys, just stick to the stuff between the covers of the book. We really. They really enjoyed the background. My theory, and I wrote one of the folks that wrote in today, I think my theory is that people who are finding it on Apple podcasts, where it got featured for a while, I think it's still featured in a couple spots. They come in, I think, wanting, expecting that's just gonna be about the Great Gatsby. They're not expecting, which is okay, you know, we can't make it for everybody because I think we're gonna. I think more people like it than don't by an order of magnitude. And that's the best you can do it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Well.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And I think also that if you just want a summary of the plot points of the Great Gatsby, you can find those all over the Internet or in your, you know, chat bot of choice. And we're trying to do something that's more fully featured, a richer experience.

[Jeff O'Neill]

You know, one surprising thing to me, Rebecca, is Ames was asking me, like, which of the books you've done so far has been your favorite to podcast about?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Good question.

[Jeff O'Neill]

And I've got to say, they've all been. One doesn't stand out. Is that true for you? Like, they've all been kind of equally enjoyable. It's kind of weird.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm having a similar experience to when we book club something here on the show or we do a Patreon book club where, like, I always like the book more after the conversation than I did going in, even if it's something that I loved going in. And just the experience of getting to read this way and have a conversation with somebody else who's trying to read this way and engage in the project is really so much fun. I think my favorite parts of it so far have been finding things in these books that I didn't remember or that I didn't appreciate when I was younger or that I didn't know to look for the first time around. But yeah, I have not had a real like, oh man, that's my favorite standout. It's just the project itself has been a real standout. I'm happy to be reading this way.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I was sort of least looking forward to To Kill a Mockingbird. I wasn't looking forward to it, but of the list and that's the one out today, just as we said, it feels, it feels like a familiar chestnut. And what we're finding, what I'm finding in our course of our conversations, I'll speak for you as well, is that the books that have lasted even this, I mean this is one of the newer ones we've done. There's a reason that 60s there's a reason, there's a reason they were phenomenons and that they've stuck around. Now maybe they don't have the sort of same vim and vigor they did on Day and date in their contemporary time, but there's a lot there. And that book is a different book than I thought and there's different things in there. And to look at it later and look at our contemporary historical context, to think of it as a work of art rather in addition to being a work of cultural politics or cultural polity is also super interesting as well. So I've I think the one that's been the most fun so far is yet to come out. But I'll say that.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Jeff O'Neill]

Anything else, Rebecca on the programming notes before we get into the.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

No, let's get into this. I'm excited for November.

[Jeff O'Neill]

If this is your first time joining us for IT Books, we are trying to pick the book of the month that is best going to capture the IT bookiness which means some combination of buzz which is sales attention. It's got something to it. A little, a little chew, a little al dente. It's a little al dente. It's not just slop that you suck down critical reception. You know, all goes in the pot and we call that a four quadrant hit that we get every now and again. I think the IT book of all IT books that we've done so far is James by personal 100%. That's the big easiest one to do. You know, sometimes we take something off the board if we don't we haven't done that in a while. I think the last. We did that with the first of the Ray Carney Colson Whitehead books. I don't think we've taken. Have we taken anything else off the board that I could.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't think we've taken anything off the board for it. Books. Usually when we know that, like, James or something of that stature is coming out, you will, in a normal month, put it back. Just are at a random order. But you will save it for later in the show so that it doesn't just run the table the whole time. When we take something off the board, it's usually like for the draft. The draft episodes where it's like we're just not even gonna fight over who's gonna get Colson Whitehead this time around.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So here's how it works. I've selected 10 contenders. They enter to the ring one at a time. So the first one will automatically make it to the second round. And then the Rebecca, like, kind of gives them a jab, you know, kind of feels them out, really. A little work kit. Work the kidneys a little bit. Then comes in for the finishing blow to decide which of them will survive to the next round. And it's the last book standing will be the it book of the month. So without.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I really want, like a big it Book Wrestling belt now.

[Jeff O'Neill]

No. There you go. I like that. Yeah. It could give you a matchbook. On you, it looked like a wrestling. You're small. It doesn't have to be that big for me. I need like a. I need like one of those cafeteria plates. Okay. Up first. This might be my most anticipated book of November. It's close. It's Cursed Daughters by Oyinka and Brathwaite, who. This is her second book. Her first book was My Sister the Serial Killer, which was a read like a house on fire. What was that years ago?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Let me see. Do I have this? They've changed this all around. And I cannot find what the comps were. Makes me so sad. Anyway, so this one is a. I think it feels like it's in the same vein, but her. This main character gives birth on the same day they bury a cousin. And they kind of look a lot alike. Is this a reincarnation? Is this happenstance? What are the. So it's clearly about family and inheritance and identity. There's a love story here. There's superstition. It's really funny. So I'm very excited to see this. It also, not for nothing, is a little bit longer than my sister the Serial killer. My remember is that that was a relatively short book. This is stretching into not quite a Saga, but it's 384 pages.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay, that's substantial.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I will be very curious to see what the reception to this is because we get buzzy debuts that do pretty well. The second, third and fourth book is when you make a career. I've heard really good things. The reviews have been excellent. I think this could be around at the end of the year. I think it would have a better contender to be around at the end of the year, which frankly, it is end of the year, Rebecca, for the best books and things. But what do you make of Cursed Daughters? What do you make of Oyinkin Braithwaite's career to this point? How interested are you in this?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm so interested. My sister the Serial killer was such a good time and I'm looking for more good time books that also have some substance to them. And I think she does that really well. We won't be having to think really big, deep thoughts. But it's not just fluff. There is a time and place for fluff, but I want a little bit more going on. Her writing is a higher quality than a lot of the commercial type fiction. And this is true. Upmarket commercial, I think is where Wayne Can Braithwaite tends to sit. And there is potential here for a big book club pick. It's right in the zone for that kind of reader. I don't remember if my sister the Serial Killer got picked for anything like that. And that book predates when we were doing it books.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So I wasn't thinking, well, we would have picked it. Debut is just impossible. Right? It's hard to know.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It was like a big. One of the big surprises of that year was, oh my God, my sister, the Serial killer is everywhere. And I remember that I was late to that party precisely because there are so many debuts. And a debut like Funny Mystery is not necessarily something or a funny thriller. It's not something that I'm gonna tend to pick up as a priority. But it just got so much steam behind it and I'm really glad I picked that one up. I've been looking forward to this. Kind of surprising to me that we don't have adaptation news around.

[Jeff O'Neill]

But yeah, I mean, my sister the Serial Killer sold over a quarter million copies across formats. It long listed for the Booker and shortlisted for the Women's Prize. So, man, I forgot it was all that kind of. I mean, it really was.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

If we would have done it and we wouldn't have picked it. We probably would have had to reconsider as the it book for the month where it came out. It certainly was one of the books of the year.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh, yeah. If we did like retroactive it books, it would have been one of the books of that year for sure.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I meant to mention I did not mess with the order. I took the random.org order and it spit it out first. There's a chance it could run the table here. It would. It's going to be take something really to knock Curse Starters Daughters out at this point. All right. Up next, Book of Lives, a memoir of sorts by one Margaret ATWOOD, coming out November 25th. Oh, I should say my sister, I'm sorry, cursed daughters is November 4th. So pretty quick that's going to be out. This one is Thanksgiving week. Margaret Atwood's memoir. And it sounds like it is going to be a lot of her life as a writer, which makes sense because she is a writer. But it is going to be her take on a memoir has been, you know, an icon of contemporary literature really since the Handmaid's Tale. But also, I mean we could go on the Oryx and Crake and the Blind Assassin. Like there's she's got so many books that people know and love. Almost a vogue like color cover. Like it really looks like a photo shoot. She's wearing these red gloves. Very striking person, always has this impass, mischievous look to her. And I think she is one of those figures that when I am, you know, 60, 70 80s years old, I'm going to think back, it's like I was alive at the same time of Margaret Atwood, the hands made tale being one of the signal works of the 20th century, the late 20th century. I don't know what to do with a book like this. For it books, it's very difficult. I think this has a lot of legs. This is going to be read and consulted for a long time. How much is it going to fly off the shelves? I don't know. I can imagine it'll do very well in audio. But Rebecca, talk to me about Cursed Daughters and Book of Lies.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I mean, I think Cursed Daughters is going to carry this one. Book of Lives, a big writer memoir, just has a barrier to entry. Like it has a much lower floor than something like Cursed Daughters has where you have to care about books and reading enough to want to read a memoir by a writer. And that's just a pretty small percentage of readers. Margaret Atwood is a cultural figure as well. I imagine like more of Canada. A higher percentage of Canada is excited about this.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, there you go.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

She comes to us from the Great North. It's also like the synopsis for this, when it was first announced was like, it's a memoir kind of. But it's Margaret Atwood's version of a memoir and she's a weirdo, so the format might be interesting. I have not seen any of the inside of this book, but she does interesting and weird stuff. So I would totally believe it if it's not just like a straightforward, you know, linear narrative of her life. I think this will be purchased a lot. Putting it out around Thanksgiving in the US at the start of gift giving season. Like, I suspect this goes under the tree or into the Hanukkah gift pile for many a book nerd. I don't know how often it will be read, but I do believe it will be purchased. So I'm going to pass it on to curse Daughters will carry this round.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Well, since. Since you administered a technical knockout to Book of Lives, I will now reveal the. The injury that I didn't reveal. So the. The counterboxer didn't exploit it because this is a. This book is 1024 pages book. So that is real.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I did not know that.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh boy.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Anyway.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That'S rivaling the Streisand that's.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's way up there.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Wow.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Of sorts. Just think if it was actually a memoir, how much longer it would be the next book. I have no idea what to do with it's look the look by Michelle Obama, which is a stunning journey through Michelle Obama's style evolution in her own words for the first time. Rebecca, this is a book of her outfits.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, it's a coffee table fashion book. I think this will outsell probably most things that we're going to talk about today. And Michelle Obama, like I love it for her, the moment that she's having right now. She had to like keep herself really boxed in during her husband's term in office. Terms in office and like her clothes were so scrutinized and she clearly cares about fashion and self expression but also always had to think about multiple angles of like what they're going to say about what she's wearing and what's appropriate for a moment. And is the designer American and what do the colors mean and all of that. That much thought for a person who really cares about fashion is really interesting. And she was a historic first lady for so many reasons. I think this is an important book. It has the potential to be really interesting. I'm glad that she is doing it. I don't really know what to do with like a coffee table kind of book in the it book scenario. I think it's probably a great gift though. Like November is also the right time for a book like this. A great holiday gift book. But Oyinka Braithwaite can carry on.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I'm biased against this because I just really don't care about fashion at all. And I read a quote in some of the pre publicity hype where she's like, you know, I'm to the point now where I kind of don't care what people think. I'm like, you know, know what, that's a great sentiment. But you cannot publish a coffee table book of you in beautiful dresses and say that with the straight. I just. That that's. That's too much cognitive dissonance. I can't handle. It does not compute. So I think this is not clearly what I would choose her to be working on for my own personal taste. But that's only my personal taste. She should clearly do what she wants. Yeah. So it's going to sell a bunch and I don't know what else. I really don't know what else to say about it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I mean I think it's incredibly culturally relevant. Like how the. The first black first lady presented in public over the course of those eight years is important and interesting.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yep. Okay. Up next. I think this is my only debut. So this is the White Hot by Chiara Allegria who does. I'm sorry for someone who maybe knows how. I looked for a pronunciation here but I didn't find it. She has won the Pulitzer Prize for a play Water by the Spoonful. And she wrote the book for in the Heights, Lynwood, the music and lyrics. But she wrote the book which is sort of how the thing is put together. And this is her first novel. It comes out November 11th. Story of a runaway mother's 10 days of freedom. So a young mother raising her daughter in an intergenerate house of unspoken secrets. And then she breaks away. So it's sort of like the opposite of the room. It sounds like like she's maybe gets out for a little bit. Rather gets taken in. This is 176 pages.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Love to see it.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So it's very quick. So 17 pages per day. I'm assuming it's going to be just right on it. And I am fascinated to see what this is going to be. The COVID is super lit fic vibes. It's like some classical painting that's been messed with with. Yeah. Rebecca. I just by nature I'm going to be interested in this, so I'm not sure what to do. It's going to be hard to knock out Braithwaite, but I thought of note here.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. This is one that I haven't heard of. I know her other work now that you've listed some of it. Very tough to be a debut author in any IT books list, but especially going up against a now heavyweight like Oink and Braithwaite. So she's not going to carry on. But I'm glad to see the White Hot get into the list here and get a nomination. It's just an honor to be nominated as a debut novelist on it books day. This does sound really interesting. And 197 pages. I would love for editors to be so strategic with debut authors to be like, let's make it a low risk for readers. Keep your debut under 250, under 300 if you really have to go there. But make it easy for folks to try your book out and see if they're ready to commit to you. And then you can go a little bit longer. But 197 is excellent. Braithwaite's gonna carry on.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay from here we're going. This has gotten a lot of buzz. It comes out November 11th from FSG. It's George Packer's the Emergency, 416 pages. He's won the National Book Award for nonfiction. This is Packer's turn to fiction, a visionary novel that goes to the nerve center of what it means to live in a time of fracture and upheaval. The empire has collapsed from boredom and loss of faith in itself. I don't know if this sounds familiar to anyone. Young rebellions of urban burgers and rural yeomen embrace radical new ideas of humanity. A chief surgeon at the Imperial College hospitals increasingly estranged from a city and family. And there's some other stuff that happens. So it's a. I wouldn't say this is dystopian. Right. But it's a future where things are unraveling. It's speculative historical. Speculative historical fiction. No. Speculative future fiction, I guess, is all speculative fiction, but it takes a version of things that are going on in our contemporary environment and takes them into a related but stranger world than ours and does something with it. The reviews I've seen highlights that it's a page turner. So I'm wondering. I'm guessing some sort of Station 11 is the best comp I can think of like the high, the highest ceiling here where that's a little more post apocalyptic. This doesn't feel like everything's. I mean, it says, I don't know, Rebecca. People throw around dystopian, post apocalypse in a way that I understand. I feel like I now have an idiosyncratic usage of it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, I think those words have stopped meaning a lot of things because they've been so wibbly and they've been used so variably.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't know what the appetite for a book that like, that feels dystopian in the ways that our current reality feels dystopian. I don't know what the appetite is for something like that, but I am consistently wrong about this. I don't feel the need to read more about the kind of world that we are living in some of those particular ways. But it seems that folks like that and as a page turner, maybe fun and smart is going to win out over. It's a bummer dude. And this sounds like it could be a page turner but also a bummer dude. So I'm going to keep curse daughters going on, but I'm not betting against Packer. You know, he's got a couple Pulitzers under his belt.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, there's a lot of buzz about this and I let's just keep our eye on it. That's all I'm gonna say at this point. All right, let's do another quick sponsor break. The holidays have arrived at the Home Depot and we're here to help bring the excitement with decor for every part of your home.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Jeff O'Neill]

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[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Jeff O'Neill]

And bring your holiday spirit outdoors with.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Jeff O'Neill]

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[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Rebecca Schinsky]

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[Jeff O'Neill]

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[Jeff O'Neill]

I don't Remember Share Part 1 How well it did or how much it was talked about, but part two cometh. Okay. And it is 500,000 copies.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I thought you were going to say 500 pages. And I was like, oh boy, it's.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Only 400, 480 pages. So I guess jam together their Streisand, like, okay.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I think the first one did pretty well.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Mm. Now this is saying it's got moved to May of next year. Now that I'm on Edelweiss. I pulled it from a different list. So we're going to hold it to the side real quick. But I'll just let people know it's coming. I guess I'll do a little more research here in a minute. But the first book took her through basically her pop stardom and this one picks up when she goes to New York to try to become a serious actress so that we're going to get Moonstruck and Witches of Eastwick and Mask and all that kind of stuff there. Cher, a real one.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yes.

[Jeff O'Neill]

But I was trying to explain to my kids at some point Cher as a cultural figure and I basically kind of went.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That is a really tough task for Cher is like.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Something more than a pop star but not a political icon. Like she sort of represented shareness. Yeah, Cher represented Cher. I don't know what to say about it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

There's not a like gen Alpha equivalent celebrity yet. I think for your kids to have an analogy to, it's like if Britney.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Spears then had Jennifer Lawrence's acting career, that was Cher.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Just multi talented and a powerful personality. Like my favorite Cher story is Cher's mom being like, when are you going to settle down and marry a rich man? And Cher says, mom, I am a rich man.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's amazing.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's great.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. Cher Part 1 came out November of last year and the list I was looking on had it November 2025, which would make sense a year later if it's done. But. But my apologies to all of you listening out there who are quickly going to your tbr. Alas, it is ineligible. So curse daughter is going to by default. It was going to go in by elder law is going to move along. This one's this. I think this is maybe our first real serious contender to curse daughters. November 4th from Random House. The 11th hour. A Quinton of stories by one Salman Rushdie who has begun his pre pub stuff in earnest over the last couple weeks. He was at the New Yorker Festival. Really interesting quote of I want to be known by the books on the shelf, not by the story of what's happened to me, which I hadn't really thought of. And I can imagine that being a real pain point of the people who have tried to silence him haven't silenced him by any stretch of imagination, but they certainly have colored the story about him. And so this is a chance for Rushdie's work to take front and center again. A wonderful writer of short works and it's about it says Rushdie turns his extraordinary imagination to life's final act. And that's one thing we saw with NYFA book both you and I liked a great deal. A lot of it was about being old, about being older and having a lot of life under your belt, I guess is maybe the more charitable way to put that. And these stories span the countries in which he's lived. India, England and America. Characters doing all kinds of things. Apparently some characters from some other book show up.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh, interesting.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So I'm really looking forward to this. You know, Rushdie before knife. It's been a while since he had one that broke through a little bit. I think the gosh, what was the name of the one? Was it the Ground Beneath Her Feet? I remember the gold cover. It was really striking that a lot of people read but Joseph Anton and then what was the last one called? Something I liked Victory Siddri City quite a bit. There was another one in there that the Quixote retelling, which is going to be a tough ask for a lot of people. I hope there's a chance for people to re engage short stories or quintet of stories. I don't know. I just don't know if people are going to pick it up. But I'm glad at last to have another Rushdie post knife. And it wasn't clear he was going to survive. And not only does he survive, but he's got something else. As you know, one of my favorite, if not my favorite genre of fiction is Old Men Waiting to Die. So Old Men Waiting to Die by Salman Rushdie is just like there's nothing I, you know, I need say no more from me. 270 tape pages. What do you think about the 11th hour?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm also really excited for this. I think Salman Rushdie is so wise and so smart, but it's really the wisdom piece that I'm thinking about a lot lately. Also reading the Zadie Smith essay collection. Right now. I'm thinking a lot about Salman Rushdie. Like, they come at some of the same issues and questions from, I think, expansive and nuanced places. And there was so much, like, tenderness and surprising sentimentality in Knife. I remember us both being like, wow, he's really kind of mushy, but in a lovely way about his family and his children and, like, what all of these relationships mean and what it is to have found love later in life. And I really liked seeing that from him. And I like seeing that anytime from a kind of intimidating cultural figure. I think Rushdie is an intimidating cultural figure. I think the name Salman Rushdie on the COVID of a book intimidates a lot of readers. And short stories either intimidate a lot of readers or they just don't have an appetite for them or have never gotten in the like. My real assessment is that most readers just never got in the habit of engaging with short stories and have not discovered how wonderful they can be. So I'm a little. We don't need to be concerned for Salman Rushdie. He's doing just fine. But by virtue of being a short story collection, a little concerned that this probably, you know, it won't get the kind of wide acceptance or real readership that just a new Rushdie novel would. But I'm here for it, probably in sales and broader mainstream buzziness. It's gonna be Oyink and Braithwaite and wow, what a belt for her to carry that she's knocking out Rushdie. But in terms of acclaim, best of the year lists, I expect we'll see Rushdie. I haven't really been looking for this one on the list that have come out already so far, but I'm personally very looking forward to it. I do think for it books, though, for the four quadrants, it's Braithwaite.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Would it be different? It was just a novel called the Eleventh Hour with the main character being an older guy who's had some celebrity trying to figure out. Yeah, yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Then I'd be like, I don't care what else is coming out this month.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's not even really short stories. At 272 pages with five stories, that's like 50, no, 65ish pages per. Those are like novellas.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

More creeping up into novella territory.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. A very unusual length to do now, again, they could be very. There could be one that's 107, you know, could have a novella and short stories. It's just called a quintet of stories.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. But like as a reader, an appreciator of him, I'm glad, I'm honestly just glad that we are getting a new book after Knife so that there is something like. I hope he continues to write for a long time. But I wanted there to be some sort of punctuation mark on his career in his fiction work after that attack and after what's been done to him.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So my sense of him is he's going to keep writing and publishing until like, yeah, he's in the ground until he doesn't say he's going to retire.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Next up, November 4th palaver by Brian Washington. I've been looking forward to this book for a long time, really ever since the last Brian Washington book came out. This story here, his last book, I think, well, Memorial was the breakout one that a lot of that's I think, where I first encountered Brian Washington as well. This is a novel, 336 pages. And we have a young gay man who is drinking his life away in Japan, working as an English tutor, has a fraught relationship with a married fella, has friends and everything in Japan, but is estranged from his family back in Houston, especially his mom. And then one day his mom shows up at his door. And then you might guess from the title, which Palaver, I was trying to think I didn't look it up, but Plavard, my understanding of it is like long winded and pointless talking. Is that, is that your understanding?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It is, but it's not a definition I've googled recently.

[Jeff O'Neill]

No, I have to look this up. But I would be really interested if this is just a two hander of the mom and the son. Like having it out in this guy's Japanese apartment.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That would be great. I love Brian Washington. I'm kind of torn about this, like this decision here because. Oh yes, yeah, Washington is four quadrant potential. There is book club potential here. This is an award nominated book. It has been on some of the best of the year lists that have come out so far. I actually, I think that I'm going to swing for it and give this one to Brian Washington. I would love to see him Carrie the month. My only hesitation is that the title is a word that a lot of people don't know. And why do authors do this?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Like that's okay, I'm all right with. I mean, listen, Braithwaite's titles. I mean, first of all, My Sister the Serial Killer might be the most alluring title anyone's named anything Ever cursed Daughters is not far behind. Yeah, you kind of have some sense what you're getting.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Well like why, why are we giving books titles of words that people have to google to know what the book is about? Like it's hard to sell a book. It I just think it's hard enough to sell books make it a little bit easier.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Some people don't care about selling books. They're just like I'm going to use the right word and only the right word. And if you can't be bothered to google it, well then you can go, you know, get read something with sprayed edges. That's fine. That's fine for you. You don't need that. I'm not going to dumb it down. Thank you. Brian Washington. I'm here with you. I hope I put the right emphasis on the right syllable.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I look forward to the emails you get about.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's actually Palaver Palaver 100k print run which for a book like this is very strong.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Memorial did very well and and I am starting to really notice that books that either come out in the first week of the month or they have their publication dates moved to the first week of the month. It is a strong sign that they are book club contenders. So I don't know, I don't know anything about this but I would not be surprised to see Bryan Washington get some shout out.

[Jeff O'Neill]

That's an excellent point. Next up, is this the end? This is no, no. 9. Up next I've got something that has been already nominated for big time awards which is the Pelican Child by Joy Williams. Also short stories. It was long listed for the National Book Award I should say. And then Harrow was a finalist for the PEN Award and the Quick and the Dead was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. So not as under known as Barbara Kingsolver but one that's been knocking at the door. Joy Williams also weirdly also 176 pages just like the White Hot. Exactly the same number of pages. This comes out November 18th from Knopf.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Really striking cover.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

A pelican holding like it looks like it's holding a candle but I think it's just on a table behind it. I can't really tell. It looks terrific. Joy Williams, I must admit is not an author I know very well. I think I read a couple of her essays at one point. So I cannot give you much in the way of flavor, background color commentary on this. It feels to me like literary fiction, short stories.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

The best version of that, which is great. Gonna be Hard to take out Washington, I would think.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. And I think a lot of the things that you said explain that, like, she's a name that is not super widely known even among literary readers. Short stories are, as we already talked about in this episode, a barrier to entry for a lot of readers. And it was long listed for the National Book Award, but it didn't make the shortlist. So it's not going. It doesn't have any shot at a big National Book Award moment. To whatever degree winning the National Book Award actually gives a book a moment. Or not. So, yeah, Brian Washington carrying on, but I am glad to see her in the conversation here.

[Jeff O'Neill]

One of the stories about the ghost of George Gurdjieff, who was like a charlatan guru person in the early 20th century, on his ghost is on a visit to the birthplace of Susan Sontag and there encounters the Pelican Child, which is a being who lives with the bony Baba Yaga in a little hut and has chicken legs. Those are all real words describing the stories here. So maybe not quite bog standard. Maybe a little more George Saunders. Maybe a little more in that regard.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yes. Speaking of George Saunders, did you see that he and Zadie Smith were also at the New Yorker Festival in conversation with each other?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Normally, I'm not a let's go do things person, but I was like, okay, if you were trying to get me somewhere, that's probably as good as you're getting.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Get.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I have the tab open so I can watch the video of the conversation. Like, come on, man.

[Jeff O'Neill]

If you had to live in a hut with Baba Yaga, what? And had to live on animal legs other than yon, what legs do you pick?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh, a good question. Not chicken legs.

[Jeff O'Neill]

They're so short, Rebecca.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I know, like cheetah legs because then you could run fast to get away from.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Can you run fast on only two cheetah legs? I'm not sure. Can they? Could you just.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't get to. I don't get to like morph into.

[Jeff O'Neill]

No, I don't. I think you're using. You got two little. You got two little appendages.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

There aren't many, but there aren't many. Like two legged. Let's see, you.

[Jeff O'Neill]

You have your pick of literally every bird. So there's that.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I know. I don't know.

[Jeff O'Neill]

That's mostly it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

What bird then? Maybe an owl. Because they just look so ridiculous when they're just standing up running that, like, then at least I'd be like, I'm gonna get caught. But at Least I would be comic relief. Or like a. Like a roseate spoonbill. They're hot pink. That's fun. They look like Alice in Wonderland.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Looks so cold. I was thinking flamingo looks chilly. I guess you could put some leg warmers on there. I've got my regular Jeffy goes.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Need, like more words.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, it's nice and tall. You do sit up a little.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Maybe just, you know, for a change of pace, just to see what it's like to be tall. I should be like a heron or a flamingo or. Yeah, or somebody like that.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay, last up. So I.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Are these the great questions that the. We need diverse books.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I'm just wondering, you know what? Never thought about. It's like. Nope. And chicken legs are off the board. Sorry, sorry. Can't take them. I know what you're thinking. If you were running around chicken heads, you'd be poultry in motion. Rebecca. Up next, finally we have for us.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh boy.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I have started putting the most anticipated book of the month according to Goodreads users into the mix. It just so happened that it got the 10th slot in the random.org it is Brimstone by Callie Hart, which is the sequel to Quicksilver. Do any of those words mean anything to you? They didn't to me.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I do know about Quicksilver. Yeah, maybe there was a TikTok moment around it.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I must have been.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm pretty sure the COVID is black and blue of Quicksilver. That's all that I can tell you hadn't heard of Brimstone. Don't know anything about it. I continue to feel that Booktok is its own snow globe universe. So I think what we have here is that Brian Washington is carrying the month.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Would you like to hear anything at all about Brimstone?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Not particularly. Is it romantic?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Well, who's to say? I mean, Sarah's Vane doesn't want power. That's the last thing she needs. But now that she's been crowned queen, as just happens. And you know what's not solid? It's not all it's cracked up to be.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

He's hot, but he's kind of mean. But it's only because he likes you.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. Kingfisher of the ajangaze. Defeated armies and survived all manner of horrors. But traveling back to Sylvarin with Clarion Swift might just be the death of him. Yeah, it's romantasy. A million copy print run. You know what we are in the snow globe universe. We're the snow globe and they're the outer world, which is fine. I'm fine with that.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Fine with me.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We're over here with our 16% of literary fiction readers or whatever.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay. So.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

But congratulations to Brian Washington. And I think that we will get to watch Brian Washington, Annoying and Braithwaite, like, duke it out over the course of the month. It's going to be interesting.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I think Braithwaite tends to have a little more plot. Right. My sister, the serial killer definitely was. And this one feels like has more of a family drama.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Memorial was pretty plotty.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, that's true. But just two people talking over sushi about their, you know, shared abuses of each other. Listen, Jeff Corr to the core.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's a movie.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I just, I just don't know how many people are. I don't know how much is going to break outside of that. I wish him all the best, but I'm very much looking forward to that. Yeah. So we also had the Book of Lies by Market Atwood look by Michelle Obama, the White Hot by like Riah who does George Packer's the Emergency. We do not have the memoir Part two by Cher. It comes up in Edelweiss's Share Share the memoir Part two, the Memoir. So I'm sure that's all the metadata is just doing fine over there. Salman Rushdie is the 11th hour, Brian Washington's palaver, Joy Williams, the Pelican Child and Cali Hearts Brimstone. I have two honorable mentions. Just things to notice. We have the third in Travis Baldry's Legends and Latte series. This one's called Breggins and Bread Knives, which I will be listening to with my children. Also extremely o' Neill House Corps. We will be buying the American Revolution and Intimate History by Ken Burns and Jeffrey C. Ward, the companion book that the PBS series coming out in November. That will be on our shelf for sure. So a couple of household faves going into the mixture.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I will shout out some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer. I know a lot of folks love her. That's coming out November 11th and in the ongoing conversation about Are the men okay? Scott Galloway's Notes on Being a Man comes out November 4th. I enjoy a lot of his work, interested in conversations about contemporary masculinity, so be looking forward to seeing that.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Do you think I could get a six figure deal for a book for how to Be a Man in Today's World? That's sort of like in Ron Swanson's spirit. It just opened up into just be cool. And that's the only like words on there.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Maybe we combine this with my pitch for Just text back. Just text back and be cool.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Text back and be cool. Hunker down. To hunker down. What was the Vineland? Go to the woods. Do drugs and wait them out.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Go to the wood. Go to the. Go to the woods. Smoke some weed and wait them out.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Smoke some weed and wait them out. This is Text them back and just be cool. You could do worse, man. Text him back and just be cool.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

As prime direct.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's like that'll get you 80% of the way there.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It really, really well. Really well, Rebecca, thank you as always. Check out the show notesbook riot.com. listen, you can find the patreon in the show notes as well. You can check out zero to. Well read all the links there. We could also just google that stuff and our flagship newsletter that you and I have been grinding away on. I did the art heist books. Had some stuff with Katherine Dunn. Had something with Aaron Summers. You were just telling me how much you're enjoying the ten year affair before.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Ruined my day that I had to stop reading it and come work today.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. And then. And then in a week or so we'll be talking about Zadie Smith and I'm not sure how we're going to do that. We still haven't adjudicated because it's a collection of a lot of different kinds of things. Maybe we'll try to figure something out.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, there's like five sections to the book. So I was gonna propose maybe we each bring our favorite thing from each section and then we get a couple wild card picks as well. But there are a few that like I could spend an hour on one of them, so.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. All right. Thanks, Rebecca. Talk to you later. And Doug, here we have the Limu emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Fascinating.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you you need at libertymutual.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Com.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Savings ferry unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts.