THE HEADLINE

The longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Fiction

The National Book Awards‘ three-day rollout of the longlists for the 2026 prizes concluded this morning with the reveal of the fiction contenders.

A lot of surprises and under-the-radar titles here! Not surprising is Marlon James notching his second major award nomination for The Disappearers, which is also longlisted for the Booker. If he doesn’t run the table, it’s anybody’s guess what will win.

Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi Red Ants by Kimberly Blaser Déy by Edwidge Danticat Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You by Julián Delgado Lopera, Python’s Kiss by Louise Erdrich The Disappearers by Marlon James Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselli Passengers by Alexander Maksik The Renovation by Kenan Orhan Mad Eden by Morgan Thomas

Catch up on all of the longlists:

Nonfiction Young People’s Literature Poetry Translated Literature

Finalists will be announced October 6, and the winners will be celebrated in a ceremony broadcast live from New York on November 18.

TRENDING

The hottest books of the month so far

covers of three books on a chart with a red arrow pointing up and to the right. The covers are for American Scoundrel, The Disappearers, and Big Little Truths

We’re really in it now, folks. The buzziest books of the year are hitting shelves, and it’s time to find out which ones live up to the hype.

After landing the raviest of rave reviews, Marlon James’s The Disappearers debuted at #5 on the New York Times bestseller list, with just over 11k copies sold in its first week, per Publishers Weekly Liane Moriarty’s long-awaited follow-up to Big Little Lies, Big Little Truths sits just behind James at #6 on the NYT hardcover fiction list and earned a nod from Reese’s Book Club. Midterm season is adding fuel to political book sales, as Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s Regime Change continues to move units—closing in on 300k—and Kai Bird’s American Scoundrel, a portrait of Donald Trump’s most influential mentor, Roy Cohn, debuts at #2 on the NYT hardcover nonfiction list.

Hear our conversation about these and more trending books on the Book Riot Podcast available on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

IT’S COMPLICATED

Get to know our incoming AI overlords

covers of three books about ai next to image of a woman with her hands held up to her chin

It’s a critical time to understand AI progress. Most recently, discourse around the swiftly developing tech has focused on an unexpected statement:

We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei bolded these lines in a post to his blog that generated rare agreement from key figures in the AI race, including Amodei’s rival OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Before you join the chorus either crying the end is nigh or claiming PSYOPs are at work to undermine U.S. innovation, develop a more informed and nuanced perspective by reading books on AI and related subjects:

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao: “Karen Hao is an AI expert and investigative journalist who began covering OpenAI in 2019 and followed it as it grew and subsequently abandoned the values it began with.” Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara: “Part performance art, part social commentary, this is the book about AI and creativity I’ve been waiting for.” Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines by Joy Buolamwini: Buolamwini “reveals how AI can have biases based on race, gender, skin color, and disability — the ‘encoded discrimination and exclusion’ in technology.”

BOOKSELLING

Barnes & Noble has bought another indie bookstore chain

Since James Daunt took over as Barnes & Noble’s CEO in 2023, the largest bookstore chain in the United States has been expanding.

In addition to opening new locations—60 new stores in 2025, with 60 more planned for 2026—it has also been acquiring independently owned bookstore chains.

In 2024, Barnes & Noble bought Tattered Cover for $1.83 million after the Denver bookstore filed for bankruptcy, and last year, it bought the San Francisco-based chain Books Inc. for $3.25 million, also after it filed for bankruptcy.

In both cases, Barnes & Noble stated that the bookstores would keep their names and “distinct identity.” (Judging by their websites and social media presence, Tattered Cover and Books Inc. have both retained their branding since their acquisitions.)

The trend continues: Barnes & Noble has just acquired the last two stores of the bookstore chain Joseph-Beth Booksellers, located in Cincinnati, Ohio and Lexington, Kentucky. They will be keeping their brand and their Bronte Bistro restaurants.

If there are any little birdies out there with inside knowledge of how an indie bookstore changes after being bought out by Barnes & Noble, inquiring minds here at Book Riot would like to know…

AUDIOBOOKS

Latine Listens at Libro.fm

Latine Heritage Month kicked off on September 15, and Libro.fm has a bookseller-curated playlist to help you get in on the celebration. Here are five highlights:

The Sleeping Sisters by Jennifer Givhan, read by EJ Lavery – A mother trying to outrun her family’s curse crosses paths with a detective determined to solve a string of murders that hit close to home. Solito by Javier Zamora, read by the author – A poet tells the story of his migration from El Salvador to the United States as a young boy, a journey both harrowing and marked by moments of unexpected kindness. The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, read by Gisela Chipe – A grad student’s research into the history of horror literature reveals details about a mysterious disappearance, one with possible ties to witchcraft in 1900s Mexico. Hola Papi by John Paul Brammer, read by the author – “What if Dear Abby was like a gay Mexican American man on Grindr?” An idea that began as a parody of an advice column took a tender, insightful, and raucously funny shape. This is the Only Kingdom by Jaquira Díaz, read by Almarie Guerra – In Puerto Rico and Miami, a mother and daughter wrestle with the aftermath of a murder and the lasting impact of generational trauma.

Check out the full LHM playlist. —VDiaz

ECO-HORROR

The horrors we’ve created

photo credit: Z. Stage

Zoje Stage is the author of Something of a Calling, an eco-horror/thriller mash-up out this week from Blackstone Publishing. Below, she discusses what drew her to writing from animal perspectives.

I keep encountering people who admit they’ve become hypersensitive about animals—a mixture of all-consuming love for their own pets, and near-despair for the fate of wildlife as humans gradually consume every inch of the planet.

It’s a nightmare for those of us who are receptive to such things, this nearly palpable misery inflicted on all the creatures who share this earth with us.

This is the aspect of eco-horror that most interests me—its relevance to the precarious existence of all lifeforms. And the intersection of how we live and how they die.

The Anthropocene is, at its core, the age of eco-horror. And it didn’t need to be this way.

Homo sapiens have big brains and heaps of creativity, and we can individually and collectively problem-solve. Except that our civilization’s governing philosophy is about money and profit, not compassion or coexistence—and this applies to us and the flora and fauna.

The recent erasure of Wyland’s gorgeous whale mural in Dallas is apt symbolism. Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that the powers that be destroyed something beautiful—something that made us observe and feel, and filled us with wonder—to put in its place what is effectively an advertisement for a multi-billion dollar “non-profit” sports organization.

Human priorities often feel like a horror show.

I think a number of us are increasingly susceptible to anthropomorphizing—perhaps accelerated by the proliferation of cute animal videos on social media. But aspects of doing so are correct: many species have complex social structures; they have families, and mourn their losses. And they can feel fear.

This is part of what led me to write animal-centric POVs in Something of a Calling—if you make even a tiny effort to imagine what the world seems like through animals’ eyes, you might wish we were using our tremendous brains for more reciprocal purposes. “Who dies the richest” is an ideology with no fundamental value. And it isn’t sustainable.

The Anthropocene is a real-life horror. And there’s no guarantee of anything, or anyone, being alive at the end.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

William Carlos Williams, born September 17, 1883

photo and quote of william carlos williams

Did you know? William Carlos Williams’s father’s name was William George Williams. And he named his oldest son William E. Williams. His grandmother’s name was Emily Dickinson (no relation to The Belle of Amherst).

CRITICAL LINKING