These 2025 Nonfiction Books Might Win Big

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

The National Book Awards Nonfiction Longlist

Let’s be real. The most anticipated NBA announcements for most people who pay attention to such things are the Fiction and Nonfiction categories, in that order. Which is why the Nonfiction longlist was announced just yesterday, and we still have to wait for the Fiction list. I was very excited about the Nonfiction category because I had my fingers crossed in hopes that my own pick for best nonfiction book of the year so far would make the cut. I’m happy to report that it did! Here are the books longlisted for this year’s NBA, with my prediction for the win noted:

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (This is it. My favorite and prediction for the win.) Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State by Caleb Gayle Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy by Julia Ioffe For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran’s Women-Led Uprising by Fatemeh Jamalpour and Nilo Tabrizy Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam by Lana Lin Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening by Ben Ratliff Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care by Claudia Rowe When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life by Helen Whybrow

Happy Birthday to This Beloved Beverly Cleary Character

As the youngest daughter, Ramona Quimby was the Beverly Cleary character I loved and related to the most. My sister pointed to beleaguered Beezus whenever it was necessary to remind me that being the eldest and dealing with a meddling younger sister was a real trial (it was very often necessary). I’m pretty sure that if we’d had a brother, Henry Huggins would’ve joined our bookshelf crew, but I did not understand and mostly frowned upon the little boys around me so I did not read about the life of Ramona’s next door neighbor. Still, Cleary was remarkable for making all of her characters strikingly relatable and Henry was absolutely that. Especially for kids like me, from lower and middle income families of a certain time, these characters, their tribulations, and even the view of what their parents dealt with from a childlike but highly observant perspective, mirrored our lived experiences. So, I join NPR in wishing a very happy birthday to Henry Huggins who helped so many kids feel seen and understood.

LOLs for the Librarians

A murder of crows. A parliament of owls. Why not have collective nouns for librarians, McSweeney’s asks? If you need a good laugh, check them out here. My favorite is, “A group of people who only remember ‘the cover was blue’ is called a patron,” but there are some lolsob nouns for our times as well.

The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists

Want to know which books are hitting the bestsellers lists this week (Katabasis made it on multiple lists, of course)? We’ve got you covered.