Book Riot’s Most Popular Posts of the Week

Welcome to The Best of Book Riot, our daily round-up of what’s on offer across our site, newsletters, podcasts, and social channels. Not everything is for everyone, but there is something for everyone. Here is what readers were most into this week.

The It Books of November

Every month, Rebecca Schinksy and I play a knockout round to identify the new books that have that certain je ne sais quois. This time around, things got a little squirrelly.

How to Fight Book Bans and Censorship in 2024…and Beyond

In October 2021, I put together the first comprehensive guide to fighting book bans and challenges at Book Riot during the rising wave of censorship. Despite linking to this again and again and despite it being the foundation from which Book Riot put together an entire ebook last February—How to Fight Book Bans and Censorship—and despite the fact that we are absolutely flooded with “how to” resources everywhere, I’m still asked for more. So let’s do just that. Here’s the most basic, boiled-down primer for how to fight book bans in 2024. It’s short, sweet, and to the point.

8 New Horror Novels That Will Creep You Out This November

November 2024 is turning out to be Spooky Season Part II with these new horror book releases. This month, we’re getting some frightening new adult titles, YA novels that will give you nightmares, a book in translation full of thrills and chills, and a sequel that’s even scarier than its predecessor. So, if you’ve been dreaming of staying spooky through the last months of 2024, don’t worry. 

10 Immersive Queer Historical Romances

When considering why I love historical queer romance, I had to think for a while about why it resonated with me so much. Contemporary queer novels are important because we live in a time of increasing censorship and marginalization of queer voices, especially targeted to writers who are not white and cisgender. Modern novels with queer joy are a paean against these knowingly destructive forces, and I love them for it. My attachment to queer historical romance is more nebulous, as some of the people in these stories are ones I’ll never meet and whose experiences are vastly different from mine. However, immersive queer historical romances offer a vital argument that queer people have always existed.

5 Great Fantasy Books with Royal Intrigue

There are a ton of fantastic SFF books about assassination plots, secret royalty, evil royalty, battles for the throne—but with magic, or creatures, or outer space. And sometimes all three! Personally, I don’t even want to be in charge of making microwave popcorn, but I love a royalty-related read. It’s fun to try and figure out who is the backstabber and who will be the throne-grabber. (Lawyer: Objection! That word is a reach.” Judge: “I’ll allow it.”) Here are five fantasy books filled with political intrigue set in other worlds that I love, and I hope that you will as well!

Travel the World With New Historical Fiction

These historical fiction new releases coming out in November 2024 provide their own mini trip about the historical world, with novels set in France, Italy, Vietnam, Taiwan, the USA, Troy, and Germany. That’s quite the bucket list of travel destinations! If you happen to fall in love with any of those locales, don’t worry—Book Riot has you covered. It’s like I said; Book Riot has book recommendations for almost any destination. That includes France, Italy, and Taiwan! But in the meantime, enjoy a trip around the world with these brand new historical fiction releases.

The Hottest New Books Coming Out This Month

Though we are 10 months into this year, the end still somehow feels like it’s coming too quickly. Mariah Carey has already official dubbed it Her Season, I’m already seeing Black Friday sales, and, more relevantly, we’ve already started getting Best-Of lists (1, 2) at the end of October. All I have to say is sheesh, can’t a girl ease into things? 

Conflicted feelings around the sense of time aside, many of the books our writers have highlighted as among the best of the month have such interesting premises. There’s a Jazz Age urban fantasy, a Medieval lesbian romance, an opulent murder mystery set in 1920s Vietnam, and a romance that starts from the pettiest thing. There’s also a new Murakami, which, iykyk.