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Welcome to The Best of Book Riot. Here’s your weekend highlight reel of the week’s most popular stories.
August means even more summer new releases and, my oh my, do we have an abundance of recommendations. I thought I’d save you some time and pull together a bunch of lists, published by some big names in books and media, that round up some of the month’s best new releases. I can tell you that Moderation by Elaine Castillo is the big repeat across lists, and I’m excited about Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. Get your fill of August books with these highlights:
10 books to read in August [L.A. Times]
22 Books Coming in August [NY Times]
8 New Books You Should Read This August [Vulture]
10 new books to read in August [AV Club]
Readers’ Most Anticipated August Books [Goodreads]
The 20 Best Books to Read This August [Town and Country]
Prepub Alert: The Complete List | August 2025 Titles [Library Journal]
And here are a few of ours to boot!
August Horror Books to Keep the Scares Going for the Rest of Summer
9 of the Best New Nonfiction Books Out in August 2025
18 New August Romances for Romance Awareness Month
10 New Mystery & Thrillers for August 2025
8 Amazing New Children’s Releases to Read in August
We’ve got even more new books to put on your reading list this summer, and there’s something for every reader. Find must-read new releases in horror, fantasy, literary fiction, nonfiction, and more.
As it chucked a rare and pristine copy of The Hobbit at your head. While this doesn’t exactly describe what rare books specialist Caitlin Riley experienced, she was no less astonished by the sight of such a gem amidst the detritus of an otherwise unremarkable house clean-out. The first-edition, first-impression copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic appeared fresh from the presses, which is, as Bayliss Rare Books owner Oliver Bayliss told The New York Times, “As rare as Smaug’s treasure, frankly.” Needless to say, it was the last thing Riley expected to see and it brought her to joyful tears. It might be that the owner knew C.S. Lewis and, through him, Tolkien. I’m as interested in the story of how this copy came into the possession of the Priestley family as I am about its current condition. Like, was it a ruefully accepted, regifted housewarming present from Lewis? The copy is currently at auction, so if you have £20,000 (as of writing this) to spare, you might be able to get your hands on this literary diamond and wonder at it in person.
If, like me, you’ve only had the opportunity to watch Hamilton on the small screen, you’re in luck. The Broadway sensation is coming to theaters on September 5th. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda announced that the “live capture” of the original cast production sent to streaming during the pandemic is finally making its way to the big screen in celebration of the play’s 10-year anniversary. Fans nationwide and in Puerto Rico will have the chance to watch this historic historical musical in the theater, so get that soundtrack ready and make sure you’ve got all the lines memorized so you don’t get left out when everyone in the audience starts singing along.
We all got a chance to witness two hours of Ralph Fiennes’ nasal breathing work in the Conclave adaptation, and this fall offers a lineup featuring even more high quality book-inspired films. The adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet is the big one, in my opinion. I absolutely loved director Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Jessica Bruder’s Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century and if anyone can do justice to this bleak reader favorite about the death of Agnes and William Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son, Hamnet, I have to believe it’s Zhao. In more adaption news, I agree with David Canfield, writing for Vanity Fair, that “it feels like [Guillermo del Toro has] been working up to his Frankenstein movie his whole career.” It’s sure to be a showstopper and a feat of studio effects. You can find the full lineup here.
What are you reading? Let us know in the comments!
