Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The Staffers at People Magazine Share Their Favorite Queer Books
And the list is pretty solid. There’s the National Book Award-winning experimental Blackouts by Justin Torres, the Nigeria-set Necessary Fiction by Eloghosa Osunde, the vampiric Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab, and more. The list has both introduced me to books I need to become more acquainted with (the music-filled The Maidenheads by Benny B. Peterson, for example) and reminded me of some that I’ve been meaning to get to (like YA horror You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White and All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews).
Barnes & Noble 2026 Discover Prize Finalists Announced
B&N’s Discover Prize highlights debut authors who “put out exceptional, thought-provoking stories that stick with readers.” The six-book long list is an interesting mix of buzzy fiction titles—super buzzy in the case of Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke—and titles that I haven’t seen much of across the bookish world. One I’ve been especially interested in reading is Upward Bound by Woody Brown (a pick for Jenna Bush Hager’s book club). It looks at the everyday lives of Los Angeles’s disabled community. It was also written by UCLA’s first nonspeaking autistic graduate, who majored in English. As a sibling to someone who has autism, the autism representation I’ve come across in fiction is often very one-note, so I’m happy to see more writers get a chance to share their perspectives.
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Book Club Books Are Branching Out to…Pajamas and Fan Festivals
First off: the Pajamas. Printfresh has partnered with Emily Henry’s camp to create a pajama set (replete with a tote and an eye mask) that has lots of different references for fans. Sometimes these partnership collabs with bestselling authors are very obvious (and kinda weird) money grabs, but I can’t say that I’m mad at this one. I like a good pajama, and if I were a big Emily Henry fan, I would not mind a pair (I’d have to be a really big fan, though, because the sets are like $170).
Now, if you’re wondering why I also mentioned fan festivals in the subheading and how it’s related to Emily Henry’s pajamas, there is a slight connection. The fan festival is called STORYfest and is a four-part event beginning on June 16th in Hudson Yards in Manhattan. The event is being put on by Reese Witherspoon’s lifestyle brand Hello Sunshine and will have conversations and book signings with authors whose books have been chosen as Reese’s Book Club picks, starting with Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (co-authors of A Pair of Aces). Therein lies the connection: Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life was Reese’s book club pick for May 2025. It’s not yet clear if Henry will participate in one of the festival’s days, though. With that said, I am curious to see how far Reese can go with her book club empire. She’s already done a lot.
Picture Books About Juneteenth
Though I am embarrassed to say how old I was when I finally learned about Juneteenth, I will also chalk up my late learning to the faulty and deceptive education we receive on history in the US. But we can start to correct things, just a bit, with this list of picture books about Juneteenth. The littles can learn about the historical moment and the now-holiday through quilts, to the rhythm of “Twas a Night Before Christmas,” and centered around one family’s celebrations.
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