Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Here are the biggest headlines from last week.
Goodreads Has Lists on Lists on Lists of Summer Reading Recommendations
The summer is around the corner, and Goodreads is not playing! They’ve just released seven different book lists, all for the upcoming season. There’s the overarching Big Books of the Summer list, which takes a look at readers’ most anticipated books, as well as the Goodreads Staff Recommendations list, Escapist Reads, and lists full of Mysteries & Thrillers, Romances & Romantacies, SFF, and Adaptations.
The One Episode of Season 3 of Good Omens Is Here, and I Want to Know Why
I mean, I know why. It’s because of money, but I still want to know why. I say that as someone who literally watched the first season of Good Omens once a year since its 2019 release, up until the second season came out. Just to catch you up, season three of the popular show has been released as a single, 90-minute episode as a compromising response to Neil Gaiman being accused of sexual misconduct by several women. On the one hand, I understand there had already been a lot of work put into the third season by the cast and crew by the time the allegations came out. On the other hand, Gaiman has been a part of each season’s screenwriting, including the third season, even though he and his production company are no longer involved with the show. I don’t believe “separating the art from the artist” is a real thing, and I seriously doubt an entire season condensed into 1.5 hours will be good. Sounds like a hot mess all around.
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The Jailing of Writers Has Increased Globally to 400
PEN America has alerted us to a disturbing trend. Since the organization launched its Freedom to Write Index in 2019, the number of writers behind bars has increased by 68%. In 2025, 401 writers were incarcerated across 44 countries. China still has the biggest number of writers behind bars (119), while countries—like Iran, Russia, and Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory—engaged in armed conflict also ranked highly. Additionally, new countries were added to the Index: Togo, Mozambique, and the United States. It’s thought that the writer who was detained by the US—British opinion writer and columnist Sami Hamdi—is a victim of this administration’s weaponization of ICE.
We’re Getting a FOURTH WING Series Through Amazon Prime
And Oscar Winner Michael B. Jordan is producing it! He’s joined by executive producer Lisa Joy (Westworld), executive producer/showrunner Meredith Averill (Wednesday), and Rebecca Yarros herself. The development of the series actually began in October 2023—a mere five months after the book was published—and has been stalled until September 2025. I haven’t actually read any of the books in The Empyrean series, but I love the excitement it’s brought about. I’m also excited to see what Jordan’s production company (Outlier Society) can produce, especially after he won the Oscar for Sinners.
Have Book Subscription Boxes Ushered in an Era of a “Fifth Format” of Books?
Speaking of glittering special editions, Publishers Weekly explains how this age of deluxe editions we’re living in came about. Essentially, it started with subscription boxes, like Eternal Embers, OwlCrate, FairyLoot, Midnight Whispers, and others, redesigning backlist titles and shipping them out on a seasonal or monthly cadence. Well, now, the focus on romance and fantasy titles for pretty redesigns has broken containtment. I’ve been seeing special editions of all sorts of books—some of which are a little surprising. The pretty edges satisfy the collector of books in me (which is distinctly separate from the reader in me), but I do wonder if designed edges and special editions are here to stay, or if they are the book equvalent of fast fashion, as some have said.
The Best Comic Books of the Century So Far
I had a time helping to assemble our list of the Best Comics of the Century So Far. Even as a longtime comics reader, there were so many great titles nominated by our staff and contributors that were new to me. Comics have really been a part of cultural discourse for so long, and our list of the best ones from the 21st century really showcases their full range.
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