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Here are the stories Today in Books readers were most interested in this week. Settle into your Sunday and catch up!
The Millions’ Summer Book Preview
If you’re looking for even more great summer reads, The Millions has you covered with their Great Summer 2025 Book Preview. I almost missed this list last week, so I wanted to make sure it was on your radar because it’s a beaut. You’ll find more than 100 summer 2025 releases their team is excited about. My personal standouts include, Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore, which I loved, Hot Girls with Balls by Benedict Nguyễn, which has been the talk of the town, and The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips, which I remember also seeing on a bunch of anticipated lists earlier this year. Honestly, we have an embarrassment of riches this summer and this list is proof.
A $100K Prize to Find The Next Big Story
Eight finalists for The Next Big Story will receive a year-long writing course from The Novelry, and one winner will receive a $100,000 prize. The Novelry is an online creative writing school, and they’re behind this competition to reach a cohort of writers who don’t have access to traditional publishing circles or who might count themselves out of the writing and publishing game. “These are the sort of people who would have been where I was and made the assumption that to be a writer, you’ve got to be clever or posh,” founder and author Louise Dean told Publishers Weekly. More than 5,000 writers have already submitted entries to be judged by The Novelry team before a selection moves forward to a celebrity judging panel that includes Tayari Jones, Zosia Mamet, and Emma Roberts. Writers need only submit the first three pages of a novel concept by July 31st to participate in this competition. Get the deets here.
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Is Your Dream Home an Old Library? This Place Is For You.
Who else scrolls Zillow for fun? Anyone? Bueller? If you love books and aspirational real estate, you should check out this listing for a former Carnegie library that’s been transformed into a home. Truly dreamy.
Vox’s Best Books of the Year So Far
It’s almost refreshing to see a Best of So Far release this late, when every other list seems to creep earlier and earlier in the year (one day I’m going to see a Best of So Far in February). Vox released their list and it includes a few titles I haven’t seen on other lists, like A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst and Went to London, Took the Dog by Nina Stibbe. My colleague and fellow Today in Books writer, Rebecca, loved Elmhirst’s tale of a couple surviving marriage while stranded at sea and it’s on my shelf and TBR. The harrowing nonfiction read is certainly gaining traction. Vox‘s is also one of the shorter lists with only nine books, so you can make quick work of checking out the rest of the titles here.
They Know How to Sell Out a Show
“Same, same,” Beyoncé tells Homer in my fictional universe. IMAX showings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey adaptation are sold out. Scalpers are now selling tickets at $200 a pop. Let me remind you that the film debuts July 17, 2026. Universal got bold selling tickets to the limited IMAX screenings a year ahead of the premiere and it paid off. This movie is going to be BIG, which was already evident once we heard tell of the absolutely star-studded cast that includes Matt Damon in the lead role, Lupita Nyong’o, Elliot Page, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, and the internet’s favorite couple, Tom Holland and Zendaya. I didn’t even try to score tickets but I cannot wait to see this film. Who wants to try reading The Odyssey with me before the movie’s out?
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