When news broke last week that Hachette had canceled publication of a buzzy thriller due to allegations that large portions of it were AI-generated, our own Sharifah Williams described it as “a nightmare publishing story for our times.”

Indeed, the incident has set the literary internet aflame, as authors, readers, and publishing professionals weigh in on how this happened and what it means. A sampling of the responses:

💬 For a glimpse at readers’ responses, look no further than our Instagram post, where readers express outrage about AI use and concerns about the accuracy of AI detection tools, the elitism of equating popular writing with AI, and more. –RJS

Spend a little time with the board meeting minutes from Rutherford County Library System (RCLS) over the last several years, and you’ll see that it has been under fire for years. Nearly every meeting has started with people asking to stop book bans, followed by those asking for book bans, and the board needing to address whether or not they’d be removing books from the public library.

Enter Luanne James. Hired as the RCLS director in summer 2025, she was immediately met with a slate of board officers that differed from the one who hired her weeks earlier. It became clear quickly that her values and that of the board’s majority differed. 

James asked for whistleblower protections in November 2025 as she spoke up about what was being asked of her:

That wouldn’t be the end. 

James said no, she would not be removing the books. Her job as a library director was to protect access to materials, and she would not comply with the demands of the board.

James’s leadership during a time of censorship is heroic—and it’s the role librarians are supposed to play when it comes to defending the right to read.

🚫 Read more of James’s story and find out how you can help her keep her job. – KJ

Your next audiobook shouldn’t be ruined by the wrong narrator.

74% of audiobook listeners have abandoned a book because of the narrator’s voice. ElevenReader fixes that. Choose from 1,000+ natural-sounding voices for any title, or design your own.

ElevenReader’s catalog includes 50,000+ audiobooks across every genre, from bestsellers to hidden gems. And if it’s not in the library, you can upload it yourself. Docs, PDFs, and ebooks all become studio-quality audiobooks in seconds.

Plans start lower than Audible, with no credits to track or expire. Try it free for three days on iOS, Android, or web.

It’s women’s history month, but as long as we are under a presidential administration that is hellbent on eliminating hard-fought-for women’s rights, any month is the perfect one to read feminist nonfiction.

And by “feminist,” we mean the version of the word that falls under egalitarianism, that goes deeper than catchphrases like “girl boss,” and that fully realizes the community-building and intersectional considerations needed to truly liberate women and femmes. As Fannie Lou Hamer said, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

Find more feminist reading here. –KW

What a brutal year it’s been. How hard it is to face the news each day as we do our personal best to stay informed about what fresh hell the Trump-Vance administration has unleashed on the world.

During Trump’s first term, I found myself grasping at anything that could possibly ground me and motivate me to push forward. I turned to voices of reason that gave me hope for humanity, the fuel I needed to move forward and continue to be a helper where I could.

Today I randomly came across one of the books that lifted me deep out of the doldrums of 2018. The act of revisiting Becoming now feels twee, considering how much its subject has opened her doors and allowed us into her world since then, but that makes it no less true that so many of us clung to this book and the former First Lady in what felt like our darkest days. It feels right to commemorate it now. – SZW

➡️ Keep reading…

Your next audiobook shouldn’t be ruined by the wrong narrator.

74% of audiobook listeners have abandoned a book because of the narrator’s voice. ElevenReader fixes that. Choose from 1,000+ natural-sounding voices for any title, or design your own.

ElevenReader’s catalog includes 50,000+ audiobooks across every genre, from bestsellers to hidden gems. And if it’s not in the library, you can upload it yourself. Docs, PDFs, and ebooks all become studio-quality audiobooks in seconds.

Plans start lower than Audible, with no credits to track or expire. Try it free for three days on iOS, Android, or web.

With the sunlight lingering longer and the air feeling more and more pleasant, there’s no better time to start listening to more audiobooks while outdoors. Whether you’re going for a walk, cleaning up the yard, preparing your garden, or simply looking for a good listen while outside, these nonfiction Spotify Audiobooks will be your besties. 

Get your nerd on! —KJ

Kirsten King is the author of A Good Person, out March 31st from Putnam. Below, she shares three of her favorite books about feminine rage—plus a bonus TV series recommendation.

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark – I always find it impressive when an author can take a morally reprehensible character and keep the reader flipping the pages. In Boy Parts, it’s impossible to look away as the protagonist, Irina, makes questionable choice after questionable choice. Clark upends gender norms, turning them onto their head, and asking readers to interrogate what they expect a young woman to be capable of. It taps into a kind of rage that is relatable for any woman who has been objectified, even if the lengths the protagonist goes to are (thankfully) not relatable to most.

Molka by Monika Kim – This novel comes out April 28, 2026, but I was lucky enough to read Kim’s sophomore novel early. Like her previous novel, The Eyes Are The Best Part, Kim tackles feminine rage and fetishization with a horror bend. The thing that impresses me most about Monika’s writing is how deftly she tackles dark subject matter in a way that never veers into trauma porn and always gives women their due. Molka fictionalizes the very real issue of hidden spy cameras in Korea, and as her protagonists’ rage bubbles to the surface, the reader’s will too.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – And finally, the book that got me into female rage. This is obviously the classic depressed girl’s go-to book, but there’s also a lot of rage in the pages. Plath depicts stifling societal pressures and the contradiction in expectations for men versus women with unflinching honesty. It’s one of those novels you can really only pick up when you’re in the right headspace for it (and perhaps paired with a good SSRI). I read this book in high school, and I felt so eerily seen by it that it terrified me. I think good feminine rage sits right beside sadness. Plath was the master of that. 

Bonus: I May Destroy You (television series) by Michaela Coel – Though this isn’t a novel, Michaela Coel’s limited series I May Destroy You digs into feminine rage and reclaiming your power in the wake of a traumatic event. Coel manages to create something deeply funny and deeply cathartic to watch.

Your next audiobook shouldn’t be ruined by the wrong narrator.

74% of audiobook listeners have abandoned a book because of the narrator’s voice. ElevenReader fixes that. Choose from 1,000+ natural-sounding voices for any title, or design your own.

ElevenReader’s catalog includes 50,000+ audiobooks across every genre, from bestsellers to hidden gems. And if it’s not in the library, you can upload it yourself. Docs, PDFs, and ebooks all become studio-quality audiobooks in seconds.

Plans start lower than Audible, with no credits to track or expire. Try it free for three days on iOS, Android, or web.

Did you know? At JFK’s inauguration, Frost was to read his poem, “Dedication.” But because the sun was too bright, he could not read from the page, so he recited “The Gift Outright” from memory instead.

💫 Pick up these Regency-era fantasy books if you’re looking for “Bridgerton, but make it weird.”

🏆 Browse the shortlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction.

🍿 Can you guess who is co-writing the next Lord of the Rings film?

🌈 Get queer book recommendations in your inbox by signing up for Book Riot’s Our Queerest Shelves newsletter.

📺 The Netflix show everyone is watching but no one is talking about is based on a book series.

Written by Rebecca Schinsky, Kelly Jensen, Sharifah Williams, Danika Ellis, Kendra Winchester, and Jeff O’Neal. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.

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