Chef and Blood, Bones & Butter memoirist Gabrielle Hamilton turns her focus to her family of origin in her vivid, memorable Next of Kin. ... Read full Story
Julian Brave NoiseCat’s unique memoir-history hybrid, We Survived the Night, pays tribute to his Salish ancestors’ rich, complex and profound stories of resilience. ... Read full Story
It would be easy to get lost in the beautiful artwork of Nunu and the Sea and forget the rest of the story, but it’s worth it to follow along: We can all use these empathetic teachings about finding a way through big feelings, moving forward and making amends. ... Read full Story
A fantasy take on Anne of Green Gables, Kindred Dragons moves forward from its deep emotional center with powerful velocity and excitement. ... Read full Story
Depicting the parallel stories of two young protagonists fighting to save their families’ livelihoods, The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli is a vibrant masterpiece, not to be missed. ... Read full Story
Never has a primer about farm animal sounds gone off the rails in such a delightfully engaging way as it does in Zip Zap Wickety Wack. ... Read full Story
The author says she hopes that each book she writes will be “more powerful and more true to itself.” With A Guardian and a Thief, she’s cranked up the power of her already forceful debut, A Burning, to a thunderous boom. ... Read full Story
Inspired by the oral traditions of the Polynesian Tongan empire, Adam Johnson’s The Wayfinder is an epic rich in narrative and emotional depth. ... Read full Story
In her devastatingly powerful second novel, A Guardian and a Thief, Megha Majumdar tells a gripping story of two desperate people trying to save their families from climate crisis. ... Read full Story
Minor Black Figures is a thoughtful literary romance tackling the challenges of creating art and finding love in highly politicized 21st-century America. ... Read full Story
Intemperance isn’t just an intellectually stimulating story; it’s a saucy, sexy and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny tale of a middle-aged woman’s desire and the steps she’ll take to sate it. ... Read full Story
In the charming Shibu’s Tail, Kamwei Fong and Tess Thomas have conjured up an adorable, emotionally intelligent cat who will entertain and embolden readers (and cats!) of all ages to happily be themselves. ... Read full Story
Slainte! A polyamorous gothic love story set in a crumbling Scottish castle, Savage Blooms is for readers who like their sex kinky and their relationships complicated. ... Read full Story
Gilbert King’s Bone Valley transcends the true crime genre, laying bare injustice and exploring the humanity of a victim, a killer and a husband wrongfully accused of murder. ... Read full Story
A constantly expanding story that never loses its warm human core, King Sorrow is a must-read for horror fans and a welcome return for Joe Hill. ... Read full Story
Equal parts disturbing and moving, The Works of Vermin explores a fantasy city infested by magical pests—including an enormous, poisonous centipede. ... Read full Story
Extremely smart, carefully plotted and well-researched, Atlas of Unknowable Things is an academic horror novel crossed with a conspiracy thriller. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 2, 2025 is:
arbitrary \AHR-buh-trair-ee\ adjective
Arbitrary describes something that is not planned or chosen for a particular reason, is not based on reason or evidence, or is done without concern for what is fair or right.
// Because the committee wasn’t transparent about the selection process, the results of the process appeared to be wholly arbitrary.
// An arbitrary number will be assigned to each participant.
“The authority of the crown, contemporaries believed, was instituted by God to rule the kingdom and its people. England’s sovereign was required to be both a warrior and a judge, to protect the realm from external attack and internal anarchy. To depose the king, therefore, was to risk everything—worldly security and immortal soul—by challenging the order of God’s creation. Such devastatingly radical action could never be justified unless kingship became tyranny: rule by arbitrary will rather than law, threatening the interests of kingdom and people instead of defending them.” — Helen Castor, The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, 2024
Did you know?
Donning black robes and a powdered wig to learn about arbitrary might seem to be an arbitrary—that is, random or capricious—choice, but it would in fact jibe with the word’s etymology. Arbitrary comes from the Latin noun arbiter, which means “judge” and is the source of the English word arbiter, also meaning “judge.” In English, arbitrary first meant “depending upon choice or discretion” and was specifically used to indicate the sort of decision (as for punishment) left up to the expert determination of a judge rather than defined by law. Today, it can also be used for anything determined by or as if by chance or whim.