January 2025 Book Club Winners
The four books we'll be reading next month!
The Patron-led polling for the Never News Short Book Club concluded this weekend, and so we’re announcing the winners today to give participants time to request holds at their local libraries (or order from the Never News Bookshop) so they’ll have them in hand in time! Some details follow.
Our “modern” pick of the month, The Anthropologists has been receiving some big hype — making it to the #1 spot on Vulture’s Best Books of 2024 list. If you’re only reading one book this month, this is your chance to be part of the current discourse!
Remember, these books are meant to be read at your pace, when are where you find the time; my piece on The Anthropologists will go live on January 10th, and you can come back to it whenever you want. At 192 pages, it can be read at a pace of 28 pages a day for a week, 7 pages a day for a month; it’s audiobook is 4 1/2 hours long.
Passing is a book with a focus on history and race relations; if anything we’re reading this month can be considered a classic, it’s this one. If you’re only reading one book this month and you want it to be an influential piece of 20th century lit, make this your book.
The piece will go live on the 17th. 171 pages, 25 pages a day for a week, 6 pages a day for a month, 3 1/2 hour audiobook.
The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western is our counter-cultural option this month — Brautigan was as close to a hippie as you can get without being a hippie, and much of his work lies comfortably outside the standards of 1970s literature. If you want ‘outsider art’ this month, this is it.
The piece will go live on the 24th. 216 pages, 31 pages a day for a week, 7 pages a day for a month, 3 hour audiobook.
The oldest book this month, The Aspern Papers is a book for you classics readers out there. Centered around a fictionalized account of real literary correspondence, this is the book for people interested in literary history.
The piece will go live on the 31st. 185 pages, 25 pages a day for a week, 6 pages a day for a month, 4 hour audiobook.
I hope you can join us this month! Pick and choose your books and remember: you don’t have to keep up with me and the publication special; the write-ups will be here when you want them. Patrons and Paid Subscribers will have access to the Never News Discord, where they can discuss each book in its own dedicated channel; they also will be voting on February’s books starting January 1st!
Okay, I love you, bye!
