What should you read after your current pile lands on the bedside table? The answer may be hiding in this month’s book club picks, but the wider reading world also has a security problem and plenty of new speculative fiction to explore.
Here’s the useful roundup: three clubs have selected books for November, while a major fanfiction archive faces an unexpected shutdown.
November’s three book club picks
The Audacious Book Club selected *The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford* by Nafissa Thompson-Spires. Reese’s Book Club chose *The Great Wherever* by Shannon Sanders, described in the announcement as a warm family saga about legacy, identity, and the influence of the past.
The Stacks Book Club picked *Famesick*, Lena Dunham’s memoir. According to bookriot.com, its podcast discussion is scheduled for Wednesday, November 25, with the associated online conversation planned for December 1. The club directed interested readers to its Patreon page for participation.
These selections give readers three very different doors to open: a novel, a family saga, and a memoir.
AO3 goes dark during a security crisis
The bigger story concerns Archive of Our Own, or AO3, the fanfiction archive that suddenly shut down after a hacking incident. The site says it has 11 million registered users and hosts 18 million fanfiction works.
The outage may last as long as four weeks, and returning in a “degraded state” remains possible. Although no data has reportedly been deleted, organizers have not ruled out the theft of a user database. Rebecca Tushnet, an AO3 founder and Harvard Law School legal scholar, told *The Times* that the organization is putting safety ahead of speed.
For readers, this is more than a technical inconvenience. Fanfiction can provide access to stories that are difficult or impossible to find elsewhere. As bookriot.com notes, the archive has offered LGBTQ+ content unavailable in countries where same-sex relationships are criminalized.
Communities have responded by circulating resources and identifying downloaded works that might help readers continue during the outage. That offers short-term continuity, but downloaded copies won’t solve a problem affecting an archive with millions of users and works.
Why these picks matter for your reading list
Book clubs are useful filters, not automatic recommendations. A selection tells you what has earned attention from a particular group, but it doesn’t establish that the book will suit your taste.
Consider the options this way:
- Choose *The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford* if you want a novel selected for discussion rather than for a neat package with a long reading list.
- Consider *The Great Wherever* if family stories, inherited histories, and questions of identity appeal to you.
- Try *Famesick* if a memoir fits your current mood and you want material that can support a discussion about the author’s own life and work.
A practical example: say you usually read only contemporary fiction and want to try a memoir without abandoning your preferred genre. The Stacks selection gives you a defined entry point, while still requiring you to decide whether its subject and approach interest you.
These picks can also support themed reading lists. Pair a club novel with another work about family history, or follow a memoir with fictional treatments of memory. The club provides the anchor; your comparison makes the reading experience more personal.
Romantasy grows beyond a single formula
The reference roundup also points to the continued expansion of romantasy, including adventure stories built around puzzles and physical challenges. Titles named there include *Queen of Swords: A Romantasy Puzzle Quest* by Sara Sehdev and Dr. Gareth Moore, an interactive adventure in which the reader works through puzzles as the story unfolds.
That gives readers a practical choice between two kinds of engagement. Linear romantasy asks you to follow a developing romantic arc, while a puzzle quest makes the story more active and potentially fragmented into a sequence of challenges.
For anyone searching for free ebooks, the format matters. An interactive title may be less useful if its puzzles don’t work on your device. Check whether the available file preserves the puzzle structure, and favor a properly formatted edition if interactivity is central to the experience.
Fresh speculative fiction beyond the clubs
The roundup highlights three recent science fiction and fantasy recommendations from John Scalzi: *Sublimation* by Isabel J. Kim, *A Wall is Also a Road* by Annalee Newitz, and *Green City Wars* by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Each takes a recognizable speculative premise and bends it. *Sublimation* uses international borders to split people into separate versions of themselves. *A Wall is Also a Road* centers part of its story on a slime mold, giving an unusual intelligence the chance to think and act. *Green City Wars* combines a future-city crime story with raccoon private investigators.
These are strong choices for readers comparing new releases with familiar genre conventions. One treats identity as something geography changes; another asks what alien or nonhuman consciousness might be like; the third turns an otherwise familiar detective setup upside down. That variety is a better basis for choosing a next read than a general label such as “speculative fiction.”
What to watch next
Key takeaways
- Three clubs chose *The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford*, *The Great Wherever*, and *Famesick* for November.
- AO3’s recovery depends on a security response, with a degraded return possible and the user database still under uncertainty.
- Romantasy puzzle adventures require readers to check device and file compatibility before downloading.
- The highlighted science fiction novels offer distinct hooks: divided identities, nonhuman intelligence, and animal detectives.
- Treat book club choices as conversation starters, then compare them against your own preferred genres and formats.
Frequently asked questions
Which books were selected by the November book clubs?
The Audacious Book Club selected *The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford*, Reese’s Book Club chose *The Great Wherever*, and The Stacks Book Club picked *Famesick*.
Why was AO3 taken offline?
According to bookriot.com, the archive shut down after a hacking incident. No data was reportedly deleted, but a stolen user database had not been ruled out.
How long might the AO3 outage last?
The site could remain down for as long as four weeks. It might return in a reduced or “degraded” state while the security response continues.
What is a romantasy puzzle quest?
It is an interactive romantasy adventure that incorporates puzzles and challenges into the story. *Queen of Swords: A Romantasy Puzzle Quest* is the example highlighted in the roundup.
Which recent science fiction and fantasy books received recommendations?
The featured titles were *Sublimation* by Isabel J. Kim, *A Wall is Also a Road* by Annalee Newitz, and *Green City Wars* by Adrian Tchaikovsky.