Barnes & Noble Presents Their October Favorites

National Book Club Selection: Heart the Lover by Lily King 
The bookseller also highlights four new Albums of the Month and their Game of the Year

New York, NY – September 26, 2025 – Barnes & Noble is thrilled to announce the newest books, games and music to be featured in Barnes & Noble bookstores nationwide.

Heart the Lover is the Barnes & Noble Book Club pick for October, and the bookseller welcomes readers to join author Lily King at a free live virtual event on Tuesday, November 4^th at 3PM ET. The author will be in conversation with Lexie Smyth, Fiction Campaign Manager at Barnes & Noble, and Brenda Allison, Frontlist Buyer at Barnes & Noble, to discuss the title as well as answer questions from audience members. Attendees must register via Eventbrite to access the livestream on Zoom.

Following her bestselling novel Writers & Lovers, Lily King has gifted readers yet another story that is in turns undeniably intimate, tender, relatable, cathartic and funny. Heart the Lover follows a college trio — our unnamed narrator and her two classmates — who develop a close yet complicated bond over the duration of their senior year. King captures not only the thrills and terrors of first love, but the dysfunction, zeal, grief, regret, and confusion of adolescence — and the consequences that inevitably accompany it. Readers will find themselves eager to flip the pages between the alternating timelines that weave together to create a bittersweet portrait of the past. This beautiful masterpiece of the messiness of life will resonate deeply with all those who have already come to adore Lily King’s work, and those now fortunate enough to experience it for the first time.

The Barnes & Noble Book Club showcases a newly published work of fiction each month, chosen by their booksellers to provoke, engage and enthrall book lovers. Leading up to the event, readers can share their thoughts and engage in conversation on social media using the hashtag #BNBookClub. During the livestream, readers are encouraged to participate in the discussion and submit questions to be answered throughout. 

Barnes & Noble is also pleased to announce its October selections for Albums of the Month in the following categories: Soul, Pop, Soundtrack, and Rock. The Album of the Month program celebrates the full spectrum of the music industry, highlighting both fresh and classic albums across an array of genres. All featured albums are available at Barnes & Noble on CD and Vinyl record.

Portrait of a Legend is the most comprehensive collection of Sam Cooke’s catalog and is the October pick in the Soul category. Broadly considered one of the most impressive vocalists of our time, Sam Cooke has left a resounding legacy, influencing artists singing Soul, R&B, Gospel, Pop and more. The album includes 31 of Cooke’s biggest hits, including “A Change is Gonna Come,” “Chain Gang,” “Cupid,” You Send Me,” and “Nothing Can Change This Love.” 

The bookseller has named Sarah McLachlan’s Better Broken as its Pop pick for October. In her first new album in over a decade, the Grammy-winning songstress has crafted a reflective and emotionally rich album that turns heartbreak into a work of quiet strength. Better Broken is available on “Fruit Punch” pink Vinyl exclusively at Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble is celebrating “Rocktober” by naming Iron Maiden’s genre-defining album The Number of the Beast as it’s Rock pick for the month. This record — bold, dark, and unmistakably legendary — went on to inspire generations of Heavy Metal bands to come. The Number of the Beast was remastered in 2015 and is available as a 180g LP for rock’n’roll audiophiles.

In the Soundtrack category the bookseller has chosen the TRON: Ares Soundtrack, composed and performed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Though they are no strangers to creating immersive film scores, this is the first soundtrack credited to their band, Nine Inch Nails. This two-LP soundtrack is currently available on white-colored Vinyl.  

Barnes & Noble is thrilled to announce their 2025 Game of the Year, A Place for All My Books, a charming puzzle-based strategy game that’s all about the joys of gathering, organizing and admiring books.

Developed by Smirk & Dagger Games, makers of boop, The Night Cage and more, A Place for All My Books is a celebration of books and the restorative power of reading. The game challenges 1–4 players ages 10+ to see who can cultivate the biggest book collection (solo players are pitted against the game’s cunning antagonist, Penelope Eveready). Easy to learn but challenging to master, it’s great for gamers of all skill levels.

To celebrate the 2025 Game of the Year, Barnes & Noble will be offering an exclusive version of A Place for All My Books that comes with four unique full-color wooden character pieces, four bookplate stickers, a tasseled bookmark and a special game board that features a Barnes & Noble store in the center of town. Customers can also find A Place for All My Books tote bag, exclusive to Barnes & Noble, that is the perfect accessory for carrying books home.

A Place for All My Books has come a long way — from Kickstarter, where it gained over 18,000 backers, to a beautiful exclusive edition available only at Barnes & Noble, the nation’s premier retailer for books, games, music, movies, gifts and more.

Tabletop gamers will love its cozy kawaii aesthetic, engaging gameplay and relatable themes…  after all, who doesn’t feel recharged and ready to take on the world after spending time rearranging their collection or getting lost in a favorite book?

Alongside the Game of the Year, Barnes & Noble will also be featuring their Party Game Pick, Hues and Cues. Consistently one of the top-selling games at Barnes & Noble, Hues and Cues has proven itself to be the ultimate game for group play — it’s quick to learn, endlessly replayable, and guaranteed to spark laughs. Players take turns giving clues to guide others toward a specific shade on the board.

The game features a large, vibrant board, color cards, and player tokens, and is designed for 3-10 players, ages 8 and up. Players earn points by giving accurate clues, and by correctly guessing the color and placing their tokens close to the target. 

With over 400 colors to guess from, every round is full of surprising connections, creative thinking, and “aha!” moments. Perfect for family nights, parties, or any get-together — it’s a game that gets everyone talking.