In this episode, Kelly Hooker and I discuss our top reads of 2025.
Our Top Shared Reads:
Dead Money by Jacob Kerr
This American Woman by Zarna Garg
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
Kelly’s Remaining Selections:
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje
Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild
The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff
Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley
Life & Death & Giants by Ron Rindo
Seeking Shelter by Jeff Hobbs
Cindy’s Remaining Selections:
What Happened to the McCray’s? by Tracey Lange
Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell
Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
Heartwood by Amity Gaige
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris
What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown
The Whyte Python World Tour by Travis Kennedy
Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein
Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
Gemini by Jeffrey Kruger
Purchase our Shelf Ceremony here. We discuss tons more great read from 2025.
Connect with Kelly Hooker on Instagram.
Donate to the podcast here or on Venmo.
Check out this list of all the great books I loved in 2025.
Want to know which new titles are publishing in January - May of 2026? Check out our fifth Literary Lookbook which contains a comprehensive but not exhaustive list all in one place so you can plan ahead, and we color-code by genre in this one!
Looking for something new to read? Here is my monthly Buzz Reads column with five new recommendations each month.
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