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Join us as Ocean House owner and award-winning author Deborah Goodrich Royce has a conversation with New York Times Bestselling author Katherine Center about her new book, The Shippers. Author Bio: BookPage calls Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” She's the New York Times bestselling author of over half a dozen books, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and What You Wish For. Katherine writes laugh-and-cry books about how life knocks us down—and how we get back up. She's been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Her books have made countless Best-Of lists, including RealSimple's Best Books of 2020, Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2019, Goodreads' Best Books of the Year, and many more. Bestselling author Emily Henry calls her summer 2022 book, The Bodyguard, “a shot of pure joy.” The movie adaptation of Katherine's novel The Lost Husband (starring Josh Duhamel) hit #1 on Netflix, and her novel Happiness for Beginners is now a Netflix original starring Ellie Kemper. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two kids, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog. Book Summary: She wants him to help her woo someone else. Genius. Foolproof. Can't go wrong. After a lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton vows to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister's destination wedding on a cruise ship. Armed with pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest). Determined to woo him for closure, she ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, as her wingman. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but showed up anyway. Cooper: who moved to London without a word four years ago. Cooper: who broke her heart. Shipboard antics abound in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance, as JoJo and Cooper team up, fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, get jealous, answer long-held questions, and finally, at last, discover truths about each other that will change everything. For more information about Katherine Center, visit katherinecenter.com, and for more on Deborah Goodrich Royce and her new release, Best Boy, along with information about the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com
In 2024, The New York Times Book Review gathered more than 500 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets and literary enthusiasts to help pick the best books of the 21st century so far. One of those books was Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Road,” which came in at No. 13. That book tells the story of a man and his young son trying to survive in a postapocalyptic United States. Like other books by McCarthy, it combines ornate prose with moments of unforgettable violence. It is also a moving story of love and parenthood under the most extreme circumstances. One of the people who voted on our best books list was Ryan Holiday, author of more than a dozen nonfiction books, host of the “Daily Stoic” podcast and owner of the Painted Porch Bookshop in Bastrop, Texas. We recently invited him on the “Book Review” podcast to talk about “The Road,” and how its meaning changed for him after he became a father. Books Discussed on This Episode: “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy “No Country for Old Men” by Cormac McCarthy “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy “Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy “The Odyssey” by Homer “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald “The Children of Men” by P. D. James “The Plague” by Albert Camus “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius “Of Boys and Men” by Richard Reeves “Outdoor Kids in an Inside World” by Steven Rinella “Letter to His Father” by Franz Kafka “Range” by David Epstein “Good Inside” by Becky Kennedy “Wild Dark Shore” by Charlotte McConaghy “Death Be Not Proud” by John Gunther “The Revenant” by Michael Punke Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Season 5 of Storytime for Grownups! This season we are reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few chapters at a time, with a few notes along the way. It's like an audio book with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's storytime!To listen to the discussion of chapter 44 on Wisdom in the Best Books and Films mentioned in this episode, click hereTo submit a question or comment about this episode, click hereTo visit the merch store, click hereTo become a Storytime for Grownups member and gain access to our online community and monthly voice chats, click hereTo visit the Storytime for Grownups webpage, click hereTo learn more about your host, Faith Moore, click hereTo pick up a copy of Faith's novel, Christmas Karol, click hereTo join Faith's mailing list, click hereFollow Faith on X hereTo support the show financially, click hereNext time we'll be reading: Chapter 46Support the show
Steven Rowley is the New York Times bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus, a Washington Post Notable Book of 2016, The Editor, named by NPR as one of the Best Books of 2019, The Guncle, a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist for 2021 Novel of the Year and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, The Celebrants, a TODAY Show Read With Jenna Book Club pick, and the instant USA Today Bestsellers The Guncle Abroad and The Dogs of Venice. His fiction has been published in twenty languages. Originally from Portland, Maine, he is a graduate of Emerson College and currently resides in Palm Springs with his husband, the writer Byron Lane, and three rescue dogs. His new novel is Take Me With You, and is the focus of our talk today. Steven joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about the moment he knew he had to write this book, how he outlines, side characters, the crossover from screenwriting, why he chose Joshua Tree, California, as the desert setting, endings, AI, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It's stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you'll find an album's worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It's perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded May 15, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
Jeff and Rebecca talk about some new best books of the year so far lists, adaptation news, recent reading, and more before talking with the new President of the American Library Association, Dr. Maria McCauley. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Join The Book Riot Podcast Patreon for bonus content and ad-free listening. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. Discussed in this episode: Barnes & Noble's best books of the year so far Amazon's picks for best book of the year so far from the last 10 years Goodreads users' hit new books of the year so far Open Road to publish Choose Your Own Adventure ebooks New Franzen short story is an excerpt from his novel in progress Anna Kendrick to direct Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo adaptation for Netflix Netflix announces new book-to-screen hub God of the Woods casting news This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Right now, Merit Beauty is offering our listeners their Signature Makeup Bag with your first order at meritbeauty.com. Thanks to our sponsor, Quince! Go to Quince.com/bookriot for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Today I am joined by Connie Porter! Connie is the author of the Addy series, a series of historical children's novels from American Girl. Her first novel, All-Bright Court was named in 1991 as a Notable Book by the American Library Association, and by the New York Times as one of its "Best Books." Her essays have appeared in Glamour and Seventeen, and her book reviews in The Boston Globe and New York Times. She is also the author of Imani All Mine which was named an Honor Book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, an Alex Award winner by the Young Adult Services Association of the American Library Association, as well as being chosen as one of the Best Books for Young Adults by the ALA. Book List also picked it as one of Editors' Choice for Best Books For Young Adults. In 2019, the Children's Literature Association named Imani All Mine the winner of the Phoenix Award. The Phoenix Award “is given to the author, or the estate of the author, of a book for children first published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award at the time of its publication but which, from the perspective of time, is deemed worthy of special attention. In this episode Connie and I talk about her career as a writer, how she got the opportunity to write the Addy series, what that process looked like, what she hopes readers take with them, and so much more! Connie's Instagram World Vision
Here’s the audio from the May 13th, 2026 Fantastic Fiction at KGB, with guests Siobhan Carroll & Micaiah Johnson, who read live at the KGB Bar. Support the Fantastic Fiction at KGB series by clicking here! Siobhan Carroll Siobhan Carroll is a Philadelphia-based writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Her award-winning short stories are defined by rich historical settings and a mixture of tragedy and comedy. They have been translated into multiple languages and adapted to television by Netflix's Love, Death + Robots and Amazon Prime's Secret Level. Carroll teaches creative writing, 19th Century British Literature and the history of exploration at the University of Delaware & Micaiah Johnson Micaiah Johnson is the Compton Crook and Carl Brandon Award-winning author of The Space Between Worlds. Her debut novel was a Sunday Times Bestseller, an Editors' Choice at The New York Times and was named one of the best books of 2020 and one of the best science fiction books of the last decade by NPR. Her second novel, Those Beyond the Wall, has been named one of NPR's Best Books of 2024 and a finalist for the Ursula Le Guin Prize. In her academic life she studies race, the unhuman, and death, themes featured in her upcoming work The Unhaunted.
Here are our recommendations for the best books to read this month: Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See (comes out June 9th) Whistler by Ann Patchett (comes out June 2nd) Land by Maggie O'Farrell (comes out June 2nd) It's Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh Guest: Mary Ann-Yazedijan - Special Projects Manager at Black Bond Books and Book Warehouse Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summer is here and it's a great time to share a book with a child or find some books that will light up the imaginations of the kids you love. Host Charity Nebbe is joined by expert readers to talk about the best new titles in children's and young adult literature, from 'Little Women' reimagined as a mystery thriller to a fish-boy undercover at an elementary school.
Watch as a full video episode on YouTubeThis week, we're expanding on our discussion from the last episode about the depressing HarperCollins report on children's reading habits. Author and teacher Cailean Steed joins us to break down the underlying data and explain exactly how hyper-fixating on rigid literacy metrics is actively destroying the sheer joy of reading for kids. Plus, we talk about - of course - AI, as we talk about the Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner scandal, and discuss Nobel Laureate Olga Tokarczuk response to the talk of AI involvement in her work. And we find time to talk about the Guardian's "Best books of all time" list - and make Tariq talk about football again.00:00 Intro01:08 Literacy vs Joy: Let Kids Enjoy Reading: Cailean Steed Interview22:15 Snake Oil Award - Prize-winning Pile On37:50 Tokarczuk Prize - An Ignoble Use of AI?44:02 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory52.26 The Final Chapter - Who are books lists for?Links:Literacy focus ‘actively undermining' reading for pleasure, HarperCollins finds‘Obvious markers of AI': doubts raised over winner of short story prizeRead The Serpent in the Grove and decide for yourselfOlga Tokarczuk has responded to the controversy over her reputed use of AIThe Guardian 100 Best Books of All TimeAdventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!Follow us on BlueskyFollow us on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Watch as a full video episode on YouTubeThis week, we're expanding on our discussion from the last episode about the depressing HarperCollins report on children's reading habits. Author and teacher Cailean Steed joins us to break down the underlying data and explain exactly how hyper-fixating on rigid literacy metrics is actively destroying the sheer joy of reading for kids. Plus, we talk about - of course - AI, as we talk about the Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner scandal, and discuss Nobel Laureate Olga Tokarczuk response to the talk of AI involvement in her work. And we find time to talk about the Guardian's "Best books of all time" list - and make Tariq talk about football again.00:00 Intro01:08 Literacy vs Joy: Let Kids Enjoy Reading: Cailean Steed Interview22:15 Snake Oil Award - Prize-winning Pile On37:50 Tokarczuk Prize - An Ignoble Use of AI?44:02 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory52.26 The Final Chapter - Who are books lists for?Links:Literacy focus ‘actively undermining' reading for pleasure, HarperCollins finds‘Obvious markers of AI': doubts raised over winner of short story prizeRead The Serpent in the Grove and decide for yourselfOlga Tokarczuk has responded to the controversy over her reputed use of AIThe Guardian 100 Best Books of All TimeAdventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!Follow us on BlueskyFollow us on InstagramPre- Order 'The Shadow Carver' PbBuy me a cup of coffee ☕️ | Buy books by my guestsFollow Me Bluesky | Substack | Instagram | Facebook | Threads Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
S10 E1—When you walk into a room, what does that room tell you about who you are as a human being? What assumptions go into our restaurants and civic buildings and churches and homes and schools? What do they say about who we are and about how we relate to each other? Artist and design researcher Sara Hendren joins Amy Julia Becker to explore how modern spaces—from office buildings to nursing homes—shape what we believe about dignity, dependence, and belonging. Together they uncover how design can either diminish or restore our shared humanity, and why the good life depends on reimagining how we live together.00:00 Introduction to Design and Humanity05:24 Understanding the Machine Model and Anti-Human Design14:32 What Spaces Communicate About Being Human29:29 Design Choices and Human Dignity34:49 Innovations in Dementia Care Design37:26 Art and Dignity for Individuals with Disabilities41:32 The Metaphysics of Dignity and Human Connection51:07 Designing for the Good Life: Relationality and CommunityMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World by Sara HendrenPrevious podcast conversation: “S3 E15 | Who Belongs? Disability and the Built World with Sara Hendren”Comment Magazine essay by Sara Hendren: “Pattern Recognition: Design for humans in unexpected places.”Short film: Simple MachineBeing Mortal by Atul Gawande_WATCH this conversation on YouTube: Amy Julia Becker on YouTubeSUBSCRIBE to Amy Julia's Substack: amyjuliabecker.substack.comJOIN the conversation on Instagram: @amyjuliabeckerLISTEN to more episodes: amyjuliabecker.com/shows/_ABOUT OUR GUEST:Sara Hendren is an artist, design researcher, writer, and professor at Northeastern University. Her book What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World explores the places where disability shows up in design at all scales: assistive technology, furniture, architecture, urban planning, and more. It was named one of the Best Books of 2020 by NPR and won the 2021 Science in Society Journalism book prize.Her art and design works have been exhibited on the White House lawn under the Obama presidency, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Seoul Museum of Art, the Vitra Museum, and many others, and her work is held in the permanent collections at MoMA and the Cooper Hewitt. She has been an NEH Public Scholar and a fellow at New America, and her commentary and criticism have been published in Harper's, Art in America, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere.Website: sarahendren.com__We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me:InstagramFacebookYouTubeWebsiteThanks for listening!
On this episode of Zen and the Art of Real Estate Investing, Jonathan Greene shares a solo episode breaking down his 10 favorite books for real estate investors. Drawing from decades of experience as an investor and broker, along with insights gained through hosting the podcast, Jonathan explains how each book helped shape the way he thinks about money, investing, leverage, business building, and long-term wealth creation. Jonathan walks through a wide range of books covering topics like mindset, passive investing, syndications, wholesaling, long-distance investing, and financial psychology. Rather than focusing only on tactics, he highlights the importance of patience, discipline, and developing a long-term perspective when building a real estate business. The episode also explores how different books can impact investors at different stages of their journey. Jonathan reflects on how books like Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Wealthy Gardener, and The Hands-Off Investor influenced his own investing philosophy and helped him better understand topics like leverage, operator quality, and asset ownership. Throughout the episode, Jonathan encourages listeners to continually invest in education and build communities around learning. From creating book clubs to discussing strategies with other investors, he emphasizes that reading and ongoing learning are essential tools for long-term success in real estate investing. In this episode, you will hear: • Jonathan's top book recommendations for real estate investors at every stage • Why mindset and long-term thinking are critical for building wealth • How books like Rich Dad Poor Dad and The Hands-Off Investor shaped his investing approach • What investors should understand about leverage, syndications, and passive investing • Why reading and ongoing education can create a long-term advantage in real estate Follow and Review If you enjoy the show, please follow Zen and the Art of Real Estate Investing on Apple Podcasts and leave a rating and review. It helps other listeners discover the show and supports its continued growth. Supporting Resources Connect with Jonathan: Amazon Affiliate Book List - https://a.co/d/0cEtkDWN Podcast - www.zenandtheartofrealestateinvesting.com Brokerage - www.streamlined.properties YouTube - www.youtube.com/c/JonathanGreeneRE/videos Instagram - www.instagram.com/zenrealestateinvesting Instagram- www.instagram.com/trustgreene Instagram - www.instagram.com/streamlinedproperties Instagram - www.instagream.com/zenupstate Zillow - www.zillow.com/profile/trustgreene Bigger Pockets - www.biggerpockets.com/users/TrustGreene Facebook - www.facebook.com/zenandtheartofrealestateinvesting Jonathan's Hub Site - www.trustgreene.com Email - Jonathan@trustgreene.com This episode was produced by Outlier Audio.
With America In Major News Views & Headlines Changing Everyday, This Book is Particularly Intriguing Now!!In 1974 John Egerton published his seminal work, The Americanization of Dixie. Pulitzer Prize-winner Cynthia Tucker and award-winning author Frye Gaillard carry Egerton's thesis forward in The Southernization of America, a compelling series of linked essays considering the role of the South in shaping America's current political and cultural landscape. They dive deeper, examining the morphing of the Southern strategy of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan into the Republican Party of today. They find hope in the South too, a legacy rooted in the civil rights years that might ultimately lead the nation on the path to redemption. Tucker and Gaillard bring a multiracial perspective and years of political reporting to bear on a critical moment in American history, a time of racial reckoning and democracy under siege.Frye Gaillard is an award-winning journalist with over 30 published works on Southern history and culture, including Watermelon Wine; Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement that Changed America; The Books That Mattered: A Reader's Memoir; Journey to the Wilderness: War, Memory, and a Southern Family's Civil War Letters; Go South to Freedom; A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s, Our Decade of Hope, Possibility, and Innocence Lost; and The Slave Who Went to Congress. A Hard Rain was selected as one of NPR's Best Books of 2018. Writer-in-residence at the University of South Alabama, he is also John Egerton Scholar in Residence at the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi. He is the winner of the Clarence Cason Award for Nonfiction Writing, the Lillian Smith Book Award, and the Eugene Current-Garcia Award For Distinction in Literary Scholarship. In 2019, Gaillard was awarded the Alabama Governor's Arts Award for his contributions to literature.Cynthia Tucker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist who has spent most of her career in journalism, having previously worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as an editorial page editor and as a Washington-based political columnist. She has also been featured as a political commentator on television and radio. Tucker's work as a journalist has been celebrated by the National Association of Black Journalists (who inducted her into its hall of fame), Harvard University, and the Alabama Humanities Foundation. She spent three years as a visiting professor at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and is currently the journalist-in-residence at the University of South Alabama.© 2026 Building Abundant Success!!2026 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy: https://tinyurl.com/BASAud
In the 200th episode of Gays Reading, host Jason Blitman talks to Booker Prize-winning novelist, Douglas Stuart (Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo) about his latest book, John of John. Conversation highlights include:
As the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards approach, they're bringing a debate with them: do we need an international judge to decide our top literary prize?
Today on the program, a trip into the archive and a return to Episode 598, my first conversation with author Kimberly King Parsons. We were discussing her debut story collection, Black Light, which went on to be nominated for the National Book Award. Air date: September 18, 2019. Kimberly King Parsons is a National Book Award-nominee and the bestselling author of We Were the Universe, a New York Times Editors' Choice, winner of the Oregon Book Award, a finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award and the Texas Book Award, a Dakota Johnson Book Club pick ranked #2 on TIME Magazine's Best Books of 2024, and a best book of the year in Elle, Oprah Daily, Marie Claire, Marie Claire UK and others. Parsons's debut collection, Black Light, was a finalist for the Edmund White Award, the Story Prize, and the Texas Institute of Letters Award. Parsons teaches at Pacific University and lives in Portland. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors. Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Instagram TikTok Bluesky Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome back to the Mindful Hunter Podcast! In this episode, Jay wraps up the massive backlog of listener questions from our recent Q&A, covering everything from backcountry bear hunting stories to controversial reloading opinions. We kick things off with a recap of Jay's first guided bear hunt of the season, detailing a successful 400-yard shot and a massive 6-foot+ boar. Then, we dive into the Q&A, tackling some heated topics. Is extreme spread (ES) and standard deviation (SD) actually important for hunting, or is it just a distraction? Jay shares his unfiltered thoughts on why speed for speed's sake is useless and how to reverse-engineer your bullet velocity for maximum terminal performance. Jay also answers questions about the best books to improve your hunting (spoiler: you should probably just spend more time in the field), the single biggest mistake he made when he first started hunting, and why using a floorless shelter in the high country is a recipe for disaster. Plus, get the details on a massive $10,000+ giveaway, the upcoming technical apparel launch, and some exclusive outfitting opportunities. Whether you're looking for reloading advice, scouting strategies, or just some honest, unfiltered hunting talk, this Q&A is packed with actionable advice to help you level up this season. Timed Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro & Housekeeping (Apparel Launch & Massive $10k Giveaway) 00:00:15 - Bear Camp Recap: A 400-Yard Shot on a 6-Foot+ Boar 00:11:35 - Field Processing a Bear: Meat Care & Packing Out 00:15:52 - Remaining Guided Bear Hunt Openings for 2025/2026 00:17:22 - Match Bullets for Hunting: Reverse-Engineering Velocity for Terminal Performance 00:21:01 - The Truth About Extreme Spread (ES) & Standard Deviation (SD) 00:25:47 - The Best Books to Help You Improve as a Hunter 00:28:38 - Plans for a BC Whitetail Hunt & Unfinished Sheep Business 00:32:35 - Advice for Someone Struggling to Get Their First BC Mule Deer 00:35:44 - Heated Gloves, Telson Optics, & Winter Kit Swaps 00:36:59 - Goat Redemption Plans for 2026 & Hiring a Full-Time Filmer 00:38:26 - Spotting Scope Recommendations: Kowa 88 vs. Swarovski ATX 85 00:38:53 - How Often Do You Eat Wild Game for a Healthy Physique? 00:39:34 - Argali Clothing Review: Pants & Grid Fleece 00:40:46 - The Best Rifle Cleaning Products & Process (Modern Day Sniper Method) 00:43:20 - Upgrading from Cheap Binos: Are the SIG Zulu 6s Worth It? 00:43:49 - Is a Vacuum Sealer Worth It for Backcountry Food? 00:44:13 - The Two Biggest Mistakes I Made When I First Started Hunting 00:48:27 - Kootenay CWD Tags, Born Primitive Gear, & Podcast Guests 00:52:12 - MDT Carbon Stock vs. Rok Stock vs. XLR Element 4.0 00:54:34 - 6mm Creedmoor for BC Mule Deer, Blacktail, and Elk? 00:54:55 - Canadian-Made EDC Pocket Knives & Island Blacktail Tactics 00:58:59 - Floorless Shelters in the High Country: Why You Shouldn't Do It 00:59:53 - Outro & Final Giveaway Details Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com https://www.mindful-reviews.com/ https://www.mindfulhunter.com/ Forged In The Backcountry https://forgedinthebackcountry.com/ Merch https://www.mindfulhunter.com/shop Newsletter https://www.mindfulhunter.com/contact IG https://www.instagram.com/mindful_hunter/ Podcast https://www.mindfulhunter.com/podcast Free Backcountry Nutrition Guide Free Training Guide For Mountain Hunting https://www.mindfulhunter.com/tools
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
Award-winning Australian author Charlotte Wood discussed her journey from local journalist to Booker Prize finalist, her creative process, and the 10th anniversary of her dystopian novel THE NATURAL WAY OF THINGS. Charlotte Wood is the author of seven novels and three non-fiction books. Her last novel Stone Yard Devotional was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, listed as a New York Times Notable Book of 2025, Los Angeles Times 15 Best Books of 2025, and one of The Washington Post's best five novels of the year. Now, for its 10th anniversary, comes a reprint of The Natural Way of Things, a book described as a prescient feminist fable and international classic, “The Handmaid's Tale for our age” by The Economist, and by #1 New York Times bestselling author Paula Hawkins as “beautiful and savage.” It won the prestigious Stella Prize, the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award in Fiction, and was longlisted for many others. Charlotte's features and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Lit Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Saturday Paper, among others. [Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm] [If you're a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen] In this file Charlotte Wood, Milena and I discussed: When she committed herself to becoming a writer Why she never starts out with a big idea The real-life girls' school that inspired The Natural Way of Things How to apply "The George Costanza Approach" to your process The career-changing reception of Stone Yard Devotional The double-edged sword of literary prizes And a lot more! Show Notes: charlottewood.com.au The Natural Way of Things: A Novel by Charlotte Wood (Amazon) Charlotte Wood Amazon Author Page Charlotte Wood on Instagram Milena Gonzalez | Writer | Reader | Book Reviewer diary_of_a_book_babe on Instagram Kelton Reid Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dur e Aziz Amna joins us to discuss A Splintering, a sharp, compulsive novel about class, ambition, and the cost of becoming who you believe you're meant to be. This week's Book Gang conversation brings us together with award-winning author Dur e Aziz Amna to talk about A Splintering, a novel that pulls you in from its very first line and refuses to let the reader go. This novel made my Best Books of the Year list, and I'm so excited to celebrate this story today. From a childhood shaped by poverty in rural Pakistan to the calculated, high-stakes world of social mobility, Amna introduces us to Tara—a narrator who dares you to judge her even as she demands to be understood. This is a story about ambition sharpened by circumstance, about the quiet and not-so-quiet ways women navigate power, and about what it means to reshape your life when the world has already decided your place within it. In this compelling conversation, we discuss:
Join our book club!www.lifeonbooks.com/clubCheck out the James Wood list here:https://www.listchallenges.com/the-elegant-variation-james-woods-best-booksBooks mentioned in this episode:Bomarzo by Manuel Mujica Lainezhttps://amzn.to/4kx448Nhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/978168137941Scars by Juan Jose Saerhttps://amzn.to/40cGeGchttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781934824221Friday's at Enrico's by Don Carpenterhttps://amzn.to/4lQFsIFhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781619025400The Pale King by David Foster Wallacehttps://amzn.to/3NMhi5yhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780316074223Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallacehttps://amzn.to/47oX0WDhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780316602921A Month in the Country by JL Carrhttps://amzn.to/4sDPDTMhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780940322479The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailerhttps://amzn.to/4byIBtlhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780446584388The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailerhttps://amzn.to/4bX0jWyhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780812978490I, Grape by Brock Clarkehttps://amzn.to/4t5b3J3https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781946724366The Sellout by Paul Beattyhttps://amzn.to/4c87nkbhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781250808240I am the Cheese by Robert Cormierhttps://amzn.to/40Xwb8chttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780375840395
Notes and Links to Davina Agudelo's Work Davina Agudelo-Ferreria is a Colombian-American bilingual poet, writer and the founder of her independent publishing company, Alegría Publishing. Agudelo-Ferreira was born in Miami and raised in Medellín, Colombia until the age of 17. Alegría Publishing was created in 2020 to spotlight modern Latino/x stories and give a special opportunity for upcoming writers to have a platform to present their work. She also runs the bilingual Alegría magazine, which was founded in 2012 and is published digitally and printed quarterly. 2021 Article in Remezcla: “With Alegría Bilingual Media, Colombiana Davina A. Ferreira Is Uplifting Latine Storytelling Publishing on Instagram At about 1:40, Davina shares some good Medellin, Colombia slang At about 3:20, Davina expands upon her upbringing and her language and literary lives and literature and writing were places of “refuge” for her At about 6:10, Davina talks about “gatekeepers” and difficulty in getting to read diverse writers and publish; she talks about her publishing company as a response to that At about 7:50, Davina responds to Pete's asking about her early writing-poetry, journals, etc. At about 9:50, Pete cites Ingrid Rojas Contreras in asking Davina about connections between Colombian cultures and magic realism At about 11:35, Davina responds to Pete's wondering about her take on diversity in publishing and any positive changes in recent years At about 14:15, Davina reflects on the usage of Latine and Latinx At about 16:05, Davina talks about the name of her publishing company and its significance At about 17:45, Davina expands on alegria vs. joy and their power At about 18:20, Davina talks about the publishing company and its mission and challenges around the COVID pandemic At about 23:05, Davina responds (en español) to Pete asking about her own writing-likes and specialties At about 26:00, Pete asks Davina (en español) about balancing the personal and the universal, and the balance between the romantic and the cheesy At about 28:20, Davina outlines the year-round work at a publishing company At about 30:15, Davina discusses future projects for Alegria Publishing You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode. Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, is up now at Chicago Review. Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This month's Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of formative and transformative writing for children, as Pete surveys wonderful writers on their own influences. Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show. This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he's convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 332 with Jordy Rosenberg, the author of the novels Confessions of the Fox (2018) and Night Night Fawn (2026). Confessions of the Fox was a New York Times Editors Choice selection, shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, and has been recognized by The New Yorker, the Huffington Post, among other places, as one of the Best Books of 2018. Jordy is a professor in the Department of English and Associated MFA Faculty in the Program for Poets and Writers at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The episode airs on March 24. Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people. You can also donate at chuffed.org, World Central Kitchen, and so many more, and/or you can contact writer friend Ursula Villarreal-Moura directly or through Pete, as she has direct links with friends in Gaza.
We have a B segment again! And while Chance is fairly normal and ration, Cameron gets a bit worked up. They are called hot takes guys. Like c'mon.Best Books of the WeekSuperman Unlimited #11New Titans #33Book BlurbsInfernal Hunk #5, Nightwing #136, The Darkness #4, X-Men #27, Moon Knight Dark Specter #2, Captain America #8, Planet She-Hulk #5, Cyclops #2, Batman Superman: World's Finest #49, Lobo #1B SegmentVideo Game Hot takes - All minigames are bad and Pokemon lies to you!Uncle's One More ThingSlay the SpireMistborn: The Deck Building Game
Thursday Comics #256Welcome to Thursday Comics issue #256 and the sweet megapixies of comic book media, Wallace Ryan and Dennis Osbourne!!!In this episode, Dennis and I wax eloquent on the best books filled with comics scheduled for the rest of the year!!! Did we find anything you liked?!!!!Thursday Comics theme by Bill BrennanNO AI SLOP USED in the production of Thursday Comics where you get REAL writers, artists and creators.TOO GOOD for AI!!!#thursdaycomics #comicbooks #graphic novels #omnibus #confessions #bookreviews #graphicnovelreviews #catsTHURSDAY COMICS Mailbox (Send us your comments)
This week on the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, four of our booksellers/book club hosts, Asia, Aubrey, Caroline, and Marni, discuss their clubs and what makes a great club an essential part of a book-lover's community.Asia Jannah has been a bookseller/gift buyer for 11 years and is the host of the Thought Daughter book club, which features undiscovered books under 300 pages.Aubrey Cece is the Kids' Room manager and host of two book clubs: Books in Translation, reading books in translation, and Just the T, which features fiction and non-fiction books by trans authors. Caroline Shurtleff manages school events and hosts the middle reader book club for kids ages 8-11. They discuss the books, have snacks, and do a themed craft! Marni Jessup is a the co-producer of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast and hosts the NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century book club, which is working its way through that entire list.Books:A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here. Register for Upcoming Events.The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ. The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell. Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff. Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids' Room! If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share! Stay in touch!Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.comSocial: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!
Drew Jackson is a poet, speaker, public theologian, and Managing Director of Formation at the Center for Action and Contemplation. He is the author of God Speaks Through Wombs, a finalist for the Christian Book Award, and Touch the Earth, named one of Sojourners' Best Books of 2023. Drew also co-hosts CAC's Everything Belongs podcast. His work blends poetry, theology, and social reflection, inviting readers into embodied, justice-rooted spirituality. Living in Brooklyn with his wife and twin daughters, Drew finds joy in coaching his daughters' basketball team and cultivating faith through creativity, presence, and everyday life.
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
Happy pub' day Elizabeth! Award-winning author and journalist Elizabeth Arnott spoke with us about her early studies of serial killers, a wild journalism career, and her latest period-set crime novel THE SECRET LIVES OF MURDERERS' WIVES. Elizabeth Arnott has written critically acclaimed historical fiction as Lizzie Pook (her maiden name). As a journalist, she covered everything from true crime to Arctic exploration and appeared in publications such as The Sunday Times, National Geographic, The New York Times Book Review, and The Guardian among others. She has described her much-anticipated latest historical crime novel as Mad Men with murders, and Lessons in Chemistry with a body count. The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives [available for pre-order and landing March 3, 2026; Berkley Hardcover], is a story that “... centers on three unlikely friends—all former wives of serial killers—and their efforts to solve a string of local killings in 1966 California.” The book was acquired in a heated seven-way auction and named one of “The Best Books for Book Clubs in 2026” by Glamour, and among “The 10 Most-Anticipated Mystery-Thriller Books of 2026” by Marie Claire. Parade wrote of the book, “... a story that feels like Bright Young Women collided with Mindhunter …. a propulsive, period-set whodunit perfect for anyone who loves early criminal profiling and Mad Men-era aesthetics with bite.” [This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code FILES at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."] [Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm] [If you're a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen] In this file Elizabeth Arnott, Milena and I discussed: Elizabeth's early obsession with the film Almost Famous Renting a flat above a brothel in grad school Her freewheeling freelance days traveling the globe for stories When her journalism career hit rock bottom The path to writing about the forgotten victims of violent crimes How to write a novel in six weeks And a lot more! Show Notes: Elizabeth Arnott on Instagram The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives By Elizabeth Arnott – March 3, 2026 (Amazon) Elizabeth Arnott on Twitter Milena Gonzalez | Writer | Reader | Book Reviewer diary_of_a_book_babe on Instagram Kelton Reid Instagram Kelton Reid on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2 American Universities talk over the Hard Questions … GUEST Dr Tim Muehlhoff ... Prof of Communication at Biola Univ & Sr Director of the Winsome Conviction Project ... author of “Winsome Conviction: Disagreeing Without Dividing the Church,” (winner of the Award of Merit in CT’s Best Books of 2022) … and “Winsome Persuasion: Christian Influence in a Post-Christian World". GUEST Mischa Willett … author of "The Elegy Beta," and "Phases" ... His poems, essays, translations, and academic articles appear widely ... He teaches at Arizona Christian University.... Follow his work at mischawillett.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: A new bookish metaphor and book moms in the wild Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: Explaining a Currently Reading literary society Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and a sleeper hit you should read. Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . . 1:44 - Bookish Moments of the Week 1:52 - Currently Reading Website 1:56 - Books We Want To Press Into Your Hands 3:03 - Best Books for Babies and Kids 3:42 - Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge 5:55 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO Max 7:12 - Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 7:16 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin (all 3 Dunk and Egg novellas) 7:55 - Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 8:33 - Current Reads 8:41 - The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon (Kaytee) 11:47 - The Book Wanderers by Anna James 11:50 - The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 11:54 - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 13:08 - Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Meredith) 15:10 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 15:11 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 15:45 - Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 22:27 - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 24:10 - Six Feet Over by Mary Roach (Kaytee) 27:20 - Gulp by Mary Roach 27:21 - Bonk by Mary Roach 27:22 - Stiff by Mary Roach 28:51 - Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (Meredith) 32:06 - Agatha Christie's Marple by Mark Aldridge 34:18 - The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden (Kaytee) 34:33 - Charter Books 39:00 - Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (Meredith) 42:28 - Dracula by Bram Stoker 45:21 - Turning Instagram into Bookstagram 47:25 - Sign up for the newsletter on our website 47:26 - Currently Reading Substack 50:48 - Currently Reading Instagram 50:54 - @HelloSunshine on Instagram 50:58 - @BookRiot on Instagram 51:00 - @NYTBooks on Instagram 51:40 - @Iamblackharry on Instagram 52:10 - Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 52:28 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 52:42 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower 53:42 - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 53:48 - God of the Woods by Liz Moore 54:03 - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 56:13 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live 58:44 - Before We Go Meredith highlights a bookish friend post 59:34 - The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver 59:54 - The Correspondent by Virginia Evans Kaytee's Book She DNF'd: 1:01:22 - The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor 1:01:28 - Bookshelf Thomasville 1:02:57 - From the Front Porch podcast Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. February's list is a special romance curated list from Open Door Romance, The Novel Neighbor's Romance adjacent bookstore in Plainville, MA. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads | Substack | Youtube The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!
For the last few weeks, I've been going through my list of the 25 absolute best Business Books of all time. And today, I finish up the list with a few of my favorite marketing books. Then, finally, I give you the best leadership book of all time. So, if you remember back to the first episode in this series, I told you that How to Win Friends was the book to start with. It is so entertaining and so much fun that if you just read the first chapter, you'll be hooked.Today, we'll finish with the best book ever written about leadership. So, those two books make good... well... bookends to the series.In the remaining time on the episode, I'll give you a few books that people told me were fantastic, but as I read them, I realized they were absolute crap. You may have a few of these on your bookshelf. If you do, don't waste your time. They may be entertaining, but if you follow their advice, you'll likely make a lot of costly business mistakes.Show Notes: The Top 25 Best Books for Leadership of All Time(https://www.leadersinstitute.com/best-books-for-leadership-training-top-25-leadership-books-of-all-time/)
Jeff and Rebecca power rank the top 10 of Amazon's 25 Book of the Year picks from the last 25 years. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Join The Book Riot Podcast Patreon for bonus content and ad-free listening. Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A couple of weeks ago, I explained how experience is NOT the best teacher. Someone else's experience is really the best teacher. When you can learn form someone else who has already done what you want to do, you shorten your learning curve. You can get to their success level much faster.That means that you can go even further.The first week, I gave you my best leadership books. Last week, we focused on how to create a business mindset -- great business leaders thing differently than most of us. We also covered a few management and organization books as well.This week, I'll give you my favorite books on communication -- both one-on-one and public speaking. And I'll also give you my favorite books on selling. Even if you are not a salesperson, if you want to be a leader, sooner or later you'll need to get people to follow you. So, whether your selling a product or an idea, these books can help.Show Notes: The Top 25 Best Books for Leadership of All Time(https://www.leadersinstitute.com/best-books-for-leadership-training-top-25-leadership-books-of-all-time/)
Erin Somers' new novel, The Ten Year Affair is a story about Millennial disillusionment (and extramarital sex). The New Yorker called it “intoxicating” and W praised the book for its “sometimes mocking examination of young middle age.” I wanted to speak with Erin because her characters reflect a sense of grown-up melancholy arising when goals like home ownership, careers, and parenthood don't provide the fulfillment that was expected of them. So what do we do, she asks implicitly, when we find ourselves in a life designed to have meaning but does not deliver on that promise? Her characters also embody the impossible and contradictory messages society has imposed on gender roles for her generation. For men: be sensitive, inclusive, do half the housework, but still make a lot of money. For women: go conquer the corporate world while simultaneously being a present, nurturing mother and a sensual, doting wife. To me, this issue—even more than the deliciously provocative infidelity—is what has me continuing to think about the book, weeks after I finished it. Erin's writing and reportage has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Esquire, GQ, The Nation, The New Republic, and elsewhere. Vogue named her first novel, Stay Up With Hugo Best, to their list of the Best Books of the Year for 2019. ✍️Please rate and review Reasonably Happy (DO IT!) ✍️ https://ratethispodcast.com/paulopod
Some books entertain.Some books inform.And then there are books that unsettle you—and quietly change how you see the world, your kids, and the systems shaping their lives. In this episode, Kylie and I step away from parenting advice (just briefly) to share the books that mattered most to us in 2025. These aren’t light beach reads. They’re confronting, provocative, and deeply relevant for parents raising children in a digital, diagnosed, distracted world. If you love books—and you care about the future your kids are growing up in—this one stays with you. Books & Resources Mentioned Boys — Dr Justin Coulson (join the waitlist to learn more!) Careless People — Sarah Wynn-Williams Searching for Normal — Sami Timimi Essentialism — Greg McKeown The Let Them Theory — Mel Robbins A Thousand Wasted Sundays — Victoria Vanstone Mumming — Victoria Vanstone 1984 — George Orwell Lonesome Dove — Larry McMurtry A Gentleman in Moscow — Amor Towles Greenlights — Matthew McConaughey Parenting ADHD [The Course] My 8 Favourite Books in 2025 [Article] ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS Choose one book this year that challenges your assumptions—not just your habits Notice what makes you uncomfortable while reading—and sit with it Talk with your partner or teen about what you’re noticing in tech, mental health, and culture Remember: protecting kids starts with seeing the systems shaping them See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
George Saunders returns to the Shakespeare and Company Podcast to talk with host Adam Biles about Vigil, his long-awaited new novel. Set on the threshold between life and death, Vigil follows a dying oil executive and the ghost tasked with comforting him, unfolding as a darkly comic, morally urgent meditation on guilt, responsibility, and free will in the age of climate collapse.Saunders discusses his fascination with liminal spaces and afterlives, the technical challenges of writing beyond realism, and how revision allows fiction to think more deeply than polemic ever could. Drawing on his own past in the oil industry, he reflects on writing characters implicated in environmental harm with both empathy and moral seriousness. The conversation ranges across Dickens, Tolstoy, Buddhism, and the novel's central question: whether redemption is possible when action is no longer an option. As ever, Saunders brings humor, generosity, and intellectual daring to a discussion that embraces complexity rather than easy answers.*George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker Prize in 2017, and five collections of stories including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the recent collection Liberation Day (selected by former President Obama has one of his ten favourite books of 2021). Three of Saunders' books –Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo – were chosen for the New York Times' list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, which grew out of his book on the Russian short story, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. In 2013, he was named one of the world's 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company.Listen to Alex Freiman's latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
Award-winning author and journalist Elizabeth Arnott spoke with us about her early studies of serial killers, a wild journalism career, and her latest period-set crime novel THE SECRET LIVES OF MURDERERS' WIVES. Elizabeth Arnott has written critically acclaimed historical fiction as Lizzie Pook (her maiden name). As a journalist, she covered everything from true crime to Arctic exploration and appeared in publications such as The Sunday Times, National Geographic, The New York Times Book Review, and The Guardian among others. She has described her much-anticipated latest historical crime novel as Mad Men with murders, and Lessons in Chemistry with a body count. The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives [available for pre-order and landing March 3, 2026; Berkley Hardcover], is a story that “... centers on three unlikely friends—all former wives of serial killers—and their efforts to solve a string of local killings in 1966 California.” The book was acquired in a heated seven-way auction and named one of “The Best Books for Book Clubs in 2026” by Glamour, and among “The 10 Most-Anticipated Mystery-Thriller Books of 2026” by Marie Claire. Parade wrote of the book, “... a story that feels like Bright Young Women collided with Mindhunter …. a propulsive, period-set whodunit perfect for anyone who loves early criminal profiling and Mad Men-era aesthetics with bite.” [This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code FILES at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."] [Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm] [If you're a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen] In this file Elizabeth Arnott, Milena and I discussed: Elizabeth's early obsession with the film Almost Famous Renting a flat above a brothel in grad school Her freewheeling freelance days traveling the globe for stories When her journalism career hit rock bottom The path to writing about the forgotten victims of violent crimes How to write a novel in six weeks And a lot more! Show Notes: Elizabeth Arnott on Instagram The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives By Elizabeth Arnott – March 3, 2026 (Amazon) Elizabeth Arnott on Twitter Milena Gonzalez | Writer | Reader | Book Reviewer diary_of_a_book_babe on Instagram Kelton Reid Instagram Kelton Reid on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
If you're in, or approaching, a life transition and think, “I should have this figured out by now,” this conversation is for you. Today, mindfulness teacher Monique Rhodes shares how to move through that sticky in‑between space of “no longer who you were, not yet who you're becoming” without beating yourself up. You'll hear why happiness is an inside job, how to work with your mind when life blindsides you, and practical ways to rediscover joy and purpose with mindfulness—especially in retirement and other big life changes. We also discuss how mindfulness can help Type A people (like me and perhaps you…). Monique Rhodes joins us from Costa Rica. _________________________ Bio Monique is an internationally acclaimed Happiness Strategist who teaches students and corporations around the world how to master their lives. She has spent the last 25 years studying the mind and its relationship to happiness and she believes that happiness is not merely an emotion but a daily habitual practice. Over 70 universities and colleges use her program The 10 Minute Mind®. Her 8-week online course, The Happiness Baseline, has a 100% success rate in raising the mental wellness for every student who has completed it. Monique hosts the daily In Your Right Mindpodcast, where she discusses how a series of small habits determine our well-being. She is also a singer, songwriter and producer born in New Zealand. She has toured the world performing and composing music bridging the worlds of contemporary music with modern spiritual teachers. Monique has produced two platinum selling albums in New Zealand, toured Europe twice with Chuck Berry and collaborated on music projects with some of the most well-known inspirational teachers in the world including the Dalai Lama. _________________________ For More on Monique Rhodes MoniqueRhodes.com ________________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson The New Happy – Stephanie Harrison What Matters Most – Diane Button _________________________ Planning for retirement? Chexck out our summaries of the Best Books on Retirement _________________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You'll get smarter about the investment decisions you'll make about the most important asset you'll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren't quite done yet, discover what's next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn't just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how the Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one — on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host Joe Casey is an executive coach who helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a 26-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Joe has earned Master's degrees from the University of Southern California in Gerontology (at age 60), the University of Pennsylvania, and Middlesex University (UK), a BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his coaching certification from Columbia University. In addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, ranked in the top 1% globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He's the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. __________________________ Wise Quotes On Getting Unstuck “So, one of the things that I see with my students is that the place that people get stuck most often is actually that we’re resisting what is. And so let’s say you make some New Year’s resolutions or you’re in the middle of a transition like retirement and you’re in the middle of that change and you think to yourself, this shouldn’t be so hard and I should have figured this out by now. But what those thoughts do is they actually only tighten that knot. So if we’re looking at getting unstuck, you know, the way that I teach is we have to have this willingness to soften, to stop pushing, to actually sit with what’s here, even if it’s uncomfortable. And from what I’ve learned and what I’ve seen, this is really the ground of transformation. Because when we allow ourselves, Joe, just to be exactly where we are with all the uncertainty, with all the doubt, with all the longing, then we begin to loosen the grip on all the old habitual ways of being. And our heart opens. And in that openness, something new can emerge. So I invite you all to not push through, but just to rest in that middle place and let the aspiration be there, but also let the discomfort be there. And let yourself almost be held by this knowing that the moment that you’re in right now is actually part of the path.” On Mindfulness…for Type As “And this energy is very, very powerful, but it can also become a kind of armor and it can protect Type A people from seeing themselves, from vulnerability, from uncertainty. So, if I was talking to a Tai A personality who was a skeptic, I would first of all say it is mindfulness is amazing for Type A personalities. And what if you didn’t need to fix anything right now? What if there was nothing to improve, but just something to notice? Because at the heart of mindfulness, we’re not looking to change our nature or our personality. What we’re doing is we’re inviting you to become more intimate with yourself, to sit beside that aspect of yourself that strives and maybe ask, what am I afraid of and what am I avoiding? Because often as a Type A personality, what we’re avoiding is the discomfort of being with ourselves as we are. But if we can soften that resistance, even for a breath, even for 10 minutes a day, I tell you, something extraordinary happens. And we begin to feel so much more alive, more connected to ourselves. The endless, amazing results of meditation, our relationships change. We just deal with everything differently. We become more whole. So it’s really good for us to understand, which is why mindfulness is used in so many, you know, big companies around the world, is that mindfulness isn’t an enemy of ambition. It’s really a way to return to the ground beneath your striving, to be able to see that ground clearly, to feel deeply, to live more fully, which is why I totally believe it’s a superpower.” On Why Happiness is an Inside Job “The biggest misconception that I know is that people believe that happiness comes from outside of themselves. And that is such a mic drop moment to understand that happiness doesn’t. Happiness is an internal job. And the wonderful thing about that is it means that we’re in control of it. It means that if you want to be happier, you don’t have to be rich. You don’t have to be powerful. You don’t have to be the most beautiful person in the world. I remember some years ago going to Las Vegas to hear Lady Gaga sing. And she was doing these kind of acoustic jazz Tony Bennett style concerts. It were really incredible. She was getting paid a million dollars a gig, Joe, and it was extraordinary. Here she is. She’s super wealthy. She’s beautiful. She’s successful. She’s powerful. And it was shocking for her to talk about how incredibly unhappy she is. So I think that’s one of the biggest things we need to understand is that all the things that we’re sold to believe will make us happy actually don’t. Because if they did, we would be able to look around the world to so many of the people that have all of them. And we can wonder why they’re not happy. So when we begin to understand that happiness is an inside job, then we actually have the incredible power to take control of it. So I think that that is probably the biggest misconception, but also the most powerful thing about it. And so that means that we need to learn to work with the thing that drives our happiness and our suffering, which is our mind. And if we can learn to work with our mind, then we can change our whole experience of the world.”
On this episode of Currently Reading, Mary and Roxanna take the reins and are deep diving into their top reads of 2025! Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) . . . **Please help us by filling out the LISTENER SURVEY before JANUARY 25th!! 1:21 - Mary and Roxanna's Reading Year 4:14 - Mary's Reading Stats: 100 books read this year and picked up some graphic novels that normally she wouldn't have read in the past 7:54 - Roxanna's Reading Stats: 68 books read this year. 26 five star reads 15% general fiction, 16% historical fiction, 15% lit fic, 13% middle grade, 20% POC authors, 96% fiction 12:03 - Join the Currently Reading Patreon to access the reading tracker 14:25 - Mary and Roxanna's Best Books of 2025 14:38 - The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das (Roxanna #10) 17:09 - Empty Cradle, Broken Heart by Deborah L. Davis 18:16 - God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Mary #10) 19:23 - Sandwich by Catherine Newman 19:40 - The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z Hossain (Roxanna #9) 21:48 - Heart the Lover by Lily King (Mary #9) 22:36 - Writers & Lovers by Lily King 24:37 - The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe (Roxanna #8) 27:16 - The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Mary #8) 30:46 - To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers (Roxanna #7) 34:06 - The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Ladies of Mad Science: Secrets of the Purple Pearl by Kate McKinnon (Mary #7) 35:35 - The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon 37:39 - The Unseen World by Liz Moore (Roxanna #6) 40:04 - The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (Mary #6) 42:27 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 43:09 - The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman (Roxanna #5) 45:00 - Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune 46:01 - The Bones Beneath by Skin by T.J. Klune (Mary #5) 46:35 - House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune 50:11 - Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Roxanna #4) 50:24 - Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend 54:14 - The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller (Mary #4) 54:33 - Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller 54:41 - The Change by Kirsten Miller 56:59 - The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Roxanna #3) 59:14 - Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross (Mary #3) 59:36 - Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 1:00:05 - Circe by Madeline Miller 1:00:07 - Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati 1:01:02 - The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Roxanna #2) 1:05:08 - The Correspondent by Virgina Evans (Mary #2) 1:08:17 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (Roxanna #1 - the whole series!) 1:10:30 - Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery 1:10:36 - 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff 1:14:41 - Lightfall: The Girl & the Galdurian by Tim Probert (Mary #1 - the whole series!) 1:15:31 - Lightfall: Shadow of the Bird by Tim Probert 1:15:31 - Lightfall: The Dark Times by Tim Probert 1:17:22 - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is our annual visit to Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business. All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!
We're kicking off 2026 and a year of exciting milestones today! On January 12th, we are celebrating 10 years of our podcast: we'll be sharing a few special podcast episodes to mark this moment. And as you'll hear today, as we move into the rest of 2026, there is plenty more to celebrate. While today's episode isn't technically part of our anniversary celebrations, it's become an annual tradition over the past few years. Today, Anne is joined by her husband and our executive producer Will Bogel to talk about her favorite reads of the past year. Find the list of titles mentioned today and chime in with your 2025 favorites at our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/508. Thank you so much to everyone who has listened, supported our show in all the ways, and been a crucial part of our community of readers. We look forward to celebrating the joy of a good book with you all year long. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send us a textIn Episode 232 of Book Talk Etc., Tina & Hannah share our favorite books of 2025!Loving LatelyMe Snarky (T)Cult of Megs (T)TINA AND HANNAH'S TOP FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025!Red Clay | Charles B. Fancher (T)Great Black Hope | Rob Franklin (H)The Favorites | Layne Fargo (T)Nothing to See Here | Kevin Wilson (H)Sunrise on the Reaping | Suzanne Collins (T)Sandwich | Catherine Newman (H)One Yellow Eye | Leigh Radford (T)Rainbow Black | Maggie Thrash (H)Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng | Kylie Lee Baker (T)The War That Saved My Life | Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (H)What Kind of Paradise | Janelle Brown (T)The Staircase in the Woods | Chuck Wendig (H)Broken Country | Claire Leslie Hall (T)The Names | Florence Knapp (H)Dominion | Addie Citchens (T)The Knight and the Moth | Rachel Gillig (H)Wild Dark Shore | Charlotte McConaghy (T)Hamnet | Maggie O'Farrell (H)Lonesome Dove | Larry McMurtry (T)Current ReadsThe Death of Us | Abigail Dean (T)The Reformatory | Tananarive Due (H)If you enjoy our commercial-free podcast, please consider supporting us on Patreon! Your membership will give you access to our exclusive bonus episodes, plus, you'll receive invites to monthly events like Mood Reader Happy Hour, Live Creativity Sprints and personalized book recommendations from booksellers. On top of it all, you also get access to our private Facebook group and Discord server where you can interact with other fans of the show... all for just $5 a month.Support the showLet's Connect... Email us at booktalketc@gmailBTE on YoutubeTina's TikTok , IG @tbretc YT @tbretcHannah's TikTok , IG @hanpickedbooksJonathan IG @infiltrate_jayPodcast IG @booktalketcRenee's Substack Newsletter , IG@Itsbooktalk
It's finally the episode we've all been waiting for: The Stacks' Best Books of 2025! Traci talks with two longtime friends of the show, Greta Johnsen, host of Happy to Be Here, and MJ Franklin, an editor at The New York Times Book Review, to share our top 10 books of the year. We discuss the overall year in books, why we struggled to create this list, and all the books we're looking forward to reading in 2026.The Stacks Book Club pick for December is Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger. We will discuss the book on Wednesday, December 31st, with Joel Anderson.You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks website: https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2025/12/24/ep-404-best-books-of-2025Connect with Greta: Instagram | SubstackConnect with MJ: Instagram | TikTok | ThreadsConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Threads | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Youtube | SubscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this episode, we give our list of the top 10 books of 2025. Let's get into it… Episode notes and links HERE. Donate to support our mission of equipping men to push back darkness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fortune doesn't care about our plans and preferences. No, Seneca reminds us, she behaves as she pleases.
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie and Hunter discuss their top 10 favorite books of 2025! Annie 1. A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar 2. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans 3. Flashlight by Susan Choi 4. Tilt by Emma Pattee 5. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett 6. Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li 7. Memorial Days by Geradine Brooks 8. Buckeye by Patrick Ryan 9. Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo 10. Awake by Jen Hatmaker Hunter 1. Audition by Katie Kitamura 2. Flashlight by Susan Choi 3. Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones 4. Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel 5. Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor 6. A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar 7. Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett 8. Middle Spoon by Alejandro Varela 9. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett 10. Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez Annie - July picks 1. Tilt by Emma Pattee 2. Flashlight by Susan Choi 3. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans 4. Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li 5. Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld 6. Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks 7. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green 8. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett 9. Lucky Night by Eliza Kennedy 10. Playworld by Adam Ross Hunter - July picks 1. Audition by Katie Kitamura 2. Ordinary Time by Annie B Jones 3. Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett 4. Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez 5. Among Friends by Hal Ebbott 6. The Wilderness by Angela Flourney 7. Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt 8. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett 9. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico 10. Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. A full transcript of today's episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. This week, Annie is reading Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon. Hunter is reading Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Our Executive Producers are...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.
It's time for us to share our favorite books of 2025! Get your notebooks ready because WE! HAVE! RECS!
Brea and Mallory pick their best books of the year! Email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com!Reading Glasses MerchRecommendations StoreThe Reading Glasses Book!Sponsors -ZocDocwww.zocdoc.com/GLASSESGreenChefwww.greenchef.com/GLASSESGRAZACODE: GLASSESGRAZA Links -Reading Glasses Facebook GroupReading Glasses Goodreads GroupWish ListNewsletterLibro.fmTo join our Discord channel, email us proof of your Reading-Glasses-supporting Maximum Fun membership!www.maximumfun.org/join Books Mentioned - Katabasis by R.F. KuangWill There Ever Be Another You by Patricia LockwoodFiend by Alma KatsuBest of All Worlds by Kenneth OppelThe Road to Tender Hearts by Annie HarnettThe Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-GarciaDaughter of Daring by Mallory O'MearaOld Soul by Susan BarkerWild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghyA Letter from the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie CathrallWake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman What Fury Brings by Tricia LevensellerAngel Down by Daniel KrausThe Dry Season by Melissa FebosBury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff HillerSky Daddy by Kate FolkMurder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd Clean by Alia Trabucco Zeran, translated by Sophie HughesStrange Houses by Uketsu, translated by Jim RionThe Brain at Rest by Joseph Jebelli Somebody is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell, performed by Annette Amelia Oliveira It Rhymes with Takei by George TakeiEl Dorado Drive by Megan AbbottMonsters and Mainframes by Barbara TrueloveVantage Point by Sara SligarThis is My Body by Lindsey King-MillerThe Original by Nell StevensVera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man by Jesse Q. SutantoThe Salvage by Anbara SalamShark Heart by Emily HabeckHere's Your Hat What's Your Hurry by Elizabeth McCracken
We love unique reading projects around here, and today's guest has maintained hers since 2021. We're going to hear all about it and explore how she's adding a new twist for 2026. Kate Mosesso is a reader and improv comedian who lives and works in Chicago. She's a lifelong reader, and while she loves the stories on the page, she's an even bigger fan of the connections that reading fosters. Since 2021, Kate's undertaken a community-inspired reading project: every month, she reads a book recommended by a loved one. This project has led her to a lot of great books and given her a new way to connect with people she loves: friends, family members, even favorite professors. For 2026, she's thinking of a new angle for this long-time project and is interested in discussing how to make it really work for her. Today, we're going to explore what's happening with Kate's project, the changes she'd like to make for the year ahead, and what we can do about it. Anne recommends titles and tips to infuse Kate with confidence and enthusiasm for her reading year to come. Find the full list of titles mentioned today and leave your recommendations for Kate on our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/505. If you're curious about what the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club is all about, today Anne shares a peek behind the scenes of this online community. From our annual readers' retreats to author talks and classes to help you make the most of your reading life, Book Club is full of things to look forward to each year. Our team Best Books of the Year event is coming up in January, an event that's only available for our online communities. And looking ahead for 2026, our Book Club members will enjoy our February Readers' Day with a Spring Book Preview themed library chat, our Summer Reading Guide unboxing, Austen in August, and more good nerdy fun. We hope you'll join us in 2026 as we celebrate 10 years of the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club. A Book Club membership also makes a fantastic last-minute holiday gift. Find out more or sign up now at modernmrsdarcy.com/club. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
All year long, the staff of The New York Times Book Review conducts a running discussion over what belongs on its year-end Top 10 list. In this week's episode, host Gilbert Cruz gathers a group of fellow Book Review editors to talk about the most exciting fiction and nonfiction of the year. Here are the books discussed in this week's episode:Fiction“The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” by Kiran Desai“Angel Down,” by Daniel Kraus“The Sisters,” by Jonas Hassen Khemiri“The Director,” by Daniel Kehlmann“Stone Yard Devotional,” by Charlotte WoodNonfiction“A Marriage at Sea,” by Sophie Elmhirst“Wild Thing,” by Sue Prideaux“Mother Emanuel,” by Kevin Sack“There Is No Place for Us," by Brian Goldstone“Mother Mary Comes to Me,” by Arundhati Roy Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.