On this episode of Shelf Care: The Podcast, host Susan Maguire speaks to Seattle Public Library Reader Services Librarian Misha Stone about nerding out about reading, reading more (or at least reading more intentionally), and the thrill of the backlist (along with Heated Rivalry, of course). Then, Booklist’s Audio Editor Heather Booth drops some brief but powerful insight into what makes an audiobook reader, and what makes them valid readers (because, yes, audiobooks count as reading), and what you can look forward to in Booklist. Finally, Booklist’s Editor-in-Chief and Adult Books Editor Donna Seaman chats with Susan about some forthcoming books all kinds of readers can look forward to.

Here's what we talked about:

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How to Read More in 2025 – Shelf Talk (from Seattle Public Library)

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.”

― Christopher Morley

Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reid

Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee

Cat Sebastian

Pagebound

GoodReads

The Storygraph

SPL’s Your Next Five Books

Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher

The Mountains We Call Home, by Kim Michele Richardson

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson

“Reading Is a Vice,” by Adam Kirsch, published in The Atlantic on Jan. 2, 2026

Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary, by Terry Tempest Williams

The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, Rebecca Solnit

Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit

Figuring, by Maria Popova

Traversal, by Maria Popova

Isola, by Allegra Goodman

This Is Not about Us, by Allegra Goodman

The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978 – 2008, by Louise Erdrich

Python’s Kiss, by Louise Erdrich

Discipline, by Larissa Pham

Pop Song: Adventures in Art and Intimacy, by Larissa Pham

No Way Home, by T. C. Boyle

Five Weeks in the Country, by Francine Prose