This week, our podcast is back from the dead (much like a resurrected dinosaur) to discuss our favorite books of 2025. Better late than never! Topics include dubious metaphors about pickles, popular books that lived up to the hype, and the dangers of library discard sales.
Content Warnings: Mentions of the Troubles, parental death, plague, transphobia, drug addiction, slavery, and sexual assault.
Young Mungo by Douglas StuartHalf Man (TV show)Widow’s Bay (TV show)Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clement and Onjuli DattaEpisode 52: You’re Invited to the Bone Temple RaveEpisode 51: We Don’t Know Anything About HockeyThe Fair Folk Trilogy by Lyra SeleneGiovanni’s Room by James BaldwinAn African History of Africa by Zeinab BadawiAfrica Is Not a Country by Dipo FaloyinThe Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson BennettThe Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-JonesThe Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon ChakrabortyInterior Chinatown by Charles YuThe Starling House by Alix E. HarrowThe Everlasting by Alix E. HarrowEntangled Life by Merlin SheldrakeThe Thousand Eyes by A.K. LarkwoodGods of the Wyrdwood by R.J. BarkerThe Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael ChabonThese Violent Delights by Micah NemevererIdlewild by James Frankie ThomasRope dir. Alfred HitchcockMurderbot (TV show)The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan IfuekoWorking on a Song by Anais MitchellA Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie CathrallSay Nothing by Patrick Radden KeefeDeep Cuts by Holly BrickleyDaisy Jones and the Six (TV show)Mother Mary dir. David LoweryWoodworking by Emily St. JamesBetween Two Fires by Christopher BuehlmanAs Many Souls as Stars by Natasha SiegelDoctor Faustus by Christopher MarloweThe Raven Scholar by Antonia HodgsonLover in Color by Bolu BabalolaBlood Over Bright Haven by M.L. WangThe Master and Margarita by Mikhail BulgakovThe Transgender Issue by Shon FayeMargo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi ThorpeThe Safekeep by Yael van der WoudenFingersmith by Sarah WatersThe Good Lord Bird by James McBrideThe Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBrideAlligator Tears by Edgar GomezHigh Risk Homosexual by Edgar GomezH is for Hawk by Helen McDonaldThree Bags Full by Leonie SwannThe Sheep Detectives dir. Kyle BaldaLady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. LawrencePrivate Rites by Julia ArmfieldCatch and Kill by Ronan FarrowTo Clutch a Razor by Veronica RothHeated Rivalry by Rachel ReidLadies in Hating by Alexandra VastiOrdinary Love by Marie RutkoskiThe Death I Gave Him by Em X. LiuAnima Rising by Christopher MooreMonsters and Mainframes by Barbara TrueloveSundial by Catriona WardRed X by David DemchuckI Like to Watch by Emily NussbaumPersonal Attention Roleplay H. Felix Chau BradleyWe Don’t Yet Know Ourselves by Fintan O’TooleA Rare Find by Joanna LowellFlorenzer by Phil MelansonThe Duke by Anna Cowan The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John ChuWashington Black by Esi EdugyanSpirits Abroad by Zen ChoA Dark & Drowning Tide by Allison SaftOliver Twist by Charles Dickens