Today we are bringing you an interview with Madeleine Wickham, also known as the international bestselling author Sophie Kinsella. As you may have read, Sophie lost her battle with glioblastoma. Sophie was a dear friend and beloved by readers around the world. Sophie’s Shopaholic series was a global phenomenon… 50 million readers (and counting) read about the worlds that Sophie created. Sophie was a balm and a comfort in this weary world, and she brought us 30 novels in 30 years. Our last conversation was about her What Does It Feel Like? Sophie's novel about Eve, a woman who wakes up in a hospital and can’t remember how she got there. The novel was published a year ago- and it became an instant bestseller. Readers related to Eve’s journey, the pain of sharing a diagnosis with her children, the good husband, who is a rock and the celebration of small victories that shored up the strength of the family in the face of a daunting illness. In this conversation are Sophie’s thoughts on life, death, creativity and the journeys of our souls… We hope you enjoy. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have had a spectacular year on You Are What You Read with some of the greatest writers in the world! Thank you all for joining us every week, for your comments and reviews, and for joining us on the road. We have loved meeting you and hearing your thoughts. This holiday season, we are highlighting some of your favorite guests from 2025. Here to join us, is our dear friend Jake Morrissey. Jake is the Executive Editor at Riverhead Books at Penguin Random House. Jake works with bestselling and award-winning authors, including Daniel H. Pink, Anne Lamott, James McBride, Priya Parker, Michele Harper, and Marlon James, with whom he cohosts the podcast Marlon & Jake Read Dead People. Today, we take a look back on some of our favorite books from this year…the best in fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, and the books we are looking forward to in 2026. 

Titles mentioned in this episode: 

Fiction: 

Audition by Katie Kitamura

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

Among Friends by Hal Ebbott

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Nash Falls by David Baldacci

The Unraveling of Julia Lisa Scottoline

Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely by Sarah McCoy

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

My Grandma and Grandpa Rock! by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo

Dangerland by Eric Singer

Skylark by Paula McLain

It Girl by Allison Pataki

Waiting for Dawn: Living with Uncertainty Marisa Renee Lee

The Viper by Brad Meltzer 

The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave

The Award by Matthew Pearl

The Hollywood Fix by Richard Kirshenbaum

Nonfiction:

I Said Yes to Everything by Lee Grant

Before You Fly Away by Christina Geist

Heart Life Music by Kenny Chesney

Waiting on the Moon by Peter Wolf

When It All Burns by Jordan Thomas

The American Revolution and the Fate of the World by Richard Bell

We Did It, Kid by Anthony Hopkins

The Art of Spending Money by Morgan House

l1929 by Aaron Ross Sorkin

Cookbooks: 

You Can Make This! 

Lidia’s The Art of Pasta 

Italian Snacking by Anna Francese Gass

Cooking with Nonna by Rossella Rago

My Harvest Kitchen by Gesine Bullock-Prado

The Delmonico Way by Max Tucci 

Shows: 

Oedipus

The Mousetrap

Oratorio Films:Hamnet

Knives Out

Frankenstein 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s episode of You Are What You Read is all about Rock & Roll. Today, we are joined by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo with their adorable new children’s picture book.. My Grandma and Grandpa Rock!  You know Pat and Neil’s hits, “We Belong,” “Invincible,” “Love Is A Battlefield,” “Promises In The Dark,” “We Live For Love,” “Heartbreaker” and “Hell Is For Children.” Together, Pat and Neil have created two multi-platinum, five platinum, and three gold albums, along with 19 Top 40 hits. They’ve sold more than 36 million records worldwide and earned four consecutive GRAMMY® Awards. Their honors also include three American Music Awards, a People’s Choice Award, induction into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2008), and most recently, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Their latest project, the New York Times and USA Today bestselling children’s book, continues their creative legacy in a whole new way. My Grandma & Grandpa Rock! is a labor of love for grandparents and grandchildren everywhere.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The holiday season is upon us, and here to kick things off on You Are What You Read is world-renowned restaurateur, author and culinary ambassador, Max Tucci. Max is the third generation partner of Delmonico’s Restaurant New York, which he led in reopening. He is also the owner of TUCCI New York, one of the city’s hottest new Italian restaurants with Max’s signature flair, cuisine and down home glamour. Today, Max joins us with his gorgeous book, The Delmonico Way: Sublime Entertaining and Legendary Recipes from the Restaurant That Made New York. This is the perfect gift for the holidays, filled with delicious recipes, family stories and history of one of NYC's finest restaurants. You can watch Max now in My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story on Paramount+. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2021, we hosted bestselling author Maggie O’Farrell for a Facebook Live conversation about her hit novel, Hamnet. Since we last spoke to Maggie, Hamnet has taken the world by storm, and next week, Maggie’s story will be a major motion picture starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, and directed by Chloe Zhao. Hamnet is the fictional tale of William Shakespeare, though he is never named. Maggie examines the death of his eleven-year-old son, Hamnet, and the effect it had on the playwright’s work. The novel was the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award Winner. In this episode, Maggie tells us about what it was like to write this book and also what it was like to bridge her life with the life of her characters. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the acclaimed Shades universe, the Villains series, the City of Ghosts series, Gallant, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Fragile Threads of Power. Her latest, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soul, is a genre-defying novel about immortality, hunger, love and much more. In this conversation we talk about Victoria’s process, her literary influences, and the books that informed her writing life.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read we are joined by Jen Hatmaker with her instant New York Times best seller, AWAKE. This memoir is a brutally honest, funny, and revealing memoir about the traumatic end of her twenty-six-year-long marriage, and the beginning of a different kind of love story. You can tune in to Jen’s award-winning podcast For the Love every week.  

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this very special episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by one of American music’s biggest names, Kenny Chesney, with his all-new memoir, Heart Life Music. Kenny Chesney enters the Country Music Hall of Fame this year. Selling out stadiums for two decades, he’s sold 105 million albums and holds BILLBOARD’s record for Most Country No. 1 hits. Kenny co-wrote Heart Life Music with Holly Gleason, the world-renowned journalist who has written for Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and HITS. This episode was recorded live at Book of the Month in New York City.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The holidays are upon us, and we could not wait to bring Angela Kinsey and Joshua Snyder on You Are What You Read for a conversation about their brand new cookbook, You Can Make This. You know Angela for her award-winning role as Angela Martin on all nine seasons of The Office. Angela is also the New York Times bestselling author of The Office BFFs, which she co-wrote with Jenna Fisher. Together, they host the sensational Office Ladies podcast. Angela’s husband, Josh, is an actor, influencer, and self-taught baker with a passion for bringing people together through food, which you will see in this conversation. He and Angela turned his love of baking into the popular YouTube series, Baking with Josh & Ange. You can check it out after this podcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by acclaimed screenwriter, director and author, Tim Sullivan. Tim’s screen credits include A Handful of Dust, starring Kristen Scott Thomas, Where Angels Fear to Tread, starring Helen Mirren and Helena Bonham Carter, Jack and Sarah (which he also directed) starring Richard E Grant, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen and Letters to Juliet, with Amanda Seyfried. Tim has directed the television series: Sherlock Holmes and Cold Feet. Tim has written extensively in Hollywood in both live action and animation, working with Ron Howard, Scott Rudin and with Jeffrey Katzenberg on the fourth Shrek movie. He has now embarked on a series of crime novels featuring the autistic, and brilliantly persistent DS George Cross, which have hit shelves in the United States this fall.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices