Episode · The Book Review · 2025-12-19
Books mentioned on What Did 2025 Mean for Books?
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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James
James by Percival L.
Discussed“I'm picking on the wonderful P of Everett, but James, the amount of money they put behind James is not the same amount of money for publicity to get attention for it last year. It's not the same as they put this year for, let's pick one of our best books, The Director, right?”
Where to get it
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The Correspondent
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is a breakout epistolary novel that achieved widespread commercial and critical success.
Discussed“So, one of them is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. John knows more about this book than I do, but I think it came out last April or May. It was quiet. It was from Crown.”
Where to get it
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The choir director
Discussed“It's not the same as they put this year for, let's pick one of our best books, The Director, right? A great book that absolutely was not a book that anybody was gunning to be book of the year, despite the fact that they have a great team over at Summit.”
Where to get it
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The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of ...
The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can't Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins offers practical psychological strategies designed to help readers release control over external situations and find personal empowerment.
Discussed“It's been a really tough time for non-fiction, unless you're Mel Robbins. [laughter] Her Let Them Theory book has sold millions of copies this year. It came out last year, but it's still on the top of the bestseller list.”
Where to get it
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107 Days
Discussed“One interesting exception and I have to say the strength of the sales really surprised me is Kamla Harris's memoir 107 days. It has sold, I think, more than 600,000 copies, which at a moment when people probably don't want to think too much about last year's election...”
Where to get it
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird explores racial injustice and moral growth in the American South through the eyes of young Scout Finch.
Discussed“I was also thinking of the Harper Lee collection of stories which to me that was interesting just because as everyone knows late in her career a sort of prequel which was kind of a sequel to Tequilla Mockingbird came out and there was a lot debate at the time over what her intentions were with that book.”
Where to get it
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The Last Samurai
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt is a critically acclaimed and inventive novel that follows a single mother raising a precocious young boy in Tokyo as he becomes obsessed with Akira Kurosawa's film.
Discussed“And then Helen Dwit, uh, the author of The Last Samurai, came out with a book that she wrote about 20 years ago and has been trying to get published for that long. And it was extraordinary to see that project finally arrive.”
Where to get it
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Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees is a comic book by creator Patrick Horvath that combines charming visual aesthetics with dark, unsettling narratives.
Recommended“This is a cozy horror. It's a comic book. It's called Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees. And it was a breakout hit from, I believe, last year.”
Where to get it
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The Thursday Murder Club
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is a lighthearted yet clever cozy mystery novel that follows an eccentric group of retired pensioners solving crimes from a retirement village.
Discussed“let me give you the big mainstream example and that's the Richard Osman Thursday Murder Club books are 100% cozy mysteries there's nothing that's going to make you blanch Tina...”
Where to get it
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What We Can Know
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan is a contemporary novel by the acclaimed British author that generated substantial literary discussion upon its release.
Book club“We will be back next week with our book club. We're reading [music] What We Can Know by Ian Mchuan. We hope you'll join us.”
Where to get it
