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We're back with our annual year-end reading round up. Join us as we talk about our year in reading, our favorite books of 2025, the big stories in the world of books and publishing (probably not a spoiler: AI), and what we're looking forward to reading in 2026.

We also talk about the pros and cons of different reading tracking apps and audiobook listening apps, how reading tastes can change over time, and how culling a TBR can feel just as cathartic as physically de-cluttering your life. This annual reflection has become one our favorite conversations to have! We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
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Books we talk about in this episode:

Our favorite books of 2025:

• Robin Hobb!
• Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
• The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook
• Tom Lake by Anne Patchett (read by Meryl Streep)
• A Lady's Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin
• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Already published books we want to read in 2026:

• All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett
• Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennet
• Is A River Alive by Robert MacFarlane
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley
• Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall
• Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
• The Correspondent by Virgina Evans
• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
• Lifeform by Jenny Slate
• The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
• Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
• Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmare’s in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• The Earthsea Series by Ursula Le Guin

Books being published in 2026 we want to read:

• The Astral Library by Kate Quinn (Feb)
• The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer (April)
• American Fantasy by Emma Straub (April)
• The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez (March)
• Land by Maggie O'Farrell (June)
• Whistler by Ann Patchett (June)
• Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo (September)

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Sources

• Anthropic to pay authors $1.5B to settle lawsuit over pirated chatbot training material: https://www.npr.org/2025/09/05/g-s1-87367/anthropic-authors-settlement-pirated-chatbot-training-material
• Bone, J. K., Bu, F., Sonke, J. K., & Fancourt, D. (2025). The decline in reading for pleasure over 20 years of the American Time Use Survey. iScience, 28(9), https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(25)01549-4

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Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support.

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts.

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

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In this episode, we are lucky enough to talk with author Zoe B. Wallbrook about her critically acclaimed debut novel, History Lessons. It's a clever, witty mystery on its surface that touches on deeper, more challenging issues with what the New York Times calls "a satirical bite." It also has a sweet romantic subplot that we are here for!

It was Library Journal's Mystery Debut of the Month in July, and was chosen as one of The Best Debut Crime Novels of 2025 by Crime Reads Magazine and one of The 10 Best Mystery Novels of 2025 by The New York Times Review of Books.

Elizabeth met Zoe in 2019 and since then they have been critique partners and friends, which makes this conversation extra special. Join us to hear about the books Zoe loves, her journey to becoming a writer, how she navigates the publishing industry while still holding onto the joy she finds from writing, and how she feels about her writing being categorized as "cozy." We also chat about diversity in the mystery genre and how Zoe and her publisher, Soho Press, think about all the various threads in her writing as a feature, not a bug.

You won't want to miss this thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation with the always insightful Zoe B. Wallbrook and two of her fangirls.

Find Zoe on Instagram @zbwallbrook or at her website: https://www.zoebwallbrook.com/. And buy History Lessons wherever books are sold!

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Books we're reading in this episode:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart

A Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Brothers Sinister Series by Courtney Milan

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

The Poppy War trilogy by R.F. Kuang

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Support the show

-----------------------
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support.

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts.

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!

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Something about this season of cold weather and long, dark nights makes us want to read mysteries. Whether you like 'em cozy, hard-boiled, or realistic and by the book, there's something in this genre for everyone. Join us as we follow the clues to learn about the history, make-up, and readers of the mystery genre.

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Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090719003858/http://www.historyofthemystery.com/crime_and_punishment.php?page=35

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_fiction

https://americanwritersmuseum.org/many-writers-many-forms-mystery/

https://web.archive.org/web/20090719004017/

https://lithub.com/agatha-christie-is-the-best-selling-novelist-in-history/

https://archive.org/details/sim_publishers-weekly_1929-10-05_116_14/page/1728/mode/2up

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/popular-mystery-tropes-for-writers

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20090504/4567-some-like-it-mild-cozy-mysteries.html

Moser, S. & Xhignesse, M. (2023). A Garden of One’s Own. Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, 9(1). https://doaj.org/article/c742434a58f74246a086d0fcfc90416b

Vester, K. (2015). Bodies to Die for: Negotiating the Ideal Female Body in Cozy Mystery Novels. Journal of Popular Culture, 48(1), 31–43.

https://bookriot.com/diverse-cozy-mysteries/

Support the show

-----------------------
Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

Support us!

If you liked this episode, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2235482/support.

It also really helps us reach more listeners if you leave us a rating and/or review, especially on Apple Podcasts.

Reach out!

Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at allbooksaloudpod@gmail.com. To learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com.

If you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod.

Read on!