In this episode, Sarah and Jes discuss the best books of the year, great books to give as gifts, the most checked out items at DMPL, and the librarians personal favorite books they read in 2025. Learn more below:
Show Notes
What we are reading
Jes:
On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Sarah:
Just Our Luck by Denise Williams,
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Best Bets (good gifts)
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz,
The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad,
The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy―and Why it Failed by Brad Meltzer and Joel Mensch,
How to Be a Saint: An Extremely Weird and Mildly Sacrilegious History of the Catholic Church's Biggest Names by Kate Sidley
Best of the Year Lists Books
1. Heart the Lover by Lily King
2. Audition by Katie Kitamura
3. Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
4. Katabasis by R.F Kuang
5. Mother Mary Comes to me by Arundhati Roy
6. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
7. A Flower Traveled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland
8. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
9. Baldwin by Nicolas Boggs
10. Flesh by David Szalay
Top Checked Out
1. The Wedding People by Alison Espach
2. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
3. Strangers in Time by Baldacci by David Baldacci
4. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
5. Great, Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
6. James by Percival Everett
7. Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
8. Dog Man: Big Jim Begins and Dog Man: The Scarlet Shredder by Dav Pilkey
9. My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Top DVDs
Jes' Top Ten
1. Woodworking by Emily St. James
2. Poet's Square by Courtney Gustafson
3. Heart the Lover by Lily King
4. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
5. Sky Daddy by Kate Folk
6. Audition by Katie Kitamura
7. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
8. Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan
9. Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
10. Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Sarah's Top Ten
1. A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera
2. Who is Government edited by Michael Lewis and Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
3. The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
4. The Shots you Take by Rachel Reid
5. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
6. Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry
7. Muted by Miranda Mundt
8. The River has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
9. Everyone Who is Gone is Here by Jonathan Blitzer
10. Heir by Sabaa Tahir
Random Books
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Links
No Lovers on These Covers https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/books/review/831-stories-romance.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1E8.jA9U.hHjLV3tspEo8&smid=url-share&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
It's Time To Put The "Where Are All The Male Novelists?" Debate To Bed https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/vanishing-young-male-novelists-debate
The Guardian view on the Booker prize winner: putting masculinity back at the centre of literary fiction https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/14/the-guardian-view-on-the-booker-prize-winner-putting-masculinity-back-at-the-centre-of-literary-fiction
