On this episode of Shelf Care: The Podcast, host Susan Maguire speaks to Seattle Public Library Reader Services Librarian Misha Stone about nerding out about reading, reading more (or at least reading more intentionally), and the thrill of the backlist (along with Heated Rivalry, of course). Then, Booklist’s Audio Editor Heather Booth drops some brief but powerful insight into what makes an audiobook reader, and what makes them valid readers (because, yes, audiobooks count as reading), and what you can look forward to in Booklist. Finally, Booklist’s Editor-in-Chief and Adult Books Editor Donna Seaman chats with Susan about some forthcoming books all kinds of readers can look forward to.
Here's what we talked about:
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How to Read More in 2025 – Shelf Talk (from Seattle Public Library)
“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.”
― Christopher Morley
Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reid
Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee
Cat Sebastian
Pagebound
GoodReads
The Storygraph
SPL’s Your Next Five Books
Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher
The Mountains We Call Home, by Kim Michele Richardson
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson
“Reading Is a Vice,” by Adam Kirsch, published in The Atlantic on Jan. 2, 2026
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga
Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary, by Terry Tempest Williams
The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, Rebecca Solnit
Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit
Figuring, by Maria Popova
Traversal, by Maria Popova
Isola, by Allegra Goodman
This Is Not about Us, by Allegra Goodman
The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978 – 2008, by Louise Erdrich
Python’s Kiss, by Louise Erdrich
Discipline, by Larissa Pham
Pop Song: Adventures in Art and Intimacy, by Larissa Pham
No Way Home, by T. C. Boyle
Five Weeks in the Country, by Francine Prose
