We couldn’t close out 2025 without a Best Books of the Year episode with my “real life book club” members Yasmin and Steph.Since I closed the 10 Things To Tell You podcast this summer, I’ve decided to post this annual year-end conversation on Secret Stuff, free and public for all to enjoy just like you did on 10TTTY, but now in a different spot.JOIN SECRET STUFF on SUBSTACKIt was a weird reading year for everyone, as you’ll hear us discuss, which led to an uncommon mutual favorite novel, and also some differences of opinion on some of the picks. This conversation felt like the best parts of book club, gushing over a shared love and dissecting our differences of opinions on a different title.Of course, we also couldn’t help but talk about the books we didn’t like in 2025 in a bonus conversation for Secret Stuff members only.If you're a bookworm, make sure you check out:2026 Secret Stuff Book SelectionsSLOW READ: The Stand (which starts January 1!)______Favorite Books of 2025:Mutual Favorite:The Correspondent by Virginia EvansYasmin’s Favorites: Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir by Molly Jong-FastThe House of My Mother by Shari FrankeSteph’s Favorites:Heart the Lover by Lily KingMargo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi ThorpeLaura’s Favorites:What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown Annie Bot by Sierra GreerDidion and Babitz by Lili AnolikThe Names by Florence KnappAlso Discussed:Small Things Like These by Claire KeeganAn American Marriage by Tayari JonesThe Great Believers by Rebecca MakkaiFriday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe HaileyOlive Kitteridge by Elizabeth StroutWriters and Lovers by Lily KingColored Television by Danzy SennaA Little Life by Hanya YanagiharaParable of the Sower by Octavia ButlerSorrow and Bliss by Meg MasonThe Knockout Queen by Rufi ThorpeFear of Flying by Erica JongThe Measure by Nikki ErlickThe Husbands by Holly Gramazio This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe
As is our tradition, we ended our year in Secret Stuff with our annual No Book Book Club meeting. Instead of all reading the same book, we came with our recommendations for the best things we read this year.These were the books we can’t stop talking about or buying for our loved ones… these were the books that went the distance in 2025.ICYMI, we also announced the 2026 Secret Stuff Book Club selections.For your convenience, we time-stamped this meeting so you can easily find what you may be looking for:Announcements: 3:21Laura’s Favorite Book Club Moments: 11:17Fiction Recs: 16:06Non-Fiction Recs: 58:28BEST BOOKS OF 2025Fiction:To the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfBest Offer Wins by Marisa KashinoStill Life by Sarah WinmanThe River Has Roots by Amal El-MohtarDeath of the Author by Nnedi OkoraforRoad to Tender Hearts by Annie HartnettThe Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie EarlingAll Fours by Miranda JulyWe Begin at the End by Chris WhitakerThe Bright Years by Sarah DamoffWild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghyI’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain ReidMiss Austen by Gill HornbyThe Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’NeillThe Lexington Letter (from the TV Show “Severance,” available for free on Apple Books)The You You Are (from the TV Show “Severance,” also available for free on Apple Books)The Golden Compass by Philip PullmanThe Overstory by Richard PowersHow to Sell a Haunted House by Grady HendrixA Gentleman in Moscow by Amor TowlesNon-Fiction:The Storyteller by Dave GrohlThe Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke HarrisEverything is Tuberculosi s by John GreenSay Nothing by Patrick Radden KeefeReagan: His Life and Legend by Max BootThe Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America by Sara B. FranklinThe Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria SmiliosBetween Two Kingdoms by Suleika JaouadA Different Kind of Power by Jacinda ArdernMadness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia HyltonChallenger by Adam HigginbothamIt’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People by Dr. Ramani DurvasulaAlso Mentioned:There’s Always This Year by Hanif AbdurraqibBook Club for Troublesome Women by Marie BostwickMrs. Dalloway by Virginia WoolfOrlando by Virginia WoolfAmericanah by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieThe Stacks PodcastCurrently Reading Podcast This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit secretstuff.substack.comOur family of four just returned home from a long-awaited and life-changing trip to Africa.I had so much fun documenting the two-week adventure on Instagram (check out the SAFARI highlight in my bio) that I wanted to share more details about the safaris including our travel coordinator, the three camps where we stayed, what surprised me the most, and the pros and cons of doing this as a vacation with teenagers.For all the links to everything I share in this episode (and some bonus stuff like links to what I packed), check out the full post on Substack.
The 5th annual Stephen King Summer starts June 1 and I am so excited to embark on another summer celebrating the world’s greatest living storyteller.See THIS POST with full details about SKS 2025**Join SECRET STUFF as a monthly or annual member to get all the Stephen King Summer conversations**By the end of August 2025, you will have a better understanding of Stephen King and his place in the literary landscape.For Stephen King Summer 2025, we're reading:THE SHINING (1977)Under the Dome (2009)And we're watching:Christine (1983)Episode 1 of The Outsider (2020)Doctor Sleep (2019)Stephen King Summer is a part of my Secret Stuff book club & membership community.Browse Stephen King Summer MERCHNot sure where to start with Stephen King? Jump right into Stephen King Summer OR listen to this episodes for book recommendations:Ep 121: Stephen King Starter KitEp 222: Stephen King Starter Kit Part II (What To Read And What To Skip)Hope to see you over on Secret Stuff for the 5th annual STEPHEN KING SUMMER! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe
How have you changed in the last 10 years?Who were you in 2015 and the years following? What is different about your life and ambitions and spirit now? We focused on the areas of family & home life, career paths, and the state of our spiritual/emotional selves.This conversation aired as Ep 265 of the 10 Things To Tell You podcast, but I wanted to put it here for you as part of Secret Stuff AD FREE.My longtime friend, podcasting pioneer, and fellow Substacker Meg Tietz and I get really vulnerable in this conversation. We both say things we’ve never said on microphone before. I hope that listening to it sparks something in you about your past decade.It’s just a really good journal prompt that might lead to an AHA moment, some pattern recognition, and a NOTICING of things you’re ready to release.My conversation partner of 30+ years (!!!) is Meg Tietz.Follow Meg Tietz on Substack or on IGHire Meg for voice over work (she’s amazing!)Mentioned in this episode:Meg's Deconversion Series on Substack (Part 1) and Part 2 and Part 3Ep 235: 4 Lessons After Publishing 2 BooksEp 34: The RobberyEp 194: On Endings and Intuition This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe