Hey, Eclectic Readers! I’m excited to share my favorite reads of 2025 with all of you—and even more excited to welcome a special guest to this yearly wrap-up episode. My husband and former podcast co-host Curtis joins me today to discuss how parenting small children has impacted our reading lives, what books we loved this year, and what we’re hoping to read in 2026. You’ll get to experience the complete breadth of our reading tastes in this episode, with recommendations from nearly every genre.

Special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for occupying the four-year-old, and to our one-year-old for napping long enough for us to record this episode. It took an entire month to make the time, and we both had terrible colds, but we got it done!

Books Mentioned

* The Palace of Rogues series by Julie Anne Long

* The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

* The Passage by Justin Cronin

* The Twelve by Justin Cronin

* Audition by Katie Kitamura

* 5 books to read if you liked Audition

* Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

* The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne

* We Few by Nick Brockhausen

* Whispers in the Tall Grass by Nick Brockhausen

* Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobsen

* MACV-SOG (Wikipedia)

* Sex of the Midwest by Robin Ryle

* The Street by Ann Petry

* Country Place by Ann Petry

* The Anchor Texts Project

* The Stormlight Archive series Brandon Sanderson

* The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

* Grant by Ron Chernow

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