Episode 251 - Top Ten Reads of 2025 with Russell of Ink and Paper Blog

Episode 251 Show Notes

Please take the Listener Top Ten Books of 2025 poll by January 15th: http://bit.ly/ListenerTopTen2025

– Russell’s Top Ten –
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt (audiobook)
The Savage Nobel Death of Babs Dionne – Ron Currie
A Truce That Is Not Peace – Miriam Toews (audiobook)
Run for the Hills – Kevin Wilson
The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong
Some Bright Nowhere – Ann Packer (audiobook)
Minor Black Figures – Brandon Taylor
Flashlight – Susan Choi (audiobook)
Heart the Lover – Lily King
The Correspondent – Virginia Evans
Audition – Katie Kitamura

– Chris’s Top Ten –
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World – Matthew Goodman
After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart – Megan Marshall
Listen to our conversation with Megan on Episode 227
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend – Rebecca Romney
Happy Land – Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Militia House – John Milas
The Award – Matthew Pearl
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fascist Icon – Sara Catterall
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them – Timothy Egan (audiobook)
Beth is Dead – Katie Bernet
The Belgian Girls – Kathryn Atwood
Old New York – Edith Wharton
Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel – Kiersten White

– Emily’s Top Ten –
Lone Women – Victor LaValle (audiobook)
Leaving – Roxana Robinson
Memorial Days – Geraldine Brooks (audiobook)
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir – Tessa Hulls
Buckeye – Patrick Ryan (audiobook)
A Family Matter – Claire Lynch
The Upstairs House – Julia Fine
Wreck – Catherine Newman
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck – Sophie Elmhirst
The Road to Tender Hearts – Annie Hartnett (audiobook)

– Favorite Biblio Adventures of 2025 –
Russell moved to Portland where he enjoys exploring all three locations of Powell’s Books.

Chris’s had a standout trip to Nebraska with Colleen where they visited the Eisenhower Museum and Library, went to the Willa Cather Conference, explored Red Cloud, and other fun sites.

Emily enjoyed two events hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers. A conversation with Virginia Evans, author of The Correspondent and another event with Dorie Greenspan in conversation with Casey Elsass about Dorie’s Anytime Cakes and What Can I Bring? Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life. Emily has spent a lot of time baking with Dorie’s Cookies.

Another favorite was everything Isabella Stewart Gardner: visiting the museum, reading Chasing Beauty, and featuring Natalie Dykstra in an Author Spotlight on Episode 248.

– Books We’re Looking Forward to in 2026 –
Kin – Tayari Jones release date 2/24/2026
All the World Can Hold – Jung Yun release date 3/10/2026
True Crime: A Memoir – Patricia Cornwell release date 5/5/2026
Man Overboard – Katherine Rooney release date 7/7/2026
Hunger and Thirst – Claire Fuller release date 6/2/2026

– Also Mentioned –
Remarkably Bright Creatures movie
Check out Megan Marshall’s full list of books
Georgia O’Keefe: A Life by Roxana Robinson
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Also by Miriam Toews: All My Puny Sorrows and Women Talking
Also by Geraldine Brooks: Horse and March
Also by Kevin Wilson: The Family Fang and Nothing to See Here
Also by Dolen Perkins-Valdez: Wench and Take My Hand
So Far Gone by Jess Walter, also a great audiobook
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Also by Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
Author Elizabeth Strout
Euphoria by Lily King
Also by Katie Kitamura: A Separation and Intimacies
Also by Tayari Jones: Silver Sparrow and An American Marriage

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Episode 200 - Two Books We Can't Wait for You to Read (times 18!)

Episode Two Hundred Show Notes

– 1st Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins.  The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, March 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can also join the Indigo Goodreads discussion online anytime!

We’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

– Listener Top Ten –
You can find these books on the Listener Top Ten of 2023 list on our Bookshop.org page
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett
Hello Beautiful – Ann Napolitano
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese
Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride
Yellowface – R.F. Kuang
The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt
The Fraud – Zadie Smith
Unlikely Animals – Annie Hartnett
Signal Fires – Dani Shapiro
Absolution – Alice McDermott
The Postcard – Anne Berest

– Currently Reading –
The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)(audiobook)
River of the Gods: Genius Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile – Candice Millard
The Sicilian Inheritance – Jo Piazza (EF) release date 4/2/24
Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines – Joy Buolamwini (CW)
Upstream: Selected Essays – Mary Oliver (EF)

– Currently Reading –
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination – Elizabeth McCracken (EF)
Thirst – Marina Yuszczuk (CW) release date 3/5/2024
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett (audiobook) (EF)
Chris read the short story “Behind the Singer Tower” by Willa Cather. Learn more about the Willa Cather Short Story Project.
Emily read the short story “These are the Meditations of My Heart” from the collection Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks and “Old Crimes” from the collection Old Crimes: And Other Stories by Jill McCorkle
Erasure – Percival Everett (EF)
The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris went to Illinois to pay her respects and bid farewell to the Barnes and Noble in Naperville that is closing. She also got a good browse at her favorite used bookstore, The Frugal Muse. She picked up Hudson River Bracketed by Edith Wharton, Writing a Jewish Life: Memoirs by Lev Raphael, and The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton.

Emily went to Colorado and attended an event via Aspen Words featuring Ann Patchett in conversation with Elizabeth McCracken.

Books recommended by Elizabeth:
Night Wherever We Go – Tracey Rose Peyton
Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It – Greg Marshall
Mrs. Caliban – Rachel Ingalls

Books recommended by Ann:
So Big – Edna Ferber
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year – Margaret Renkl
Martyr! – Kaveh Akbar
James – Percival Everett
This is Happiness – Niall Williams

Emily visited White River Books in Carbondale, CO where she picked up a copy of The Last Ranger by Peter Heller and the Carbondale Public Library.

Chris watched the movie The Princess Bride based on the novel by William Goldman.

Emily watched the movie Boys in the Boat based on the novel by Daniel James Brown. The audiobook is narrated by Edward Herrmann.

Chris participated in an online forum about craft via the Biography Lab. There was a panel with Janice P. Nimura, “Nasty Women: Making a Good Story out of Bad Behavior.” Janice is the author of The Doctors Blackwell and was a guest on Episode 139. Other panels included James McGrath Morris and Ray A. Shepard. You can watch the video with the keynote speaker, Kai Byrd.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are going on a Joint Jaunt to Bank Square Books for the launch of Luanne Rice’s new book Last Night.

Emily is planning to see the movie American Fiction at Madison Art Theatre based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett.

Chris will be attending a reading of her wife Laura’s work-in-progress at the Chester Arts & Literary Weekend on February 11th at 5pm

– Two Books We Can’t Wait for You to Read –

Chris Wolak
Imagination: A Manifesto – Ruha Benjamin release date 2/6/24
Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy – Cait West release date 4/30/24

Emily Fine
How to End a Love Story – Yulin Kuang release date 4/2/24
The Paris Novel – Ruth Reichl release date 4/23/24

Michael Kindness
The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels by Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmerans release date 3/12/24
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore release date 6/11/24

Ann Kingman
Service by Sarah Gilmartin release date 6/4/24
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister release date 10/1/24

Author Amy Tector
Death At the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie Book by Kate Atkinson release date 9/3/24
Honor the Dead: A Dominion Archives Mystery  by Amy Tector release date 4/16/24

Author Andrea Wang
Summer at Squee by Andrea Wang release date 3/5/24
Next Stop: A Graphic Novel by Debbie Fong release date 3/19/24

Author Bianca Marais
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio release date 4/2/24
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rawley release date 5/21/24
Same as It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo release date 6/18/24
Weird Black Girls by Elwin Cotman release date 4/16/24

Author Caroline Leavitt
Splinters by Leslie Jamison release date 2/20/24
Days of Wonder by Caroline Leavitt release date 4/23/24

Davina from BookBrowse
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray release date 3/12/24
Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung release date 5/7/24

Author Fiona Davis
Anna Bright is Hiding Something by Susie Orman Schnall release date 6/4/24
A Novel Summer by Jamie Brenner release date 7/16/24

Author Hank Phillippi Ryan
One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan release date 2/6/24
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter and her DI Fawley series starting with Close to Home

Author Jennifer Savran Kelly
Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir by Zoe Bossiere release date 5/21/24
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko release date 3/19/24

Author Jenna Miller
We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller release date 2/20/24
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao release date 4/`16/24

Author Rachel Barenbaum
Flyboy by Kasey LeBlanc release date 5/14/24

Author Kelcey Ervick
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two by Emil Ferris release date 5/28/24
Victory Parade by Leela Corman release date 4/2/24

Author Luanne Rice
Last Night by Luanne Rice release date 2/1/24
If Anything Happens to Me by Luanne Rice release date 9/17/24
The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames release date 7/23/24

Author Jung Yun
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko release date 3/19/24
Bear by Julia Phillips release date 6/25/24

Our Mystery Man John Valeri
A Killing on the Hill: A Thriller by Roberrt Dugoni release date 4/9/24
Shadowheart by Meg Gardiner release date 6/18/24
An Upcoming Release from Marcia Clark….

Also Mentioned
The Giant’s House – Elizabeth McCracken
Vlad – Carlos Fuentes translated by Alejandro Branger
Telephone – Percival Everett
My Last Duchess – Robert Browning
Also by Lev Raphael: The Edith Wharton Murders
Also by Ann Patchett: Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars
Jacqueline Woodson
Viral Justice – Ruha Benjamin
Long Bright River – Liz Moore
Dinner Party – Sarah Gilmartin
Sweetbitter – Stephanie Danler
We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
The Water Cure – Sophie Mackintosh
The Virgin Suicides – Jefrey Eugenides|
99% Invisible podcast Episode 445 – The Clinch
Louise Penny
The Most Fun We Ever Had – Claire Lombardo
Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips