To close out 2025, Everyone Should Read co-hosts Kate Watters and Drew Sylva share their best books of 2025 in an extra-long bonus episode. We’re breaking down our top picks across longform fiction, longform nonfiction, shortform fiction, and shortform nonfiction—plus the most surprising reads, our favorite discoveries, and the single best thing we read all year. Expect lively book recommendations, hot takes, and tangents that take us all over the literary map.

Drew's Best of 2025 Book Picks:

Longform Fiction: Home to Harlem by Claude McKay / The Antidote by Karen Russel

Longform NonFiction: The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Short-form Fiction: The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke

Short-form NonFiction: The Race to Innocence by Mary Louise Fellows and Sherene Razack

Book that Surprised: Yellowface by R.F. Huang

Book to Build a Class Around: Making History by KJ Parker

Best thing Drew Read in 2025: The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Kate's Best of 2025 Book Picks:

Longform Fiction: The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Longform NonFiction: In Open Contempt by Irvin Weathersby Jr

Short-form Fiction: Galatea by Madeline Miller / Carmilla by Sheridan le Fanu

Short-form NonFiction: Superfine by Monica L. Miller

Book that Surprised: I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jannette McCurdy

Book to Build a Class Around: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Best thing Kate Read in 2025: Hand written notes

Step into the shadows one last time this season as we close out Season One of Everyone Should Read with two of the most iconic Gothic masterpieces ever written: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

In this finale, hosts Drew Sylva and Kate Watters explore the twisted dualities of morality, vanity, and the human soul. We unpack how Wilde and Stevenson use Gothic horror to reveal what happens when beauty, power, and repression collide — and why these stories still feel unsettlingly modern.

From Victorian aesthetics to psychological horror, we trace the origins of the “split self,” the dangers of perfectionism, and how these timeless tales continue to influence pop culture today.

Listen now to the season finale of Everyone Should Read — a deep dive into desire, decay, and the darkness within.

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to catch upcoming bonus content and updates on Season Two!

Trigger Warning: this episode discusses suicide. If you, or anyone you know are suffering from thoughts of self harm, or suicide, please call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741741. Text HELP for English or AYUDA for Spanish.

In this episode of Everyone Should Read, hosts Kate Watters and Drew Sylva explore the dark beauty and haunting allure of Mexican Gothic literature through two standout novels — Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas. Join us as we discuss how these works blend Gothic horror, postcolonial themes, and feminist storytelling to challenge traditional narratives of power, race, and identity. From crumbling haciendas to blood-soaked battlefields, we unpack the symbolism, historical context, and modern resurgence of Latin American Gothic fiction.

Perfect for fans of literary horror, cultural criticism, and dark romance, this episode delves into the enduring legacy of the Gothic tradition — reimagined through a distinctly Mexican lens.

🎧 Tune in for insights on:

• The cultural and historical roots of Mexican Gothic fiction

• How Moreno-Garcia and Cañas use horror to explore colonial trauma and gender

• The evolution of the Gothic heroine in contemporary literature