Our 2025 Reading Wrap-Up: Favourites, Flops & Hidden Gems

December brings our Season 5 finale, and what a way to wrap the year! In this final episode of Books, Baby!, Ian, Bev, and Alo look back at a year of reading, reflecting on the stories that stayed with us long after the last page.

We chat about our favourite reads of the year, the books that surprised us when we least expected it, the ones that didn’t quite live up to the hype, and our standout favourite books in translation. Along the way, we weave it all together with a look at our Spotify Wrapped stats for the podcast — the numbers, the milestones, and what they say about the year that was for Books, Baby!

It’s reflective, opinionated, and full of love for books and listeners alike — the perfect send-off for Season 5 and a celebration of another year spent reading together.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• The Rest of Our Lives - Ben Markovits
• The Slip - Miriam Webster
• A Great Big Beautiful Life - Emily Henry
• Indeterminate Inflorescence - Yi Seongbok
• Days of Reading - Marcel Proust
• The Emperor of Gladness - Ocean Vounge
• Gravity Let Me Go - Trent Dalton
• Lessons in Chemestry - Bonnie Garmus
• The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
• Spinning Around: The Kylie Playlist - Various Authors
• Separate Rooms - Pier Vittorio Tondelli
• Flesh - David Szalay
• Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck
• Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Iserwood
• On the Calculation of Volume I, II, III - Solvej Balle
• Heart Lamp - Banu Mustaq
• Hunchback - Sao Ichikawa
• Medea Sang Me a Corrido - Dahlia de la Cerda
• Reservoir Bitches - Dahlia de la Cerda
• Between a Wolf and a Dog - Georgia Blain
• Before Night Falls - Reinaldo Arenas
• Hunger - Cho Jin-Young
• The Makioka Sisters - Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
• The Hours - Michael Cunningham
• Minor Black Figures - Brandon Taylor

Connect with us via email (⁠[e-mail]⁠) and on Instagram!

Books, Baby! – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksbabypod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hosts:

Ian – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@bookish_ian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Bev – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@booksgonewilde⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Alo – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@books.swallows.universe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠