Episode 122: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2025, Part II

On Christmas Day, we bring our year-end tradition to a close by counting down our top five books of 2025. From beloved classics to unexpected discoveries, these final picks reflect a reading year shaped by curiosity, challenge, and joy. Settle in with us for a reflective conversation about the books that defined 2025 . . . and the anticipation of new reading adventures waiting in 2026!

2026 Novella Book Club

We have announced the four novellas we will be reading for The Mookse and Gripes Novella Book Club in 2026!

* January: Daisy Miller, by Henry James

* April: An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, by César Aira

* July: The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

* September: Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield

Discussions will be hosted at The Mookse and the Gripes Discord (see below!).

We’ve got some fantastic author-focused episodes lined up for the foreseeable future, and we want to give you plenty of time to dive in if you’d like to read along with us. These episodes come around every ten episodes, and with our bi-weekly release schedule, you’ll have a few months to get ready for each. Here’s what we have in store:

* Episode 125: Flannery O’Connor

* Episode 135: William Faulkner

* Episode 145: Elizabeth Taylor

* Episode 155: Naguib Mahfouz

There’s no rush—take your time, and grab a book (or two, or three) so you’re prepared for these as they come!

Shownotes

* The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown

* The Melancholy of Resistance, by László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes

* Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust, translated by C K Scott Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin, and D.J. Enright

* Dr Chizhevsky’s Chandelier: The Decline of the USSR and other Heresies of the Twentieth Century, by Dan Elkind

* The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan

* Palinuro of Mexico, by Fernando del Paso, translated by Elisabeth Plaister

* The Tunnel, by William Gass

* A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry

* The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, by Aubrey Hartman

* Free Day, by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesl Schillinger

* Crazy Genie, by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesl Schillinger

* The Motion of the Body Through Space, by Lionel Shriver

* Ultramarine, by Mariette Navarro, translated by Eve Hill-Agnus

* North Sun, by Ethan Rutherford

* We Are Green and Trembling, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Robin Myers

* The Adventures of China Iron, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre

* Slum Virgin, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Frances Riddle

* Skylark, by Dezső Kosztolányi, translated by Richard Aczel

* Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, by François-Réne de Chateaubriand, translated by Alex Andriesse

* Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy

* Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Lainez, translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa

* Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante, translated by Jenny McPhee

* Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf

* The Sweet Dove Died, by Barbara Pym

* The Bear, by Andrew Krivak

* Bear, by Marian Engel

* Small Reckonings, by Karin Melberg Schwier

* The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, by Beth Brower

* The City and Its Uncertain Walls, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel

* The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin

* A Strange and Sublime Address, by Amit Chaudhuri

* A New World, by Amit Chaudhuri

* The Immortals, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Incompleteness, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Sojourn, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Friend of My Youth, by Amit Chaudhuri

* Afternoon Raag, by Amit Chaudhuri

* The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford

* Anima: A Wild Pastoral, by Kapka Kassabova

* Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova

* Käsebier Takes Berlin, by Gabriele Tergit, translated by Sophie Duvernoy

* The Story of a Life, by Konstantin Paustovsky, translated by Douglas Smith

* Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler

* Stalingrad, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler

* The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton

* Sea, Poison, by Caren Beilin

* The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio

* The Stronghold, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Lawrence Venuti

* A Love Affair, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Joseph Green

* The Singularity, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Anne Milano Appel

* The Bewitched Bourgeoisie: Fifty Stories, by Dino Buzzati, translated by Lawrence Venuti

* Waiting for the Barbarians, by J.M. Coetzee

* The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James

* Daisy Miller, by Henry James

* The Ambassadors, by Henry James

* The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James

* Washington Square, by Henry James

* The Coxon Fund, by Henry James

Other

* Shawn’s Review of Small Reckonings

Join the Mookse and the Gripes on Discord

Want to share your thoughts on these upcoming authors or anything else we’re discussing? Join us over on Discord! It’s the perfect place to dive deeper into the conversation—whether you’re reading along with our author-focused episodes or just want to chat about the books that are on your mind.

We’re also just now in our third novella book club, where we’re reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. It’s a fantastic book, and we’d love to have you join the discussion. It’s a great space to engage with fellow listeners, share your insights, and discover new perspectives on the books you’re reading.

The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a bookish conversation hosted by Paul and Trevor. Every other week, we explore a bookish topic and celebrate our love of reading. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll continue to join us on this literary journey!

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