No matter the question, reading is the answer. And in a year starting off like 2025 is, we certainly need a lot of answers to life's questions.

I am thrilled to welcome fellow Angeleno bookworm Traci Thomas (host of The Stacks podcast) to talk about the most anticipated new book releases of 2025. We talk about novels and nonfiction by debut and beloved authors publishing this year and sorry not sorry about this conversation that will send your book budget soaring. There are so many good books to look forward to in the next six months.

Also in this episode, Traci really gives me a lot to think about in terms of how we talk about books and why it's okay to be publicly critical of books that don't work for us. As an author who is jumpy about that concept, Traci really shifted my perspective on this.

You can listen to Traci on The Stacks podcast

You can follow Traci on IG

You can read Traci on her substack Unstacked

You can join Traci's Patreon

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

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MOST ANTICIPATED 2025 BOOKS:

January Books:

• Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

February Books:

• Pure Innocent Fun: Essays by Ira Madison III
• Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Death Takes Me by Cristina Rivera Garza
• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

March Books:

• Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky
• I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan by Giaae Kwon
• There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone

April Books:

• Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life by Maggie Smith
• The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad
• Authority: Essays by Andrea Long Chu

May Books:

• Love and Exile by Shon Faye
• The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s by Paul Elie

June Books:

• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Weepers by Peter Mendelsun

ALSO MENTIONED in this episode:

• Sara Hildreth of Fiction Matters
• Episode 122 of The Stacks Podcast with Kiese Laymon, Breathe by Imani Perry Book Club
• Episode 222: Stephen King Starter Kit Part II
• The Keep It Podcast
• Read Traci's Most Anticipated List of 2025 with a different set of books than she talks about here
• Suleika Jaouad’s Substack, The Isolation Journals

MORE BOOKS mentioned in this episode:

• Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson 
• South to America by Imani Perry
• Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation by Imani Perry
• May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem by Imani Perry
• Breathe: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Looking for Lorraine by Imani Perry
• The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
• How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
• Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
• American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
• You Like It Darker by Stephen King
• Liliana’s Invincible Summer by Cristina Rivera Garza
• American War by Omar El Akkad
• Evicted by Matthew Desmond
• Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot
• You Can Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
•  Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
• The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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