On this special holiday episode, Megan presents her favorite fiction interviews of 2025, featuring National Book Award winner Rabih Alammedine (The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother))and National Book Award finalist Karen Russell (The Antidote).

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We conclude our Best Books of 2025 coverage with a special episode dedicated to young adult. First, Libba Bray joins us to discuss Under the Same Stars (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Feb. 4). Then young readers’ editor Laura Simeon highlights some more of the year’s best YA.

Thanks to our sponsors:

• The Tale of the Wicked Old Woman and the Very Nice 'Beast' of Crouch End by Lance Lee, illus. by Nathalie T. Retivoff
• A Widow’s Fire by Diane Pike Heiler
• Future-Focused Wealth by Melissa Cox

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We’re continuing our Best Books of 2025 coverage with a special episode dedicated to middle grade. First, Adam Gidwitz joins us to discuss Max in the Land of Lies: A Tale of World War II (Dutton, February 25). Then young readers’ editors Laura Simeon and Mahnaz Dar discuss more of the year’s best books.

Thanks to our sponsors:

• The Tale of the Wicked Old Woman and the Very Nice 'Beast' of Crouch End by Lance Lee, illus. by Nathalie T. Retivoff
• Passages by P.K. Edgewater
• Eco Reign by L. Galuppo
• Rom-Com for Dummies by Tom Diggs

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We’re continuing our Best Books of 2025 coverage with a special episode dedicated to picture books. First, Patricia Morris Buckley joins us to discuss To Walk the Sky: How Iroquois Steelworkers Helped Build Towering Cities, illustrated by E.B. Lewis (Heartdrum, Jan. 28). Then young readers’ editor Mahnaz Dar dishes on more of the year’s best books.

Thanks to our sponsors:

• The History of Lightning by Anthony Dwanye Webb
• Into the Gray Scale by Oge Mobuogwu
• Maybe I’m Not God by Stefania Gander, trans. by Chiara Gastaldi
• The Judgy Bunny by Gramma Sir

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We’re continuing our Best Books of 2025 coverage with a special episode dedicated to nonfiction. First, Jen Hatmaker joins us to discuss Awake: A Memoir (Avid Reader Press, Sept. 23), one of Kirkus’ Best Nonfiction Books of the year. Then nonfiction editor John McMurtrie dishes on more of the year’s best books.

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We’re kicking off our Best Books of 2025 coverage with a special episode dedicated to fiction. First, Lily King joins us to discuss Heart the Lover (Grove, September 30), one of Kirkus’ Best Fiction Books of the year. Then fiction editor Laurie Muchnick dishes on the year’s best novels and story collections.

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On this special episode, we present the 8th annual Fully Booked Holiday Gift Guide. Guest cohost Tom Beer joins host Megan Labrise in welcoming authors Ben Schott (Schott’s Significa; Workman) and Michael W. Twitty (Recipes From the American South; Phaidon). And Kirkus’ editors present their top holiday gift book picks.

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New York Times bestselling author Catherine Newman joins us to discuss Wreck (Harper/HarperCollins, October 28), the follow-up to 2024’s Sandwich. Kirkus calls the new novel, “A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life” (starred review). Then our editors recommend their top picks in books for the week.

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