👂Want to listen to a podcast made by bookworms for bookworms? Plug into The New York Times’ The Book Review podcast featuring the world’s top authors, critics, and literary editors as they unpack and dissect everything happening in the literary world — from upcoming drops to polarizing reviews.

“A lost year for books.” Despite undeniably masterful titles like R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis and Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness, this year’s swathe of new books failed to land an impact, according to the podcast’s annual recap What Did 2025 Mean for Books?. While we were initially offended on behalf of our favorite reads, host MJ Franklin and guest literary editors and critics Alexandra Alter, Tina Jordan, and John Maher soon made us realize that 2025 was indeed a lackluster year for bibliophiles.

Over the course of 45 minutes, Franklin, Alter, Jordan, and Maher pick apart the state of media throughout the year — how there was no identifiable “summer anthem”, and cinemas barely had anything enticing to offer — taking stock of what went wrong, and map how the book industry could course correct in 2026. Despite the group’s consensus that the year didn’t live up to expectations, there were plenty contentious points between the guest editors that made for very interesting discussion — ones we wanted to break the fourth wall to join.

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