Ep. 185: Winter 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.9 • 732 Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to the Winter 2025 Book Preview with Catherine of Gilmore Guide to Books!
Today, Catherine and Sarah share 16 of their most anticipated books releasing January through March.
This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.
Announcement
- One of the many benefits to joining the Patreon Community is gaining access to several bonus podcast episode series, including Book Preview Extras! In these episodes, Catherine and Sarah share at least 4 bonus books we are excited about that were not shared in the big show preview episode. Get more details about all the goodies available to all Superstar patrons and sign up here!
Highlights
- Catherine and Sarah share some big releases coming this winter (lightning round style).
- Catherine’s theme this season is “balance,” with 4 debuts and 4 repeat authors.
- Sarah’s choices seem to fall into some micro genres she loves, featuring 5 debuts.
- Again, Sarah brings in a few shorter books under 300 pages.
- Sarah has already read and rated two of her picks!
- Plus, their #1 picks for the winter.
Big Winter Releases [1:51]
- Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson (Jan 28) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [2:28]
- Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld (Feb 25) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [2:37]
- Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Mar 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [2:44]
- One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter (Mar 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [2:51]
- We Do Not Part by Han Kang (Jan 21) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:14]
- Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (Jan 21) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:22]
- We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes (Feb 11) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:32]
- The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue (Mar 18) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:38]
- The Heart of Winter by Jonathan Evison (Jan 7) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:42]
- Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (Feb 11) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [4:00]
- The Antidote by Karen Russell (Mar 11) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [4:03]
- The Human Scale by Lawrence Wright (Mar 11) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [4:10]
- Back After This by Linda Holmes (Feb 25) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [4:20]
Backlist Titles Mentioned
- Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson [2:32]
- We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter [3:03]
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros [3:27]
- Room by Emma Donoghue [3:41]
- Swamplandia by Karen Russell [4:05]
- Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell [4:07]
- Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes [4:25]
Winter 2025 Book Preview [4:32]
January
Sarah’s Picks
- The Favorites by Layne Fargo (Jan 14) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [8:06]
- Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (Jan 14) | Amazon
Catherine’s Picks
- All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall (Jan 7) | Amazon
- Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives (Jan 21) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:22]
- Call Her Freedom by Tara Dorabji (Jan 21) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:19]
- Too Soon by Betty Shamieh (Jan 28) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:19]
Other Books Mentioned
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë [9:22]
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel [14:38]
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin [17:46]
- Yellowface by R. F. Kuang [17:50]
- Babel by R. F. Kuang [17:51]
February
Sarah’s Picks
- Yours, Eventually by Nura Maznavi (Feb 18) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:16]
- Penitence by Kristin Koval (Feb 18 – moved to 1/28 after recording) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[spp-timestamp time="25:56"]
- Crush by Ada Calhoun (Feb 25) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:39]
- The Strange Case by Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker (Feb 25) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:25]
- The Grand Scheme of Things by Warona Jay (Feb 25) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[41:04]
Catherine’s Pick
- This Is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer (Feb 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [34:34]
Other Books Mentioned
- Persuasion by Jane Austen [23:21]
- Defending Jacob by William Landay [27:49]
- All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay [27:51]
- Why We Can’t Sleep by Ada Calhoun [32:02]
- Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give by Ada Calhoun [32:05]
- Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman [33:14]
- The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker [36:55]
- The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker [37:00]
- By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult [42:04]
March
Sarah’s Pick
- Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (Mar 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [46:35]
Catherine’s Picks
- The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (Mar 4) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:35]
- Kate & Frida by Kim Fay (Mar 11) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:56]
- Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh (Mar 25) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:58]
Other Books Mentioned
- The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami [38:45]
- Love & Saffron by Kim Fay [45:08]
- The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley [47:42]
- The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller [48:15]
- Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh [50:49]
- Kill For Me, Kill For You by Steve Cavanagh [52:56]
Other Links
- Instagram | Harper Voyager: Deluxe Limited Edition for Death of an Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. |
| 0:11.9 | I'm your host, Sarah Dickinson. |
| 0:13.9 | Join me every other week as we get real and sometimes a bit snarky about books and reading. |
| 0:19.2 | Let's get rolling. |
| 0:20.8 | Welcome to the 2025 winter book preview. |
| 0:24.6 | As usual for these quarterly preview episodes, Catherine is joining me. Hi, Catherine. Hello. It's been a |
| 0:31.9 | long time since we've talked. I know. Well, we're back in the saddle and you're going to get sick of me by the end of |
| 0:38.0 | January. All right. Today, we are highlighting the books we are excited about that are coming out |
| 0:44.1 | from January through March. And we have talked a lot on the podcast over the past year, like in |
| 0:51.3 | 2024, about how we felt that publishers were possibly holding back |
| 0:56.0 | new releases a bit because of the election. I would say November and December of 24 were very |
| 1:03.5 | light on new releases. And even October felt a bit dialed back to me. Did it to you as well? |
| 1:09.2 | Yes. Well, I will tell you, and Catherine, |
| 1:11.9 | let me know if you agree, that this winter feels jammed. Hell yes. So far, on my interest list, |
| 1:22.0 | I have 17 each for January and February and another 14 for March. And I know March will grow even more. And |
| 1:29.4 | there's no way I'll get to all those. No, I'm the same way. So maybe there is something to |
| 1:35.5 | our theory we had been kicking around all last year. I think we're going to see a lot of new releases. |
| 1:42.2 | Well, plus in preparing for this episode, you and I had zero overlap. Yes. |
| 1:49.2 | Which is unusual. So before we get to our top 16 picks, if you will, from all of the things coming out between |
| 1:58.1 | January and March, we are going to quickly let y'all know |
| 2:02.4 | about some big time releases coming out this winter that we are not going to be talking about |
| 2:06.5 | in detail on today's show. These are books that we know a lot of people will be excited about, |
... |
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