Winter 2026 Circle Back with Catherine Gilmore | Ep. 220
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 220, Sarah and Catherine of Gilmore Guide to Books catch up on the 16 new releases they shared in the Winter 2026 Book Preview, now that they've read them — or at least tried to! They share their reading stats and discuss which books worked and which didn't…and why.
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CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.
Announcement
- One of the many benefits to supporting the podcast through either our Patreon Community or our Substack Community (both for just $7/mo) is that you get 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 we did not share in the big show preview episode. Get more details about all the goodies available and sign up here for Patreon and here for Substack!
Highlights
- Catherine had a high success rate, but a pretty "meh" overall feel
- Sarah's reading followed a familiar barbell pattern: some standout hits, several DNFs, and not much in between
- Catherine's ratings mostly landed as mid-range reads — with two 4.5 star wins.
- Sarah had one 5-star read (and a new favorite of the year), two 4.5-star reads, and one big disappointment
- Some of Sarah's risk-taking paid off, while other picks didn't land
- They share their best and worst picks from winter
Books Read Before the Preview [6:08]
Sarah's Pick
- Whidbey by T Kira Madden (March 10) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:13]
Winter 2026 Book Preview [8:20]
January
Catherine's Picks
- Skylark by Paula McLain (January 6) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [12:49]
- Vigil by George Saunders (January 27) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:43]
Other Books Mentioned
- When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain (2021) [14:53]
- Love and Ruin by Paula McLain (2018) [15:21]
February
Sarah's Picks
- Good People by Patmeena Sabit (February 3) | Amazon
- Royal Spin by Omid Scobie and Robin Benway (February 10) | Amazon
- Kin by Tayari Jones (February 24) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:15]
Catherine's Picks
- More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen (February 24) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:40]
- Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise (February 24) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:47]
Other Books Mentioned
- The Force of Such Beauty by Barbara Bourland (2022) [17:32]
- A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (2016) [26:04]
- An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (2018) [26:58]
- Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones (2011) [26:59]
March
Sarah's Picks
- No One's Coming by Kevin Hazzard (March 3) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:51]
- All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun (March 10) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[38:23]
- She Fell Away by Lenore Nash (March 10) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:23]
- The Complex by Karan Mahajan (March 10) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:07]
Catherine's Picks
- Ruins by Lily Brooks-Dalton (March 31) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:34]
- No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes (US Release March 10) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:07]
- Son of Nobody by Yann Martel (March 31) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:17]
- How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson (March 31) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:08]
Other Books Mentioned
- The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff (2019) [32:10]
- Shelter by Jung Yun (2016) [38:26]
- Red Widow by Alma Katsu (2021) [44:17]
- Red London by Alma Katsu (2023) [44:18]
From the Top of the Episode
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) [1:10]
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm your host, Sarah Dickinson. Join me every other week as we get real, and sometimes a bit snarky about books and reading. Let's get rolling. Welcome to the 2026 winter circle |
| 0:22.6 | back episode, where we discuss books we shared in the winter preview now that we've had a chance |
| 0:28.2 | to read them, or at least attempt to read them. Catherine is here with me as usual for these episodes. |
| 0:34.7 | Hi, Catherine. Hi, it feels like ages since I've been here. It does. It feels like |
| 0:40.8 | ages since we've talked. I know. So how did your winter reading turn out? Well, I'll say |
| 0:47.8 | successful, but with a meh sort of vibe. Okay, I get that. And by that, I mean, by this time last year, which I really had to go back and check because I thought you're making that out, I had already read five, five star new releases. |
| 1:07.2 | Dang. |
| 1:08.2 | Right? |
| 1:08.8 | And one of them, Wild Dark Shore, went on to become my favorite book of the year. |
| 1:14.1 | Yeah. |
| 1:14.7 | I have only read one five star this year. |
| 1:19.3 | So my success rating for the winner preview is 88%. |
| 1:23.9 | But it's a fair amount of 3.5s, and I'm going to have a lot of qualifiers that, okay, it was good, but it wasn't great. It just, yeah, it was a little bit weird. I've been in that place. My winter reading, and actually my reading overall this year, is the opposite of that. |
| 1:46.1 | Oh. |
| 1:46.8 | But one question before I tell you about my reading. |
| 1:49.5 | Sure. |
| 1:50.1 | Are you focused more on fiction or nonfiction? |
| 1:53.1 | Fiction. |
| 1:54.0 | Okay. |
| 1:54.2 | Because I've only read one five-star fiction for 2026 so far. |
| 1:59.8 | Oh, okay. |
| 2:03.6 | All the rest of my five stars have been nonfiction. |
... |
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