It's our best books of the year episode! Anna, Amanda and Annie reveal our favourite reads of 2025: Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden The Time of the Child by Niall Williams The Granddaughter by Bernhard Schlink translated by Charlotte Collins A Guardian and a Thief by Megan Majhumdar Eurotrash by Christian Kracht translated by Daniel Bowles Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie (and audio book) Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor (and substack Sweater Weather) Heart the Lover by Lily King

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Substack: Books On The Go

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Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Anna and Geoff discuss their reaction to the 2025 Booker Prize winner, FLESH by David Szalay, and the winner of the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction, Australian author Helen Garner for her collection of diaries HOW TO END A STORY. Our book of the week is CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner. Her follow-up novel after the Booker-shortlisted Mars Room, this centres on Sadie Smith, an undercover agent who infiltrates a commune in rural France. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. This raised questions we weren't expecting from a literary novel, such as: Is it a spy thriller? Is Sadie enough of a slob to be compared with Jackson Lamb? Which Sesame Street character does Bruno remind us of? Coming up: NESTING by Roisin O'Donnell

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Anna and Geoff discuss their Booker Prize winner predictions. We haven't read enough of the shortlist to know who will win, but Geoff is tipping THE LAND IN WINTER (a DNF for Anna). Our book of the week is FLASHLIGHT by Susan Choi. This is Choi's follow-up novel after winning the National Book Award for TRUST EXERCISE. It is a sweeping family saga set in America, Japan and Korea. Shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, we could not say we loved this one but it got us talking. How much cat litter detail is too much? Would Tobias really have gone to Japan or would he be trekking around Nepal? Could we read a whole novel of Serk? How many unlikeable characters in a novel is too many? And we revisit 'that year' when Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo won jointly. Coming up: CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner. Follow us! Instagram: @abailliekaras Email: [email protected] Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Annie was lucky enough to catch Bri Lee on her book tour for her second novel, Seed. Set in Antarctica, Seed follows two scientists, Mitch and Frances, as they spend a month at the seed vault that they have been creating and protecting. But as strange things keep happening to the facility, culminating in their helicopter failing to pick them up, they both have to grapple with their life choices and the secrets they have been keeping from each other and themselves. We chat about Bri's research trip to McMurdo Sound, interrogating the Antarctic literary tradition, visions of utopia and Bri's ongoing project News & Reviews. Bri's latest book crush is Plain Life by Antonia Pont - an essay collection she describes as life changing.

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A special episode: Anna chats with author and Tony-award winning Broadway producer Eric Schnall about his debut novel I MAKE ENVY ON YOUR DISCO.

Sam Singer flies to Berlin for an art gallery opening, needing a break from his partner in New York. He meets enigmatic hotel receptionist Magda and ex-pat Jeremy, goes clubbing, and discovers the 2000s nostalgia for East and West Berlin. Named a GQ Editor's Pick and winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction, we loved this novel and recommend the audiobook read by Charlie Carver. Eric tells us some of the surprising reactions to Disco, a great game for book clubs, why Jennifer Egan is his literary hero, how to receive writing advice from Joan Didion, and his recommendations for books set in Berlin. Eric recommends the podcast Tracks of Our Queers and the TV show Somebody Somewhere. Coming up: SEED with author Bri Lee.

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Anna and Annie discuss the settlement offer by Anthropic to pay $1.5bn to settle a book piracy lawsuit and the 2025 National Book Awards fiction longlist.

Our book of the week is ENDLING by Maria Reva. Yeva is a snail conservationist in Ukraine who becomes caught up in Nastia and Sol's scheme to disrupt the romance tour industry. A heist ensues but everything changes when Russia invades Ukraine. Longlisted for the Booker Prize and one of the New Yorker's Best Books Of The Year So Far, this is Reva's debut novel. We can't wait to see what she does next.

Coming up: I MAKE ENVY ON YOUR DISCO by Erica Schnall

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A special episode: Anna chats with award-winning poet Alison Gorman about her debut poetry collection A WOMAN TALKS TO HER TONGUE. These poems examine family secrets, silences and women's voices. Beautiful and assured, we loved this book. Alison joins us fresh from her sold-out launch in Sydney to discuss the moving themes from the collection and other favourite poets, including Judith Beveridge, Eileen Chong, Sarah Holland-Batt, Audrey Molloy, Ada Limón and Sharon Olds. Alison recommends podcasts Poetry Off The Shelf, Poetry Unbound, Close Readings and The Literary Life. Coming up: ENDLING by Maria Reva

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Anna and Geoff discuss Sally Rooney pledging royalties to Palestine Action and the Library of South Australia being second on the list of the world's most beautiful libraries.

Our book of the week is FLESH, the new novel by David Szalay which has been long-listed for the 2025 Booker Prize. It tells the story of Istvan, a Hungarian British man, in an episodic structure using key points in his life, moving from a poor upbringing in Hungary to the riches of London, charting his rise and fall. We both read this quickly and found much to discuss. Coming up: ENDLING by Maria Reva.

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Anna and Annie discuss the 2025 Booker Prize Longlist.

We have many comfort reading recommendations! Here are some of the books discussed:

DEAD GIRL GONE by Gareth and Louise Ward

THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB series and WE SOLVE MURDERS by Richard Osman

IN SPITE OF YOU by Patrick Lenton

CONSIDER YOURSELF KISSED by Jessica Stanley

THE WEDDING FORECAST by Nina Kenwood

FINE WEATHER, JEEVES by P. G. Wodehouse

DIARY OF A PROVINCIAL LADY by E. M. Delafield

LESS by Andrew Sean Greer

THE UNCOMMON READER by Alan Bennett

THE NEVERMOOR SERIES by Jessica Townsend

PIPPI LONGSTOCKING by Astrid Lindgren

FINN FAMILY MOOMINTROLL by Tove Jansson

THE SUMMER BOOK by Tove Jansson translated by Thomas Teal

RAINCLOWD PALACE by Phillipa Rice

TELL ME EVERYTHING by Elizabeth Strout

TASTE – MY LIFE THROUGH FOOD by Stanley Tucci

Coming up: our Booker Longlist reading updates.

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Anna and Geoff discuss PERFECTION by Vincent Latronico translated by Sophie Hughes.

PERFECTION is a short novel about Tom and Anna, digital nomads living in Berlin. A re-telling of the cult classic 1960s novel The Things by Georges Perec, it examines a couple who have built a stylish life but find themselves disilusioned. Perfection was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker International Prize. Slight spoiler alert as we discuss the ending.

Coming up: Comfort reading recommendations

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Anna and Geoff discuss THE DIRECTOR by best-selling author of MEASURING THE WORLD and TYLL Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin.

THE DIRECTOR tells the story of cinema director G. W. Pabst, who in the 1930s fled Nazi Germany for Hollywood and then returned to make films for the German Reich. This novel explores Pabst's moral dilemma and the place of art in a dictatorship. Described as 'his best novel yet' (The Guardian) and 'nothing short of brilliant' (Wall Street Journal), it mixes comedy, tragedy and horror in Kehlmann's ironic style.

Coming up: PERFECTION by Vincnezo Latronico translated by Sophie Hughes.

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Substack: Books On The Go

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Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz