🎧 REPLAY: Secret Stuff Members' Favorite Books of the Year

As is our tradition, we ended our year in Secret Stuff with our annual No Book Book Club meeting. Instead of all reading the same book, we came with our recommendations for the best things we read this year.These were the books we can’t stop talking about or buying for our loved ones… these were the books that went the distance in 2025.ICYMI, we also announced the 2026 Secret Stuff Book Club selections.For your convenience, we time-stamped this meeting so you can easily find what you may be looking for:Announcements: 3:21Laura’s Favorite Book Club Moments: 11:17Fiction Recs: 16:06Non-Fiction Recs: 58:28BEST BOOKS OF 2025Fiction:To the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfBest Offer Wins by Marisa KashinoStill Life by Sarah WinmanThe River Has Roots by Amal El-MohtarDeath of the Author by Nnedi OkoraforRoad to Tender Hearts by Annie HartnettThe Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie EarlingAll Fours by Miranda JulyWe Begin at the End by Chris WhitakerThe Bright Years by Sarah DamoffWild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghyI’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain ReidMiss Austen by Gill HornbyThe Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’NeillThe Lexington Letter (from the TV Show “Severance,” available for free on Apple Books)The You You Are (from the TV Show “Severance,” also available for free on Apple Books)The Golden Compass by Philip PullmanThe Overstory by Richard PowersHow to Sell a Haunted House by Grady HendrixA Gentleman in Moscow by Amor TowlesNon-Fiction:The Storyteller by Dave GrohlThe Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke HarrisEverything is Tuberculosi s by John GreenSay Nothing by Patrick Radden KeefeReagan: His Life and Legend by Max BootThe Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America by Sara B. FranklinThe Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria SmiliosBetween Two Kingdoms by Suleika JaouadA Different Kind of Power by Jacinda ArdernMadness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia HyltonChallenger by Adam HigginbothamIt’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People by Dr. Ramani DurvasulaAlso Mentioned:There’s Always This Year by Hanif AbdurraqibBook Club for Troublesome Women by Marie BostwickMrs. Dalloway by Virginia WoolfOrlando by Virginia WoolfAmericanah by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieThe Stacks PodcastCurrently Reading Podcast This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe