What were the best books of 2025?
What were our favourite books of the year and what are we most excited to read in 2026? Join the team behind the Ask Penguin podcast to look back at standout titles, memorable podcast moments, and the reading intentions we’re taking into the New Year.
Listen to the episode and subscribe to Ask Penguin wherever you get your podcasts.
Episode Transcript
RRhianna Dhillon:
Hello and welcome to Ask Penguin, the podcast all about books and the people who write them. I'm Rihanna Dillon, and each episode I've got the pleasure of sitting down with writers and penguin colleagues to chat all about their latest work and book obsessions. So as the end of the year is fast approaching, we thought that we would take the opportunity to celebrate some of our favourite episodes of the past year, the best moments, as well as some of the books that we've absolutely loved. And who better to join me than some of the incredible team at Penguin who work on this very podcast. You might have heard a couple of them before, but a reintroduction to Sarah McKenna, digital content manager, Derek Owusu, author and podcast producer, and new to this side of the podcast, social media producer, Francesca Sleet. Hi, all of you. Hello. Hello. How does it feel being on this side of the microphone for a change?
Derek Owusu:
Always wonderful.
Rhianna Dhillon:
It's just the enthusiasm and your voice sharing that really sells that. We've been around the country together. We've curated events, we've done road trips, we've even done sleepovers. We've had so many meetings, which may or may not have taken place in a pub, and we're constantly recommending books to each other. So it just felt so right to have you guys on the podcast, you guys schedule the authors and you read all of the books and you feed into the scripts and you sit in on every single recording and you do loads of other stuff behind the scenes as well. But what is your favourite part of being a cog in the Ask Penguin podcast machine? Francesca, let's start with you.
Francesca Sleet:
I think it is just sitting in on the episodes, it's nice to feel a part of something and get to see behind the scenes and then just see the process of where that then becomes the episode that goes out. I just like being a part of that and also because on the social side, I run the broadcast channel, so I get to see everyone's questions come in when we put out the ask, which is always really nice.
Rhianna Dhillon:
So cute. Sarah.
Francesca Sleet:
I
Sarah Mckenna:
Think building on that I love, we are really building this podcast for our audiences and people who love books and reading and getting their questions in and finding out what they would like to know, whether that's from an author or from people who work here or just for a book recommendation. So it was just great seeing these absolutely brilliant questions coming in and then getting a chance to answer that for them. Really nice. Derek,
Derek Owusu:
I love, yeah, I love sitting in on the interviews, but especially for the book recommendations, it is nice to hear what some of your favourite authors are reading and the books they love, and so you can read the books that they love and it helps develop an even more kind of parasocial relationship between you and the author. I like
Sarah Mckenna:
A lot of parasocial
Rhianna Dhillon:
Relationships going on here for sure,
Sarah Mckenna:
And despite working here and being surrounded by books all the time, I think we come away from each podcast recording with a tonne of books that we also want to read, so it adds to our piles as well of books. It does.
Rhianna Dhillon:
So you're all part of the brand team, but remind us what that actually means,
Sarah Mckenna:
Sarah. So we really look after the Penguin and we have lots of different imprints and publishing houses that are part of Penguin books, but we really kind of work in the centre. So as well as doing all of the brand stuff that's really important for a heritage brand like Penguin, we are really trying to connect audiences to all of the books that we publish and really help them discover lots of new books that would just be perfect reads for them, which is a main part of our jobs, which is really fun and really rewarding.
Rhianna Dhillon:
You're like the nucleus. We are. So as I mentioned at the start, this episode is going to be a roundup and celebration essentially of the year in books. So let's get started. So what has been the one title from this year that you have literally been pushing into people's hands? And I've seen you do this, so I know that you do literally make people leave with a book in hand.
Sarah Mckenna:
Yeah, definitely. Actually something that I wouldn't have normally read. I love fantasy books like Terry pr, et cetera, but I'm dipping my toes into romantic even more. And we've kind of talked about romantic books a lot on the podcast, and I picked up Shields of Sparrow by definitely Perry, and it was one of those times when I've kind of thought, right, I'll read a chapter first thing on a Sunday morning and then cleared my day so that I could read the whole thing because it's sat engrossing and she does that brilliant thing of leaving every end of the chapter on a cliffhanger. It's also a kind of Enemies to Love is stories.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I'm sold.
Sarah Mckenna:
Yeah,
Rhianna Dhillon:
I'm sold.
Sarah Mckenna:
Yeah, the energy is brilliant, and yes, it's fantasy and it's different worlds, but it's a real story and there's so many comparisons to our world. So it was just a brilliant adventure to have on a very gloomy weekend, and anytime anybody says, what do you read? And oh, what should I read next? I kind of think, well try this because if you haven't read anything like that before, it's a really great gateway in, but you'll just have fun and enjoy it.
Rhianna Dhillon:
You have tried to give me this.
Sarah Mckenna:
I have. Yeah.
Rhianna Dhillon:
And it's such a massive book. I was like, when I have a bigger bag, can you push it into my house? Yes, we'll post
Sarah Mckenna:
It. We'll post it out.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Derek, what about you?
Derek Owusu:
For me, it's been departures by Julian Barnes, actually, I'm not sure it's out yet.
Sarah Mckenna:
Next year.
Derek Owusu:
It's out next year. Yeah. I managed to get a proof copy. I pinched one from, one of the benefits of working at Penguin actually is you can pinch proofs from willing editors, but it's really hard to explain. So it's kind of as Julian Bond does, it's like memoir mixed in with fiction essays and it's just a really heartfelt goodbye to his readers because in the book he does say, this is going to be the last book he writes, he mentions a few things that he's never mentioned before, never in interviews or anything like that. And it is hard to read because it's quite distressing, but at the end of the book, when you finish the book, you just have chills all over your body because you don't usually get to read an author saying goodbye to their readers, and he does it with such compassion and such a heartfelt way. And I've just been telling everybody to read, actually, when we had Zay Smith on the podcast and I was taking her downstairs to leave, I was like, have you read departures? You have to read it. I was recommending it to her as well, and she was like, oh yeah, Julie Mars is my friend. I was like, of course. Of course
Rhianna Dhillon:
He is.
Derek Owusu:
But yeah, that's the book I've been telling more to read.
Francesca Sleet:
I love that friend. I actually had to go speak to the social team about this because I'm the kind of person who, my favourite book is the one that I just finished. So I force every book I've ever read on people, but they told me that the two that I pushed the hardest this year was Sun Struck by William Ray Hunter, who's a friend of the pod, and then also Open Heaven, which is by Sean Hewitt. It's his first novel. He's done a memoir and I think poetry before. And that was also a proof that got through the Pride Network at Penguin and I read it and I just wanted everyone to read it so I could discuss the ending with them.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Oh, interesting. Okay.
Francesca Sleet:
It's like a coming of age in a small town in Ireland, a bit of unrequited. Well, they won't they young, queer love, and it's just really beautifully written. You can always tell when a poet has written a novel. I think that lyricism and it was just incredibly beautiful, and I did successfully get everyone to read it. And did you have enough
Rhianna Dhillon:
People to discuss the ending with Yes, I did. And what do you want to come out of that discussion? I think do you want agreement or do you just want to delve into it just to
Francesca Sleet:
Talk about it? It was a very emotional book, and I think it kind of left me feeling unsatisfied in a good way. I was like, oh, I just want to go and speak to them and ask them what happened and what they would've actually done. And then so I had to find that with other people who'd read it.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Okay. Have there been any writers who have debuted this year and whose work you've absolutely loved? We had a debut writers episode
Sarah Mckenna:
We did
Rhianna Dhillon:
With William Raffa. That's right.
Sarah Mckenna:
And we do a lot of work in the brand team to spot debut writers and really want to talk about their books and really help support them because it's their first steps into the publishing world. I mean also who was on that podcast was Catherine Airy who wrote Confessions, which has been another one that I've been pushing into people's hands this year. And another one that I've read in kind of one sitting because it's just so, it's just incredible. If you looking for somebody who writes similar to Kate Atkinson, this is it. This is the new Kate Atkinson who does these really big family dramas with lots of real life points, but poignancy and generational trauma and drama that kind of seeps through, and that was really powerful. And now I am hooked. So anything that she writes going forward, I will be there. At the start.
Derek Owusu:
I would say Suns struck as well, which I really enjoyed. Before I read it, people were telling me that it's kind of like I didn't find, it was not really, to be honest with you. I didn't enjoy Saltburn at all, but
Rhianna Dhillon:
My favourite thing FYI is Derek's takes on films.
Derek Owusu:
I enjoyed Soundstr mainly because of the Pearls. I loved how clean it was. I love a detached narrator where you can kind of follow them as they become maybe more enthusiastic or more restrained. The novels that I usually read are quite Maximus, unrestrained prose, very purple, that kind of thing. So it was nice to kind of come down a little bit,
Rhianna Dhillon:
Parret back,
Derek Owusu:
Parret back. And of course there's a skill to that as well. And Will he kind of writes in a way where it feels like he's been doing this for a long time. If someone said, this is not a debut, I'd be like, yeah, it doesn't feel like a debut. It is very accomplished.
Francesca Sleet:
Francesca. Mine would be a Family Matter by Claire Lynch. This one I picked up not knowing anything about it, and in the first couple of pages it's about a guy gets into a freezer at a supermarket and I was kind of hooked immediately, but it's actually, you'll notice a theme in the books I recommend Quietly Devastating, which is I really love to be kind of emotionally devastated by book, but it's about young women who discovers something about her sexuality, but she's already married and has a child. And it's about the reality of a lot of lesbian mothers back in the sixties, I believe, and how often they were separated from the children and didn't have rights. And it's based on a lot of real things. And there's a court scene where the lines are lifted directly from transcripts and it was just a very emotional novel and it's really, really beautiful. And it was another one that I really didn't feel like it was a debut. I couldn't believe it at the end. It just felt so accomplished. So I'll be keeping an eye out for more books from her for sure.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I feel like this question could apply to every single book that you've mentioned so far, but what's been a book that's left a lasting impression and that you've not stopped thinking about to anyone who wants to take it?
Derek Owusu:
Yeah, I would say a book called King Fisher by Rosie Kelly. She's a debut as well. Again, it doesn't feel like a debut, and she's written this novel about a young man who's a queer young man. He's in a queer relationship, but he becomes suddenly infatuated with this older poet who is a woman and he can't really understand his feelings towards her. He just knows that he has sexual feelings towards her, which is unusual for him. It just kind of really explores the different kinds of dimensions of relationships, romantic and friendships. And it is done in such a compassionate way. You can really tell when an author has a lot of love for their characters because even if they are unlikable narrators, this narrator, he is quite unlikable to be honest. But there are still moments where you can tell the author is like, but he's still a human being. Is this still a person we're dealing with and this is why they behave like this. This is why they've done this and that. And I think about that. I think about that book Weekly, actually, I think about it all the time.
Rhianna Dhillon:
When did you read it?
Derek Owusu:
I think I read it maybe about seven months ago.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Wow. It's
Derek Owusu:
Quite a while ago. Yeah, so I'm really looking forward to reading what she writes next. I was actually going to DM her and say, when's the new book coming? But I thought, no, don't be a dickhead. Don't do that. As
Rhianna Dhillon:
Somebody who, as an author yourself.
Derek Owusu:
Yeah, exactly. Thats exactly why I stop. I always forget that I am a writer as well. I just always feel like a reader and I'm going to do some weird fanboy and stuff all the time.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Where's the next book coming out? Yeah, where's
Derek Owusu:
The next book? But yeah, it's just incredible. Kingfish are really good. Okay,
Rhianna Dhillon:
That
Sarah Mckenna:
Sounds brilliant. Sarah. I read Albion by Anna Haw, which is set over a small period of time in this country pile. And there's one daughter who is kind of trying to keep it running and trying to keep it going for the whole family's sake, but they're all falling apart around her and their father's just died and they're kind of gone through the motions of his funeral. So it's a really intense novel and look into this family. And then this kind of stranger who has this connection to the family maybe turns up and throws a spanner in the works into this funeral and to their lives, and they're kind of grappling with a lot. And it's kind of one of those, if you put a microscope over a situation, what does it look like? And I kind of like those sort of books or films or TV when it does that. So it's quite claustrophobic, but you do kind of leave that book thinking about some bigger questions and bigger things about inheritance and how these houses, these mansions have come to be and who owns what and what's next for them and what's next for these families who live in them. So it's a really great one.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Sounds brilliant. Albion. Okay,
Francesca Sleet:
I need to read that. I have another friend of the pod, Charlie Porter's, Nova Scotia house, which I think most of us read earlier this year. It's about Johnny, a man reminiscing on his partner from the T 40 years ago who has passed away and he's still living in Jerry's house and Jerry passed away of aids, and it's just a really beautifully written book. I think it took me a while to get into it because of the way that it's written. And I think Charlie mentioned he wrote it with the intention for it to be read out loud. The way that you read it. Once you start reading it out loud, you understand the cadence of the speech and
Rhianna Dhillon:
Because no real punctuation,
Francesca Sleet:
It just kind of flows
Rhianna Dhillon:
Consciousness.
Francesca Sleet:
And that really sat with me. And then I had a really cool opportunity to go to see the quilt being brought out at the Tates with Charlie. And I think having read the book so close to that, that really cemented that feeling of what Johnny would've felt like seeing the quilt. It is a pivotal part of the book. He goes and looks at the UK's memorial quilt. So that really, I think it still something I think about that book
Rhianna Dhillon:
All
Francesca Sleet:
The time.
Rhianna Dhillon:
It's like the blurring, isn't it, between the kind of fiction and the very horrific reality that a lot of men went through.
Sarah Mckenna:
And Charlie read part of the book out, didn't he, on the podcast. And I remember it just being so poignant and like you say, it would be a really good one to listen in audio book because it was like you said, it was just made to be read out loud and hear it. It was really interesting.
Derek Owusu:
He reads the audio book, doesn't he? Yeah,
Rhianna Dhillon:
He does.
Sarah Mckenna:
Yeah. I
Rhianna Dhillon:
Highly recommend. Yeah, very powerful and very personal. Yeah. Okay. So there have been so many massive moments, I feel like in the literary calendar this year, one of them being Penguin's 90th. You may have heard us talking about it. We've had two episodes that really delve into Penguin's, 90 years of publishing and the impact that it's had on readers. But was there anything that stood out for you guys about maybe what you uncovered about Penguin's history? Or was there any particular moment of the celebrations that really spoke to you this year? Sarah? I feel like it took maybe your life.
Sarah Mckenna:
Yeah, I've not stopped thinking about Penguin's 90th birthday for the past year, which is a great thing. I mean, what an achievement for Penguin and Alan Lane who, and we talked about Alan Lane a lot with our head of Ran Zainab and Cape Moss and what he would've imagined it would've turned into, and that little penguin and how much meaning and love it has in the world. I mean, I think Zainab story about Alan Lane procuring a farm because he'd run out of space to store books and having to clear a field of cabbages so that he could build a barn. It was like, he just sounds like the quirkiest most amazing guy. But I think that the Penguin Archive collection that Penguin Classics brought out, which are beautiful kind of covers, they're all beige with red, beautiful red kind of detail on the covers, and they're very short stories, collections from the Penguin Classics archive. They're just great little reads. I actually read one on the Train Home last night, and it's just so perfect. Have your bag just as a emergency. And it kind of speaks to what Alan name is trying to do with that paperback and accessible reading. So that's been something I wasn't working on. But the one thing I really admired, the one thing I wasn't working on
Derek Owusu:
For me, I really loved the vending machines. I was away for the first six months of the year on sabbatical. When I came back, I saw the VE machine that was really cool. Penguin Presents, which is kind of all of the departments present in the new books that are coming out. And we have authors on there. And of course you
Rhianna Dhillon:
Hosting, but the host was really good, wasn't it?
Derek Owusu:
Yeah, the host was great, really good, this amazing,
Rhianna Dhillon:
Really
Derek Owusu:
Good this year. But I really enjoyed Julie Cooper's talk.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Oh, the one I didn't do. Yeah.
Derek Owusu:
Yeah. I really enjoyed listening to her talk because when she was talking about her characters, she switched into a mode whereby the characters, she spoke about the characters, they were literally in the room talking to her while she's writing
Rhianna Dhillon:
These books.
Derek Owusu:
So who interviewed
Rhianna Dhillon:
Her? Anton Beck?
Derek Owusu:
When Anton Beck,
Rhianna Dhillon:
Obviously it was Anton Que,
Derek Owusu:
When an asked her about particular parts of the book, she would kind of be like, oh. And so what did he say to me? Talking about one of the characters? It was just amazing to kind of see a writer in the element like that. So I really enjoyed that
Rhianna Dhillon:
Julie Cooper, I mean, what absolute legend that we lost this year. But yeah, it was a real treat. I didn't get to interfere on stage, but just chatting to her backstage, she had this incredible walking stick, which had a badger mount, a badger head on the top, and she was so warm and friendly and chatting to everybody while Anton Beck was tap dancing behind the scenes. It was like a real surreal, real surreal day
Sarah Mckenna:
With
Rhianna Dhillon:
Judy Dench and Mary Berry and everyone gathered backstage and Mallory Blackman. It was iconic.
Francesca Sleet:
It was such an insane day. I got to work on the author lunch and seeing all of those authors in one room at one table was very surreal. And I had possibly one of the weirdest moments of my life where Helen Fielding asked me to take a photo of her and Jill Cooper and then airdrop it to her. Oh my goodness, that's so funny. And I was like, oh. And I was airdropping to Helen's iPhone and it felt so bizarre. Presents was amazing. But I also wanted to say another thing. I also didn't work on the little book stops. I think there's such a great project for, again, getting books into places where people don't have access to them or just making books accessible. And there's 90, I think most of them are installed now across the whole country, and there's one quite nearby me. And I like to go take a look at it. And I just think it's really fantastic.
Sarah Mckenna:
And there's some really interesting, so people have applied throughout the year to kind of host one of these boxes, and there's been some really interesting places and reasons why people have wanted one. There's one in a lifeboat station somehow.
Francesca Sleet:
Isn't there one on, there's one on an island that's only occupied by monks, I believe That's true.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Wild. So they would've applied to have it on their island.
Sarah Mckenna:
So if you're a real bookie, you could maybe go and tick them all off and go set all of them. But if you want to know where they are, then there's lots of information on the website or on a social channels, and there's maps so that you can find your nearest.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I mean, this does feel a little bit like tooting our own horn, but we are here. Why not? We've done some really great work this year, I feel we've had about ourselves. Yeah, thanks Chip.
Francesca Sleet:
The
Rhianna Dhillon:
Voice of the hilarious, this one does feel like we're tooting our own horn a little bit, but that's fine. I feel like we've done some incredible work this year and we've had some amazing authors join us and we've travelled to some really fun places. Do you guys have a favourite episode of the year?
Sarah Mckenna:
I mean, I've got to start with the Jane Austen episode and the visit to her house in Alton. It was so atmospheric. I don't think I took it in enough while we were there, to be honest. But Jill Hoby and Andrew Hunter Murray who were on that episode were just fantastic. I think one of the things that I left with was Jill Hornby saying, you can read a Jane Austen novel for the Romance first, but you can read it again and read around the other characters who are in it and their story and really pick up on those parts. And I think we kind of grapple a lot with rereading books and whether we should and we shouldn't. There's a lot of books or just like if we have time. But for me, she really reprioritize that reread and the importance of it and having another look into these books that we love and we think we know, but maybe we don't dunno them as well as we claim to.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Especially because she was like, if you've only ever watched the adaptations
Sarah Mckenna:
Exactly.
Rhianna Dhillon:
You are missing out on so much of the texture of Jane Austen's writing. And that's a really good point. I think a lot of my friends would've seen the adaptations, but never read a
Sarah Mckenna:
Book
Rhianna Dhillon:
Called Right Through. And What Are You Missing out on there? Yeah. Yeah, that was a really special one for me as well. I knew Francesca.
Francesca Sleet:
Yeah, I loved that. It was one of my favourite days at work. I think there was just something special about being there and everyone in the room being such big fans. It felt like we were really, it was like a hive mind. It was like we were
Rhianna Dhillon:
All connected on another
Francesca Sleet:
Level there. We was excited about everything in the house was exciting. Everything I learned was genuinely so interesting. I learned so much about Jane. The team there was so great at telling us everything just,
Rhianna Dhillon:
And also, I think often we might associate Bath, for example with Jane Austen, but we're also told in the same breath that she really hated Bar. So it's like you can only imagine walking in her shoes a bit around there. And obviously there's the Jane Austen Museum, which is really fun to go around. But this was where she worked and the window that she looked out on and the village that she lived in, her society and the table that she wrote at, and just those little intimacies that I feel like you might miss out on
Sarah Mckenna:
If you're
Rhianna Dhillon:
Just doing a kind of broader overview of Jane Austen. This felt really for the diehard fans, I suppose.
Francesca Sleet:
Yeah. I loved seeing her annotations in her books, seeing her own hand, make comments on other people's lives lies. Yeah. It was like, no, a lie. Another lie. A third. I loved that so much.
Rhianna Dhillon:
She's so sassy. Yeah. Derek, what about you? Favourite episode of the past year?
Derek Owusu:
It was the Philip Poolman episode. I think I kind of managed to hide how big of a fan I am.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Was it because I was fangirling phone hard used fan girl so hard and didn't give you any room?
Derek Owusu:
I thought, let me let Brianna have her space. But I read those books in my late twenties and I was just so obsessed with them. And I just mentioned wanting to d Rosie Kalen be like, when's the new book? I literally used to message Philip Pullman on Twitter and be like, where's the book of Dust that
Sarah Mckenna:
Quiet?
Derek Owusu:
Yeah, you did mention that to him. I so funny. And then I'll see an update. He'll be like, oh yeah, I'm writing in my shed. And I'll be like, Philip, where's the book? We've been waiting ages for the Book of Dust. Where is it? Where is it? Oh my God. I used to message him so much cause I couldn't wait. I can't believe we
Rhianna Dhillon:
Took you to his house.
Derek Owusu:
I know, right? I really had to. Should have background check. Yeah. I actually got to gather myself. So it was just a great experience and it just kind of revitalised my love for those books as well. And now that the Rosefield is out in the world, I'm going to read all three book of dust in a row like I did with his dark
Rhianna Dhillon:
Material. Well, hold on. So you were hounding him to get the book of dust out into the world?
Derek Owusu:
Yeah.
Rhianna Dhillon:
He then put out the first two books. And you haven't read them
Derek Owusu:
Yet? Well, because firstly it wasn't just me. There was a lot of us doing it.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Oh, right. So you were group pounding? We were group,
Derek Owusu:
Yeah. Yeah. And we just, he played up to it a bit, but I thought the Book of Dust, at first, it was supposed to be one book, so we thought it was just going to be one big book. And then when I found out it was a trilogy, I thought, oh my God, I'm going to read one and have to wait.
Sarah Mckenna:
So
Derek Owusu:
I thought let just wait, all did let me wait for all three to come out and then I can sit down and read
Sarah Mckenna:
That. That's been quite a wait though for you.
Derek Owusu:
It's been such a long wait. It has. It's been a long, but what I did after we recorded the episode, I went and bought a nice Every man edition of all three his dark materials in one big book. So
Rhianna Dhillon:
I want to read that for, reread that again and then move on to the book of Dos. Okay. I felt really bad now that I didn't know. Just we talked about him quite a lot and you were a fan, but I didn't realise that you were like that.
Derek Owusu:
I was working well,
Rhianna Dhillon:
Was I man? But I did not let that get in the way of just being with somebody who you've admired for so many years, and that's it for so many years.
Derek Owusu:
For
Rhianna Dhillon:
Sure. And you've changed as a person while reading their books. It's a really unique experience. And also just him answering, just giving really lovely, thoughtful answers. I think you always get a bit nervous about authors poo-pooing your love for their work. I think this sometimes happens with actors who are like, oh, I don't rewatch that, or Oh God, I could never watch myself in that. Or I can't believe people still think about that.
Derek Owusu:
It makes you feel terrible for liking
Rhianna Dhillon:
It. Yeah, exactly. And it makes you feel a bit like, oh, well if you don't care, why should I? Whereas he obviously cares on such a deep, deep level about his characters and the fact that he has answers for what's will up to next. And that felt really incredible. It felt very a warm space to be
Sarah Mckenna:
In. Yeah, you could tell he loves those books. He loves that world. He has taken his time to go back to it, which I think is a nice thing. I mean, I know you've been handing him, but I say so funny. We're never going to live that down. Now any authors listening who are coming in next, we're going to check Derek Tri.
Rhianna Dhillon:
So I guess with a little bit of this in mind, especially we have been on the road a lot, can you remember any good behind the scenes bits that we've sort of experienced that we haven't put onto the podcast yet? I remember being side of stage at Latitude and absolutely losing my mind because I thought that Irv and wel should disappeared.
Sarah Mckenna:
Well, he had
Rhianna Dhillon:
Just before we went on stage and I was in full panic mode and I was like, we've got no episode without Evan Welch. And I was like, Derek, Derek, come. You've got to be on stage first.
Sarah Mckenna:
I was
Rhianna Dhillon:
Really happy. I was
Derek Owusu:
Panicking as well.
Sarah Mckenna:
I was going to mention this because I was kind of backstage hearing him being announced on stage turnaround. He wasn't there. He had gone for a walk, but then sort of magically appeared again long time, which was great. A lot of his fans had turned up to that tent and that recording, which was great. It was definitely his moment to shine, so thank goodness he'd come back. But yeah, and he was great at
Rhianna Dhillon:
That. He was brilliant.
Sarah Mckenna:
He was brilliant. And he was on the podcast talking about his new book, but also about books that matter to different generations and love and music, which is perfect for Latitude. But he was also DJing in the forest later that night, which I just think is what you want an author to do.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I mean, just having two hats is always useful. If the book thing doesn't work out, Irv, you could be a dj. So it's nearly Christmas and last year we had a really nice episode about Christmas books, Christmas gifts. So are there any books that you are going to gift for Christmas this year? I feel like it's so perfect. Do people get annoyed with you for giving them books for Christmas when you clearly could just pinch them, as you say, Derek from
Sarah Mckenna:
Work? I mean, I'm very, very carefully point out that I've paid money to the point where I will show a receipt. Wait, so the people that you're giving them to,
Derek Owusu:
Can I also just clarify one thing? When I say pinch, I mean I go up to the editor and say, can I take a copy of the proof? Sure, sure. I don't. I just take them
Sarah Mckenna:
So we're readers and talking to readers, but I do think for anybody having a book at Christmas is the most special thing that you can have. It's just for any age. I just think even if they don't love
Rhianna Dhillon:
Reading,
Sarah Mckenna:
Surely there's something that will kind of get them into it. So I love giving books at Christmas and I have definitely paid the money and usually wrap it up with something like chocolate and other things just to
Rhianna Dhillon:
The full experience.
Sarah Mckenna:
Yeah. Do you
Rhianna Dhillon:
Write in the book covers to the person you're gifting it to ever?
Francesca Sleet:
Oh, I don't. I do. I love doing
Rhianna Dhillon:
That.
Francesca Sleet:
If it's for a friend, usually for a specific reason, I'll give them a little note in there. I did a set for my friends of all the Penguin English libraries, and I picked one for each person because the shop does a pick a mix option, which is great by the way. And picked one for each of them, what I thought they would like or what I thought represented them. And then put a little note that my best friend and I, when we watch little Women, she's Amy
Francesca Sleet:
With
Francesca Sleet:
Love, she's Amy and I'm Jo. So it's like I dedicated little women to her with, I think it's a nice little way to make it a bit more of a personal, like a keepsake, even if they don't read it.
Sarah Mckenna:
I mean, there's some brilliant books coming out that have been out this year, and there's some really big ones that people are really popular when I'm looking at Alchemized over there, which has been huge.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Oh my God, I can't wait.
Sarah Mckenna:
And it's such amazing book that you could gift. It's so big and we'll just take,
Rhianna Dhillon:
Take It with You can't take it on the train.
Sarah Mckenna:
It's like it would
Rhianna Dhillon:
Be twice the weight of your
Sarah Mckenna:
Handbag. You can't
Rhianna Dhillon:
Take it anywhere. But it's a great cosy book I think.
Sarah Mckenna:
Definitely. I mean, I'm hoping To Get Bluff, which is this book that we've got on the table here, which is Francine Toon who wrote Pine, which came out a year or so ago, which was about a small Scottish village opens up on Halloween and it turns into a bit of a mystery thriller in a small community. It's a really kind of dark, mysterious writer. So I'm really excited to read that. But the one I'm gifting is going to be Craft Land by James Fox, which is all about the crafts that are kind of still going in this country that you'd be really surprised about that are still there and these amazing skills that people have, but also that run to threat because of everything. But I think for anyone who likes independent shops or independent gifts and all those kind of really nice, thoughtful presents, that's a great book to kind of encourage and have another look at what other businesses are out there that really deserve and look and yeah, exactly. Need that
Rhianna Dhillon:
Support. I think that's such, you've just reminded me of that. I want to give that to a friend of mine who is interested. If you have a friend who's just interested in everything and they just sort of hoover up really weird, bizarre facts and have just knowledge on everything, who love listening to podcasts and always have something to bring to the table that isn't the same kind of conversation, I think that sort of book is perfect. Lin is perfect for them. Derek, what about you? What are you going to be gifting this year? What kind of book are you into Christmasy books anyway?
Derek Owusu:
Not really, but I mean, a Christmas book is just the book you give back Christmas. Do you know what I mean? In my mind anyway, but I normally Give is the Man Who Plotted Trees by Jean Gano when I was in hospital. I believe she was the managing of the audio department here at the time, and she came to visit me while I was in hospital and she brought me a Christmas gift and it was that book. And I remember sitting in my room reading it and had such a huge impact on me, not just because what was in the book, which is a great message, but because she was kind enough to come all the way to the hospital to visit me, to give me the gift and a few other things as well. So now I passed on that kindness to other people and gifted. That's lovely. That's lovely.
Rhianna Dhillon:
That's really nice. I'm really bad at going back. I think if I'm getting books, I'll always go for a new book just in case. And then always people have really got it without fail the number of times I'm like, it's alright. I've got the receipt. Couldn't get another book because I'm always like, this is the hottest book. And they're like, yeah, I know. It's so hot. I've already read it. Like, oh,
Derek Owusu:
This is why there's so many books in charity shops that have inscriptions. Merry Christmas, you buy and it's like, oh wow. So this was somebody else's gift.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Yeah. Book is
Francesca Sleet:
Not just for Christmas. Us gifting wise, I like to give, I think again, I end up with a lot of books and I end up giving them to people throughout the year, but so I like to try and find something special. So something that I just saw yesterday is the hundredth Cloth Bound classic, which is the fall of the House of Usher. Oh, I saw this.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I've got a black cover on
Francesca Sleet:
It. Yeah, it's actually on the table. Oh yeah. And it's stunning. It's so beautiful. And there's also a little Easter egg in the design where they've included the flower from the first cloth band classic, which was sense and sensibility. So you can see if you can spot that, but I think that's such a lovely gift. It's beautiful and it's classic. If you are someone who likes a little goth thinky thing around Christmas, I think that works. I like to read something a bit like darker and spookier around that time of year, I think when it's cold and cosy.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I agree. I think Christmas is actually a great time for ghost stories. There's always one on tv.
Francesca Sleet:
Exactly.
Rhianna Dhillon:
It's always nice. I guess you're so inundated with quite a lot of sacker and stuff. You need a bit of an antidote sometimes. Exactly.
Francesca Sleet:
But if you do want to go really the complete opposite direction and go very cosy Christmas, I love that Icelandic tradition of on Christmas Eve, you get given a book and you read it on the day, and there's these new little cloth bound classics, which I think are kind of perfect for that. I sound like an advert for them, but there's a Dylan Thomas one called A Child's Christmas in Wales, Christmas in Wales, and the cover looks like a little Christmas jumper, and I think because they're so small, I feel like you could read them on the day, and they're kind of perfect for that moment in time.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I'm picking up her Hans Christian Anderson one, the Snow Queen, which is also just, that is a devastating story as well. I'm pretty dark. It's really dark. It looks gorgeous. So give you nightmares, but also get you in the Christmasy mood. Yeah, that's fine. Genuinely, I really want to talk to you three guys for as long as possible, but we'll just move this off mic and into the pubs shortly. So I'm going to do three quick fire questions. So as we're moving into next year, quite soon, do you have any reading intentions or resolutions that you're going to start with? Because mine is not just to read books that have neon covers. Impossible, like that millennial pink. I need to move away from those books.
Sarah Mckenna:
Well, I usually set off with an intention to read 50 books or a certain number of books a year. But Sadie Smith on the podcast that we've done this Autumn talked about just reading a couple of pages every day. That's what she does. She'll read a couple of pages every day. So I thought I'd just reframe it next year and stick to at least 10 pages each day rather than a set number of books. And I think that's going to, I'm interested to see how that will flip things, but I liked how she talked about, I mean, looking at your phone and reading book is kind of the same thing. So she looks at a book, so I'm like, okay, we can all look at a book. We can all do 10 pages a day. That's my goal.
Rhianna Dhillon:
She also carries about eight books
Sarah Mckenna:
Around
Rhianna Dhillon:
With her any one time. So if one is boring, then you have seven more.
Francesca Sleet:
Exactly.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Francesca,
Francesca Sleet:
Quite similar. I want to get off my phone and be on books more. I also usually start with about 50. It's one a week with a bit of leeway, but I feel like I've been on my phone too much and I have a TBR the size of my bedroom. It's just taken over. So I really want to up those numbers, but I usually like to try and pick an author and read as many, if not all of their books within a year so that I'm in that headspace of them. And I think inspired by the Austin episode, I might do a reread of all of her books next year just to revisit them.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I really want to reread Middle March.
Derek Owusu:
That's exactly what I was about to say.
Rhianna Dhillon:
No way.
Derek Owusu:
Yeah, that's the book I'm going to read next year. I have to read it. Yeah. Middle
Sarah Mckenna:
March's. My God, we can have a book club. Let's do it.
Derek Owusu:
Yeah, I would love to do that. Yeah, because people keep telling me everywhere I go, I'm like, oh, so what are you reading Blind? They start talking about Middle March. They're like, it's the greatest novel ever, ever written. They're like, it has all of life in there. So I really want to read that. I also want to read Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas. It's just this massive book. It's like infinite, just basically it's like infinite, just adjacent. But I just really want to tackle one of those big postmodern American books. I haven't read any of them, and I really want to, so I'm going to start with the biggest You
Rhianna Dhillon:
Really Don't do in
Derek Owusu:
My mouth and make my way my way backwards.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Nice. Also, I love that I framed this as I was like, this is a quickfire question. And then we were like, let's go. Really? Okay, genuine quickfire. What is going to be the must read for 2026? An author or a book, something that we need to be looking out for, apart from Julian Barnes's novel, which we've already covered.
Sarah Mckenna:
I think a lot of people will be really happy to hear Jackie Morris and Rob McFarland have got another collaboration book out, which is the book of Birds, and it'll be very beautiful and very poignant and perfect for nature. Love. I'm going to stop. Excellent.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Quick fire.
Francesca Sleet:
Sorry, Francesca. This is so difficult and I feel like I am not up to date on what's coming, but I do know that our E Claire Dly has got a second book coming out. People in Love, I believe is the title she wrote Talking At Night, and I loved that. So I'm excited. Brilliant.
Derek Owusu:
Me. It's a book called Smally by a debut author called Eden Mackenzie Godard. It's essentially a tale from past and present or past and future, essentially revolving around the wind rush scandal.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Okay,
Derek Owusu:
Great. So I'm really looking forward to reading that. I think it's going to be massive
Rhianna Dhillon:
Next year. Yeah. And finally, are there any themes that you'd love to explore, authors that you'd love to have on this very podcast next year? Who are we hoping to get on? I like this. There's a little bit of a tease for next year for me as well as the listeners, because I've got no idea what's coming up.
Derek Owusu:
No, neither do we. I would love to have Margaret Atwood on because she seems so fun, so cool. Right. She's just down for everything. Do you know what I mean? And very wise, I think she'd be a great guest. I would love to have her
Rhianna Dhillon:
On. Fingers crossed for
Sarah Mckenna:
Margaret Atwood, Marion Keith.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Oh my goodness.
Sarah Mckenna:
I think we'd have a lot of fun. I think maybe we'd need to do something fun with her, but in themes. I was talking to somebody yesterday who gave me a book with the most detailed map in it ever. And I was like, I mean, it's not really great for audio first format, but exploring. That's France. Jessica could come in, yeah, make sure it's all visualised
Rhianna Dhillon:
For the social media,
Sarah Mckenna:
But maps in books, novels, I just love and they're so beautiful. Do you fake maps? Fake maps or whether that's of a kind of a murder mystery house or a fantasy land or a ship? I've seen ships done before. Yeah. I'd love to just delve into maps and how they're designed.
Rhianna Dhillon:
I love that. It's a bit left field,
Francesca Sleet:
Isn't it? It can cover so much as well. I feel like we do a lot of different genres and that I think selfishly because I work on the happy foodie, I think that it would be really fun to get a chef in Cook for us. Yes. Also that Oh, right. Is that not
Rhianna Dhillon:
Where you were going?
Francesca Sleet:
But so many of them are so fascinating to listen to. I got to speak to Samin Nasra this year who wrote Good Things, the second book after Salt Fat, acid Heat. And she's so engaging to listen to. I could have listened to her speak all day. So she's very cool be She's so cool. Yeah. But yeah, I just think it'd be something different. And another Side of Penguin, I think that's a great
Sarah Mckenna:
Show. But also looking forward to hearing what our
Francesca Sleet:
Audience, yes.
Sarah Mckenna:
So if they have any ideas of who they would like on, we will do our very best to get these people on.
Rhianna Dhillon:
Yeah, please let us know. I for one, am desperate to do something around audio books because I'm obsessed. I feel like even more this year I've got deeper into audio books.
Sarah Mckenna:
Yeah, that would be great.
Rhianna Dhillon:
And we have so many incredible narrators that come into Penguin. I would love to do an episode around that. So this is my cell. But yes, for everybody listening, if you do have any ideas or if there's anything you want us to cover, please do let us know on the penguin Instagram. That is it for this episode. Thank you so much to my Ask Penguin family, Sarah McKenna, Derek Owusu, and Francesca Sleet. Thank you so much for joining us guys. Thank you. Thank you Rihanna, and everything that you've done this year. Thank you all the books you've read. And thank you everyone for listening. Links and information on all of the books that we've talked about today are available as ever in the show notes. And we do have a special bonus episode soon for you Jane Austen fans. So look out for that. Otherwise, we wish you a very happy year of reading for 2026 and hope that you'll join us back in our penguin studio with more of your favourite authors and book chat for now. Happy reading.