Pop Culture Happy Hour: "2025 Books We Love"
Date: December 29, 2025
Host: Glenn Weldon
Guest: Andrew Limbong (Host, NPR's Book of the Day podcast, Culture Reporter)
Episode Overview
In this special episode, Pop Culture Happy Hour dives into NPR’s annual “Books We Love” list, with Glenn Weldon and guest Andrew Limbong sharing their personal standout picks from 2025. Together, they discuss a diverse selection of fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels, highlighting trends, memorable characters, and unique narratives that defined the year in books. The conversation is a playful, insightful guide for listeners seeking their next compulsive read, with honest opinions and witty banter throughout.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
What is "Books We Love"?
(02:48-03:17)
- Glenn Weldon reintroduces NPR’s “Books We Love” as a crowd-sourced roundup spanning genres and tastes, contributed to by staffers and critics, serving as a one-stop shop for book recommendations.
- Andrew Limbong and Glenn both contributed to this year's sprawling, tag-driven guide.
Andrew's Picks
1. Tilt by Emma Petit
(03:17-04:20)
- Genre: Action-adventure, Contemporary Fiction
- Premise: Follows a heavily pregnant protagonist as she navigates an earthquake-stricken Portland, Oregon, captured with humor and tension.
- Notable Elements:
- Blends "fun and fast and thrilling" adventure with poignant observations about motherhood, pregnancy culture, and modern consumer anxieties.
- Alternates between gripping action and “kind of sad and funny and interesting perspectives” on early motherhood.
- “It's a really fun and fast and thrilling read.” — Andrew Limbong (03:16)
2. Canon by Lee Lai
(06:48-08:15)
- Genre: Graphic Novel
- Premise: Centers on Canon, a cook at a middling restaurant balancing familial responsibility with friendship and identity crises.
- Memorable Description: Andrew reflects on how certain graphic novels make him “an emotional wreck,” naming Canon as that title for 2025.
- Themes:
- Explores friendship boundaries as Canon’s life is mined for her best friend’s writing.
- Tackles identity politics, “navigating boxes” versus real, pressing life concerns like “paying rent” and caring for the ill.
- “It's a really interesting and deep slice of life graphic novel.” — Andrew Limbong (08:13)
3. The Ten Year Affair by Erin Summers
(08:20-09:55)
- Genre: Literary Fiction
- Premise: A woman with a new child meets a charming man at a baby class, sparking a decade of imagined and parallel realities (a “multiverse story”).
- Comparisons:
- Feels like an update on Cheever or Richard Ford’s domestic fiction, but with “a big swing” via parallel narrative tracks.
- Andrew notes, “Like any good multiversal story, you get kind of confused towards the midpoint… What parallel universe am I in right now?” (09:21)
- Tone: Balances humor with “millennial ennui and domesticity” pain points; compared to the self-effacing humor of Girls (09:55).
- “It's a really great literary drama.” — Andrew Limbong (09:32)
Glenn’s Picks
1. Florenzer by Phil Melanson
(04:27-06:48)
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Premise: Set in Renaissance Florence, with a focus on art, culture, politics, and queer history; features a young, contemplative Leonardo da Vinci as a point-of-view character.
- Highlights:
- Explores Florence’s rich and “not always straight” history; “Tale as old as time.” — Glenn Weldon (04:38)
- Praises the prose: “Every so often you come across a book that has such great prose that you want to read it out loud.” (06:36)
- Commends author Phil Melanson for avoiding anachronistic depictions of sexuality: “He doesn't cheat and insert, you know, 21st century notions about identity into the mix, into this very not modern world.” (05:41)
- Memorable Banter:
- Andrew cracks, “He's not doing his dating profile.”
- Glenn laughs, “He's keeping it real. He's keeping it Florence real.” (05:48)
2. Actress of a Certain Age: My 20 Year Trail to Overnight Success by Jeff Hiller
(10:03-11:56)
- Genre: Memoir
- Premise: Emmy-winning actor Jeff Hiller chronicles his years as a working (and not always working) actor, foregrounding the realities of the profession.
- Why Glenn Recommends:
- “He’s funny, he’s very dishy, he’s self-deprecating when the occasion calls for it. He’s occasionally filthy, and I’m here for that.” (10:52)
- Hiller narrates his own audiobook, which Glenn insists is the only way to experience it:
“Whenever a performer writes a book and they read the audiobook, get the audiobook. Because I cannot imagine reading this book without hearing the way Hiller giggles whenever he lands a joke or tells a dirty story or often both at the same time.” (11:23)
- Highlights:
- Pulls back the curtain on showbiz, with humor and candor on sexuality, appearance, and the grind of being a supporting player.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Florence and Queerness:
"Wherever you find a concentration of art and culture in one place, you tend to also find dudes getting it on with other dudes. It follows as night the day tale as old as time."
— Glenn Weldon (04:34) -
On Motherhood in 'Tilt':
“All of this nonsense about the culture of pregnancy and motherhood. And it’s a really fun and fast and thrilling read.”
— Andrew Limbong (03:46) -
On Graphic Novels’ Impact:
“Every year there’s a graphic novel that I get like a review copy in the mail, and then I just like sit crisscross applesauce on my floor and start peeking through it. And then two hours pass, my legs are numb and I’m like, oh, my goodness. Like, I’m an emotional wreck.”
— Andrew Limbong (06:52) -
On Audiobooks by Performers:
“Whenever a performer writes a book and they read the audiobook, get the audiobook. Because I cannot imagine reading this book without hearing the way Hiller giggles whenever he lands a joke or tells a dirty story or often both at the same time.”
— Glenn Weldon (11:24)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- What is "Books We Love"? (02:48-03:17)
- Tilt by Emma Petit (03:17-04:20)
- Florenzer by Phil Melanson (04:27-06:48)
- Canon by Lee Lai (06:48-08:15)
- The Ten Year Affair by Erin Summers (08:20-09:55)
- Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller (10:03-11:56)
Resources & Where to Learn More
- Discover the full “Books We Love” guide: npr.org/bestbooks (11:45)
Tone and Style
- The episode balances scholarly insight with wry humor and relatable asides; Glenn and Andrew’s rapport is both playful and warm, making book talk feel accessible and welcoming, even when unpacking literary trends or historical details.
If you love insightful, entertaining book chat, or need your next great read, this episode delivers with passion, personality, and true readerly delight.