Podcast Summary: The Literary Life Podcast – Episode 307

"Best of" – Our Year in Reading, Ep. 31

Release Date: December 16, 2025
Hosts: Angelina Stanford, Thomas Banks, Cindy Rollins

Episode Overview

This “Best of” episode revisits a beloved conversation from the Literary Life Podcast’s archives, originally recorded as a special New Year's Eve celebration. Hosts Angelina Stanford, Thomas Banks, and Cindy Rollins reflect on their reading journeys from a previous year, sharing standout titles, insights on literary trends, and launching their now-classic “20 for 2020” Reading Challenge. The trio dives deep into not only recommending books but also exploring the philosophy of reading—revealing why stories matter, offering practical encouragement for building a rich reading life, and dispelling common reading anxieties.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Commonplace Quotes & Reflections

• Mary Oliver’s Poetry and Loving the World
  Cindy shares a resonant quote by Mary Oliver:

  “Thus we sit, myself thinking how grateful I am for the moon's perfect beauty, and also, oh, how rich it is to love the world.”
  (02:00)
  This prompts a discussion about embracing the natural world and the rightful place of beauty and physicality in faith and literature.

• Hazlitt on the Decline of the Mythic in Modern Drama
  Thomas offers a quote from William Hazlitt’s Characters of Shakespeare:

  “The progress of manners and knowledge has an influence on the stage, and will in time destroy both tragedy and comedy. The ghosts in Shakespeare will become obsolete.”
  (06:13)
  This observation launches a discussion on the cultural drift away from the mythic and supernatural and the modern resurgence of mythic storytelling (e.g., superhero movies, fairy tales).

• Fairy Tales and Modern Realism
  Angelina breaks her “only dead authors” rule to share a passage from Eowyn Ivey’s The Snow Child, championing the legitimacy and delight of stories that blend reality and myth:

  “In my old age, I see that life itself is often more fantastic and terrible than the stories we believed as children, and that perhaps there is no harm in finding magic among the trees.”
  (10:53)

2. Yearly Reading Habits and Standout Books

• Reading Goals, Tools & Reflections
  Cindy explains her use of Goodreads’ yearly goals—not as a competition, but as personal accountability:

  “It’s not about the numbers... it’s just about me having a goal to hit so that I do make better choices when I have the choice.”
  (13:24)
  She notes her most popular read was Huckleberry Finn, and least was The Faerie Queene, Book Four.

• Diverse Literary Tastes and Surprising Finds

  • Cindy highlights Kristin Lavransdatter, Yeats’s Complete Poems, Tolkien’s Letters From Father Christmas and Leaf by Niggle, and Sharon K. Penman’s historical novels.
  • Thomas delved into Russian novelist Turgenev (Fathers and Sons, Home of the Gentry) and praised their accessibility and psychological depth.
  • Angelina had a “year of the minor author,” discovering treasures like Hugh Walpole’s Killer and the Slain, E.C. Bentley’s Trent’s Last Case (a favorite of Dorothy Sayers), Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women, and James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner.

Notable Memorable Moments

• Cindy’s comic hymn confusion and preference for original verses (04:10).
• Running joke about Cindy having read every obscure author:

  “Of course, of course... Well, I’m really old.” – Cindy (25:03, 25:29)

3. Launching the “20 for 2020” Reading Challenge

Challenge Goal:

Twenty open-ended categories designed to stretch, inspire, and encourage individual and communal reading, while allowing for flexibility and personal tailoring. Some categories can be doubled for “easier” completion; others can be layered for more ambitious readers.

Categories & Recommendations:

Each host highlights a few favorites, resources, and strategies:

• Shakespeare Play – Suggest starting with comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Much Ado About Nothing. Shakespeare audiobooks and performance videos are readily available. (43:49)
• Classic Detective Novel – Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Father Brown. Cindy recommends The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham. (50:36)
• Classic Children’s Book – Victorian/Golden Age classics (Alice in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables). Thomas mentions The Crane Wife (a Japanese tale). (52:05)
• Contemporary Novel – Angelina endorses The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey; Cindy mentions Susan Hill and Crow Lake by Mary Lawson. (55:46)
• Historical Fiction – Options from Sharon K. Penman, Arthur Conan Doyle’s The White Company, and Tolstoy. (59:25)
• Ancient Greek Play – Oedipus Rex, or The Bacchae by Euripides (Thomas’s recommendation). (61:23)
• Short Stories Collection – Flannery O’Connor, Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter stories. Visit used bookstores for surprises. (63:39)
• Biography/Memoir – A.N. Wilson’s biography of Prince Albert; Hilaire Belloc’s Marie Antoinette; Madeleine L’Engle’s A Circle of Quiet. (64:45)
• Devotional Work – Broadly defined, from Proverbs to church commentary to modern devotionals. (66:32)
• Book About Books – Angelina’s pick: A Little History of Literature by John Sutherland; others: How the Heather Looks, Rod Dreher’s How Dante Saved My Life. (67:07)
• Foreign Non-Western Book – Cry, the Beloved Country (South Africa), Things Fall Apart (Nigeria), Silence by Shusaku Endo (Japan). (70:57)

Other categories include: guilty pleasure, intimidating book, satire, a complete poetry volume, a minor author, a classic female author, essays, reread from high school, and a book out of your comfort zone; each incites laughter, confessions, and great recommendations.

4. Reading Life Philosophies and Encouragement

• Flexibility & Customization:

  “You can double up or triple up, so you don’t actually have to read 20 books... You can choose the level of difficulty that you want.” - Angelina (41:31)

• On Making the Most of Your Reading Life:

  “A really good children’s book is definitely enjoyable and worthy of the time of an adult.” – Angelina (51:23)

• About Book Guilt and Reading Honesty:
  Conversation about Goodreads transparency, owning your "guilty pleasure" reads (from celebrity memoirs to rock band biographies):

  “Even the man here who reads Latin commentaries... we have our slum reading, too. It’s not all highbrow.” – Angelina (76:34)

• Encouragement to Engage with Different Perspectives:

  “I don’t think we should be so fragile in our beliefs that we’re scared of reading books that challenge us. Sometimes... seeing through the eyes of others is helpful.” – Angelina (98:49)

• On Revisiting the Past:

  “So many books we read when we’re too young... That’s why I always say, don’t rush your kids ahead...” – Cindy (92:33)

5. Community Spirit & Memorable Quotes

• “To be enchanted by story is to be granted a deeper insight into reality.” (00:40, quoting Stratford Caldecott)

• “Dead poets never disappoint.” – Angelina (09:25)

• “The Faerie Queene is the most influential book that no one's read.” – Angelina (14:48)

• “If you really learn how to read one Shakespeare play well, you then have learned how to read the others.” – Angelina (47:45)

Notable Timestamps

• 02:00 – Cindy’s Mary Oliver quotation & discussion
• 06:13 – Hazlitt and the loss of mythic storytelling
• 10:53 – Passage from The Snow Child (Eowyn Ivey)
• 14:34 – Goodreads stats; most/least read books of the year
• 17:52 – Lighthearted banter about reading pace and languages
• 18:22 – Thomas on Turgenev and Russian novels
• 25:57 – Discussion of Trent’s Last Case and the origin of detective fiction
• 43:49 – Announcing the 20 for 2020 Reading Challenge
• 61:23 – Greek tragedy recommendations
• 73:24 – “Guilty pleasure” books confessionals
• 77:06 – “Intimidating book” category discussion
• 92:33 – Importance of revisiting books at the right age
• 104:49 – Episode closes with Tennyson’s “Ring Out, Wild Bells”

Final Thoughts & Closing

The hosts sign off with warm wishes for the new year, gratitude for their listeners, and an invitation to join the Literary Life community by sharing and discussing their reading lives. The episode closes with Thomas Banks’s moving reading of Tennyson’s “Ring Out, Wild Bells.”

Listen for…

• Nostalgic camaraderie and encouragement for all readers, regardless of their pace or prior experience.
• Dozens of book recommendations spanning poetry, detective fiction, historical novels, and more.
• Deep insights into how and why to read well—the skill, the art, and the soul-shaping power of story.

For more:

• Download the "20 for 2020" Challenge at theliterarylife.com
• Join the Literary Life Facebook discussion group
• Support the show on Patreon
• Explore sister podcasts: The Well Read Poem

Happy Reading!