What's the Hype? (Books & Media We're Looking Forward to in 2025)

A new year means new goals, books, movies, and more on the horizon. There's even a new voice joining the team! Nicole, Drew, Killian, and Amanda talk reading challenges, TBRs, and what they're looking forward to reading and watching in 2025!

Want to join the conversation? Email us at [e-mail]

Many thanks to BCTV for their support in recording, editing, and releasing this podcast; and to the Friends of the Library for sponsoring closed captioning on every episode.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
- [Nicole] Hey there.
Welcome to The DistractedLibrarians podcast.
We are your friendlyneighborhood bookworms
with a penchant forall things pop culture.
- [Drew] Picture thisas our digital campfire,
where we dive into our latest obsessions,
analyze our favorite distractions,
and rediscover the joy of reading.
- [Killian] Whether you're amedia enthusiast, a book lover,

(00:21):
or just need a break from the daily grind,
you've come to the right spot.
- [Amanda] So, kick back, relax,
and get delightfully distracted with us.
- [Nicole] Hey everybody.
Today we are going to betalking about the new year
and resolutions, challenges, books
and media that are comingout, that kind of good stuff.

(00:43):
Okay. But first, I'm Nicole.
- [Drew] I'm Drew.
- [Killian] I'm Killian.
- [Amanda] I'm Amanda.
- [Drew] Speaking of Amanda.
(Killian laughs) Hi.
- [Amanda] Hi. Hello.
- [Drew] How are you?- [Amanda] I'm good, thanks.
(Drew laughs)
- [Drew] So we had abit of a casting change
in, we like to say in the new year,
but technically last episode.
So, for anyone who was confused,

(01:05):
would you like to introduceyourself? (laughs)
- [Amanda] I would.Thanks. My name is Amanda.
I am filling in, taking over where...
- [Drew] Taking over, yeah.- [Amanda] Emily left off,
and I'm a librarian atAdult and Teen Services
and I've been at BloomfieldTownship Public Library

(01:25):
for a little over a year as a librarian.
Before that, I was a substitutelibrarian for almost a year,
and my focus is nonfiction.
I collect for history, for politics,
for social issues, for science.

(01:46):
And, yeah.
So, my personal taste as a reader,
I love memoir.
I love nonfiction, whichmight be pop psychology,
pop science.
And I do love fiction,
but I tend to not be as well versed
with what's the newest,latest, and greatest

(02:08):
because I'm allowing all thepatrons to read them first.
So (laughs),- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] I feel like myfiction is always six months
to a year behind, unfortunately.
And yeah, happy to be here.
- [Nicole] Well, thanks for being here.
- [Drew] My general fiction tends to be
about a year behind when ithits the book club circuit.

(02:29):
- [Amanda] Yeah. (laughs)- [Drew] So, I feel that
- [Nicole] Definitely.
Okay. Well there are lotsof different book challenges
that you can do when you start a new year.
I mean, we talk about resolutions.
We're bookie people, so we could do...
we can talk about the challenges

(02:51):
or the book resolutions that we usually
kind of sign ourselves up for.
I'm a big fan of theGoodreads Reading Challenge.
That's kind of the way I keep myself
straight through a year.
And I have mine up to abouta hundred books for a year.
But I include all thekids' stuff in there too.

(03:12):
So, I know, my husband the other day
was like, does that count?
I'm like, it sure does. I'm reading it.
So even if it's a picturebook, it's going on the list.
- [Drew] Yeah. Mine iscurrently set to 125.
I won't make it. I'll get close.
- [Nicole] Holy cow.
- [Drew] I'm at like 90 right now, but...
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Killian] I was alwayslike, for the longest time,
set it at a hundred and I would reach it

(03:32):
and I would do it andit was a great thing.
And then the last few yearsI have not been able to read
the way I used to, so I have made mine
much more reasonable.
I think last year I started at 25
and bumped it up to 50 last year in 2023.
And then for 2024, set it at 25,

(03:57):
and then when I hit it,
I decided I just wasn't gonna change it.
So that I didn't havepressure to be like, okay,
and now I have to reach the...
a new goal, in the last few months,
I'm just going to see what happens.
Which has actually felt really nice.
'cause I don't feel like I have to read.
I can read because I want to.
- [Nicole] Sure. What about you Amanda?

(04:19):
Do you have a...
do you challenge yourself?
- [Amanda] So my goal is always around 50.
For a year.
I feel like I usually don't reach that
because I sort of hoveraround three books a month.
Okay. But I will say though,
those are generally allyour standard size of
around 300 pages.

(04:41):
So I don't know. I feel likesomewhere between 36 and 50.
I feel good about that.
- [Nicole] Sure. And then doyou guys ever think about like,
I would like to read more women authors
or I would like to read more classics.
Do you guys do that at all?For the beginning of the year,

(05:02):
- [Killian] I have done things like, oh,
I specifically wanna read these books
that have been on my TBR thisyear or things like that.
I am so much a mood reader though that
that kind of thing is really hard for me
to follow through on,
because if I don't want to read
that book right then Isimply won't read it.
Or I will start it and then it will sit
on my currently reading for months.

(05:24):
Until I finally just delete it.
So I don't do things like that.
I've tried to do different,like published challenges.
PopSugar did one. I don'tknow if they still do.
- [Drew] They do. Yeah.
- [Killian] Or things like that.
I've tried to do those.
The ability to follow through on that.

(05:45):
Minimal. At best.
- [Nicole] Okay yes. Gotcha.
- [Drew] I'm prettysimilar in that regard.
What I do every year in January,
is I'll go through my bookshelf
and identify books that Ibought like 2, 3, 4 years ago
and haven't gotten around to reading.
And I'll put those on a Goodreads shelf
called My Purge Shelf of that year.

(06:07):
And if I haven't...
any of those books that I haven't read
by the end of that year,
I'll donate away.
I bought them when I was in a mood
and I'll clearly not be backto that mood anytime soon.
So they fold them threetimes and thank them
and send them on their journey.
(All laugh)
- [Nicole] Perfect.
- [Amanda] I tend toalways wanna read classics

(06:31):
and never get to it.
That's why actuallythe classics' book club
that is hosted at the library,I think is the best thing
because there's just all these classics
and you're like, oh my gosh,I hear it's so amazing.
People reference it
and I have no idea whatthey're talking about.
And I don't wanna actuallyadmit that I don't know

(06:52):
what they're talking about.
- [Nicole] Sure.
- [Amanda] But I also have a hard time
doing guilty pleasure reads.
- [Nicole] Oh, okay.
- [Amanda] Like, I actually,
'cause I'm always like, I wannalike feel a lot of feelings
and I wanna learn something.
And sometimes I just have to be like,

(07:12):
I wanna read somethingthat's light and breezy
and that, you know,you can read before bed
or at the beach or with a glass of wine.
And, because I thinkthat's good life balance.
- [Nicole] Yeah. For sure.
Yeah. I read a ton offiction, a ton. A ton.

(07:34):
But I try to sprinkle in some nonfiction
for the same reason (Amanda laughs)
because I'm like, I havetoo much fluff in my life
(Drew laughs) and I needto get serious sometimes
and I need to learn something.
And I feel like there are a lot
of really good nonfiction books out there
and I've come across some

(07:54):
and I'm always looking for something
that's really gonna make my brain tingle
and get me all excitedabout some new concept
or new thing that I neverthought about before.
Classics, similar thing,
I sprinkle in a fewclassics throughout the year
for the same reason.
'cause I've had goodexperiences with classics.

(08:15):
They're not all great for me personally,
but I've had good experiencesand I'm like, what's the hype?
I wanna know what it'sall about. So, yeah.
Why are you a classic?What makes you a classic?
- [Drew] Yeah. I use my bookclub for that a lot as well
of putting on books that I know
I have no real interest in,
but that have reachedthe cultural zeitgeist,

(08:39):
the world around me
has told me that this is a good thing.
And I know that withoutthe obligation of my job,
that I would never pick itup even if I had interest.
So my book club listevery year is 11 books
that I've heard of thatI will never bring myself
around to reading
without the motivation of.

(09:01):
- [Nicole] Sure, sure. Definitely.
Alright, well let's talk about some things
that are coming out next year.
What are we looking forward to?
- [Amanda] So, because I lovememoirs, there's a couple
of great ones coming out.
So, Nico Case, any Nicocase fans, she's a musician.
She had a solo thing

(09:23):
and then she's a part ofthe New Pornographers.
And then she...
I don't know if she has comeout with any albums recently,
but she's coming out with a memoir called,
"The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You."
Looking forward to that.
There's also, Alton Brown has a-
- [Nicole] Oh, I love Alton Brown.

(09:45):
- [Amanda] I know. He's so charming.
Some of my favoritedishes, Alton Brown is a...
like food, I wanna sayFood Network personality.
Was it Food Network?
- [Nicole] I don't know if he still is
because I haven't watched that in so long.
- [Drew] I think he still is.- [Nicole] But yeah.

(10:06):
- [Amanda] But he did Good Eats.
And, which is a great show.
It's very quirky, very fast-paced.
- [Nicole] And what I love about him
is that he makes it scientific.
Like he teaches you how to cook,
but then he also shows you whyand how it works and stuff.
Which for me, like I amnot a cook. (Drew laughs)

(10:28):
I do not cook. I feed my children.
That's pretty much the extent
- [Amanda] That's important- [Nicole] of my cooking.
But there was something about him
explaining how the stuff works
that actually appealed to me a lot.
I'm like, I can hangwith this cooking show.
And so now instead of hardboiling eggs, I bake my eggs

(10:50):
because of Alton Brown.
- [Drew] That's a thing?
- [Nicole] And it's delightful.
It is so good.[Amanda] I had no idea.
[Nicole] They're like, they taste nutty,
because they're likekind of roasted in a way.
I don't know how to explain it.
I'm sure he would do a much better job.
But you put them inlike little muffin pan,
put 'em in the oven for 30 minutes at 320
and then you pull them out,dunk them in some ice cold water

(11:12):
and then you peel them right away
and just throw them in a bowland they're like, perfect.
- [Amanda] Alright. Well Ineed to revisit. His show
- [Drew] My life may havealready been changed.
(All laugh)
- [Nicole] Bake your eggs, people.
(Drew laughs)
- [Amanda He does have my favorite
stove-top Mac n' Cheese recipe
that I've ever tried,and I've tried a lot.
But the book is called "FoodFor Thought" that's coming out.

(11:36):
There's also Memorial...
let's see...
Oh gosh. "Memorial Days."
Can't read my handwriting.
A memoir by Geraldine Brooks who...
Geraldine Brooks did "Horse"
and a lot of other wonderful novels.
So-- [Drew] People of the book,
- [Amanda] People of the book,
because she's a fantastic writer.
I imagine her memoir willalso be beautifully written.

(11:57):
So, those are my top three.
- [Drew] One that I'm reallyexcited to have come out
is called "The Shots You Take."
It is a hockey romance,
which Killian knows has been my addiction
for the last, too long.
But it's by Rachel Reed, who is a pillar

(12:18):
of said community.
Amanda is staring at me withthis weird face because,
- [Amanda] (laughs) I'm just surprised.
- [Drew] and I need everyone to be aware
how not a sports person I am.
- [Nicole] Well, I was gonna say
do you watch The Red Wings?
- [Drew] Sure don't.
Been to one game in the past 10 years

(12:39):
and that was a Christmasgift to my father.
But I will take every ride with her.
It is a second chanceromance, which I'm iffy on,
but the words she writes, I will absorb.
That's just
- [Nicole] Totally- [Drew] It happens.
That comes out I think early March.

(12:59):
And, desperate.
- [Amanda] Are there alot of sports metaphors?
- [Drew] There were in book one.
I knew about 20 of them. (Nicole laughs)
- [Nicole] Perfect. Doyou have any more, Drew?
- [Drew] Hm, come back to me.
- [Nicole] Okay, cool. Killian.
- [Killian] The big onethat jumps to mind for me

(13:20):
is a new release by oneof my favorite authors.
It's called "Dream On, Ramona Riley."
It is by Ashley Herring Blake.
If you listen to our lastepisode, you know. (Drew laughs)
And I will simply automatically purchase
and devour anything she writes.

(13:40):
I have not been burned by that yet.
There are other authors thatI have been very excited
for books for, and then I get burned
by them being not at all what I'd hoped,
or/and just like being badlywritten all of a sudden.
So I always live in fear of that now
whenever I get attached to authors.

(14:02):
But I have to wait until May for this one.
It's gonna be a minute.
- [Nicole] Yeah. It's the wait.
Sometimes it's the waitthat just makes you crazy.
- [Killian] And having access
to advanced readercopies sometimes is nice.
I've read a lot of herson advanced reader copies
before they come out, but alsothen nobody else has read it

(14:24):
and I can't talk to anybody about it.
- [Nicole] Right, right.
- [Killian] Double-edged sword.
- [Nicole] Yeah. I am looking forward
to the third book ofthe Emily Wilde series,
which her first book was
"Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries."
That's by Heather Fawcett.

(14:46):
And this would be the thirdone that's coming out.
The first and second bookswere really great. I love them.
They are romantic, romantasy with fairies
and all that kind of good stuff in it.
So this book will be called
"Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales."
I am also looking forward to"Witchcraft for Wayward Girls",

(15:08):
which is Grady Hendricks's new book.
Oh my God, guys really so excited.
- [Drew] I've only read one Grady Hendrix
and it was the, the one in the Ikea store.
- [Nicole] The "Horrorstor".- [Drew] Yeah.
- [Nicole] Yeah. Which is...- [Drew] Bananas.
- [Nicole] It's perfect. It's delightful.
Okay. And then Stephen Kingis putting out a new book

(15:29):
for the Holly Gibney series,which if you're not familiar,
that's the Mr. Mercedes, "The Outsider",
Holly Gibney is like thisjust socially awkward,
chain-smoking girl who sees things
that other people don't usually see,
and she can crack a caselike nobody's business.

(15:51):
So I just love that series so much.
I'm looking forward to that for sure.
Anybody else have a book or...
- [Drew] Yeah. So there's a book
that's coming out in January,
so I think like two weeksafter this episode releases.
It's called "The In-BetweenBookstore" by Edward Underhill.
It is a book starring a trans man

(16:14):
who's about to turn 30, reallynot happy with his life.
He just lost his job. He hadto move back to his hometown.
He goes back to the bookstore
that he was sort of raised in,
sort of the way that we areall raised in book places,
and comes face to face
with his like 13-year-oldpre-transition self.
- [Amanda and Nicole] Oh.

(16:35):
- [Drew] And sort of whatyou'd say to your younger self,
how you handle that,
how you handle being adisappointment to your past self.
Because that's the positionthat he feels he's in.
Meeting your past self
and being so different from the person
that at the time she probably thought
she was going to grow up to be.
It just sounds so fascinating.

(16:57):
- [Nicole] Yeah. That sounds awesome.
- [Drew] And then the last one
that I'll say is the parttwo of the "Wicked" movie.
- [Amanda and Nicole] Oh yeah.- [Killian] Yes.
- [Drew] Because at time of recording
we're still about four weeks away
from the movie coming out,but I'm already obsessed.
- [Killian] I'm so impatient. (laughs)
- [Drew] And it's only the first half,
so I already know I'mgonna need the second.

(17:18):
- [Amanda] See, at leastyou knew that to begin with
because like in the Dune, the Dune thing,
I swear I did not know.
When you don't know that
it's gonna be a part oneof part two or part three
or whatever, so frustrating.
Anyway, so good for them
for letting you know ahead of time.
- [Drew] Yes. I was very thankful. Yeah.
- [Killian] So I wasgonna be like, I have two,
but it's kind of cheating

(17:38):
because their release date is actually
currently marked as Christmas Eve.
One of them I didn't actually look up.
It might still be marked as Christmas Eve,
but I'm gonna say it anyway
because I haven't been ableto be excited about it,
and I'm still worried
about letting myself be excited about it.
"Heavenly Tyrant" is thesequel to "Iron Widow"
that has been pushed back and pushed back

(17:58):
and pushed back. And I-
- [Drew] Through no faults at the author.
- [Killian] No. Publishing.
- [Drew] (chuckles) Publishing.
- [Killian] But I desperatelyneed this book in my life.
And as of the last time I checked,
release date is marked for Christmas Eve
of this year of 2024.
So I guess we'll find out

(18:20):
by the time this actually airs,
if it actually came out or not,
- [Drew] Allow me to set the scene
of when Killian and I were living together
and we had three daysoff over the new year
of 2021 into 22.
And I am-
- [Nicole] It's been that long.?
- [Drew] Yeah.- [Nicole] Oh my goodness.
- [Drew] And she was reading a book,
I was not aware of what book at the time,
out in the main room,

(18:41):
and I was hanging out in my bedroom,
and suddenly I hear her scream
and throw the book out of rage.
And I immediately picked it up
because anything that inspires
that, I need in my life immediately. And-
- [Killian] Was it justified?
- [Drew] Yes. Yes it was.

(19:01):
- [Nicole] Oh okay.
- [Amanda] That's an endorsement.
- [Killian] So the other one,which was last I had seen
supposed to release Christmas Eve of 2024,
now is showing onGoodreads March 6th, 2025.
I'm gonna lose it. (laughs)
If these books keep gettingpushed back, I will cry.

(19:22):
It is "A Witch's Guideto Magical Incoming."
Incoming? Innkeeping? I can't read today.
What a day.
The author wrote one of myall time favorite books,
"The Very Secret Societyof Irregular Witches."
And I am obsessed with that book.

(19:44):
Drew can...
- [Drew] Again, attest.- [Killian] attest to how much
I bugged him about reading this book.
And I, ever since this wasannounced, have been waiting
for this book about a woman
who was once one of the mostpowerful witches in Britain.
And then she resurrected her aunt

(20:05):
and now they are innkeepers.
And I desperately justwant more cozy witch books
in my life all the time.
And apparently now I haveto wait till March for it.
So that's, that's real-timedisappointment here.
But also I'm still excitedfor it to come out.
- [Drew] Let me make thatdisappointment worse.

(20:25):
March 6th, I don't believe is a Tuesday,
so that doesn't feel real to me.
- [Killian] Dear Publishing.Please give me my books.
(Amanda and Nicole laugh) I beg of you.
- [Nicole] Oh my Gosh.
Okay. Well I wanna talkabout a couple shows
that are coming out next year.
"Last of Us" season two.

(20:46):
- [Drew] Did they finally announce that?
- [Nicole] Yes. Coming out.
So in previous episodes Ihad a very lengthy discussion
about the mushrooms coming to get us all.
And that will be, thatwill resume next in 2025
with "Last of Us" season two
that will be on Max in HBO.
"It", the movie "It", Stephen King, "It",

(21:10):
they're doing a prequel show called

"It (21:14):
Welcome to Derry" on Max.
- [Drew] Interesting.- [Nicole] And I think
I'm excited about it.
I wanna see what that's all about.
And then also "Wednesday" seasontwo is coming out in 2025.
So very excited about that too.
- [Killian] All theseepisodes have taught me
is that I'm so woeful woefullybehind on popular TV series

(21:38):
and like streaming series, (Drew laughs)
'cause I have seen none of these.
- [Nicole] Oh no. You have homework to do.
- [Killian] I have no time for homework.
- [Drew] "Wednesday" and "TheLast of Us" are fantastic.
- [Killian] Okay. "Lastof Us" is terrifying.
So...- [Drew] There is that.
- [Killian] I'll add it tothe list. (Amanda laughs)
They keep talking about "The Last of Us"
of us showing up in "Deadby Daylight" eventually,
like all rumors, nothing confirmed,

(21:59):
but you know, if it ever did,maybe I'd have to see it.
- [Nicole] Anything else we that we have
for stuff coming out?
- [Drew] Don't think so.
- [Nicole] All right.Library programs for 2025.
- [Drew] Yeah. So, wewill be having our regular
winter reading challenge,technically starts

(22:19):
halfway through December,
but goes through the end of January.
And that'll be relativelystandard fair for us.
Read X number of books,or X number of days
or whatever it ends upbeing within the timeframe
to register yourself for a prize.
We also have something that's recurring
that's not necessarilytied to the new year

(22:41):
called the 50 Book Challenge.
And anyone can set that up at any time.
But the New Year feels likea fantastic time to do that.
- [Nicole] Yeah, for sure.
- [Killian] If you'regonna set a Goodreads goal
to read 50 books, you mightas well do a library goal
and double dip.
- [Nicole] But you also don't have to
finish it within the year, so...
- [Amanda] But it's anice goal to have. Yeah.

(23:02):
- [Drew] There are littleprize packages for registering
and then for reading 25 and 50.
- [Nicole] Oh, okay. That'swhat I was gonna ask.
How does this work exactly?
- [Drew] Yeah, it's, it's super chill,
on Beanstack, the app that we use
for all of our long-runningreading programs,
you just log whenever you finish a book.
At it can take as long as it takes.

(23:24):
But you log it as soon as it's done,
you can write a review,but you don't have to.
And then as soon as soon asyou've registered your 25th
and your 50th book, it will give you a...
it's a little notification,
"Hey, you've earned a prize.
Come into the library for it."
and then we get to talk to them
about the books that they've read.
And that's so much fun.
- [Nicole] Yeah, totally.That sounds awesome.

(23:45):
All right, well, I hope that you
get some ideas on how to keepup reading for the next year,
maybe sign up for a challenge,check out your local library,
come and see us, and tell usabout the stuff you wanna read
or what you're looking forward to.
And we will see you next time.
Thank you for joining us for this episode

(24:05):
of Distracted Librarians.
- [Drew] Many thanks to BCTVfor their support in recording,
editing, and releasing this podcast.
And to the friends of the library
for sponsoring closedcaptioning on every episode.
- [Killian] If you have any questions
or suggestions, feelfree to reach out to us
at [e-mail].
- [Amanda] Until then,keep those pages turning

(24:26):
and those screens lighting up.
We'll catch you in the next episode.
- [Emily] The views and opinions expressed
in the Distracted Librarians podcast
do not necessarily reflect those
of Bloomfield Township, BloomfieldTownship Public Library,
Bloomfield Community Television,
the Birmingham Area Cable Board,
or its producers or production staff.