Culture Club - The Best, Worst & Most Unexpected Books Of 2025

00:00:00.000 A year in review and the best, worst and most unexpected books we read in 2025.

00:00:12.920 I'm Maggie Zhao and I'm Jasmine Wallace and you're listening to Culture Club where

00:00:17.500 we chat about pop culture, current affairs, the internet and our lives.

00:00:21.660 today we're on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people of the Kulin nations

00:00:32.600 we would like to pay our respects to elders past and present and extend this to any aboriginal or

00:00:38.280 Torres Strait Islander listeners today happy 200th episode of culture club so exciting I didn't even

00:00:49.380 realize until i saw the note this morning 200 episodes over five years it's a crazy crazy

00:00:57.540 milestone yeah hitting that new like two number yeah it's like you remember when you turned

00:01:02.900 10 or even 10 20 like whoa there's a new no that's how it feels 100 this is our final episode

00:01:10.160 of the year so in classic culture club fashion we've got a little rap but we love talking about

00:01:15.500 books so most of it is going to be about books but first we also have a guest in the house

00:01:21.260 producer kitch is here hi guys couldn't miss this iconic episode 200 so crazy and i'm gonna throw

00:01:29.400 you guys a little bit of a game later on with some little pop culture questions from 2025 and

00:01:35.360 get your thoughts on a few topics as well exciting do you want to do that first yeah i think let's

00:01:40.260 just get into that first i'm scared you're gonna make me sweat if i'm gonna be thinking about this

00:01:43.720 bloody game later don't worry it's not it's not too intense so don't worry but it's so be cool

00:01:48.460 to like reflect on the year and then also like we can listen back to this episode next year and be

00:01:52.640 like whoa what a difference of things that happen in 2026 versus 2025 okay hit us give it to us i'm

00:01:59.760 ready okay well let's start just with you guys yourself so i'd love to hear from you both like

00:02:04.280 what was your favorite moment of 2025 could be like in your personal lives i feel like i already

00:02:09.020 know jaz's answer but i still want to hear it anyway okay well jazz is obviously that she got 0.52

00:02:13.060 married. Yes. Getting married was just like the, it felt like so much of 2025 was just focused on 0.95

00:02:19.700 it creatively, financially, time-wise. It felt like a massive project that my whole family and

00:02:27.700 like close friends were working on alongside me as well. I feel like I'll get emotional if I talk

00:02:32.060 about it too much. That's what I haven't really talked about on the mic. Like it just feels so

00:02:34.900 precious getting married and having all friends and family around us and just filled with so much

00:02:39.920 love I just feel like you can't even like put into words how special it is so yeah that was

00:02:44.560 definitely my highlight of 2025 but I'm excited for 2026 as well and like using the energy that

00:02:51.520 I've put into getting married for the past like two years into something else so we'll see what

00:02:55.800 happens Maggie what was yours mine was that it was my big travel yeah yeah Maggie's big year

00:03:02.200 travel I think I was overseas for maybe maybe three months about three months I think which is

00:03:08.320 wild I did not do the maths on that so that's no that sounds not right but yeah almost like a full

00:03:13.660 season overseas but broken up and that was just so special and I got to go to so many new places

00:03:18.840 like Vietnam was such a highlight returning to Japan going to like Singapore for the first time

00:03:25.100 going to Europe by myself yeah it was so good and where in Europe did you go again I went to

00:03:30.100 Copenhagen Paris and then also London so amazing you literally done like a world tour yeah like

00:03:35.860 justin timberlake maggie's world tour my world tour love that do you guys feel like you have a

00:03:42.420 song that you would say encapsulates 2025 like when you think back to this year in the future

00:03:47.860 what song do you feel like it's going to play in your mind i actually think we might have the same

00:03:51.700 one do you have a song in my three two one dive olivia dean okay okay jazz chickened out of that

00:03:57.840 one nope what do you have no is yours gonna be a wedding song no i i kind of zoomed down a little

00:04:05.080 bit because i shared my top song and artist in the spotify wrapped episode olivia dean and

00:04:11.660 sabrina carpenter were like up there but i just thought what was something like culturally that

00:04:17.080 will always remind me of 2025 rather than personally and i have to say it's the lily

00:04:21.640 allen west and girl album which came out only in october and it's so funny because i was listening

00:04:27.280 to it on repeat on repeat on repeat in the immediate weeks before the wedding i was like

00:04:30.820 it's just so funny like it's an album about a breakup and i break up and i'm like this is like

00:04:34.940 my wedding album so i have to say lily allen culturally and also the song relationships by

00:04:40.400 haim again it's another song about breakups but yeah girl there's been a few tweets about it as

00:04:45.660 well like what was that mass psychosis where the song of the year was really ships by haim i don't

00:04:50.100 know just like i'm on that side of the internet and it just kind of blew up in my little corner

00:04:54.100 of the internet and i love it so that's like a really fun song that all remind me of 2025 i don't

00:04:57.540 even think I know how that song goes I'm not relationships go Maggie keep it going I still

00:05:05.680 don't know and that is all I know okay well I'll listen it's really like poppy but I think mine

00:05:11.380 is more the song of the year I feel like this is Olivia Dean's year like that's like all I think

00:05:17.040 about this year totally like in the same way maybe Sabrina's was last year anyway what's the next

00:05:21.580 question are we passing yeah flying colors guys what was a trend that you guys hated that you

00:05:27.120 hope stays in 2025 let's not bring it to 2026 again mine's like zoomed out a bit but i think

00:05:34.640 go macro level like la boo boo's but zoomed out is like consumption for consumption's sake

00:05:40.540 interesting would you call that a trend or is that just like a trend where we're at yeah interesting

00:05:44.560 because i was thinking fashion wise i can't think of anything to be honest like i'm kind of fine i'm

00:05:48.520 like chill with what's come out this year it's been fine like nothing's like controversial but

00:05:53.980 I do think this is like the year oh I know do you know what I hate and just for like hating sake

00:05:58.400 the whole Dubai chocolate what the hell was this what the hell I never had it it's just pistachio

00:06:03.980 chocolate yeah but no I get what you're saying Maggie like the way that everyone was just like

00:06:08.160 Dubai chocolate everything like Dubai chocolate cigarette like it just got so insane the number

00:06:13.940 of like signs like signage on little local cafes which is like try out viral Dubai chocolate like

00:06:21.860 I was like, whoa, let's just take it back.

00:06:24.580 I actually found that really funny, personally, but I get what you mean.

00:06:27.800 It's kind of funny.

00:06:28.440 I was like, what is, like, how?

00:06:29.860 It's like brain rot.

00:06:30.920 Yeah. 0.97

00:06:31.480 Food brain rot. 1.00

00:06:32.500 Food brain rot.

00:06:33.400 A friend of mine was like, that was the freak shake of 2025.

00:06:36.660 Wait, excuse me.

00:06:37.920 Did I not post that?

00:06:39.220 Oh, my God.

00:06:39.760 Maybe you were the friend girl.

00:06:40.820 I said that our, oh, I forgot what I compared it to.

00:06:44.480 The sandwich shops?

00:06:45.520 Yeah, I think I said something like all the male named sandwich shops, like Nico's blah, blah, blah.

00:06:50.800 that's like the freak shakes of our day what do you feel like future you is gonna look back from

00:06:55.800 2025 and cringe on cringe in terms of like pop culture could be anything like do you reckon

00:07:01.740 you'll look back and be like oh I can't believe how obsessed with that I was I can't believe I

00:07:05.180 did that true true true I think culturally so less of me but I think the whole Katy Perry in space

00:07:12.480 is like my defining moment do you have the same jazz that's my like defining cultural me moment

00:07:17.840 of 2025 even in the moment we were cringing on it yeah so i think looking back it's not like a

00:07:22.500 personal like cringe at myself yeah i think katie perry in space was like my defining pop culture

00:07:28.180 moment i feel like it just sums up the zeitgeist of you know wealth disparity class america pop

00:07:36.740 celebrities everything is encapsulated with her kissing the ground for me it was that daisy yeah

00:07:42.940 the day that's what i picture i'm like her big eyes twirling the daisy yeah yeah okay now for

00:07:46.960 film and tv i know you guys are more into the book world but what do you think was the standout

00:07:51.880 2025 tv series or movie okay i think we got the same one in terms of like cultural moment okay

00:07:57.860 we're gonna try it on the time i'll actually try to answer now three two one i love la no the

00:08:03.900 summer i turned pretty obviously jazz obviously i we're not high-finding today we're usually so on

00:08:10.080 the same no pluribus yeah no pluribus in the house girl the summer i turned pretty no you're right

00:08:15.460 It was Itzia.

00:08:16.680 But I was thinking like.

00:08:18.020 And maybe Severance.

00:08:18.960 I love LA.

00:08:19.860 People are freaking, we love it, but people are like hating it on it as well.

00:08:24.320 I guess I was thinking like original because like Summertime Pretty and Severance, they had seasons in other years.

00:08:30.000 So I was like, it's the first time.

00:08:31.600 You're right, technicality.

00:08:32.580 Yeah, technicality.

00:08:33.920 No, but I do agree like Summertime Pretty's cultural impact was like totally 2025.

00:08:38.260 It's been a fun year of content.

00:08:40.560 I know people have really disagreed in terms of like what's on the screen, but I've enjoyed it.

00:08:44.580 i enjoyed it a lot buddy and also what's the other show stranger things final season where i don't

00:08:49.820 know i feel pretty spoiled yeah yeah i feel like there's been amazing tv series in 2025 and a movie

00:08:55.700 yeah go with the movie okay oh i don't know you go eternity oh no i think it doesn't sum up 2025

00:09:02.220 culturally but it i think it's like my favorite movie that came out in 2025 i love that okay

00:09:06.920 pop that in i have my own personal favorite movie i don't know if i talked about on the podcast it's

00:09:11.560 called how to make millions before grandma dies it's a thai movie cool and i watched it on the

00:09:16.220 plane and it's like the most heart-wrenching like beautiful movie about kind of like familial

00:09:21.760 expectations aren't caring for your elders and yeah wow that like broke me so my gosh that's

00:09:27.940 so sweet it's on netflix i'm surprised you guys didn't mention wicked i haven't seen wicked two

00:09:33.660 yet i know i'm going to see it on the weekend finally my goodness okay you're right kitch

00:09:38.840 actually the point goes to you yeah i just can't believe the cultural impact that wicked's release

00:09:43.700 had this year like we're still talking about it it only came out though in november yeah but

00:09:49.040 because really wicked two came out in november and then wicked one came out november last year

00:09:53.320 oh my god i woke up yesterday morning with that stuck in my hair it's my favorite saying it i just

00:09:59.700 keep cleaning the house and being like wicked wicked yeah yeah i love it that's the thing i

00:10:03.940 think that is a cringe moment that will haunt us oh i love it but we know it's cringing like

00:10:08.320 around wicked witch yeah it's like it's like i love it because you have to commit it's a double

00:10:13.820 hand thing it's a voice thing it's a little bounce in your hand yeah people who aren't on tiktok

00:10:17.800 probably like what are you talking about we guys keep it that way but maggie i don't know the song

00:10:23.140 i know the compilation of michelle yo who is an actor in it and then she's like madame marvel 1.00

00:10:28.060 she's got her hands in a m two m's um and then she flips her wrists around and she's like flip 0.96

00:10:34.120 around wicked witch okay you can look it up and she just consistently at every interview

00:10:39.020 would keep doing it and it was like her own personal joke like no one knew what like where

00:10:44.980 this came from she would just keep being like yep flip it around wicked witch i love it now it's a

00:10:49.260 song yeah oh it's a song you're like tiktok made it into like a little song and people are like

00:10:53.060 this is a millennial six seven yeah that is a perfect analogy all right should we move on to

00:10:58.980 our book wrap for the year before we get into it this is our like maybe third year doing it we

00:11:04.780 always want to give a disclaimer jaz and i want to really make it clear these are just our opinions

00:11:10.620 we also hate saying that these were the worst books of the year but it's just our personal

00:11:15.300 experiences of reading these books these were our least liked ones please don't let that deter you

00:11:20.480 if you want to read it and this is nothing against the authors we know how much work goes into putting

00:11:25.420 out a piece of work like this so we're doing this generally we are going to start off with our

00:11:32.760 worst reads of the year mags do you want to go first i'll pull that one and then we'll go

00:11:38.620 tit for tat the one that i'm bringing up first is something i just listened to as an audiobook

00:11:42.980 it is called eat your heart out by victoria brownlee it was published earlier this year

00:11:48.680 and it was like a fun audiobook that I just put in my app and oh my god it was a true star for me

00:11:55.940 okay the premise is that it follows this Australian food blogger who lives in Paris

00:12:00.180 and then she essentially is chosen to potentially write the tell-all memoir of a controversial

00:12:07.600 celebrity chef and the way that that chef her name's Carla has done it is she's invited like

00:12:13.660 six potential candidates and those like food journalists or like vloggers whatever to her

00:12:18.720 private property out in like the countryside and then they kind of do a series of like

00:12:22.900 challenges like I don't want to spoil it but different challenges right and they're trying

00:12:26.740 to kind of be knives out ish about it but I just found the writing really cringe and it was a fun

00:12:32.520 premise like almost like not a hero's journey but it's like okay we're going to be picked and then

00:12:36.960 we go through this challenge and then we go through that but it just fell so flat to me

00:12:41.060 unfortunately when you say the writing was cringe what do you mean by that it was like especially

00:12:46.460 the romance angle of like the oh my god like I like it's the enemies to lovers kind of thing

00:12:51.420 like that's a competition rival was it like cliche very cliche writing just the characterizations of

00:12:57.920 everyone just felt very like two-dimensional to be honest it's a like it would make a fun

00:13:04.140 really bad movie like you'd make a really fun movie okay but I didn't need to read it I have

00:13:10.520 a quick question as well do you think that like listening to an audiobook versus reading will

00:13:15.580 like change our perception of things of like how you feel about something yeah because actually

00:13:20.020 something that I'm reading now I'm like oh I think that would actually make a good audiobook

00:13:23.820 but I think this wouldn't have changed it I think if I read it maybe it would be worse

00:13:27.740 oh wait I did read this sorry it was on my ebook so I did read this one and I didn't enjoy it

00:13:34.320 you're up now what's the worst book that you have read this year I want to start off with a

00:13:40.440 controversial one i guess because this book actually won the booker prize in 2024 what yeah

00:13:47.560 worst i'm saying it's the worst because i just felt very overwhelmed by it and i just don't

00:13:55.280 think i was in the right headspace to read it it was very cerebral and the writing was very lucid

00:14:00.540 i guess and the book is orbital by samantha harvey we saw her do an author talk jeff yeah

00:14:07.060 at the melbourne writers festival so the premise is a team of astronauts are collecting meteorological

00:14:13.940 data um they're conducting science experiments and they are up in a spaceship together like

00:14:19.200 orbiting around the globe and the earth the book like goes through all the characters point of

00:14:26.800 views and like their feelings on like humanity and all this i just it was a do not finish for me

00:14:32.820 we read it for book club a lot of people book club really liked it it's very short

00:14:36.480 i can see why i won the book a prize i think she's such a talented writer i just think at the time i

00:14:40.720 was like this is too like big for me yeah i don't know but you read this like what did you think of

00:14:46.540 it i think i gave it a 4.25 it's a very high i enjoy kind of you're right it's like it does

00:14:52.540 there's no narrative yeah narrative flow it's more about the vibe the vibes of people what's

00:14:57.560 happening and the fact that it was set in space i really enjoyed but i can understand why that

00:15:02.240 creates like distance yeah reader okay your final quote-unquote worst book of the year i feel bad

00:15:09.340 because one of our friends really like this like i talked to her about it at grace and she was like

00:15:13.040 i cried and i was like oh my god i really didn't like this book and it is called three days in

00:15:18.280 june by ann tyler so this was published last year this did not hit for me the one sentence premise

00:15:23.620 is that it follows and is from the perspective of a socially awkward mother um whose daughter

00:15:29.540 is getting married and it just follows her the days before and after her daughter's wedding 1.00

00:15:34.220 and I was just like why the hell are we listening to this lady I'm so sorry like she was like

00:15:38.680 negative it was just like random nothing really happened it is a domestic fiction book so it's

00:15:44.280 not like I want like adventure or whatever but I was like what's the point what's like nothing

00:15:49.180 happened and I didn't connect to any of the like characters not that characters have to be likable

00:15:54.620 but I was just like am I missing something I genuinely read that and sorry that was also an

00:15:59.600 audiobook this one was actually an audiobook dare I say and I was just like am I missing something

00:16:04.620 like do I have to read like between the lines it was just a bit boring it was boring to me

00:16:09.620 this was pitched as a potential book club option a couple of months ago I remember like reading the

00:16:16.640 blurb and I was like I cannot read that before the wedding no no no anxious bride parents family

00:16:22.860 like wedding too much that's super interesting though that grace loved it i mean i feel like

00:16:27.540 at book club we have so many different like preferences and stuff so it's interesting that

00:16:31.680 i think you and grace like usually like the same style okay now we're up to your last worst book

00:16:37.600 what is it oh my god what you gave me a look i'm scared because it's another book club read okay

00:16:42.760 oh i think i know water moon yes i'm so good at guessing one point yeah thank you um obviously

00:16:51.120 getting married i've brought up something times episode but you're allowed to bring it up you yeah

00:16:56.260 you just got married literally last month babes like it's okay it's not old news yet i didn't

00:17:00.960 read as much as i liked is my point because it took up a lot of my time so a lot of my reads are

00:17:05.160 like ones that i was forced to read for book club and this book is water moon by samantha soto yabao

00:17:11.300 it is a fantasy realism book and i did not finish it for book club i dropped it after a couple of

00:17:18.880 chapters I thought the premise sounded really cool it's basically set in Tokyo this woman she

00:17:25.700 is the daughter of a pawn shop owner and then like an adventure begins like her the pawn shop is like

00:17:31.760 raided and her dad goes missing and she's like on this adventure to like find her dad and like

00:17:38.140 discover stuff about herself and her life I just think I got confused by the fantasy realism

00:17:43.660 because I was trying to picture the world and some of it would be like hey this is Tokyo this

00:17:50.280 is like a ramen shop whatever and then it would be like and now we're in this other world behind

00:17:54.820 this bookshelf and I just don't think I read fantasy enough to conceptualize that I love

00:18:00.320 literary fiction like that's like my the genre that I read the most that I connect with the most

00:18:04.480 so I love finding another world but I just sometimes struggle to like get into it and

00:18:09.580 that's what I found with this I think this was like a pretty liked book in our book club not

00:18:14.240 really people were like it's the best book I read but it was kind of like a two three star oh my god

00:18:19.320 two is so low in my books but I think it was like a good three I've actually pulled up the stats

00:18:23.720 right here and I can fact check that for us and the average was three exactly everyone gave it a

00:18:29.240 three actually that's wild yeah that never happens I just felt like I didn't want to pick it up go

00:18:34.340 back to it so that's that's why i didn't like it i feel like a lot of the sentiment in our book club

00:18:40.120 sorry we always mention it it's our like in real life book club with friends by the way but people

00:18:45.340 were like it was almost a wasted premise like people really enjoyed the story but we weren't

00:18:49.240 sure if it was executed well enough but that brings us to our most unexpected books of the

00:18:54.660 year this is a very general category so it could be positive or negative that just like something

00:18:59.740 that was unexpected to you. And I guess I'll go first. I wonder if you'll have this one in your

00:19:06.320 list, Jess, because this was another book club book. It is called The Names by Florence Knapp.

00:19:12.400 This is not in my most unexpected, but please tell us more. So this book was published this

00:19:17.520 year to rave reviews. It's a debut fiction novel, which is quite incredible. The premise

00:19:23.040 is really interesting. Essentially, it's like a sliding door type of novel that's split up

00:19:28.420 almost into three kind of realities or parallel worlds and essentially it follows the kind of

00:19:35.740 main character the mum Cora and what would have happened if she named her son three different

00:19:40.720 names three names Gordon is named after the dad and all the men in that family are named the same

00:19:46.820 thing there's another name called Bear which is chosen by like her daughter and then there's a

00:19:53.200 name that she chose Julian and then we follow the life of that man and then this family um in seven

00:19:59.840 year time jumps and we see like what happens essentially if someone's name is different that's

00:20:06.840 such a good concept it is right such a strong concept and I feel like I'd never read anything

00:20:11.180 like that had you no and I think it was done really well I will say a massive theme and like

00:20:16.860 subject matter of this book is domestic violence so it is quite an intense read so that being said

00:20:22.200 it is also quite like a page turner and it makes you want to continue and I really enjoyed this

00:20:29.480 one this was like one of my favorite books of the year I put it in the unexpected column why was it

00:20:34.420 unexpected to you because of the premise and the structure of the story I was like oh not read it

00:20:39.120 like that and it was very cool to like dive deep into these characters and see you know differences

00:20:44.480 between nature and nurture all these different factors that happen or like what stays the same

00:20:50.040 despite all the changes yeah i love it i love the tv series about that oh yes i don't read books

00:20:57.340 you're so right it would be a really interesting yeah really interesting one and people would have

00:21:02.180 to be incredible actors like that'd be a great piece yeah it sounds a little bit like the show

00:21:06.640 counterpart if you don't know that jazz it's now time for your most unexpected book mine is drive

00:21:14.260 your plows over the bones of the dead by Olga Tokachuk. This was unexpected because, and this

00:21:20.320 is the thing I love about book clubs in general, not just ours, is that it really forces you to

00:21:25.220 get out of your comfort zone with genres and authors. And this is a Polish book written by

00:21:32.360 Polish author, which is just something that I've never engaged with before. The premise is it's

00:21:38.840 set in a remote polish village and there's an eccentric woman in her 60s who um early on in

00:21:46.120 the book there's like a disappearance uh murder of her neighbor she finds her neighbor dead then

00:21:50.900 it's like through her point of view of like all these oddball characters her living in this remote

00:21:56.420 polish village and kind of like becoming like a little bit of a like a sleuth like a detective

00:22:00.520 i think i just thought the writing was really beautiful and it was just i wouldn't have picked

00:22:07.480 it up so it's unexpected because i haven't read much polish writing before and it's like a literary

00:22:12.820 fiction version of a murder mystery which cool don't you think i didn't read it so you were away

00:22:18.940 yeah that's a great that's a really great like catch line for it was it a translation yes it

00:22:25.220 was a translation and when it got translated into english it won the 2018 man booker prize

00:22:29.940 oh gorgeous yeah i wanted to try read that one i think you should i think you'd like it

00:22:34.860 Dua Lipa is a big fan of the author yeah so that's why she's having a bit of renaissance as well

00:22:39.400 I remember the interview with Dua Lipa on her book club came out like around the time that we

00:22:44.420 were reading it and I was like look on point do you think she actually reads all those books

00:22:49.080 yeah because there's like a lot I guess she's always in holiday mode because I'm like how does

00:22:53.300 this girl do it what's your second most unexpected read of 2025 this is also being one of my

00:22:59.420 favorite reads of the year and I had recommended it on Culture Club back when I read it and it is

00:23:04.940 called Glyph by Ali Smith oh this book is so special to me I need to own it that's an idea

00:23:11.140 anybody I don't have it actually I think I um I think I read it uh as an e-book god I never

00:23:17.940 remember how I read things but this book was published earlier this year by Scottish author

00:23:22.740 Ali Smith and it's a short book and it's like really stuck with me and again I think what

00:23:28.980 really stood out and why it's in this section is the way she's kind of structured this book is

00:23:34.360 quite it's like not what you would expect so it's quite genre bending it's definitely more that

00:23:39.520 dystopian feel but she really drip feeds you information about the characters in the world

00:23:44.340 and like you don't get everything at once and it just like reveals itself to you or it's a bit

00:23:49.940 confusing what do you mean by that like I feel like most books don't reveal everything at once

00:23:53.900 true I feel like you're like put in this world that's similar to ours but not so it's like is

00:23:58.740 that fantasy realism no it's more like sci-fi sci-fi dystopian but not overly um it's from the

00:24:06.060 perspective of children i think that really like helps you frame that and these children age and

00:24:11.360 stuff but you're almost seeing it through a perspective of someone who's just in that world

00:24:15.900 they're not trying to like explain it to you they're just in it it's it's hard to put it in

00:24:20.040 perspective what i found interesting is i read this near the start of this year so it's been a

00:24:24.400 while and when i just did some searching to be like okay like glyph by ali smith blurb i literally

00:24:30.860 looked at like 10 websites no one could really surmise this properly in a blurb or no one's

00:24:36.200 really tried to do it so that's why i'm struggling to kind of give it um to portray it without giving

00:24:41.800 it away i would say that it touches on themes of like technology identity family climate a bit

00:24:49.120 about everything i'm on penguins website just to like please conceptualize this myself they have

00:24:55.060 written once upon a time not very far from now two children come home to find a line of wet red

00:25:00.720 paint encircling the outside of the house what does it mean it's a truism of our time that it'll

00:25:06.220 be the next generation who'll sort out our increasingly toxic world what would that actually

00:25:10.940 be like in a state turned hostile a world of insiders and outsiders what things of the past

00:25:16.880 can sustain them and what shape can resistance take and what's a horse got to do with any of

00:25:21.880 this so it sounds very like surreal esoteric that's why it's like i saw them like do i even

00:25:27.100 read that out like does it give you much that helps a little but i'm intrigued yeah definitely

00:25:32.320 i think i might have said this on the pod but like i tried to read ali smith a few years ago

00:25:36.200 and i couldn't because she had no punctuation or something this one's got punctuation i hope

00:25:42.160 i don't know i'll try her again let the scots do whatever they want you know what i mean the

00:25:45.940 Irish and the Scots love to defy grammar and like language conventions which I like and now we've

00:25:52.500 got your second most unexpected book what's that I'm saying this is unexpected because so many

00:26:00.100 people in a book club hated this book like hated it didn't finish it no star one star you didn't

00:26:05.920 finish it but I really liked it I don't know why and I feel weird that no one else liked it I'm

00:26:12.140 like am i missing something i don't know maybe i was just in the right headspace it's long island

00:26:16.780 compromise by taffy brodessa akner uh she wrote the novel flashman is in trouble oh i hated that

00:26:24.540 tv show i couldn't watch it yes so that's a book that's been made into a tv show this is her second

00:26:29.200 book i picked it up last summer the cover stood out to me i thought the premise sounded interesting

00:26:35.140 because it's got a little bit of historical fiction in it which i love so it's set originally

00:26:39.120 in 1980 when a wealthy businessman Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway and held ransom

00:26:46.560 then it like jumps forward to his three kids who are now adults I think that the reason it's

00:26:52.680 unexpected is because it's quite a big book and it's not what I thought it would be in the end 0.98

00:26:56.780 I just couldn't put it down and all the characters are unlikable like they're all assholes like how 0.99

00:27:01.840 they were described like assholes perverts they're just like they've got to screw loose because of 0.99

00:27:06.140 this family trauma I just felt like it was so foreign to like my world so in the way that 0.98

00:27:12.660 people find fantasy fulfilling in that way I guess it's a literary fiction book that I was like I just

00:27:17.180 want to see where this character goes because it's like a crazy situation so yeah that's why

00:27:21.340 it's unexpected um family drama it felt quite salacious I feel like we've uncovered a new

00:27:28.300 kind of favorite genre of yours because this book and your other unexpected book they're both like

00:27:33.800 murder mysteries or they both have a mystery element to it i feel like you need to dive into

00:27:37.340 that more yeah maybe that's my 2026 book goal because i think i've always i'm not like a crime

00:27:42.560 person i think because like i don't love true crime shows i've been like well no i'm not gonna

00:27:47.040 read like a crime book yeah but then that does make you want to keep reading so yeah the mystery

00:27:51.920 element's really addictive to make you want to find out what happened yeah so there you go new

00:27:57.020 goal now drum roll time for the best books we read in 2025 I'm so excited to hear what yours

00:28:10.960 were I'm so excited you go first okay so my first one is wild dark shore by Charlotte McConaughey

00:28:16.820 this was published earlier this year I'm also so happy that it is an Australian author so you can

00:28:21.660 shout out some local talent my goodness I really enjoyed this book it's centers on climate anxiety

00:28:27.860 it's a dystopian novel I would say it's also quite like a bit of domestic fiction like it is about a

00:28:34.700 family dynamic I did recommend this at the time of reading on Culture Club but as a quick premise

00:28:40.360 it follows a family the father is called Dominique Salt and him and his three kids live on a tiny

00:28:48.920 island not far from antarctica at this place called sheer water and it's home to the world's

00:28:53.920 largest seed bank so it was once a place full of researchers but you've quickly established at this

00:29:00.360 time at the start of the book that something's happened something's happened and then at the

00:29:05.340 same time a mysterious woman washes up on shore and essentially it goes from there and it it

00:29:11.280 navigates their relationship it navigates what's happening to like the climate and the seeds and i

00:29:17.660 don't want to give anything else away but do you think you think that's kind of a good summary of

00:29:21.800 it because you've read it i didn't read it around the time of wedding but i've heard so much about

00:29:26.680 it i feel like i read it yeah i think that's a good summary from what i've heard and it's like

00:29:31.080 yeah like climate dystopian kind of vibe yeah yeah why did you love it i think the writing was

00:29:36.160 so beautiful because recently i've read quite a few books of like people who are australian or

00:29:40.440 grew up or spent a little bit of time in australia and then they try to write about australia

00:29:44.220 and it sometimes doesn't hit for me but this book which is you know set near Antarctica also

00:29:50.360 mentions other places in Australia it felt so real and there was a lot of elements of hope

00:29:56.760 but also hopelessness and I think climate anxiety having that as a concept is really of putting to

00:30:04.200 some people but I think having this separate like a little bit separate like it's it's a bit foreign

00:30:09.500 because it's set near Antarctica it's set in like the future there was that separation that made it

00:30:15.780 okay I really enjoyed the the narrative flow actually to be honest the end of it wasn't my

00:30:20.980 favorite because it veered into more like not a Hollywood movie but it did fall more into

00:30:26.200 like an expected structure like oh okay like this is happening but overall I just think it was like

00:30:32.400 a beautiful exploration I actually think I read this while I was overseas as well um and I maybe

00:30:38.860 like the reminder of back home or something that's beautiful yeah what was one of your

00:30:43.780 favorite books of the year my first pick is Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors funnily enough

00:30:51.200 Cleopatra and Frankenstein Coco's debut was on my most unexpected list from last year

00:30:57.200 so this is Coco's second book and it follows the Blue Sisters so the four sisters all of them are

00:31:04.380 so different like one is um like a lawyer living in london one's a boxer in la one's a model in

00:31:11.760 paris there's also a fourth sister oh mystery one yeah like i don't know if it's a spoiler

00:31:16.700 no yeah it's okay so i'll leave it at that funnily enough i was considering like do i put this in or

00:31:21.360 not but when i like looked at my bookshelf thought back over this year it really like stood out and i

00:31:27.200 think it's because it took me months to read not because it's like super deep or the writing's

00:31:32.220 or anything like that but just felt like talking to a friend like hearing a friend's story even

00:31:39.860 though it's like all the characters it's from their points of views but I just found it really

00:31:43.640 easy to pick up and put down and I read it a lot like majority of it when I was off work for burnout

00:31:49.260 and so I think like escaping into these women's lives and they're all so different like Paris 0.80

00:31:55.480 Maya or like LA London it just made me I think it was like a good escape but then it also had 0.79

00:32:01.440 like a through line of again like another family trauma family dynamic I'm finding that's the theme

00:32:07.820 as well of this year of like you and me both yeah the family my next one yeah yeah family trauma 0.97

00:32:13.020 don't know why Coco is very popular for a reason she's kind of I think like one of these like cool

00:32:19.120 girl authors of the moment but I think there's a reason for that and I think her writing is very

00:32:24.860 accessible without talking down to her readers so it's a beautiful story of sisterhood as well

00:32:31.620 which i think is a love story that is often not spoken about as much of course little women is

00:32:37.980 like the ultimate sisterhood movie or book originally a book so i love like reading

00:32:42.740 my sisters as well have you read it no but i'd like to borrow it i read cleopatra and frankenstein

00:32:48.100 after your recommendation and like really disliked the start and i enjoyed it and then i enjoyed it

00:32:54.140 you had to push through like what is that cut cut that first chapter like really put me off but i do

00:32:58.860 want to read it okay your final pick for best book of 2025 oh my god this is my favorite and i just

00:33:05.260 think i had a flashback and i think you gave it to me the beast thing by paul murray he did oh my

00:33:10.780 god jazz this is my favorite book of the year yay yeah yeah i haven't even read it myself but i was

00:33:15.000 like maggie would love you need and my oldest sister borrowed her she loved it and she's a

00:33:18.340 piggy she tried like she borrowed yeah anyway she's a picky reader and she really likes it too

00:33:22.960 this was published back in 2023 and Irish it's an Irish author Paul Murray and it is definitely

00:33:30.040 like a family drama book it is quite like a big whopper of a book and it also spans quite a bit

00:33:37.120 of time and it follows a family of four father mother and a daughter and a son and each chapter

00:33:42.840 is from what are their perspectives so it is interchangeable essentially I mean the premise

00:33:48.120 is almost like any other family drama kind of vibe where it's like the dads and money travels

00:33:53.040 and the mum is also and the the teenage gal she's veering off the rails a bit and her brother is

00:34:00.640 falling into the black hole of the internet I don't want to say too much but in a in a sense

00:34:06.140 what I love about this is like it's a big sprawling novel but it's about a small thing like

00:34:10.620 it's about a family going through a bit of struggle right not to diminish their pain but

00:34:15.580 it's quite common which is i think the beauty of this novel it's not like this like all these

00:34:21.120 incredibly like unique things happen to them it's like no this is like a family down the road i found

00:34:26.300 this to be mesmerizing i think this man i was like wow the way you can write as a teenage girl the

00:34:31.020 right way you can write as like a mom like i believe you sir like you really encapsulated i

00:34:36.520 think a lot about the female experience but also the diverse array of characters i think he was

00:34:41.520 like such a feat like he should be so proud of writing this book i love it and is that our only

00:34:46.580 male author of the whole day i think it might i love that so true not me putting him up there but

00:34:52.900 yeah it was really beautiful and it won this one the nero book of the year and what is your final

00:34:59.420 book wreck of the year my top book for 2025 was the queen by yasmin zahir this is a debut novel

00:35:08.760 which is crazy when you read it. It's literary fiction, of course, and it follows a wealthy

00:35:15.220 Palestinian woman who has impeccable style and meticulous hygiene. She lives in New York City.

00:35:23.180 She's a teacher, but she doesn't need to be a teacher. She's like just doing it because she's 0.96

00:35:28.440 passionate about it. And it's essentially a book about colonialism, statelessness as a Palestinian 0.90

00:35:34.320 woman um class and trauma and it's just beautiful beautiful writing when you're following the story 0.99

00:35:42.260 she kind of um it starts becoming a little bit less realistic yeah would you say definitely

00:35:47.500 and i think that makes you even more in that world of like whoa like you're in her head you're really

00:35:53.080 in this woman's head she actually started my year of rest and relaxation as the book's soul sister

00:35:58.820 but she read my year of rest and relaxation after writing it so if you like that you might like

00:36:06.620 the coin um it's won heaps of prizes um appeared on the new york times 100 notable books of the

00:36:14.520 year for 2024 so it came out last year but this was a book club read it was great to read um from

00:36:20.560 a palestinian author i just loved it and i i've got it as like a physical book and i just i want

00:36:25.400 to read it again yeah I think it's definitely one where the reread would be so valuable like I want

00:36:30.940 to reread it again I feel like it does really cross those lines between literary fiction and

00:36:35.820 surrealism so when it became a little bit more fantastical I was like a little bit confused like

00:36:42.480 I feel like I didn't sink deep enough into that and I was like what's real what's not but maybe

00:36:46.760 the author wants us suspended somewhere in between love that that was our 2025 book wrap I think

00:36:54.260 that's a pretty good year for both of us hey i'm happy with that it's inspired me to read more next

00:36:59.260 year and find the three lines like what i enjoyed and probably lots of new recommendations to the

00:37:04.120 listeners a lot of them were books i hadn't heard of so i'm sure people listening probably felt the

00:37:08.280 same and most of them were from like last year or two so freshies okay so before we wrap up the

00:37:14.880 episode i just thought it'd be really fun to give you guys a bit of a game so so much happened in

00:37:19.520 2025 and I feel like we probably forgot a lot of it so I kind of went through some of my favorite

00:37:25.240 cultural moments either funny or crazy can't believe it happened yes I'm gonna start saying 0.91

00:37:30.560 them and I want you to finish okay okay people got really mad at Sabrina Carpenter because of

00:37:36.560 her album cover thank you man's a friend sorry I'm really competitive no no I love it one point

00:37:41.360 to Maggie I wasn't gonna make it a game yeah one to Maggie Coldplay were in the headlines

00:37:46.440 because of the cheating scandal at the concert.

00:37:48.460 Yeah, Jazz is doing that one.

00:37:49.520 You're so cheating.

00:37:50.480 I'm also a disadvantage because I had my work Christmas party yesterday,

00:37:53.560 last night.

00:37:53.920 So true.

00:37:54.700 Okay, we'll reward you a 0.5 if at the end you're close.

00:37:58.300 Okay, Justin Bieber is standing.

00:38:01.140 On business.

00:38:01.660 Oh, yes.

00:38:03.000 Jeff Bezos got married.

00:38:05.660 Married.

00:38:06.300 I'm doing so badly.

00:38:07.660 You sounded like so strong.

00:38:08.740 I know, I know.

00:38:09.860 We talked about this one before.

00:38:11.100 Katy Perry went.

00:38:12.520 There we go. 1.00

00:38:13.340 Katy Perry went space. 1.00

00:38:14.960 Sydney Sweeney got a lot of backlash over her. 1.00

00:38:17.740 Jane Add. 0.95

00:38:18.460 Oh, yeah.

00:38:18.880 Okay, you can both have that one.

00:38:20.080 I feel like that was the same time.

00:38:21.260 Oh, that was a jazz.

00:38:21.920 That was a jazz.

00:38:22.580 You were.

00:38:23.100 Okay, that was jazz.

00:38:23.740 Thanks.

00:38:24.340 So selfless, Maggie.

00:38:26.240 Nothing beats a...

00:38:27.620 Jetsu Holiday.

00:38:28.380 Oh, good. 1.00

00:38:29.140 Fuck. 1.00

00:38:29.440 I'm slow. 1.00

00:38:29.880 I'm just like watching now.

00:38:31.060 I don't know.

00:38:31.680 I threw you off guard with my Christmas comments.

00:38:34.080 Six.

00:38:34.840 Seven.

00:38:36.720 Dochi won her first. 1.00

00:38:38.560 Granny. 1.00

00:38:39.620 Okay.

00:38:40.000 I think that was jazz too.

00:38:41.420 Both?

00:38:41.860 Okay.

00:38:42.040 That was both of us. 0.91

00:38:42.980 All right, I'm going to get India to get the time code out.

00:38:44.620 Yeah, yeah, literally see what the soundbar says.

00:38:47.120 Beyonce made history when Cowboy Carter. 0.67

00:38:50.380 Won the first album, like Black Woman to win the country album. 0.99

00:38:53.360 Correct. 0.94

00:38:53.820 Won the Grammy for the best country album, 0.63

00:38:56.060 first Black Woman to ever take home that award.

00:38:58.080 I love that album.

00:38:59.300 Harry Styles' brand Pleasing.

00:39:01.320 Release the vibrator.

00:39:02.220 Yep.

00:39:02.900 I forgot that happened and then I saw it and I was like, 1.00

00:39:04.820 oh my God, true.

00:39:05.320 You can't buy it in Australia, that's why.

00:39:07.100 TikTok was temporarily.

00:39:09.060 Oh, offline, January.

00:39:10.620 It was banned in America.

00:39:11.740 It was banned in America.

00:39:12.980 Yeah, and I literally forgot that happened.

00:39:15.600 Yeah, 24 hours a bit less.

00:39:16.360 They literally all got to leave the app and, yeah, crazy. 0.72

00:39:20.840 Anna Wintour officially announced Vogue, but she's still there.

00:39:25.020 Yeah, I know what you mean, Queen.

00:39:27.340 Okay, and then last one, the Louvre.

00:39:30.440 Got robbed.

00:39:31.820 You get that.

00:39:33.180 Go Jazz.

00:39:34.200 Woo!

00:39:35.060 That was fun.

00:39:35.760 I feel sharper after that.

00:39:37.700 Yeah, I just feel like there's so many things that happened that we forgot about.

00:39:40.280 So many things.

00:39:41.320 Crazy.

00:39:42.040 What a year.

00:39:42.520 yeah and thank you everyone for listening to coach club over 2025 we're so excited for 2026

00:39:49.420 we actually can we announce it we have a fresh rebrand coming dropping your feeds super soon

00:39:56.240 we're finalizing the details and you'll be seeing that so gas us up yeah so much stuff is in the

00:40:02.860 works guys these two are working super hard so i'm really excited for you guys to hear all the

00:40:07.080 exciting things that are going to happen in 2026 well thank you have a fun and safe holiday break

00:40:13.560 and we'll be back in your ears in 2026.

Culture Club - December 29, 2025

The Best, Worst & Most Unexpected Books Of 2025

Episode Stats

Transcript