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The Book Review - Our Book Critics on Their 2025 in Reading

Here we are in mid-December, which means that along with all of the other year-end lists we produce and avidly consume at this time each year, The New York Times Book Review's staff critics are also looking back on everything they read in 2025, and toasting the books that have stayed with them.

On this episode, host Gilbert Cruz talks with Dwight Garner, Alexandra Jacobs and Jennifer Szalai about their standout fiction and nonfiction of the past 12 months.

Books mentioned:

  • "What We Can Know," by Ian McEwan
  • "Flesh," by David Szalay
  • "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny," by Kiran Desai
  • "Playworld," by Adam Ross
  • "When the Going Was Good," by Graydon Carter
  • "I Regret Almost Everything," by Keith McNally
  • "When All the Men Wore Hats," by Susan Cheever
  • "Notes to John," by Joan Didion
  • "A Flower Traveled in My Blood," by Haley Cohen Gilliland
  • "38 Londres Street," by Philippe Sands
  • "Wild Thing," by Sue Prideaux
  • "Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life," by Dan Nadel
  • "Class Clown," by Dave Barry
  • "Electric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel," by Frances Wilson
  • "Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures: A Biography of Denis Johnson," by Ted Geltner
  • "Shadow Ticket," by Thomas Pynchon
  • "Selected Letters of John Updike," edited by James Schiff
  • "Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford," by Carla Kaplan
  • "More Everything Forever, AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity," by Adam Becker

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Marketplace All-in-One - Getting into the deregulation business

The Trump administration is reconfiguring a government watchdog that grew out of the Great Recession. The Financial Stability Oversight Council watches out for risks to the financial system to prevent the future need for government bailouts. Now, the Treasury Secretary says the watchdog will focus on boosting economic growth and easing regulations that he says impose “undue burdens." Plus, we follow the money from Machu Picchu and examine the appetite for "extended range" EVs.

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Focus on Africa - Are weight-loss drugs a magic bullet?

Weight-loss injections have become a major talking point, from Hollywood celebrities to TikTok influencers.

Originally developed to treat diabetes, these medications were later found to help people shed a lot of weight - a discovery that has rapidly expanded their global use. The World Health Organization has now released its first-ever guidance on prescribing them for obesity.

South Africa recently became the first country in Africa to formally approve one version of these drugs for weight loss, and access is slowly spreading across the continent.

We follow a Kenyan woman’s experience using the injections and we hear from a South African doctor who explains how they work - and what the latest medical research reveals so far.

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Newshour - Flood risk for the people of Gaza

According to the UN's humanitarian affairs agency, more than 800,000 displaced Gazans could be affected by flooding, as a winter storm surges along the coast. Most of them are living in tents. Also in the programme: we meet the man who smuggled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado out of Venezuela; and Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is the clear winner in the world's top gaming awards, so why has a French arthouse creation proved such a hit? (Photo: Displaced Palestinians ride a donkey-drawn cart on a flooded street in Gaza City, December 12, 2025. Credit: Reuters/Mahmoud Issa)

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Audio Mises Wire - Inflation, Interventionism, and Intergenerational Resentment

Inflation does more than just force up prices. It destroys the wealth-producing process, especially with young people who are prevented from acquiring the same kinds of assets earlier generations procured. The result is inter-generational conflict.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/inflation-interventionism-and-intergenerational-resentment

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Marketplace All-in-One - What the vibe of your office holiday party says your workplace

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — and with that, the obligatory office holiday party. Thing is, some choices around holiday parties can tell a story of how a company is doing. Who's there? Who's chatting together or sticking to a corner? What food and drink are being served? Today, we'll help you read the room. But first, most regional Federal Reserve bank presidents have been reappointed, despite some Trump administration proposals to exert greater control over the Fed's regional banks.

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CBS News Roundup - 12/12/2025 | World News Roundup

Cascades of rain flood the Pacific Northwest. Trump turns up the heat on Venezuela. It's a day in court for fired Michigan Coach Sherrone Moore. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has those stories and more on the World News Roundup podcast.

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Marketplace All-in-One - Reddit fights Australia’s social media ban

From the BBC World Service: Reddit has filed a lawsuit calling for Australia's social media ban for children under 16 to be declared invalid. The text-based forum is one of 10 online platforms covered by the ban, which came into force this week. And later in the program, we head to Peru, where conflicts are brewing over how money from Machu Picchu tickets is being spent and whether it's benefiting tourists and locals.