OEL's 2025 Favorites: Some Reading, Watching, and Listening Recommendations for Your Holiday Season
We puzzled over what to call this: the OEL GrAcEmItzer (Grammy, Academy, Emmy, Pulitzer) or EGOP (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Pulitzer) Awards? POsEm, Gr Awards (pronounced possum grrr, obviously)? GramPu (“grandpa”) AcadEmmy? Eh, forget it!
As you head into the holidays, enjoy these recommendations as members of the OEL team reflect on their favorites of 2025 in literature, film, television, podcasts, music, and journalism (*Note: not all selections were created in 2025; they are just the favorites we encountered in 2025).
As always, the offer stands: coffee on us if you'd like to get together to discuss any of these recommendations—or to offer us some of your own!
Literature
Tammy Adair: The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, by David Suzuki; foreword by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Suzuki presents ways to think and act sustainably. Was 2000 25 years ago??
Rory Jones: The Absent One is the second book in the Dept. Q series and a real thriller. Darker than The Keeper of Lost Causes and gives me real The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo vibes.
Mona Choucair: Mona’s Eyes. This beautiful novel tells the story of a 10-year-old girl facing the terrifying prospect of blindness; her grandfather takes her on weekly museum visits to experience great works of art before her vision fades. It is a meditation on the power of art and survival and shows how beauty and meaning can sustain us in fragile times. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah. I re-read this over Thanksgiving and openly wept again. It is beautifully crafted and set against the backdrop of WWII. Just amazingly written. Paradise and Love, both Toni Morrison novels that I am rereading as part of my upper-level Toni Morrison class. I love both of these complex novels.
Andy Hogue: The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans. A decade ago I started a run of good fiction that lasted about eight years–just couldn’t miss. Then at some point I became what a recent essay called a “broken reader”: “Nothing held me. Everything annoyed me. Cilantro now tasted like soap.” Thank you, Ms. Evans; it’s possible The Correspondent might have put this humpty dumpty of a reader back together again.
Anna Beaudry: Inciting Joy by Ross Gay. I knew when I read this collection of essays back in January it would be the best thing I read all year, and that opinion hasn’t changed; the essay “Grief Suite” is the crowning glory of the whole collection.
Dustin Benac: East of Eden. Steinbeck’s novel captures the fullness range of human relations, casting the human search for meaning, connection, and God into a bare and beautiful form.
Mark Richards: Alan Noble’s On Getting Out of Bed was a gift to me, describing mental suffering in ways that were both resonant and instructive, and offering hopeful and inspiring reflections on the gift and loveliness of living.
Rebecca Flavin: The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science by Kate Zernike, is the book I’ve read this year that I recommend most. I reviewed it for KWBU’s Likely Stories, but to briefly recap - it’s both infuriating and inspirational to read about the obstacles Hopkins and her colleagues overcame in their careers.
Daniel Benyousky: Afterthoughts: Wisdom for the Unreflective by Richard Ayowade. This is a ridiculous book by British comedian Richard Ayowade in the vein of La Rochefoucauld’s Maxims and Reflections, only Ayowade’s are absurd and funny. I found the book at Topping in St. Andrews while helping lead Baylor in St. Andrews, and it is a beautiful signed Faber edition, so that makes me happy. He is at his funniest on British quiz shows, so that may be the best introduction to him. I also read the biography On Seamus Heaney by Roy Foster, which I bought at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace, the museum in Bellaghy, Northern Ireland, the small village Heaney grew up in and where he was buried. This trip was a pilgrimage for me, and I met Roy Foster at the Beall Poetry Festival years ago when he was the invited critic, so this also made me happy.
Television
Daniel Benyousky: I spent a lot of time watching Dodgers playoff games this fall. They won their second World Series in a row, the first time that has happened in 25 years. The World Series went a full 7 games and they won in extra innings after being down by 1 with 2 outs in the 9th inning. Once they won, I hugged every single person, stranger or friend, where I was watching the game. So much happened in the series. So much happened in the last 2 games. I’m not biased or anything, but that was the greatest World Series ever and the great World Series game 7 ever. There. I said it. I also rewatched Better Call Saul. This is such a good show. You get the backstories from some of the more minor Breaking Bad characters and you are introduced to some wonderful new ones. So good.
Anna Beaudry: Slow Horses. This Apple+ show about MI5 flunkies is both a raucous belly laugh and an edge-of-your seat nail biter; don’t miss Gary Oldman in the role he has been waiting his whole life to play.
Dustin Benac: Rings of Power. As is often the case, I am playing catch up in this department, but the world making (and unmaking) in this story is fantasy in its best form.
Rory Jones: The Rehearsal Season 2. This was an easy choice - Nathan Fielder tackles what he thinks is the biggest problem in aviation: poor cockpit communication. To do so, he re-creates and relives the biography of Chelsea “Sully” Sullenberger, among other hijinks.
Rebecca Flavin: I am unashamed that I watch garbage Hallmark movies. The plots are predictable, the acting is trash, there’s always a happy ending, and I’m here for it.
Mona Choucair: I love Elsbeth because I think I am a super sleuth detective. She cracks me up! And I love Abbott Elementary because it is very realistic.
Mark Richards: Andor. Back for its fast-paced, high-octane second season, it’s a gritty and intense, marvelously written (with an Emmy to prove it!) continuation of the story of the Rebellion. I complemented my viewing in the spring by hiking in Scotland early this fall to a notable Season 1 film location.
Andy Hogue: Dept. Q. It was my year of British mystery and crime shows, and, although it’s hard to pick just one, Dept. Q, set in Edinburgh, was fun to watch while in Scotland.
Film
Andy Hogue: Happy Gilmore 2, obvi.
Anna Beaudry: Come See Me in the Good Light: Andrea Gibson is one of my favorite poets, and this documentary follows the last year of their life as they and their wife, poet Megan Falley, walk through Andrea’s terminal cancer diagnosis; despite the heavy premise, I challenge you to find a more joyful film of the year.
Rory Jones: Friendship: Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd are hilarious in this absurdist comedy about finding friends as an adult man. If you don’t know Tim Robinson from Detroiters, I Think You Should Leave, or The Chair Company, please watch an episode of one of those shows first so the OEL inbox isn’t filled with hatemail about how much you didn’t like my recommendation!
Rebecca Flavin: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale - this movie was like a love letter to Downton fans.
Daniel Benyousky: I saw The Phoenician Scheme this fall and it was classic Wes Anderson goodness.
Tammy Adair: Hidalgo It makes me want to raise, save, and admire mustangs.
Mona Choucair: Pollock. I am enamored with Jackson Pollock’s art pieces and am alluding to them in my upper-level American literature classes. I also watched Frida again recently because I want to write a paper on Frida Kahlo's work and her influence on 20th American Literature.
Mark Richards: Luther: Never Too Much. I love Luther Vandross, and this documentary only made me love him more.
Podcasts
Anna Beaudry: The Mockingcast: This is the podcast I’ve been devoted to the longest, both a laugh and a relief in an otherwise wearying world, in which two Episcopal priests and a writer talk about where we find grace and its absence in our world.
Mark Richards: I thought Ezra Klein’s September podcast episode with Ben Shapiro, entitled "We Are Going to Have to Live Here with One Another" and released the week after Charlie Kirk was murdered (though recorded before it), was both deeply helpful and challenging, and a model for the way each of us ought to approach conversations with people in our lives with whom we disagree, because we are in fact going to have to live here with one another, so it’s imperative that each of us—you and I!—do what we can to bridge divides and sow peace in our relationships, communities, and society, even when others won’t do it first.
Dustin Benac: Ezra Klein's conversation with Eliezer Yudkowsky about the potential existential limits of AI is worthy of a careful listen, even if at the end of the day I stop short of the apocalyptic concerns Yudkowsky raises.
Rory Jones: Pablo Torre Finds Out: Yes, I recommended this the last time we were asked. Yes, it is still my favorite podcast. Yes, Pablo still went to Harvard. One of my favorite episodes of the fall has been his interview of Ira Glass, of This American Life notoriety.
Rebecca Flavin: I might be the only person in the universe who doesn’t listen to podcasts regularly. I’m too easily distracted and have to keep rewinding to catch parts I missed, so I just gave up trying. 🙂
Tammy Adair: Joe Gardener's Podcast: Grow like a pro! I learn so much from Joe and his guests.
Mona Choucair: We Can Do Hard Things: shows resilience and power among strong women today. The Michelle Obama Podcast: Michelle offers great insight into her life as First Lady and afterwards...very entertaining and insightful. "The Future of Public Schools in America"...very enlightening and terrifying at the same time.
Andy Hogue: Chasing Scratch: This is my favorite golf podcast, hosted by two regular dads based in North Carolina and Kentucky, and because I happened to be in Scotland while they took their first-ever trip there, I actually got to meet up and play a round with them—a top 2025 experience.
Longform Journalism
Mark Richards: "Using ChatGPT Isn’t Bad for the Environment," Andy Masley (The Weird Turn Pro, Substack). I’m generally willing to read good-faith, well-researched/reasoned, contrarian takes in my evergreen effort to pursue truth, and Andy Masley’s research and writing on AI and the environment has convinced me that the environmental concerns surrounding AI are, generally speaking, considerably overblown or misleading, if not entirely false. That’s not to say there aren’t any concerns at all, or even any environmental concerns, but the oft-repeated talking points you’ve heard and maybe believe may in fact not stand up to scrutiny (in other words: read at your own risk!). If nothing else, Andy’s writing has reinvigorated my healthy skepticism of zeitgeist and my appreciation for deep, nuanced, longform research and writing.
Andy Hogue: Caity Weaver, "How My Trip to Quit Sugar Became a Journey into Hell," New York Times Magazine (January 27, 2025): The world is heavy, and this hilarious antidote allowed me to actually laugh out loud at several points.
Dustin Benac: "The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River," Texas Monthly (August 2025). Aaron Parsley’s firsthand account of the heart-wrenching horror of the Texas flooding captures the raw humanity of a crisis that has impacted our community in lasting ways. Because I grew up tubing and fishing the Guadalupe, I could not look away from the horror and humanity of this particular story when I first read this piece.
Rory Jones: "Uncanny Testimony" by Ben Lee (Sept. 25, 2025). Ben recounts his own memories of his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, and wonders what it means to remember the past and ‘know’ a person in the age of AI.
Rebecca Flavin: Anything in The Atlantic or Foreign Affairs.
Music
Rory Jones: You Are My Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell: It is nice when people make good kids’ music that even adults can enjoy. Mitchell’s album features classic American folk songs and a few world music selections. My favorite track is Who’s My Pretty Baby?, which features some fun guitar riffs.
Mark Richards: MATIN (Complete Edition), Jess Ray. In a year full of music, Jess Ray’s 2-year, 4-album project called MATIN (after the morning prayer service matins, for us liturgically less familiar) was my most played. Dubbed "friendly folk," these albums have been a balm and a treasure to me for nearly two years now. I’d recommend starting with the video recordings.
Andy Hogue: Jason Isbell, Foxes in the Snow: This is the hardest selection of all because I enjoyed a lot of good music this year, but it was good to hear Jason Isbell strip back to the sound he pioneered a decade ago with Southeastern, an all-time great album.
Anna Beaudry: Bite Me by Renee Rapp: I could try to come across as really cultured right now, but I’m going to share what I actually listened to nonstop this fall, and this album is nothing but bangers I can listen to on repeat all day.
Dustin Benac: & Juliet: This runaway creative musical has become a staple in our house after my far-more-cultured spouse saw it on Broadway this fall. It’s commercial, witty, and combines some of the greatest hits of a generation to reimagine the Romeo and Juliet story beyond a tragic narrative.
Daniel Benyousky: Lately, I’ve been relistening to old favorites more than newer music. Some songs I’ve loved lately are "Sprawl II" and "In the Backseat" by Arcade Fire and "Slow It Down" and "Gale Song" by The Lumineers. Also, a group of friends and I are using this app Music League, where each week there is a theme, everyone picks 3 songs based on that theme, and then everyone votes on the best songs. It has been really fun. A recent theme was Thanks, Mom and Dad and you had to pick songs you heard your parents playing when you were young. One of the songs I chose was "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon, which then led me to listen to other Paul Simon songs like "Loves Me Like a Rock."