If you've ever argued with a friend about whether a book prize actually reflects what real people read — or felt personally attacked when someone sacrifices your favourite Emily Henry — this episode is for you.

We discuss: whether the Booker Prize is for readers or for people who want to be seen reading; the International Booker vs the Women's Prize and which one actually has the best track record; the Hay Festival's 2026 pleasure reading list and why it's everything the Guardian's "best novels" list isn't; and what it means when a book wins an award but nobody enjoys reading it.

Plus: The Offering. Sophie sacrifices Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky) — bleak, monotonous, and full of Russians called the same name. Sallie attempts to sacrifice Happy Place (Emily Henry) and Sarah absolutely will not have it. Sarah venerates Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer — the book that'll give you a framework for JK Rowling, Michael Jackson, and every other artist you love and shouldn't.

Then we reach the end of A Little Life. Sections 6 and 7: Dear Comrade and Lispenard Street. Full spoilers for these sections only.

Content warnings for the readalong segment: suicide, self-harm, death, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, eating disorders.

Books discussed: Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky) · Happy Place (Emily Henry) · Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma (Claire Dederer) · Orbital (Samantha Harvey) · Lincoln in the Bardo (George Saunders) · Hamnet (Maggie O'Farrell) · Piranesi (Susanna Clarke) · Demon Copperhead (Barbara Kingsolver) · A Little Life (Hanya Yanagihara)

Find us on Instagram and TikTok @mywifelikesbooks · Join our Fable book club · Buy us a coffee · Buy a book mentioned in the episode

This week, Sarah brings The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and explains why reading it alone in a hotel room was a terrible decision. Sallie attempts to canonise A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas as a "modern classic", prompting one of our most heated debates yet, while Soph argues for the heartbreak and brilliance of The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

We also talk DNF culture, book guilt, refusing to abandon books and continue our A Little Life readalong with Section IV, The Axiom of Equality.

Please note, the latter half of this episode contains discussion of heavy themes from A Little Life, including trauma, abuse, self-harm, suicide, addiction and mental illness.

Books discussed on this episode:

• The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
• The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
• A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas
• Circe - Madeline Miller
• Mythos - Stephen Fry
• The Secret Barrister
• The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
• The Gallows Pole — Benjamin Myers
• After a Dance - Bridget O'Connor
• The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton
• The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
• Milkman - Anna Burns
• Marked - Kristin Cast and P. C. Cast
• Remarkably Bright Creatues - Shelby Van Pelt
• London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe

• A Little Life — Hanya Yanagihara

Want to read any of the books we discuss on the show? Find them on our bookshop.org store.

Find us on Instagram @mywifelikesbooks · Read along with us on Fable · Support the show at buymeacoffee.com/mwlb

This week we're bringing three venerations to the table — Sallie makes the case for Naomi Alderman's The Power, Sarah champions The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and Sophie goes wildcard with the Mr. Men and Little Miss series. We also get into the people who shaped our reading lives: librarians, grandmothers, boyfriends who worked in Waterstones. Then we dig into Section 3 of our A Little Life readalong — Vanities — covering Willem's existential crisis, Jude thriving at work, and JB's meth addiction tearing the group apart. Content warning: this section contains discussion of substance abuse and self-harm. Next up: Section 4, The Axiom of Equality. Read it before our next episode.

Find every book we've discussed at uk.bookshop.org/shop/MWLB. Follow us on Instagram at @mywifelikesbooks and support the show at buymeacoffee.com/MWLB.

This week, In The Offering, Sophie sacrifices Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (no one who grew up in a Marsh has teeth like that), Sarah sacrifices On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle, and Sallie venerates What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman — a memoir about travelling the world while your friends have children.

We also get into book ratings: whether you need them, what a five star actually means, and why Sallie's system is just vibes (and probably the healthiest approach out of all of us).

Then we're deep into Section Two of A Little Life — The Postman. We finally spend real time with Jude, meet Harold properly, and ask whether Andy is doing nearly enough as a healthcare professional.

Trigger warning: this episode contains discussion of self-harm, child abuse, and sexual abuse as depicted in A Little Life.

Spoilers for A Little Life, Section Two: The Postman.

Books discussed in this episode:

• Where the Crawdads Sing — Delia Owens
• On the Calculation of Volume — Solvej Balle
• What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding — Kristin Newman
• Into Thin Air — Jon Krakauer
• Lonesome Dove — Larry McMurtry
• A Little Life — Hanya Yanagihara
• The People in the Trees — Hanya Yanagihara

You can buy any of these books through our Bookshop.org store to support the pod.

Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee | Follow us on Instagram | Join our Fable book club

Show music adapted from "What A Wonderful Day" by Shane Ivers (silvermansound.com) and licensed under creative commons BY 4.0 Artwork by Keith Kilpin Produced by Oscar Rogers

What separates a young adult novel from everything else — is it the age of the protagonist, the writing style, or just the absence of explicit content? This week Sarah, Sophie and Sallie get into it, sharing their favourite YA reads (The Hunger Games, Noughts and Crosses, Maximum Ride) and unpacking why so many books end up in the wrong section of the library entirely.

Plus: The Offering. Sallie brings Lessons in Chemistry for veneration. Sophie makes a passionate case for Lonesome Dove, a 900-page western that converted a committed non-western reader. And Sarah offers The Summer I Turned Pretty, with a verdict that will surprise anyone who's heard her talk about the TV show.

Then it's the read-along. This week: chapter three of A Little Life — the one where the plot finally arrives. Was Willem a good friend to Jude, or was he protecting himself? And why does Hanya Yanagihara write about colour unlike anyone else?

⚠️ Content note: this episode discusses self-harm. Spoilers for A Little Life chapters 1–3 and Part 1.

Want to read any of the books we discuss on the show? Find them on our bookshop.org store.

Find us on Instagram @mywifelikesbooks · Read along with us on Fable · Support the show at buymeacoffee.com/mwlb

This week we're deep in Chapter Two of A Little Life — and it turns out JB might actually be redeemable? We explore what Hanya Yanagihara is doing with race, privilege, and the way her characters see the world, and ask the big question: is Jude even in this book?

In The Offering, Sophie pitches Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (a gripping first-hand account of the 1996 Everest disaster that has absolutely no business being this unputdownable), Sarah makes a case for The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (fake dating, banter, and a number of erections), and Sallie sacrifices An Enigma of Brontës — which started promisingly and then used a phrase that we will not be repeating.

We also talk reading retreats: Sallie has just returned from Gladstone's Library, Sarah has strong opinions about which books you should and absolutely should not bring, and we float the idea of a MWLB retreat that we are definitely, absolutely going to organise.

Spoilers for A Little Life Chapter Two.

Books discussed in this episode:

• Into Thin Air — Jon Krakauer
• The Love Hypothesis — Ali Hazelwood
• An Enigma of Brontës — Maureen Peters
• The Gallows Pole — Benjamin Myers
• Wuthering Heights — Emily Brontë
• Into the Wild — Jon Krakauer
• Legends & Lattes — Travis Baldree
• Empire of Pain — Patrick Radden Keefe
• Thin Air — Michelle Paver
• People in the Trees — Hanya Yanagihara
• Funny Story — Emily Henry
• A Little Life — Hanya Yanagihara

You can buy any of these books through our Bookshop.Org store to support the pod.

Want to support the show?

Buy us a coffee | Follow us on Instagram | Join our Fable book club

Show music adapted from “What A Wonderful Day” by Shane Ivers (Free Royalty Free Music | CC BY 4.0 | Silverman Sound Studios ) and licensed under creative commons BY 4.0

Artwork by Keith Kilpin

Produced by Oscar Rogers

Sarah is reading The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, Sophie is deep into Golden Son by Pierce Brown, and Sallie is working through Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli.

We're also bringing our first offerings to the table — Sarah recommends Piglet by Lottie Hazell, Sallie makes the case for Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers, and Sophie champions Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

Then we get into our first theme: reading goals. Do we set them? Do we keep them?

And we kick off our A Little Life read along with chapter one reactions.

For readers who want a friend group, not a review show.

Support the show

Buy us a coffee | Instagram | Join our Fable book club

Show music adapted from “What A Wonderful Day” by Shane Ivers (silvermansound.com) and licensed under creative commons BY 4.0

Artwork by Keith Kilpin

Produced by Oscar Rogers

Other books mentioned this episode

• People in the Trees — Hanya Yanagihara
• To Be Taught If Fortunate — Becky Chambers
• The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet — Becky Chambers
• The Galaxy and the Ground Within — Becky Chambers
• Shark Heart — Emily Habeck
• Priory of the Orange Tree — Samantha Shannon
• Legends and Lattes — Travis Baldree
• Before the Coffee Gets Cold — Toshikazu Kawaguchi
• The Housekeeper and the Professor — Yoko Ogawa
• To Paradise — Hanya Yanagihara

Every episode of My Wife Likes Books follows the same format — and here's exactly what you're signing up for. We share what we're currently reading, put a book on trial for praise or criticism, dig into a reading-life theme, and work through our communal readalong of Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life together. Fair warning: we already have feelings about it. New episodes drop every other Tuesday starting 17th March. For readers who want a friend group, not a review show. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and leave a rating — it genuinely helps more than you know.

Want to support the show?

Buy us a coffee | Follow us on instagram @mywifelikesbooks | Join our Fable book club

Sarah is on Fable, Pagebound and Storygraph

Sophie is on Fable and Storygraph

Sallie is on Fable

Show music adapted from “What A Wonderful Day” by Shane Ivers (silvermansound.com) and licensed under creative commons BY 4.0

Artwork by Keith Kilpin

Produced by Oscar Rogers