{"podcast":{"title":"The Literary Life Podcast","slug":"the-literary-life-podcast-743688","podcast_index_feed_id":743688,"rss_url":"https://theliterarylife.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://www.theliterary.life/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/8/4/b/0/84b00ee61f70f70b/3000x_podcast_logo.png","author":"Angelina Stanford","episode_count":327,"summary":"Not just book chat! The Literary Life Podcast is an ongoing conversation about the skill and art of reading well and the lost intellectual tradition needed to fully enter into the great works of literature. Experienced teachers Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks (of www.HouseOfHumaneLetters.com) join lifelong reader Cindy Rollins (of www.MorningtimeForMoms.com) for slow reads of classic literature, conversations with book lovers, and an ever-unfolding discussion of how Stories Will Save the World. And check out our sister podcast The Well Read Poem with poet Thomas Banks.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-literary-life-podcast-743688"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 309: Our Literary Lives of 2025","slug":"episode-309-our-literary-lives-of-2025","published_at":"2025-12-30T06:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-literary-life-podcast-743688/episode-309-our-literary-lives-of-2025","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-literary-life-podcast-743688","url":"https://theliterarylife.libsyn.com/episode-309-our-literary-lives-of-2025","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/theliterarylife/TLL_ep309final.mp3?dest-id=1228634","summary":"For this final episode of the 2025 season on The Literary Life Podcast, we bring you a special year-end conversation with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks all about their year in reading. Thomas talks about how most of his reading was tied to classes he taught. Cindy and Angelina talk about the reasons they didn't read as many books as they usually do in a year. They share some of their favorite non-fiction reads of the year, books that surprised them, and fiction highlights. In the course of the conversation, our hosts also make several points about reading in the literary tradition and avoiding public judgment of other people's choices in books. The House of Humane Letters Christmas sale is still on! Head over to the website to peruse the discounted webinars and mini-classes on sale, already discounted, no coupon code needed. Don't forget to check out this coming year's annual Literary Life Online Conference , happening January 23-30, 2026, \"The Letter Killeth, but the Spirit Quickeneth: Reading Like a Human\". Our speakers will be Dr. Jason Baxter, Jenn Rogers, Dr. Anne Phillips, and, of course, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks. Finally, you can also sign up now for upcoming classes like \"Abiding in the Fields: Spenser, Milton, and the Pastoral Poetic Tradition\" taught by Dr. Anne Phillips, or Dr. Michael Drought's \"Viking and Old Norse Culture.\" To check out the full show notes for this episode, including all the books referenced, please visit https://theliterary.life/309 .","meta_description":"For this final episode of the 2025 season on The Literary Life Podcast, we bring you a special year-end conversation with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":6068,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-literary-life-podcast-743688/episodes/episode-309-our-literary-lives-of-2025/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-literary-life-podcast-743688/episode-309-our-literary-lives-of-2025.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}