🎧 Best Books of the Year!

🎥 REPLAY: June Symposium with jackass creator Jeff Tremaine

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit secretstuff.substack.com [https://secretstuff.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] This month, my husband Jeff Tremaine is releasing his fifth and final movie in the jackass franchise he created over 25 years ago. In our June Symposium, we talked about his body of work, how it has always been the background of our family life, and so much more. WATCH the video version on Substack [https://secretstuff.substack.com/p/replay-june-2026-symposium-jackass-jeff-tremaine] THANK YOU my friends for indulging in this real detour from the usual Secret Stuff vibe. It was a blast to share this part of my life with you. Links to Jeff’s work mentioned outside of jackass: wildboyz [https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/wildboyz/] tv show Nothing But A Good Time [https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/nothin-but-a-good-time-the-uncensored-story-of-80s-hair-metal/] documentary Up For Whatever Bud Light Super Bowl Commercial (FULL LENGTH) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKQ7my_nueM] and the tv version [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D3lBaGuZAU] American Airlines safety video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAPTevqIL9A] and the Behind the Scenes [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zbOXn4_iZk&t=49s] video (so good!) 30 for 30 docs: The Birth of Big Air [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617300/] and Angry Sky [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4983512/] The Dirt [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800325/] (Netflix)

⚡️SECRET SUMMIT is HAPPENING!⚡️

The next SECRET SUMMIT [http://secretsummitnashville.com/] event is happening April 16 - 18 and I want you to be there! We’re gathering in Nashville, Tennessee for three days of connection, presence, and incredible conversations. I can’t wait to be in the same room with you! TICKETS HERE [http://secretsummitnashville.com/] The first time I hosted a weekend for Secret Stuff members was so magical. I will never forget coming out from behind our screens, being in the same room together, having a community Symposium, Journal Party, and with activities meant to strengthen our spirits and build a bond. I am so ready to do it again. JOIN ME for 3 days in Nashville: ⚡️A kickoff party at Trisha Yearwood’s private space in the Friends In Low Places bar on Broadway (love those Oklahoma roots!) ⚡️A full day “SUMMIT” of Secret Stuffers doing what we do best: talking, journaling, laughing. We’ll have an in-person community Symposium, I’ll lead a Journal Party, we’ll have lunch together in a downtown rooftop lounge, and more activities meant to foster connection ⚡️On Saturday we’re taking a party bus to the bookstore! 🤣 Is there anything more appropriate for our community?? Find out the full schedule, get details about the Secret Summit hotel room block, and buy your tickets on the dedicated website: SECRET SUMMIT NASHVILLE [http://secretsummitnashville.com/] Spots are limited so don't delay! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe [https://secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

🎧 Best Books of the Year!

We couldn’t close out 2025 without a Best Books of the Year episode with my “real life book club” members Yasmin and Steph. Since I closed the 10 Things To Tell You [https://www.10thingstotellyou.com] podcast this summer, I’ve decided to post this annual year-end conversation on Secret Stuff [https://secretstuff.substack.com], free and public for all to enjoy just like you did on 10TTTY, but now in a different spot. JOIN SECRET STUFF on SUBSTACK [https://secretstuff.substack.com] It was a weird reading year for everyone, as you’ll hear us discuss, which led to an uncommon mutual favorite novel, and also some differences of opinion on some of the picks. This conversation felt like the best parts of book club, gushing over a shared love and dissecting our differences of opinions on a different title. Of course, we also couldn’t help but talk about the books we didn’t like in 2025 [https://secretstuff.substack.com/p/the-books-we-didnt-like-in-2025] in a bonus conversation for Secret Stuff members only. If you're a bookworm, make sure you check out: 2026 Secret Stuff Book Selections [https://secretstuff.substack.com/p/secret-stuff-book-club-2026] SLOW READ: The Stand [https://slowread.substack.com] (which starts January 1!) ______ Favorite Books of 2025: Mutual Favorite: The Correspondent [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/1NYAh] by Virginia Evans Yasmin’s Favorites:  Rejection [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/T9koKF] by Tony Tulathimutte   [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/TJpbl]How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/TJpbl] by Molly Jong-Fast The House of My Mother [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/pdWZZ8] by Shari Franke Steph’s Favorites:Heart the Lover [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/_TrQp] by Lily King Margo’s Got Money Troubles [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/6hqotM] by Rufi Thorpe Laura’s Favorites: What Kind of Paradise [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/4km8] by Janelle Brown  Annie Bot [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/CIno9Z] by Sierra Greer Didion and Babitz [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/GdVu] by Lili Anolik The Names [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/RuAWv] by Florence Knapp Also Discussed: Small Things Like These [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/jYubdN] by Claire Keegan An American Marriage [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/jzl6yN] by Tayari Jones The Great Believers [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/KpjiV_] by Rebecca Makkai Friday Black [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/EBRDvg] https://urlgeni.us/amzn/EBRDvgby Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah   [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/FSbwr]A Woman of Independent Means [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/FSbwr] by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey Olive Kitteridge [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/PbkB7] by Elizabeth Strout Writers and Lovers [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/Ys8LYy] by Lily King Colored Television [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/U3JADP] by Danzy Senna A Little Life [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/qnQiM] by Hanya Yanagihara Parable of the Sower [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/dQGAgT] by Octavia Butler Sorrow and Bliss [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/SRprQf] by Meg Mason The Knockout Queen [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/yVf6hT] by Rufi Thorpe Fear of Flying [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/ejHJjE] by Erica Jong The Measure [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/vFpFF2] by Nikki Erlick The Husbands [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/pYKf98] by Holly Gramazio This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe [https://secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

🎧 REPLAY: Secret Stuff Members' Favorite Books of the Year

As is our tradition, we ended our year in Secret Stuff with our annual No Book Book Club meeting. Instead of all reading the same book, we came with our recommendations for the best things we read this year. These were the books we can’t stop talking about or buying for our loved ones… these were the books that went the distance in 2025. ICYMI, we also announced the 2026 Secret Stuff Book Club selections [https://secretstuff.substack.com/p/secret-stuff-book-club-2026]. For your convenience, we time-stamped this meeting so you can easily find what you may be looking for: Announcements: 3:21 Laura’s Favorite Book Club Moments: 11:17 Fiction Recs: 16:06 Non-Fiction Recs: 58:28 BEST BOOKS OF 2025 Fiction: To the Lighthouse [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/y3wnio] by Virginia Woolf Best Offer Wins [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/Z1rX2o] by Marisa Kashino Still Life [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/P50lYO] by Sarah Winman The River Has Roots [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/JEnNH8] by Amal El-Mohtar Death of the Author [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/8iTEve] by Nnedi Okorafor Road to Tender Hearts [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/CjQO6O] by Annie Hartnett The Lost Journals of Sacajewea [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/uQ4kr] by Debra Magpie Earling All Fours [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/QDIVVV] by Miranda July We Begin at the End [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/uXRMpf] by Chris Whitaker The Bright Years [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/8_DuXX] by Sarah Damoff Wild Dark Shore [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/DsFqr] by Charlotte McConaghy I’m Thinking of Ending Things [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/R4zsqZ] by Iain Reid Miss Austen [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/gm0cM] by Gill Hornby The Irish Goodbye [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/MBr11] https://urlgeni.us/amzn/MBr11by Heather Aimee O’Neill The Lexington Letter [https://books.apple.com/us/book/severance/id1613220757] (from the TV Show “Severance,” available for free on Apple Books) The You You Are [https://amzn.to/4qimETY] (from the TV Show “Severance,” also available for free on Apple Books) The Golden Compass [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/k8VVfV] by Philip Pullman The Overstory [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/Mr4lu] by Richard Powers How to Sell a Haunted House [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/kzdib] by Grady Hendrix A Gentleman in Moscow [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/ae4tbc] by Amor Towles Non-Fiction: The Storyteller [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/BYvrQf] by Dave Grohl The Deepest Well [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/_coHDK] https://urlgeni.us/amzn/_coHDKby Dr. Nadine Burke Harris Everything is Tuberculosi [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/yNfvB6] s by John Green Say Nothing [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/gODyjC] by Patrick Radden Keefe Reagan: His Life and Legend [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/XdQTE3] by Max Boot The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/KJNjiC] by Sara B. Franklin The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/3xExHx] by Maria Smilios Between Two Kingdoms [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/5eTyZa] by Suleika Jaouad A Different Kind of Power [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/565r04] by Jacinda Ardern Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/zCUSH1] by Antonia Hylton Challenger [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/l5silk] by Adam Higginbotham It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/RBbksA] by Dr. Ramani Durvasula Also Mentioned: There’s Always This Year [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/GckJh] by Hanif Abdurraqib Book Club for Troublesome Women [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/m97a7] by Marie Bostwick Mrs. Dalloway [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/7XnpUW] by Virginia Woolf Orlando [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/0XlozK] by Virginia Woolf Americanah [https://urlgeni.us/amzn/byfYT] by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Stacks Podcast [https://www.thestackspodcast.com/] Currently Reading Podcast [https://www.currentlyreadingpodcast.com/] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe [https://secretstuff.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

African Safari Recap!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit secretstuff.substack.com [https://secretstuff.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Our family of four just returned home from a long-awaited and life-changing trip to Africa. I had so much fun documenting the two-week adventure on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/laura.tremaine/] (check out the SAFARI highlight in my bio) that I wanted to share more details about the safaris including our travel coordinator, the three camps where we stayed, what surprised me the most, and the pros and cons of doing this as a vacation with teenagers. For all the links to everything I share in this episode (and some bonus stuff like links to what I packed), check out the full post on Substack [https://secretstuff.substack.com/p/african-safari-recap].