Jacob Szymanski

My friend once described to me pretentiousness as a work of art that asks too much of its audience.

And I think those overly literary novels fall into that category.

I just want to read this and feel something.

I don't want to work too hard for it.

You have to work to a certain level to appreciate a book.

Don't ask me to work too hard for it.

Otherwise, it's not fun.

It just becomes work.

It has to be pleasant.

It's ultimately entertainment at the end, at least when you're talking about fiction.

I'm going to stay here and I'm going to finish what I started.

I'm not having any fun.

I'm probably going to stay here and see this to the end.

Red, thank you for seeing this to the end this year.

You've been on the show a lot and you've been here in the very last episode of 2025.

We'll do it again next year, okay?

Happy holidays to you and happy holidays to...

Everyone, that's all the time we have for this edition of Audiobook Cafe.

The show airs weekends and Mondays at 1 p.m.

Eastern on AMI-audio, and we're available on all the big podcasting platforms.