Everyone Should Read

To close out 2025, Everyone Should Read co-hosts Kate Watters and Drew Sylva share their best books of 2025 in an extra-long bonus episode. We’re breaking down our top picks across longform fiction, longform nonfiction, shortform fiction, and shortform nonfiction—plus the most surprising reads, our favorite discoveries, and the single best thing we read all year. Expect lively book recommendations...

Step into the shadows one last time this season as we close out Season One of Everyone Should Read with two of the most iconic Gothic masterpieces ever written: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this finale, hosts Drew Sylva and Kate Watters explore the twisted dualities of morality, vanity, and the human soul. We...

In this episode of Everyone Should Read, hosts Kate Watters and Drew Sylva explore the dark beauty and haunting allure of Mexican Gothic literature through two standout novels — Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas. Join us as we discuss how these works blend Gothic horror, postcolonial themes, and feminist storytelling to challenge traditional narratives...

In this haunting episode of Everyone Should Read, hosts Kate Watters and Drew Sylva dive deep into the unsettling world of Gothic Horror. From Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper to the cosmic terrors of H.P. Lovecraft. They explore how each writer captures the fear of the unknown, psychological confinement, and the boundaries of reality itself. Through Gilman’s chilling portrayal of p...

Step into the haunting world of Gothic poetry as Kate Watters and Drew Sylva unravel two of literature’s most iconic works: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. In this episode of Everyone Should Read, they explore how these poems capture the essence of the Gothic tradition—mystery, superstition, horror, and the sublime—while also shaping the way w...

In this episode of Everyone Should Read, hosts Drew Sylva and Kate Watters dive into the Southern American Gothic tradition, analyzing two iconic works: Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved and Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize winning play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. They discuss how these masterpieces explore themes of haunting, memory, trauma, family secrets, repression, and desire...

Step into the haunting world of American Gothic literature with Everyone Should Read. In this episode, we dive into Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, two masterpieces that shaped America’s dark literary tradition. From Ichabod Crane’s eerie encounter with the Headless Horseman to Hester Prynne’s struggle with sin, shame, and redemption in...

While Gothic is considered a sub-genre of romanticism the two meet and diverge at various points. Join us for our Bronte episode where we break down two classic novels from the genre. In this episode of Everyone Should Read, Drew Sylva and Kate Watters dive deep into the dark and stormy world of gothic literature through two iconic novels: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wuthering Heights by Emi...

In the first full episode of Everyone Should Read, hosts Drew Sylva and Kate Watters dive into the two most iconic gothic novels of all time: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker. They explore the chilling stories, unpack sociological themes, and discuss how these classic novels shaped gothic literature, horror, and popular culture. Discover the lasting legacy of Frankenstein an...

Before they release season one Drew Sylva and Kate Watters bring you a brief glimpse into what their podcast will look like with a teaser episode about Pygmalion, Galatea, My Fair Lady and everything that comes along with the Greek classic and Bernard Shaw adaptations. Everyone Should Read is a podcast all about the books, plays, short stories, poems, and essays that you've certainly heard about b...