← The Currently Reading Podcast
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- [00:00]
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Foreign.
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Hey readers, welcome to the Currently Reading podcast. We are bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we've read recently. And as you know, we won't shy away from having strong opinions. So get ready.
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We are light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our conversations will always be spoiler free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, a readerly deep dive, and a little something bookish before we go.
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I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz. I'm both a mom and a Mimi and a full time CEO living in Austin, Texas. And as much as I love to read about murder and mayhem, sometimes I need kindness and chamomile.
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And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona, and I've found myself in a readerly pickle. This is episode number 42 of season eight and we are so glad you're here.
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B
A readerly pickle?
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A
That.
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B
That sounds not good.
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A
Well, I do like pickles, but not in this case. So I'm going to need some advice today, Meredith. And that's why we're here.
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B
All right, we'll do it.
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A
First, I'll let everybody know that our deep dive today we have a new crop of victims. We will be bossing some TBRs for our deep dive today, which always delights us. We love getting a little bossy around here. But first we'll get started the way we always do with our bookish moments. Meredith, what have you got?
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B
All right, Katie, I this the story of 2026. I know I should have said this in the show we did last week, but upon further reflection, the story of 2026, my reading this year is fits and starts.
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A
Okay?
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B
I will have like five books in a row that are four and a half and five star reads. Back to back to back to back, where I'm just in an amazing flow. I'm like, I will never have a reading slump again. I've conquered all slumps.
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A
Don't say that ever.
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B
And then I will just kur thump. I will hit. And I just, I have had the hardest time figuring out what I want to read. And part of it too is that I last in the last week, I picked up a bunch of books back to back to back. But they were all really dark. Horror, murder. They were just like really, really, really dark. And from the POV of people who were unreliable narrators or unreliable, the lens that they were, you were seeing them through just started to get this ick feeling like I. I didn't have Any. At first I was thinking lightness. I was like, why? I need. I need some sweetness. But then I was like, no, no, it's not sweetness that I need. Although sweetness is fine. I need some sanity. I need some saneness.
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A
Oh, okay.
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B
That's what I need. And I was reading a bunch of things that were books that were really good but were made to feel you, make you feel a little off base, a little the ground, a little unsure of the ground underneath you. And too many made this reader unhappy. So I went to see Elizabeth last week, or just a couple days ago, and she handed me an arc that when I. She first handed to me, I didn't think twice about it. But then I got to this ick feeling, and I was like, I'm gonna read the Reimagining of Thornwood House by Jaylee Johnson. And if you go look at the COVID of that book, Katie, you are gonna say, I can totally see why this felt like the right thing at the right time. This is about. And I'm gonna. I don't. You know, we'll see how it goes. I'm early days. But it's about this woman who is what's called a land witch.
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A
Hmm.
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B
But for various reasons, including the fact that she has recently adopted a new a daughter, she decides that she wants to go to this village that has a sentient home that needs wrangling. So the home had been being taken care of by a witch for a long time, and that witch passed away. And now the home was cranky. It's, like, feral and feral and sad. The home itself is grieving, and. And so Evelyn and her daughter Ruby go to basically try to figure out if they can make the home feel at home again. And it's very sweet, and it's very sane, and I haven't read all of it, so, you know. And it's an arc, so, you know, my mileage may vary. We'll see. But sometimes even I need to eschew the murdering mayhem for a little while because it just starts to feel like too much.
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A
Yeah, I get that. And I think that's why we have those, like, broader wheelhouses so that you can explore a different room sometimes. Right. Turn away from the one that has, like, the murder dolls and teddy bears that you're like, I don't know what's happening in here to the one that's, like, cozy teacups.
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B
I just need someone to be making a baked good.
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Really? Yes.
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B
Just someone make a muffin, please, for the love.
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A
Looking at. Well, we all Know now about the baking, Meredith. So I can see why that would bring you comfort as well with the sourdough. But looking at the COVID of this, like, witchy house on tree trunk legs,
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B
I know exactly what you're doing.
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A
Giving a little Baba Yaga. Are we? Are we?
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B
Yeah. I mean, there are elements of that, but I think this is like Baba Yaga but make it cozy.
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A
I could see that.
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B
We'll see. We'll see how I may end up. You may end up never hearing from hearing about it again because it's terrible. I early days. And it's really easy for a book in the first 30 pages to be great.
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A
This is exactly what my bookish pickle is about. So you just, like, teed up a ball for me to swing at for my bookish moment of the week, which is that I need some advice from you. Right? Here's the setup for my bookish moment. Like so many of us, I grab a book every time I leave the house because you just never know if you're gonna have a long line or you're gonna be sitting for a while and waiting on something.
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And.
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And it's usually a physical paper book, which means you can see the COVID Today, I've been carrying around Martyr by Kaveh Akbar, but I'm not done with it. I'm about halfway. But because you and I, this happens, and everybody on currently reading, and really every reader, we're known as, like, the bookish people. Right? So when I carry this book around, people will approach me, people that know me, not usually, like, random strangers. Although that does happen too. Hey, what's that book you're reading? Do you like it? Should I read it? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know, because I'm only 30% in. Right? It could go totally off the rails and take away all the sanity that I was feeling about the baked goods. And I could wish that later I could hunt you down and tell you, no, don't read this, because it actually was a terrible idea, and now you've got it associated with me in your head, right? So I'm in this, like, conundrum. Like, do I stop carrying a book around? No, that's not the answer. Do I carry around an E reader? Which, I mean, maybe if I got a second one, but one lives by my bed. It has to stay there because I need it as my precious every night to comfort me for night. Night time. Right? It's like little kids. You're like, you got tucked in. You Got a song, you got a kiss, now it's time for bed. That's like, Katie, you washed your face, you brushed your teeth, and now you read your Kindle, and that's your night. Night time. Right. It can't go on a little journey with me around, because then I'd be lost without my teddy bear. So.
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B
So.
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Or do I just walk around and admit ignorance? I don't. Like, I don't know what to do about this conundrum that I'm in.
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B
Sure.
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Where I don't want to be recommending the book that I'm only partway through, which is why, like, we call it currently reading, but we're talking about books we finished. Right. But I also don't want to be not talking about books. Right, Right. What do I do?
- [07:39]
B
I mean. Right. So I would say, you know, if you want to continue to carry a print book around and people are going to ask you that, then I would just get really good at saying tbd. Like, honestly, you know, I. I'm liking it so far, but I can't speak to the whole experience of it. So your mileage may vary.
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Right? Yes.
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You can get. You can get clear on that.
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A
A good little caveat. Yeah.
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B
But also I. So my Kindle Oasis, I have only one and I carry it everywhere. So it is. It is the one. I mean, but then you also, literally everywhere.
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A
Set it up in the. In the holder at night with the clicker.
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B
I mean, no, I don't set it up in the holder with the clicker. I put the clicker on. And, you know, if I'm using my iPad or sometimes I'll. The point is, I read on this thing all day long, but I also will take it. It goes in my purse with my phone when I go anywhere. So it's like I'm never going to forget it because in the same way that I don't lose my phone, I'm not going to lose my Kindle.
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Yeah.
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B
You know, and so I just put everything there. But I literally carry, like, a small pile of things around my house everywhere that'll go from my bed to my living room chair to my office chair to my upstairs. You know what I mean? Like, so. And it always will be like, my laptop, my phone, my Kindle, and 89 pairs of glasses that I need for
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just seeing, like, every different screen iteration. Yeah. Mine's my water bottle, my phone, sometimes a headphone, and my book.
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B
Yeah, I think you can do either one. And I especially think. I mean, when I'm out and About I am not usually looking to invite bookish conversation.
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See, that's my other problem.
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So I love reading an E Reader for that reason. But if you like that element of things, then I would say keep reading a print book and just get really good at saying, hey, you know, I would love to be able to tell you I'm too early on here, but the last book I finished that was five stars was X. That's another thing to say, I think you could do any of those things.
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A
Yeah. Because I had a friend walk up to me yesterday and my book was sitting next to me and she was like, what is this? Took a picture of the COVID immediately before I even had a. And I was like, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. We don't know anything about if this is gonna work for you. I hardly know if it's working for me.
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B
Right, well, and that's, you know, you can't control other people's reactions to things. You can as long as you say that, you know, they have to make, they have to live their own journey. Right. But I will tell you that the multiple Kindle thing is, you know, Betsy has an upstairs Kindle and a downstairs Kindle.
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Yeah.
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And never the twain shall meet. The upstairs one does not come downstairs and the downstairs one does not go upstairs.
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Yeah. And honestly that might be the, that might be the answer for me because that's the other part of it is my bedroom is upstairs. So if I've done the get ready for bed thing and then I have to go downstairs, it's like, well, now I'm awake. Who even knows when I'm gonna go to sleep? Cuz I just had to do a flight of stairs up and down, you know, like, who knows what's gonna happen to my sleep now.
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B
So yeah, so you might, you might wanna do a, a downstairs Kindle and then that, that then can go places with you and you don't have to have that feeling of worry, like, what if I don't have it at nighttime when I need it?
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A
Yeah, I think that might be the answer. We'll see. But let's get into those current reads that we have opinions about because we're done with them. What's your first one?
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B
All right, well, I have a, a great melange of books today. I've got a book that is squarely in my wheelhouse. I've got another memoir because who am I anyway? And I have a work of fantasy. So the first one is the Bookseller by Tim Sullivan. Have you started reading Tim Sullivan? I feel like, lots of people are reading him all of a sudden.
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A
I have not started reading Tim Sullivan. Okay. Are you going to talk me into it? Because I feel like that's about what. What's about to happen, possibly.
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B
So if you like a great detective series with a really, really one of a kind, like a very distinctive protagonist, then I think this series might really work for you. So here's the setup of the Bookseller. When a rare bookseller is discovered dead in his Bristol shop. Surrounded by first editions and a huge amount of blood, autistic detective George Cross catches the case. Cross is meticulous to the point of infuriating his colleagues, but his conviction rate is the best in the Force precisely because he goes by cold, hard facts and nothing else. But this time, he is distracted by a crisis in his personal life that has thrown his carefully ordered world into chaos, forcing him to rely on others in ways that are deeply uncomfortable to poor DS Cross. But he persists, and thankfully so, because murder is afoot. All right, if you are like me, I get a little thrill walking into a very old rare bookshop, right? Like the old paper, the. Maybe kind of like almost not messy, but unt. Like, sometimes they're like, untidy, like piles of books everywhere. The knowledge that some of the books are worth more than, like, my car, then I think this particular book in the DI Cross series is going to be good for you. The Bookseller is the seventh book in the series, and while it worked really well as my entry point into this world, I didn't intend to start at book number seven. It made me. I liked it so much that I'm definitely planning to double back to the beginning because I need to get George Cross's whole story. I could tell with this, with the Bookseller that there was some context that I was missing and relationships that had developed over time. But Sullivan writes these to function as standalones, and this one does. But again, I liked the fact that I could tell that there were some things I was missing, because I like a series that's written that way. What makes this particular mystery so good is that setting that I was talking about. The rare book world may seem quiet and genteel on the surface, but Sullivan reveals that. But it is, in fact, a place full of passionate, ambitious characters who understand exactly what a valuable book is worth and their extensive reading means they know all the best ways to get away with murder. We get to visit all these gorgeous bookshops, including ones in Cecil Court in London, which I loved because Betsy and I had just Spent time there on our last trip overseas. It was really fun walking those streets. In the pages of this book, George Cross is, as I said, an autistic detective whose neurodivergence is portrayed with authenticity and compassion and is not treated as a gimmick. He can be abrupt, yes, his manner is infuriating to colleagues, but as with all of us, the things that make him different really are his superpower. And the series treats it as such. I particularly loved his partnership with Josie Oddie. You can feel the shorthand between them and the trust that's built over time. And it made me, again, want to go back and see the how that had developed. Sullivan's vocabulary is wonderful. I don't say that lightly. He chooses precise, particular words that land exactly where they should. The character names alone are delightful. We have a Torquill and a Denholm. They feel nested in this world of old books and established families and generational businesses. Each chapter functions as a tidy little visit, Cross gathering information, piecing things together methodically. And the structure works beautifully for how his mind operates. Think of it as a police procedural with some emotional depth. It's careful and meticulous storytelling with a detective you can absolutely root for. I am excited to work my way back, starting with book number one. This one, book number seven is the Bookseller by Tim Sullivan.
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A
Okay, I like this. And one of the words that you used, not infrequently, was meticulous. And I have found that that really works for me as a reader. Not plotting, not, you know, like, okay, yes, we get it. You have to go through this process every time. But, like, precise. Right. I. I love. Like, that was the little, like, ears. Perk up, reader. Know thyself. I know that the word meticulous is usually something that I'm going to get into when I'm reading. Right. But other people are going to be like, no, that sounds like my day job, or whatever it is this sounds. I get why you would start with the bookseller, even though we are not animals here. It sounds like that was the right way to get into this story so you could go a little deeper with these characters.
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B
Well, the reason that I started there is because his books have actually been out for quite a while, but they're being released here in the United States. And so that seven, the one that I just read, actually, a publisher came to me and said, like, I really, really think that you in particular will like this series. And here's the one that I have a NetGalley widget on and so that's how I jumped in. Kind of right there, but.
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A
Got it.
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B
Yeah. So he's. So he. They're being released all of a sudden. If you look on Amazon, it's like, all of a sudden. He had, like, 10 books come out this year, and that's because they're releasing
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A
them in the U.S. okay, that makes sense. That's like Beth Brower esque, too.
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B
Exactly. Exactly.
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A
Yeah. Gotcha. Okay, so my first book, I'm gonna give a caveat right at the top. I'm gonna talk about the Better Mother by Jennifer Van Der Kloot. And before I even set this up, I want our tender listeners to know that there are some sensitivities here around infertility, pregnancy, and childbirth. And we have a lot of women in our audience, and that can be a really tender topic. So I'm just gonna tell you to skip right over to Meredith's memoir that I'm sure is in her second spot, because that's what we do here. We put our nonfiction in the second spot. Plenty of time now for you to do that. And now I will set up the Better Mother. Savannah, or Savvy, is trying to get her life back together after a rough breakup. But that turns out to be a little more difficult than she expected because she, right at the beginning of our story, finds out she's pregnant after a casual fling with a guy named Max. This was just supposed to be a, like, we're getting back on the horse. We're getting back out there situationship with a random hottie, because he is a hottie. But now she's seeing two little blue lines, and she's got to figure her life out a little bit more. She does the right thing. She gets in touch with Max to tell him about the pregnancy, and he lets her know that he just got back with his own ex, Madison, so he'll need a little time to break it to her and see how that goes. But surprisingly, Madison's all in. She is for it. She's not upset. She's excited to be part of this new life coming into the world. She wants to help. She's gung ho about baby showers and clothes shopping and all the rest. But then she starts showing up uninvited to events that Savannah planned with her friends and then demanding that Savvy change her entire lifestyle for the pregnancy. And it starts to get a little uncomfortable when other strange occurrences start happening around Savvy's life, like weird charges on her credit card and vandalism to her vehicle. Savannah Starts drawing a boundary to protect herself in case anything escalates further. But the bad parts keep getting worse, and Savannah finds it nearly impossible to keep this friendly relationship that she had hoped for with Max to co parent the child that they created, even though they weren't going to be in a relationship and do that as a couple. But now his partner's the one calling all the shots and her job and her friends feel like they're in jeopardy. And Savannah is starting to feel her mental health slip as well. Which is a little bit what you were talking about at the beginning, Meredith. This idea of like, this is a book that makes you feel unstable. Like, what is going on? Who's telling the truth here? Can I trust our main character? Can I trust the other people around her? I felt like I was in an out of control stroller ride down a hill in San Francisco. Like, who's driving this umbrella, right? It was crazy. My jaw was on the floor. I listened to this one in a single day, making guesses, talking out loud to my audiobook as I drove. You know, you know the people that yell at the movies, do not go in there. Do not open that door. I was that with my audiobook. I ended up unloading guesses and the bare minimum of the plot onto my two older kids. When they got into the car and it started playing, they were like, what is this? And I was like, let me tell you, this is crazy.
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B
Buckle up.
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Exactly. I'm like, a, actually buckle up, but B, I am giving you the whole thing. Right? I could not stop the words from coming out of my mouth. So then this happened. She did this. And can you even believe it? Picture two teenage boys just looking at their mom like she's lost her ever loving mind. Now, many readers will remember that on episode 34 of season 8, I brought this as a listener recommendation. So if you're feeling like, oh, I've heard this title or I've heard this author before, that's why. But Nicole let us know in that post that she was thinking of giving it 5 stars for pure entertainment value. Wild ride that it was. I landed a little bit lower because of the ways that I was able to predict some plot points. And of course, there's way more. I'm not not spoiling this plot for you. There is so much more that happens in this book. I did still land above four stars. And I really enjoyed the wild stroller ride careening down the hill in San Francisco. This was the Better Mother by Jennifer Van der Kloot.
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B
Very interesting.
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A
And that cover, red stroller on a black background. You're like, something bad is happening here.
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B
Yes. That was very. That's a very even. I remembered that it was red.
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A
Yes.
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B
All right. Well, so, yes, our memory memoir today, which, again, I have read a lot more memoir than normal recently, but this one has been absolutely everywhere, and it wasn't very long, and it was an absolute milkshake book. I read Strangers by Belle Burden. Have you read that, Katie?
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A
No, but I. So I am looking at this one with, like, my fingers. You know, if you're watching on YouTube, you see my fingers in front of my face because of the setup for it. So tell us about it, and then people will understand why.
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B
And I will say the. The reason I think most people will be surprised that I read it is because for me, too, this is, you know, kind of the. I usually don't love any work of fiction that involves a happy couple that, because of infidelity, is now unhappy. That is a trigger for me. I don't like it at all here. I have my theories about why. I was curious enough to read it, and I got it from a library, so I just wanted to see what was going to happen. Ended up reading the whole thing. Okay, you've heard the setup. In March 2020, Belle Burden was hunkered down with her family at their estate on Martha's Vineyard, doing the things that we all did in those early pandemic days. They were building fires, making things most
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A
of us were not. On an estate in Martha's Vineyard.
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B
Exactly. They were. Yeah, they were doing the whole sourdough thing. They were not. Not enjoying their pandemic experience. Then, after a single phone call, her husband of 20 years literally tells her that he's leaving. No prior conversations, no unraveling slowly beforehand that she could point to. Just done. He's done with Belle and their marriage, and he wants zero custody of their three kids, including young one, as young as 12. Strangers is the memoir that grew out of that situation, expanding on an essay that Bellburden wrote for the New Times in their Modern Love section. And it covers so much more than just the divorce itself. She rewinds the tape on their entire marriage, looking for the signs that she missed. Yes. But she also digs into the generational patterns that she inherited, the expectations placed on women in her world. She is both a Harvard and an NYU law grad, and she's from a prominent family and the social dynamics that kicked in the moment that her marriage imploded. So, you guys know, I don't read a lot of memoir. I don't gravitate toward it, but this one I'd heard about so many different places. It was very much in the zeitgeist. I kind of felt like, okay, I just need to find out what all the fuss was about. And I can tell you that it is as soapy and interesting and tell all and spill the tea as advertised. She doesn't pull any punches in telling the story. She does not pull a single punch in telling the story of her divorce. And I'm not quite sure that I would say that I liked this book, but it moved really fast. And let's get into it. As with Jen Hatmaker's Awake from the Very Beginning, you are plunged right into the moment when Belle's world changes. Those first few scenes where she's reeling from the gut punch of her marriage ending are visceral. She doesn't hold back about her own emotional state, her shock, her sadness. But those scenes are also exactly why I don't read a lot of books where adultery is involved. This is just a really hard thing for me to sit with. And those pieces are difficult to read in this book. And the sadness, honestly doesn't stop there. There is so much sadness in this book. Sadness about that initial betrayal, yes, but also about how everything is going to affect their kids, which is clearly top of mind for the author. Sadness. As she's tried, she tries to figure out how to manage her own life because she's been a stay at home mom living a very, very, very privileged existence where her husband took care of everything. And now she realizes she didn't really know running her own life. There's sadness about her social standing having changed. This is a very big focus. Her social standing changes how her friendships and her family relationships shift. She writes about all of it in a really unflinching way. And I think a lot of people are going to feel very seen by those parts of the book. But then there's this elephant in the room and I think you can't talk about this book without talking about it. Belle's husband was a former hedge fund manager. She's an attorney, but she didn't have to work. They had an apartment in New York City and a home on Martha's Vineyard, and they lived this extraordinarily privileged life, which she admits to. She's totally aware of that. She comes from this privileged background and none of that is her fault, but all of it is. It definitely colors the narrative. As much as I think many readers will feel seen here I think there are a lot of other people who are going to have a really hard time taking her pain seriously when she clearly has. She had a lot of options that other people don't have in this situation, which actually is one of the most interesting things about the book. Yes, there are places where I found myself rolling my eyes at Belle's burdens, but it's tough, right? Because I think there are so many times where we, especially as women, are experiencing real pain about whatever's going on in our lives. And we think, well, should I really be this upset about this because other people have pain, things so much worse? I know. I've had that thought a million times, but the reality is that we are each going through the thing that we are going through, and I don't think it's probably right to prioritize one person's pain over another. But this book puts that tension right in your lap and asks you to decide how you feel about it. I'll also say, being honest, that I didn't feel warm and cozy toward Belle at any point, and definitely not by the end. I think she's someone who, by her own personality, holds people at a remove, and that is okay. You don't have to finish this book feeling about her the way I think most people end up feeling about Jen Hatmaker at the end of her memoir, Awake. Belle is different. She's different than Jen. She's more guarded, she's more careful. And the result is a reading experience that is compelling, but it is not at all intimate. I'm glad I read it, though, and I'm glad that Bellburden wrote it. I don't think this was written for a revenge, although a lot of people have said that maybe it was. I don't think that was her intention. I think what she really wanted to do was to tell her own story, probably for the first time in her life, and not be told that she couldn't do it because of how it might affect her husband. So I don't think she did it for revenge, but I do think she ends up getting some. This is Strangers by Bell Burden.
- [27:42]
A
Yeah, I. I still don't think this is a book for me.
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B
No, I agree.
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A
I. I like that it exists, and I like that other people can read it. But I. I feel like the hesitancy I felt about picking it up was the right call.
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B
Yeah, I think so, too. I think so, too. For right now, it could be that 10 years from now, it's like the perfect read.
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A
Right? Right.
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B
Because there is. There is a. And the thing to draw back to the very beginning. What I was saying is the thing that made me say, okay, I normally wouldn't read this in fiction. I don't like this topic in fiction. I wanted to read it here because I had this thought, like, but did it really come out of the blue? Like she's saying it came out of the blue, but like, would I have seen it coming? So if we're going to track back with that in mind, that's the piece that made me go, well, that's kind of. I'm kind of interested in that piece of things. She should have seen it coming.
- [28:38]
A
Fair enough. Yeah, fair enough.
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B
What's your next book?
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A
Okay, my second book this week is not nonfiction, which is the departure for me for quite some, quite some many episodes. At this point, I'm going to talk about Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher.
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B
Okay, good. I love T. Kingfisher.
- [28:55]
A
I know you do. This is a novella by T. Kingfisher. It's the first one I'm bringing to the show from this author. I have read one other by her. She is quite beloved overall. And Meredith, of course, has brought three different titles from her body of work as current reads. So you can use our fantastic website search to look for those books if you are interested in more from this author. This one is light hearted, low fantasy, heavy on the mischief, heavy on the found family friendliness. So it is different from some of her horror, her, you know, kind of body grossness that we see in some of these other books or the high fantasy that that I've read from her before because I read A Sorceress Comes to Call. In this one we're focused on nine goblins. Per the title. They're part of a troop that is serving in the capital G, capital W, Goblin War. This war has been going on for so long that nobody really remembers how it started. And yet we persist. This troop of nine goblins is accurate to every goblin stereotype. The ones you already know. Everyone knows. They're awful in every way. They're smelly, they're conniving, they're thieving. They're belching. They're obnoxious. Because they're goblins. That's who they are. They're being true to themselves. But when this group accidentally meets up with an evil wizard, the result of which is waking up poof in enemy territory, deep behind enemy lines. Now they have to find their way out. Their sergeant, Nasilka, has to figure out how to get her lazy, cowardly stinky slinking troop home without further incident. They must work together, you using every cell of the very few brains at their disposal to defeat monsters, trolls, and even the most perilous of all human beings that stand in the way of their safety. This was so fun. It was like a little romp, a little treat at the end of a harder book. I picked it up at a bookstore in Tucson after the Tucson Festival of Books in March because the COVID is charmingly drawn. This is definitely a lighter fantasy novel than some of the others you've heard about from this author. It is almost reads like middle grade and in fact I think I could read it aloud to my kids. But it is not labeled as such and it could only be considered middle grade if you think that Shrek is a kids movie. So depending on where you fall on that. Because sometimes Shrek is for grown ups, right? In fact, I would recommend this book as absolutely perfect for anyone who loved Shrek over the years. It's snarky, there's some potty humor, it's a bit crude and sometimes gory, but always in a very funny way. And with that in mind, you of course have to be in the right mood for this title. You cannot just be like, oh, you know, in. In my random like reader roulette, this could work right now. No, friend, no. You need to be ready for this Kingfisher silliness, which is not usually what we're getting from her. So that's why I'm trying to make that very clear. It's a different vibe from those high higher fantasy picks from from this author. I did finish a sorcerer's come to call in March of 2025, so more than a year ago. But I'd be much more likely to pair that one with another title that I know will come up later in this episode in our deep dive instead. For nine Goblins go in based on fun and vibes. And on those notes it will deliver completely in all its smelly, delightful glory. This is Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher.
- [32:19]
B
Katie what was the what was the one that I brought by T. Kingfisher about the sword?
- [32:25]
A
That one. Gosh, I almost wrote all three of them down in my show notes so
- [32:29]
B
that I don't feel like I've read 3T Kingfisher.
- [32:33]
A
One of them may have been from a boss my TBR because she's in our big spreadsheet three different times we have what moves the dead nettle and bone and Sword Heart.
- [32:43]
B
Sword heart. That's the one, right? I haven't read any of the. I haven't read any of the other ones.
- [32:49]
A
Where did the line bone come from? I wonder if Mary read it.
- [32:52]
B
Could. That may very well be. Those are ones that I want to read. But Sword Heart, I really. That was very romantic where she, like, the family's trying to take her. Like, she's supposed to have inherited this, a bunch of, you know, riches. And then the family is trying to be like, no, no, no, you can't have that. And then the sword that's in her room comes to life and protects her. And now he becomes a man, and now he's bonded to her. I really like that.
- [33:14]
A
That's right. That's right. Yes. And I think Nettle and Bone may have been Mary, now that I think of it. And what Moves the Dead was probably a boss my TBR. But yes, season 8, episode 13, episode 22, and season 6, episode 48. Are those three other titles. They're all over the place in the currently reading world, but this one's very different from all of those.
- [33:35]
B
I know, but it sounds like fun. I love things related to goblins. I like goblins.
- [33:40]
A
What is that about? I like goblins too. And there's like, they have no redeeming qualities, but I just. I think they're great.
- [33:46]
B
I feel like goblins are like, they. All of their traits are like the things that I aspire to and that I'm like, I'm. I. I kind of jealous of. Go. I think I'm kind of jealous of goblins. There's like, they have a free words. They have a. They have a freedom and audacity that brashness. Admire. Yeah.
- [34:08]
A
Okay.
- [34:08]
B
You know what I mean?
- [34:09]
A
Okay. Because I use a lot of stinky and dumb to describe them with the stereotypes in this one, and none of those are true.
- [34:17]
B
Honestly, wouldn't it be kind of nice to just be okay with being stinky and dumb? Like, I kind of am jealous of that.
- [34:24]
A
You know when people say they're having, like, a bed, like a bedrot day?
- [34:28]
B
Yeah. They're in goblin mode.
- [34:29]
A
I'm like, I don't. I don't know how to do that. So maybe, maybe it is. Maybe I do need to channel my inner goblin.
- [34:37]
B
There's something aspirational about goblins to me.
- [34:40]
A
Okay. All right. I can get on board with this. It's not going to be my next tattoo or anything, but no, I can get behind it.
- [34:46]
B
All right. Well, my third pick is fantasy also. Although we've gone from low stakes, high silliness fantasy to Just high fantasy. And that I am going to talk about. The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan. Was this one that you finished?
- [35:00]
A
I did not finish this, but it did stay on my shelves. I'm probably going to read it in the winter because it's called the Red Winter, but it's on my shelves.
- [35:09]
B
Okay, well, here's the setup for this one. It's 1785 and the French countryside is soaked in blood. I thought that was a really good intro.
- [35:17]
A
Right.
- [35:18]
B
Our lead character is Professor Sebastian Grave and he is a centuries old monster slayer. And he gets word that the infamous and deadly beast of Gavadon is back. And this isn't just any monster. Sebastian hunted this creature 20 years earlier through a brutal bloody winter and it nearly destroyed him. He barely survived it once and now he has to do it again. The thing is, the person who summoned him back to the hunt is Antoine Avenel d', Ocerne, his estranged lover with his own dark ties back to the beast and a secret that complicates everything. So Sebastian isn't just walking back into danger. He's also walking back into the most complicated relationship of his very long life. Luckily, Sebastian doesn't have to face any of this mess alone. He shares his body and his mind with Sar Model, a demon with a very specific appetite. Sar Model takes payment in living hearts, which is exactly as unsettling as it sounds. And what I can only describe as a truly sarmodel has a truly delightful personality. I loved this character. The world that Cameron Sullivan builds here takes us across centuries and continents, weaves real historical events and people into a hidden supernatural underbelly of European history. It is a ride. All right. Bill from an unlikely story put this one in our hands for the March indie press list. And I want to take a moment to properly thank him. Because this book is like nothing I have read in fantasy. And I nearly didn't read it the right way. I started. Well, I almost started it on my E reader A few chapters in, I realized something was happening that my Kindle was simply not equipped to handle in the very best way. The footnotes. This book has footnotes and they are so good. Sebastian, our centuries old narrator, annotates his own memoir in real time. And those annotations are a whole experience all by themselves. They are funny, dry, self aware. So I stopped, switched to the physical book, which has a dramatic cover and beautiful red sprayed edges and deserves to be in your hands anyway, and started over. Come for the story, stay for the footnotes. Now I want to be upfront about the pacing, because I think that's the thing most likely to trip readers up. This book is 544 pages, and there were stretches where I genuinely marveled at how slowly we were making progress. It was this odd feeling, however much I read, that much more seemed to be added to the end of the book. And this is the important part. I never once wanted to skim. Not a single page, because this is a big, rich, textured book, and it takes up exactly the space that it needs. The slowness sometimes is the point. You are not supposed to race through it. You're supposed to live here for a while. And the ending is fantastic. The kind of ending that makes you understand why the book needed all of those 544 previous pages. I think if you liked Like I did, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, this one will absolutely work for you. The voiciness, the richly imagined historical setting, the slow and deliberate world building, the feeling of being in the hands of a narrator who has been alive long enough to find humans genuinely interesting. All of those vibes that work so well in that other book are here. And I want to be clear, too. This is not romantasy. There is a love story, and it's a good one. But this is high fantasy, the real kind, with a monster hunt, the aforementioned demon, a hilarious succubus, and centuries of complicated history. If you go in expecting romantasy or a quick milkshake read, you will be confused and disappointed. But if you go in as a high fantasy reader who's ready to be transported, I think you're going to have a spectacular trip. This is the Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan.
- [39:20]
A
It sounds like the vibes I'm getting are from my recent in quotes, probably within the last two years. The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman has a lot of those same elements that you were naming toward the end there. So if that was a hit for you.
- [39:36]
B
Yeah, I think that those two books could. Yeah, definitely would find a lot of the same readers.
- [39:42]
A
Yeah. And sometimes, like. But doesn't it feel so good sometimes to just soak into, like, I'm just gonna lay in this book, like, let it grow roots around me.
- [39:51]
B
I kept saying to Johnny, like, I feel like I'm reading. I've been reading this book for 102 years. But I also, like, like I said, did not want to go. I didn't want to, like, skip to the end. I really wanted to see what was going to happen.
- [40:05]
A
Yeah, I like that. Okay. Well, for my third book, I also have Historical fiction, not fantasy. I'm going to talk about Isola by Allegra Goodman. And that is a word in Spanish, But I don't think this is a Spanish title. So it's probably like, Isola. I can't say it like that.
- [40:25]
B
I was going to say I wasn't getting Spanish from it until you just
- [40:28]
A
said it like that.
- [40:30]
B
Okay.
- [40:30]
A
It's French. Got it. We're back in France, actually, in the 1500s. Firmly back in the French countryside. We are meeting Marguerite de la Roque. She is a young girl under the care of a detached guardian after the deaths of both of her parents. Her guardian is an explorer of the seas, which, like, yes, thank you. But he's only around occasionally when he shows up at her family home where she lives with a number of servants and a young companion who's the daughter of her teacher. Depending on his recent expedition and his fortune, her guardian either shows up issuing threats or she's lavished with gold coins and finally able to replace her tattered clothing. There is no in between. As his fortunes change, Marguerite's family home is mortgaged to another family. And she is relegated to a tiny attic room. Like Cinderella. Right on his next return, right as she comes of age in the early 1540s, she's informed that she will accompany him on his next voyage to New France. The icy islands of the St. Lawrence Seaway Beckon fortune hunters and colonizers. At this time, during the voyage, alongside her lifelong nurse, whose name is Demien, Marguerite starts to get to know Auguste, the clerk of her guardian. And that knowledge develops into feels when their underhanded relationship or their under the table relationship is discovered. All three of those characters, Marguerite, her nurse, Damien and Auguste, her clerk turned beloved, are marooned on an uninhabited island, left to survive the elements with only what they can carry from the ship. And that's where the story begins.
- [42:03]
B
Oh, wow.
- [42:04]
A
Yes. Right. So we're like, oh, we're getting to know, like, a privileged young girl in the French countryside. Oh, there's a boat ride. No, that's not what this story is about. Continuing my recent uptick in historical fiction reading, I picked this one up with Katie on my plane ride to Paris. And then I finished it before it was time to head home. I couldn't stop reading this story, which is newly out in paperback. So it was time to finally read the galley that the publisher gave me two years ago. So that's how NetGalley works for me, guys. I'm sorry. Isola is, as the title implies, a story of Isolation, that's the core word there of survival and resilience. It is based on a true historical figure who's only briefly mentioned in French history, but in very different contexts. Her story is mentioned with one ending and another historically, but they don't make sense when you read them together. Allegra Goodman took those two little nuggets of history and decided to explore the juxtaposition through her novel. One story told by her ruthless and conniving guardian and one told by Marguerite herself. But do not fear, this is not a dual timeline novel. It only gently explores the ways that historical figures are shown in very different lights depending on who is telling the story. How could we get this story told by her guardian and also this one historically? Where could that difference have come from? Marguerite's story is difficult. It's isolation on an island. It's harrowing, it's page turning to the extreme. There's plenty of license taken because like I said, it's only two brief historical snippets. And then she turned it into a lush 350 page novel. It's descriptive, it's at times visceral, and it is heartbreaking. We are going to lose a number of characters here. It was exceptional for me though, once I got into past that preface part, basically where we're figuring out who Marguerite is onto the island. I could not put it down. Despite the COVID which features an isolated woman looking over a cliff to a storm tossed sea. I didn't know what I was getting into in this book. I was like, what is this about? And that's what the COVID tells me it's about. It allowed it to deliver though on all these different levels. For me. I only would have wished for a slightly different ending that had a little bit more for the elements that I wanted to see, which is justice and revenge and maybe taking someone out at the kneecaps. But instead she stayed true to the very little source material she had, for which I also cannot fault her. This was excellent. I wish I would have read it a year and a half ago, but it was perfect for this reader. Right now it's Isola by Allegra Goodman.
- [44:37]
B
Yeah, this is one that I've had on my shelf forever and it falls into that cat, the special part of my shelf that I have books that are literary fiction. But Liz Hein has said this is literary fiction. But I think you will really like it. So I've been kind of hoarding it over there. But I. I'm going to say I'm not. I had no idea what it was actually about. And now I'm. Now it makes sense that she would have thought this would be up my alley because that sounds great.
- [45:02]
A
Yeah, it's survival and like the 1500 survival, not like 18, 1980, you know, like we are way back there really?
- [45:10]
B
And on a deserted island.
- [45:12]
A
Uh huh. On a far north deserted island. So like if you like anything with like Svalbard and all those like Norwegian Arctic Circle things.
- [45:20]
B
Oh, so we're not even on a sexy deserted island.
- [45:24]
A
No, this is not. Palm trees and coconuts, my love. Bikinis made out of seashells. We don't have those either.
- [45:30]
B
Oh man, that sounds really good.
- [45:32]
A
All right, y', all, those are our six current reads. And now we get to be bossy. We get to boss some TBRs. I'm very excited to do this because it's been about a quarter. We try and do these kind of regularly and so I was excited to get into it again. If you're new here, the way this works is we go to our bookish friends group, which is our group of Patreon supporters on Facebook or sometimes on Discord, depending on where they're hanging out most recently, and ask them for five reads from their TBR and Meredith and I will prioritize them according to what we think they should read next. Typically I also ask for some other little tidbit of data this time because we are just about to enter those summer months. I asked what kind of travel they have on their radars coming up and that led to some interesting answers. So we're going to get into this. Meredith, do you want to go first or do you want me to?
- [46:24]
B
Let's see. I'll go first. I'll do the one that we got from Carrie.
- [46:28]
A
Okay, great.
- [46:29]
B
Here's what bookish friend Carrie says. We do our big vacations in April. We're going to the Smoky Mountains this year and September when we'll go to the Glacier National Park. During the summer we tent camp. I have four long weekends booked at Wisconsin State parks this summer where we hike, bike, kayak and relax. My husband is not a reader, but he knows that I need time to read. Last summer I really hit a reading slump. For three months of the summer. I can normally do 12 to 20 books a month and last summer it was a push to get in five to six. I read across different genres. Romance, mystery, literary adventure, nonfiction, animal nonfiction, horror, etc. I don't do a lot of sci fi or anxiety inducing thrillers. These are the five books that cari told us she would like us to choose between, number one, Lady Tremaine. Number two, how to Kill a Guy in 10 Dates. Number three, Five by Ilona Bannister. Number four, Isabella Nag and the pot of basil and any Carly Fortune. Carrie says I own all of hers, but I can't seem to pick one up. But I really need a good summer romance. Spicy is better than closed door. All right, Katie, what did you think should be her three and in what order should Carrie read them?
- [47:45]
A
Okay, well, first I went to look up Carly Fortune because of course I know of her, but I haven't read her books. And I wanted to make sure that if I picked a Carly Fortune, it was going to hit the notes for that Carrie was wanting. So I went to Romance IO, which is one of my favorite websites for researching romance that I haven't read. It has ranked this summer will be different as the only four chili pepper option of Carly Fortune's books. So I'm not positive if that's how spicy Carrie means. So I left Carly Fortune off. Instead, what I actually chose for my top three is I'm going to ask Carrie, who I've met in person, to do a buddy read with me and peer pressure her into getting her summer reading Rolling with Five by Alona Banisterfers. That piqued my interest. I was so intrigued by what's called a slow burn masterpiece of psychological fiction. Five strangers waiting on a train platform. You get to know each of them and you also know from the setup one of them will die by the end of the book. I want to read that. So, Cari, let's do that together. I went into how to Kill a Guy in 10 Dates by Shaylie Thompson and then wrapped with Lady Tremaine, which is, in my opinion, like the cherry on top of this stack. She is going to be reaching toward that the entire summer and know that she's going to have something to sink her teeth into to push her through, even if she gets a little bogged down, lost in the sauce with summer together time with this like camping and the husband and everything, that kind of slowed her down last summer. I feel that same girl, but Lady Tremaine will be like the carrot right in front of her to keep her going. By Rachel Hawkins. What about you, Meredith? How did you go?
- [49:22]
B
Okay, so I really struggled. I really wanted to put Isabella Knag in the pot of basil. I'm saying it that way because that's the way the audio narrator says it. And I really like this book. I just. I get In a mood. It's kind of silly. It's a little bit cozy, but it's also got some murder and mayhem. Oliver Darkshire is the author. He's also the narrator. And he's very like Terry Pratchett, but elevated. I don't. I really. Yeah, I, you know, so I really struggled with whether or not that should be on the list. But I do think that how to get how to Kill a guy in 10 dates would be a great way for Cari to start off her summer reading. It's fast, it's its own kind of silly, and it has a satisfying ending. So I think it's a great way to just kind of set the tone and just like, get one under your belt really, really quickly. Now then, I did the same thing that you did with Carly Fortune, but I actually came up with a different result on a couple of levels. So I asked a bunch of people who I know who really like Carly Fortune a lot, and I said, for someone who's brand new, what is going to be the most purely satisfying summer read if you really want a satisfying summer romance? And to a person, they all said every summer after it's her debut. And my friend said it's the platonic ideal of a lake bag book. Dual timeline, first love at a Canadian lake. And it has that ache of summer people finding each other. So everybody who I talked to said that every summer after would be Great. It has 911,000 ratings. It's got an average 4.17 on Goodreads. So my second read for her every summer after by Carly Fortune. Let's finally rip the band aid off and get a Carly Fortune under your belt. And then, of course, duh, Carrie is going to read Lady Tremaine because I do agree that that is a fantastic way to end the summer. And I know Carrie well enough from her being in our group that I. I really, really, really feel like Lady Tremaine will be a huge hit.
- [51:28]
A
Excellent. Yeah, I mean, in general, I feel like that's true for most of our listeners and readers, so. So, Carrie, do let us know what you decided to read, what you packed in your camping bag for the lake and for this summer, we can't wait to hear how the bossier TBR turned out for you. We are going to move on over to our second victim of the week, which is Gianna. And here's what she says. I'll be going to Hilton Head, driving from Ohio with my husband and two young sons. I'll be a passenger, Princess in the car and then have some downtime at the house to read. I'm definitely a mood reader, but also planned because I'm a big library girl, so I have to read my loans before they're due. I will bring my Kindle on vacation on airplane mode to save my loans. Hot tip, y'. All. The books will still go back to the next borrower at the library. You are not keeping anyone from continuing to read if you put your Kindle on airplane mode to save your loans. Here are the five from Gianna's. The Boomerang by Robert Bailey, down with the Shipmans by Meg Mitchell Moore, For Whom the Bell Tolls by JC Lin, Good People by Patmina Savit, and Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hockhouser. One of these things is just like the other. Meredith, how did you start out with Gianna's list?
- [52:46]
B
Okay, so I think starting out in the car on this drive, I think everybody could listen to the Boomerang, right?
- [52:55]
A
Two young sons.
- [52:56]
B
I mean, they might be bored, but I don't think they're gonna.
- [52:58]
A
Probably not gonna pay attention anyway.
- [53:00]
B
Right, Exactly. That's kind of what I'm thinking. I think she and her husband could really enjoy it. I don't remember there being anything that you. If they. If they did listen, would be controversial, like, you know what I mean? But it's very good on audio. It's very, very quick. I think it could be one that you and your husband would enjoy together. Then I think For Whom the bell tolls by J.C. lynn. Huge surprise for me, it's such a good summer book. Yes, it is a big, thick book, but man, is it easy. Puts a smile on your face and justice in your heart. And it's just very, very satisfying. One of my favorite surprises of my recent reading. I absolutely love that book. And then I did some research on this book, down with the Shipments, and I think that that should be her third read. Yes, we know that everyone should read Lady Tremaine. I think the same thing is true of Gianna. But here I wanted to make sure that we threw some focus on this other book because I didn't know anything about Meg Mitchell Moore. Triple M. Who doesn't love that? And down with the Shipmans is a summary drama that follows three sisters who return to their childhood home, each with their own secret. It's the week after 4th of July. These three sisters are returning to their summer home on the New Hampshire coast for what they think is going to be a family reunion. The first without their late mother. However, their Tranquil setting quickly becomes a stage for drama when their father Calvin drops the bombshell news that he plans to sell this cherished beach house. We've got three sisters, all of whom are different one from the other, and all of whom have their own kind of crisis going on in their real life. And now we've got all this old stuff in the family coming up too. This seems soapy and just page turning and perfect for the summer. And it gets great reviews. So down with the Shipments is my third choice for Gianna.
- [54:51]
A
Okay, I like it. We do have some overlap in my picks as well. And as I did this one, I felt almost predictable, like I didn't want to choose what I chose, but then I couldn't get out of it. So for Gianna, what I picked was For Whom the Bell Tolls first because she said she's going to be a passenger princess. And when I was reading Whom the Bell Tolls, which I picked up immediately after you talked about it, Meredith, I wanted to talk to people about it. And she's going to have her husband captive in the car next to her and she can be like, babe, have you ever thought about what happens after you die? Are you interested in, like, Like, I. I could not wait to go to lunch with my parents and talk about the good place or the afterlife. Like, I just, it got so in my head and I wanted to be with people to talk about it. And I feel like a captive audience is perfect for that. And even little kids, like, I don't know how old these two young sons are. They could be three or they could be 13. Nobody knows what that means, but I feel like kids have some thoughts and it's interesting to think about what happens after you die. So I feel like that's a fun car conversation. I put Lady Tremaine second only because I. I wanted to put good people, but because of my experience with the audio and I don't know if Gianna is an audio reader, that's the way that I want to press it into her hands. And she said she was reading these on Kindle. I don't know if I would like. I would have loved Good People as much if I had read it on Kindle. Although that is how you read it. Right?
- [56:20]
B
I did it. I had the phys, the print book.
- [56:22]
A
Okay. Right. So you could go either way on that one. But I didn't put it second because of that. Instead I chose Lady Tremaine. And it's because of that kind of. We like that variety for our reading. Right. Lady Tremaine is a very different feeling than For Whom the Bell Tolls. And then I also read about down with the Shipmans by Meg Mitchell Moore and put that third. It feels like the most beachy selection for me and I want that as a propulsive summer read for Gianna. And I almost hope Carrie listens to this and she picks that one up as well. I think it would be a good fit for her too. Don't you think so? Yeah, I feel good. I feel good about where I landed, even though I felt very predictable in my choices for this one.
- [57:02]
B
Well, I think those are some excellent summer reading choices. We, as always, thank you to our willing victims, in this case, Carrie and Gianna, for letting us boss your tprs. Please do let us know what you choose.
- [57:15]
A
Yes, put a stack up, tag us and tell us exactly how this went for you. That is all we have for our deep dive this week. But before we go, we have a bit more mischief to manage. First, I'm going to tell you all about our bookish friend of the week this week. I chose Dani. Here's what she said. Hi, bookish friends. I've been wanting to try a fellowship of the traveling book type situation. Is anyone interested? And she explains. Bear with me as I try to explain for anyone who may not have seen this type of book club, the first person buys a book, reads it, adds notes and annotations, then sends it to the next person on the list. After everyone has read it, it goes back to the original person. And then the way she sets it up is then the second person buys, reads, annotates, and sends along in the comments. People figured out that a lot of groups like this, everybody buys a book and then every month or every month you send it to the next person. So you always have a book to read and annotate, but you're adding to the person before you all of their highlights. Immediately she had so many people jumping on board saying, I want to do this. I want to have a book that I pass along from one person to another. I went to my local Arizona bookish friends, the the few of them that I see most often. And I said, hey girls, you know Meredith's 666 book club? What if we did something like this instead, where we all have our own book. We have to meet up every other month so there's not a like, oh, we're just too busy. No, we got to get together and we'll switch them in person. We can talk about. You can talk to the person who read your book before you, and we get to just hang out. And all of them were on board. So I'm very excited to try my own fellowship of the traveling book book club with my local Arizona bookish friends and let you know how it goes. But good job, Dani, for proposing something fun and delightful for the group.
- [59:02]
B
I love it. That is so much fun. I love the idea of annotating and then passing that on and having that experience together. That's really fun.
- [59:10]
A
And all these people's handwriting in the margins, like, not just the one, but, like, everybody that read it before you or read it after you. Oh, I think it's so fun.
- [59:17]
B
That is very fun. All right, well, I am going to bring. The category that I'm going to speak to is a book that I DNF'd and why. But big, huge caveat here, speaking of the 666Book Club, because I haven't decided completely yet, but we are reading. We've had some big successes in our. In our book, but our book club. But we're reading a book that I recommend. I was the one who said, hey, guys, what if we read this one? So this is all. This is all me. But we're reading Bat Eater or Other Names for Cora Zang by Kylie Lee Baker, which has hugely high ratings and is a very interesting, very, very interesting book. But I am struggling so hard with this book. And it is one of those things where when I'm reading it, I. I recognize that the sentence level prose and the construction of the book, that it's all being really well done. Like, I'm really. I'm. I'm seeing and appreciating the craft. But I am icked out by the story. I am icked out by the lead character, who she just is one of these very. Now, this might not be the same all the way through, and this might be something where if it changes by the end, like, that would really be an interesting arc. But the beginning, our lead character is just really like, milquetoast kind of. Like, she describes herself over and over again as just being, like, almost invisible. Like, has very. Like, she's not actually invisible, but, like, metaphorically. I just don't. I like a lead character with some pluck. Yeah, this woman is pluckless. And I am really struggling. But what do you do when you're in a book club? Especially a book club that you really, really care about and that you know everyone else? Like, this isn't a book club where people are like, I don't know Maybe I'll read it, maybe I won't. Everyone is really making an effort here, invested. And I don't at all want to let anybody down, but I don't really know how I'm going to be able to push myself through. So I don't know. But it's. But I'm like, I wish I wasn't having this experience.
- [61:16]
A
Yes, I get that. It is part of why I have struggled with book clubs in the past, especially ones where I'm in charge of choosing the book, because I feel more pressure in those situations. Like, what if somebody else feels like this and do they hate me now? I don't know. I get in my head about it. However, on the flip side of that, and I've had people tell this to me even if I don't believe it. For me personally, I know that going to a book club discussion where other people say, I DNF this and here's why, and then you get to have a conversation with it has still added to the discussion and still been interesting. So I don't think that it means that you failed your book club if you do so. Right.
- [61:54]
B
Well, I mean, for sure, because I definitely, like, I definitely want to talk about it, and I want to hear what everyone else thinks about it. And I have a lot of thoughts about why it has or hasn't been working for me. So, yeah, there's going to be a lot of discussion for sure, which is the entire point. I know that these five people are not going to be like, oh, my God, I can't believe they don't care if I finish the book or not. But I, you know, I just want to be as good a reader. As good a reader as the rest of them are. And so I don't want to let anybody down. But also, I'm just not positive I'm going to be able to push through because it's kind of just giving me the ick. It's not. It's not like it's boring. But then also, I am bored. But then also, I am icked out. But then I kind of want to find out what's gonna. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see.
- [62:35]
A
It's a pickle.
- [62:35]
B
Putting a pin in that. By the time you guys hear this, the. The meeting will have already taken place. So we shall see what's gonna happen there.
- [62:41]
A
Whatever will have happened will have happened.
- [62:44]
B
Exactly. All right, that is it for this week. As a reminder, here's where you can connect with us. You can find me. I'm Meredith at Meredith Monday Schwartz on
- [62:52]
A
Instagram and you can find me Katie at Notes on Bookmarks on Instagram. Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Puttivong Evans and you can find her on Instagram at most
- [63:02]
B
of megansreads full show notes with the title of every book we mentioned in the episode and timestamps so you can zoom right to where we talked about it can be found in our show notes and on our website@currentlyreading podcast.com you
- [63:15]
A
can also follow the show at currentlyreading podcast on Instagram or email us at hellourrentlyreading podcast.com if you head to our website or our substack, you'll be able to sign up for our Reader Know Thyself newsletter, which will help you hone in on exactly what works in your reading life. If you're interested in watching this episode and getting that blue, check for each one. You can also find us on YouTube where we're constantly adding new features.
- [63:39]
B
And if you love this content and you want more of it, join us as a bookish friend on patreon. And only $5 a month. But you will get so much more content, a fantastic community, and the added bonus of keeping this show commercial free. You can also help us by rating and reviewing us on Apple podcasts and shouting us out on social media. Every one of those things helps us to find our perfect audience.
- [64:03]
A
Yes, Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and get closer to our goals.
- [64:09]
B
All right, until next week, may your
- [64:11]
A
coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.
- [64:14]
B
Happy reading, Katie Happy reading, Meredith.