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The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 7, Episode 31: New Learning Apps + Prioritizing Our Own TBR
00:54:57
On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: finishing physical books and new learning apps Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we’ve been reading lately Deep Dive: how...
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- [00:00]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Foreign 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.
- [00:25]
Katie Cobb
We are light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our conversations will always be split spoiler free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the fountain.
- [00:35]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I'm Meredith Mundy Schwartz, a mom of four and full time CEO living in Austin, Texas. And my love of words is a huge part of my love of reading.
- [00:44]
Katie Cobb
And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona. And I love it when I can drink books down like shots. This is episode number 31 of season seven and we are so glad you're here.
- [00:55]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Oh yes, that is very good. And I can't wait to find out exactly what part of shots quick or pleasurable afterwards is it. So we'll get into that. All right, so we our deep dive today, we will let you know, is going to be about it's going to actually be an answer to a question that we got from a listener who said tell me how you prioritize reading books you already know own. How do you prioritize reading your own shelves? So we're going to get into that. But first let's get into our bookish moment of the week. Katie, what have you got?
- [01:30]
Katie Cobb
Okay, Meredith, this would not have been a big deal at other times in my reading life or even other times over the course of the podcast, but this week I got sucked in enough to two books that I blasted through two books on paper. And that doesn't seem that exciting. Although most people know that I'm like 60% audio in my reading. I finished no audiobooks this week and two books on paper. And that was huge for me. A because I really love reading on paper and so to have it suck me in enough that I couldn't put that I was like walking around with my book is a big deal. And my reading has been pretty broken, as I've alluded to many times over the past six months to a year. So it was just I got so excited that two of them really worked for me. The first one had super short Cheeto chapters, couldn't put it down, didn't even matter if I really loved it, but I just had to keep going. Oh, there's another also I did really love it. So it's coming. Don't worry it's coming up. Another one.
- [02:32]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
It's coming today.
- [02:33]
Katie Cobb
Not today. I'm saving it now. It's like a precious pearl that I have to deploy at the right time.
- [02:38]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Okay.
- [02:39]
Katie Cobb
The second one had alternating points of view in an enemies to lovers romance. Both of those are absolute catnip for me as a reader. And even though both of these had endings that left me wanting more in one way or another, neither one killed my momentum, and I just kept on blasting through. It made me so happy.
- [03:00]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
That is wonderful when you have a week like that where it just really, really works. I mean, that is pleasurable.
- [03:07]
Katie Cobb
Yes. Yeah, it's that kind of shot.
- [03:09]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I love it. Okay, good. I was hoping. I was hoping that would be the case. All right. My bookish moment of the week is that I found a new app that I am just absolutely loving. So I told you, and I've mentioned multiple times, I love Duolingo. Right. I love anything that I can do for a small amount of time each day and feel like I'm building up a streak, that kind of thing. And I went looking to see, are there any other apps that kind of fall into this same category? And I found one that is called Vocabulary. It's literally just called vocabulary. It's little app symbol is kind of a pretty pink with just a. With a v. So that's how you'll know when you're at the right place. And we'll link it in, show notes too. But it is. It basically, first of all, it's very beautifully designed app. I do it on my phone. I haven't tried it on any. I haven't tried it on my iPad or anything. But you can choose the background that you want your words to appear on. You can choose the voice you want to hear. If you want to hear the words out loud, you can choose the categories of words that you want to learn or expand upon. And. And so basically, you can either go into the app and kind of just experiment and play with words for a long period of time, or each day it prompts you to go through 10 words that it tests you on. And then if you don't get it, it gives you. Or actually, if you get it or not, it gives you the definition. And again, you can hear how it's pronounced and all of that. So it's just like 60 seconds. It's. It builds upon itself like Duolingo does. So it'll introduce a word. Maybe it's a word that I've never heard before at all. And then over the course of the next few days, it will kind of throw that into my new rotation. So I'm seeing it over and over again, but the rotation is different every day. It's not like it's quizzing me on the same 10 words or, you know, it's just really, really well done from a user interface perspective. And I love words. I love learning new words. I love learning very specific words, and I love being able to choose the categories of words that, that I want to learn more about. You can choose multiple. So it's just something that I'm really loving. And of course, as always happens, when you learn a new word, it pops up in your reading in some sort of bookish magic. And that's enjoyable thing to watch, too. So the vocabulary app.
- [05:38]
Katie Cobb
This sounds very fun.
- [05:39]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I am highly recommending it.
- [05:41]
Katie Cobb
I love that a lot because I also, as you know, am addicted to duolingo. So I love that, like, tiny daily ritual just getting a little bit of stretching to my brain. And so I like the idea of kind of pivoting it a little bit and expanding my English knowledge as well.
- [05:58]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Right. And the way you can, you can do a. You can create a widget for it if you want to. You can create a widget for it. And I have done that. And that's where, like, it'll give me like a prompt in three words, and then you choose between those three, and then it gives you the definition again, either whether you've gotten it or not, but it's a widget on my phone. So now that's the thing that I go to if I'm like, I have what, two minutes to start before a meeting. If I have, you know, just like I'm standing waiting for 50 seconds on the microwave and I'll just kind of do so. You can constantly be quizzing yourself on words. And I'm finding myself going to that more than spending 20 or 30 or seconds or a minute on social media, for example. So it's also been helping me in that way. So I just really like it. I'm a huge fan. And when you create your, like, home in the app, again, I've created one. Probably most readers listening will do this, the same one. But it's this rainy day, like ASMR background, where it's like a rainy day in this beautiful room with bookshelves. And then like, your word in the definition is, like written. So it's like, that's like your home in the app. You can be like, I'm going to spend a few minutes in this room. Thinking. Thinking about words. I don't know. It's just really well done.
- [07:12]
Katie Cobb
Okay. I like that a lot.
- [07:14]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Okay. So speaking of all those words and all those books that we've been reading, let's talk about our current reads. Katie, what's your first one for this week?
- [07:23]
Katie Cobb
Okay, Meredith. My first book this week is called House of Cotton by Monica Brashears. This is a book that swelters in the sweatiest way. It's Southern Gothic. Heavy on the gothic, heavy on the horror. Here's our setup. Magnolia Brown is our main character. She's 19 and broke and living hand to mouth. She is haunted by her grandmother, Mama Brown, and very familiar with the Southern streets that she calls home. One night, working at her dead end job in a convenience store, she meets Cotton, a charming stranger who is nearly greasy in his slick demeanor. He offers her a job at the House of Cotton, his family's funeral home, where she will model for clients at a funeral home. Which is weird, right?
- [08:11]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
That is weird.
- [08:12]
Katie Cobb
Well, Magnolia models as the deceased. Sometimes she lays still in a coffin having having been made up with cosmetics and a wig to match their facial features and coloring. Sometimes she gets on zoom with the family members in order to help celebrate the life of the dead. And then she has to be lively and, you know, using their mannerisms. Sometimes it goes further than that as she starts bringing in money because he pays her very well. Her problems increase. As is often the case, Cotten's requests become stranger, and Magnolia finds herself sucked into his business in ways that she never expected. I picked this book up last summer when I went to Chicago. I went to a store called Exile in Bookville, which is very, like, touristy and of the moment in Chicago. It's a great store, though. It's upstairs. You have to take this old elevator that, like, a man runs, like there's an elevator operator in this building. It's very fun to go visit it. I highly recommend it to anyone in the area. Definitely touristy. House of Cotton was one of many books with a great shelf talker, and quite a few jumped into my bag that day when I was there. But it wasn't until the dead of winter that I decided to pick this one up. It delivered big time on the creep factor, but a lot of it was really weird. The writing itself is interesting while being character driven, and it had enough detail about the dark aspects of the story that I was really satisfied with the setup. But the way the plot details came together and especially the ending, not so satisfying. While I read quite a few Reviews. When I did my setups for this show, most people seem to focus on one thing. So I'm going to get into that here. This year on the spreadsheet, we added a new category in the spice rating column. It's sexual content that is not sexy. It was to my utter surprise that I got to use that on this book, which was my very first book of 2025. There were many scenes in this book in which Magnolia kind of asserts her power or takes back her power in the world by taking a man by force, oftentimes in the bushes outside. But there's plenty of that that happens inside a house as well. Every time. It was jarring and felt almost aggressive in the way that Monica Brashears brought it to the page. Violent and disturbing. But it's also a great example of why we decided to add that spice rating. Because sometimes it's important to be able to let people know what kind of content to expect, even if it's not a spicy book, as is the case here. For me, the sexual content is not sexy was not an issue. But for a lot of reviewers it was. They were like, I was expecting a horror book and instead I got this weird like rapiness and I did not like it. For me, it was the overall plot. I did enjoy the writing itself. Almost wanted to get out my paper copy to highlight sentences while I listened to the audio, which was very well done. But I realized pretty early on that it was not going to be a book that went on my keeper shelves. So in the end I was glad I trusted my gut in that regard. I think it's a worthwhile read, but it's bound to piss off most plot driven readers as it's really about like, the beauty of the writing of which I'm typically one. So it's strange that I enjoyed it as much as I did. This was House of Cotton by Monica Brashears.
- [11:17]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Interesting. Well, you have spoken about it in a way that is exactly what we're trying to do, which is lets us know when a book is and is not for us.
- [11:27]
Katie Cobb
And it's very pretty cover, so that's probably why it had shelf talkers. Yes, exactly. It is lovely. Turned out on a shelf. What's your first book?
- [11:35]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Thank you for letting us know, Katie. All right. My first book is a great one. As we begin to think about spring, we begin to start to plan vacations to sunny climes. Here's one to put on your list. If you love a good airplane book, it's the Inheritance by Tricia Saklicha. Here is the setup. If succession met and then there were none, at an exclusive luxury retreat off the coast of Scotland, this is what you would get with inheritance. Our family that we're following are the Agarwals, a wealthy Indian family gathering for what should be a simple family reunion, but is actually of course, an emotional powder keg. Raj is our patriarch, the dad, and he's a business tycoon who's about to announce finally, who is going to get the keys to the kingdom, this multi million dollar deli based company. His wife Shalini has sacrificed years to the family business and to her family and she is ready to have her husband back to herself. Meanwhile, their daughter Myra, who's this golden child, she's hosting this gathering on her private island, is secretly teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. It's awkward timing. And then we have Asim, the son and their heir apparent, who's torn between doing his duty to the family and his marriage. And then Aisha, the youngest, the wild child who's never met a family gathering she didn't want to dramatically disrupt. When you throw in Zoe, Aseem's wife, she's a family outsider who is an Instagram influencer, but of course her Instagram kingdom is built on a throne of lies. You have got a family gathering that is just one passy aggressi comment away from total implosion. So everyone's got secrets, they've got secrets, they're die they would die to protect. And as the reunion unfolds, the question becomes less who's going to inherit the company and more who's going to die? So, all right, I got this one from NetGalley. It had really, really good reviews there and I was very much in the mood for a one night stand thriller. And that is exactly what this is. There's nothing groundbreaking about this book, but it was a solid 3.75 star thriller for me. I love the fact that the family centered in this thriller was an Indian family. A really, really rich Indian family. I like the fact that the inheritance piece was at the center of the story, but done in a really modern way. I also like the fact that each one of the siblings and one of the siblings in law had different points of view, so they all spoke into the drama and their, their kind of issues and their secrets would come into play as we waited for the father to make his final decision on the inheritance. There was nothing overly cliche here, which is amazing because it would seem fraught with that and I appreciated it. Very much for its freshness and newness. I also loved the Scottish island setting. I happened at that point to be reading that. And beautiful, ugly. And it was. I was doing that one on audio and it was interesting to be reading these at the same time. Scottish islands. Very, very creepy. So I like this book very much. And in fact, I would have given it a 4, maybe even 4.25 star rating all the way up to literally the last three words of the book. The last three words took it from being something that was like a really, really good thriller to being something that I would call a good one night stand book. I won't say any more about that, but it lost a full half star in just three words. So there you go. This one is very fast. Just satisfying enough to be a quick palette cleanser in between other heavier, more serious books. So again, if you like succession and you like rich people behaving badly or you're kind of interested in what it might be like the Sunday brunches in the Rupert Murdoch family, you're going to want to read this book. This is the Inheritance by Tricia Saklicha.
- [15:51]
Katie Cobb
Okay. Wow. Three words. That almost makes me want to be an animal and go find this book and just read the last three words. And I realized that that wouldn't do anything for me.
- [16:00]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Right.
- [16:01]
Katie Cobb
If I had not read the book. But I'm like, God, what could be those final three words that would so detract from the story? I'm so interested.
- [16:10]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
And especially keep in mind the context. This is coming from me, someone who is really not very phased by endings. Endings are, most of the time not something that is at all gonna, you know, make or break a book for me.
- [16:25]
Katie Cobb
Right.
- [16:25]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
So it didn't break the book. I want to be clear, it didn't break the book, but it did take it down a half star.
- [16:30]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. Interesting. Okay, well, we both started out with 3.75 stars. I am going up. I hope you are too.
- [16:38]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I am, yes.
- [16:39]
Katie Cobb
My second book this week is the Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson.
- [16:45]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Unexpected.
- [16:46]
Katie Cobb
I know, right? Let it be known, currently reading does not shy away from packlist titles. I briefly mentioned in our top 10 episode of the year that I was reading this one because Odysseus was one of my least favorite characters of the year. That's why it came up in that episode. I finished it shortly thereafter. 800 BC is when this book was written. So again, backlist titles. We are not afraid. This one made it back onto my TBR after I originally read it. In high school because Emily Wilson's translation is the first English translation by a woman in nearly 3,000 years of Western history. The first English translation by a woman. What the heck is up with that? The Odyssey is billed as the first great adventure story in the Western canon. It's an epic poem written in stanzas, and Emily Wilson, our translator, took great care to have her translation include the same number of lines as the original Greek poem. She is a stickler for detail and I'm here for it. Wilson is a scholar of classical Greek and her author's note especially adds so much to this new translation, which gave me all the I'm a student of history and literature feels. I love that feeling for me. Is there a setup needed? Probably not, but let's find out. The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus after the Iliad, which is Homer's epic about the Trojan War. Decades have passed and his family awaits his return from the battlefield, never hearing about his death nor his progress home. As the poem begins, Odysseus is nearing home and tells the story of those adventures to the kings and courts that host him on the way. There are tales of a cyclops, the goddess Circe, Sirens, and so much more. The gods, especially Athena and Poseidon, alternately help and hinder his progress, sometimes setting him back many miles or many years. In the meantime, his wife Penelope has been beset by suitors, all trying to win her hand because they assume she's a widow and they want her fortune. Their son Telemachus attempts to gather word of his father's progress as he has grown from a boy into a man. Even his faithful dog is awaiting his return, which, like homer, what a 20 year old dog. Just waiting, sir. Excuse me. Right? I was like, clearly this man has never had a dog, or we don't have those kind of dogs anymore, Right? But I do stand by my statement that Odysseus, the character who we're centered on, whose travails we're following throughout this epic poem, is insufferable. He is arrogant and manipulative. He lies and cheats and puts others in harm's way. He deceives those who are closest to him, and even fights a pivotal battle totally in the nude, just for fun. Every time the tale circled back to Odysseus talking about himself, I had to stop my eyes from rolling back into my head. Thankfully, this is not just a book about Odysseus, even though he is the titular character. Penelope, Athena, Telemachus and his faithful servants and sailors make this Story what it is. This new translation by Emily Wilson brings light and flesh to those characters in a way that I hadn't felt in the past. And for that reason, I truly loved it. I ditched my old copy of the Odyssey on my shelves and put this translation in its place, which we may be talking about on a future episode. Which books do you keep and which ones? How do you purge your old shelves? Right. The question is, do I go back in time and visit Emily Wilson's translation of the Iliad as well, which released slightly after this one a couple years ago? I loved her new telling of this tale. I loved the maps, especially included in it. It has French flaps and deckled edges. This is a copy worth keeping on your shelves of a 3,000 year old tale, even if you don't love Odysseus. This is the Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson.
- [20:38]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
That is amazing and totally unexpected, but I'm so glad that you made your way through it and had some really good insights.
- [20:47]
Katie Cobb
I wasn't even like a slog. Like, I was like, oh, I'm gonna have to, you know, slow, but study this. 20 pages a day. Let's just see if I can do it. Nope, Blasted through it. Absolutely enjoyed it and just, you know, cramped my eyeballs.
- [21:00]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Excellent. All right. I'm very, very glad that worked for you.
- [21:04]
Katie Cobb
Yes.
- [21:05]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
All right. My next book is the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
- [21:09]
Katie Cobb
No, it's not.
- [21:09]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
No, I'm just kidding. Just joking. I'm joking.
- [21:12]
Katie Cobb
That would be so fun.
- [21:13]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
But it would be really. It would be unexpected. But this One is from 1995, so very, very backlist. And also it is a book that has now appeared at least three times on the show. And I had to bring it because it was a book that has been really meaningful and impactful to me. This is a book called It's Easier Than youn Think by Sylvia Boorstein. Sylvia Boorstein is a Buddhist teacher who manages somehow to make spirituality feel accessible and even simple. So instead of complex philosophical discussions that make this reader's eyes cross, she uses everyday experiences and really relatable stories to illustrate Buddhist principles. It's like. Or at least for me, it was like having a warm, slightly quirky auntie who happens to be a meditation teacher, gently guiding me through Buddha's teachings. So this is one that was recommended to me heartily by Roxanna, and she also recommended it to Mary, who also brought it to the show. So this has made its way through our little group of readers. This book is small at only 145 pages, but its impact act is mighty. It is both comforting and inspires you to action at the same time. And I haven't read a lot of books that do that. So I read this as part of my morning reading, and I thought it would be kind of fast because again, 145 pages. It's written in short vignettes or essays, some as short as a single paragraph. So easy peasy, lemon squeezy, right? What I found is that this book is deceptively slow, but not at all because it's dull. It's slow because the writing, even though it's done in a very personal, direct way, is so impactful in the way it makes you stop and think. I found that sometimes I could only read a single vignette, and then I would be so gobsmacked with how deeply it reached into me and demanded that I examine some part of my life or my actions or my thought processes that I was moving slowly. The subtitle of this book is the Buddhist Way to Happiness, and obviously this book does deal with that. Sylvia Boorstein is a Buddhist and a meditation teacher, and this is her life's work. I certainly have found that I lean toward books about Buddhism and Stoicism in my adult life in place of the religious texts that I read in my younger life. Both of these schools of thought, Buddhism and Stoicism, have given me so much to think about and, yes, to meditate on. And I think there's a lot to benefit people from all religious faiths and backgrounds here. But what I think is really interesting about this book is how very personal it feels to each reader. Every single one of these vignettes felt like she was sitting across the room, crisscross applesauce from me, gently laying these truths out for me. Some easy to accept and some so, so difficult. Even the title is deceiving in a way. It's easier than you think. There's so much to unpack in those few words. Yes, just accepting that life is suffering and deciding to just change the way we think about that and be done with it should be simple. And yet it's the hardest thing anyone could ever do. That's what I loved about this book. It tackles the way our brain runs to the easy and runs away from the difficult to our own detriment. This book gave me a month of mornings to sit with Sylvia and be gently urged to stay on my mat even when things get difficult. She's a wonderful, gentle, patient teacher for that learning. This is It's Easier Than youn Think by Sylvia Boorstein.
- [25:02]
Katie Cobb
This sounds excellent. And now I feel like we have to complete the set, so I did add it to my thrift books cart.
- [25:10]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
There you go. Yes.
- [25:11]
Katie Cobb
Talking about it.
- [25:12]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Perfect.
- [25:12]
Katie Cobb
Even though I did hear Roxanna and Mary talk about it on their top 10 episodes.
- [25:17]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yes. And I. And I also bought a used copy of it. I kind of liked the yellowed pages that mine wasn't marked up at all. But just I kind of like that.
- [25:28]
Katie Cobb
Like this has stood the test of time. It's still around. Yeah, I like that too.
- [25:32]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
All right, what's your. What's your last book?
- [25:33]
Katie Cobb
Okay, my last one is one you know about, Meredith, because I'm going to talk about an IPL book from last year, the Best Way to Bury your Husband by Alexia Casale.
- [25:43]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Okay.
- [25:44]
Katie Cobb
And I will be saying burry the.
- [25:45]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Entire time over and over again.
- [25:47]
Katie Cobb
This book came to us via Book Tenders as an indie press list store in July of 2024. They subbed in Under Duress, but with stellar success. When we found ourselves in a pinch and they brought us a great stack of books, this one grabbed me immediately. Booktender set it up for us in that episode and I thought they did a great job. So I'm going to let them tell you about it by reading bookseller Amy's blurb. Here's what she can't tell by looking at the COVID that at the heart of this story, it's really a story of friendship, hope, and second chances. It will make you laugh and it will break your heart, amy says. Sally, our main character, has been abused by her husband for 20 years, until one day during the start of the COVID lockdown, she takes her grandmother's cast iron skillet to his head. Cue the Broadway song He had it coming from Chicago. While figuring out how to hide the body, Sally takes neighborhood walks. Despite being watched constantly by her neighbor, who reminds her of the COVID restrictions she is not allowed to be outside. Amy continues. Sally ends up finding three other women who have the same problem as her. Together, they form a gardening club to get rid of their problems. The author did a great job bringing awareness not only to domestic violence in general, but the rise of domestic violence during COVID lockdowns. I thought Amy did a great job with that. The book was released in March of 2023 and had just the right amount of sparkle for me. Mixed with black humor, it deals with the very serious topics of domestic abuse and murder. Obviously a serious topic, but the friendships These women form with each other and the planning they have to do to find their way out of their predicaments are just delightful. To me, this book feels like a true celebration of female friendship and the ways we can support and uplift each other across lines that may otherwise divide us. Right now, we all need a little reminder of how united we are. I popped over to her Instagram, Alexia Casales, while I was prepping and saw that Book of the month just picked this one as a March 2025 pick. So hopefully that means that many new readers that didn't get the scoop on it last year from the indie press list finally have it on their radar as well. Also was just released in paperback and that cover got an even better glow up. I'm so excited about the paperback edition. It is dark and disturbing. It's hilarious and gave me hope for humanity. Smushing all those into one book, that's a talent. And I hope to read some more from this author. I loved this one. It's the best way to bury your husband by Alexia Casale.
- [28:11]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Now, did you just say that Book of the month chose it as a March pick? Yes, a book that came out last year.
- [28:17]
Katie Cobb
It came out in March 2023. It's a two year old book.
- [28:20]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
It's a two year old Book.
- [28:22]
Katie Cobb
That's interesting. And they picked it as a March pick, which I found out on her Instagram because I don't have a Book of the month anymore. I'm an aardvark girl now. But I was like, whoa, look at this. How fun for her.
- [28:32]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Well, and also, that could be more fun for Book of the Month too, if they're going into back list and finding some more interesting things.
- [28:38]
Katie Cobb
Oh, it's fun from the back. Yeah, exactly.
- [28:41]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Good. Excellent. Okay. All right. And I saved a great one for last. Also, I absolutely love this book. This is historical fiction of the best possible kind. This is a book called the Last Days of Night by Graham Moore. Here's a setup. Again, this is historical fiction. This is set in 1888 New York, a time when electric light is brand new and the question of who will control it puts both billion dollars, billions of dollars and a place in history at stake. Our lead character is Paul Cravath, a young lawyer fresh out of Columbia Law who gets dropped into what seems like and actually is an absolutely impossible case. Paul is representing George Westinghouse, who's been sued by none other than Thomas Edison over who actually invented the light bulb and who should have the right to sell all that Power to America. This is a David and Goliath story. If Goliath also had J.P. morgan's backing, an army of private spies and newspapers in his pocket. Edison is absolutely ruthless in this story. And watching poor attorney Paul try to outmaneuver him is painful at times. I'm not going to lie about that. Along the way, Paul crosses paths with the brilliant and eccentric Nikola Tesla, who's an epically memorable character and my favorite one in the entire book. The whole thing is way, way more exciting than a book about light bulbs has any right to be. All right. Graham Moore is the author of two other books that I have read and really liked. One was called the Sherlockian and one is called the Holdout. And those books are very different from each other and from this one. So when I saw this book at the library and I saw that it was by Graham Moore, I thought, could that actually be the same Grand Moore? I picked it up immediately. I'm so glad I did, because not only was it a page turning read, but I learned so much about a topic that has actually always been of interest to me, but I had no idea about it. This book is not a mystery, it's not a thriller. This is true historical fiction, but it's incredibly well researched and it puts you right in the room at a very pivotal time in American history. I was endlessly interested in the personalities which are writ larger large in this book of Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla, all of whom play heavily as main characters in the story. So I was learning a ton about an important time in our history, but also I couldn't help think how many things in this story are still at play today. There's no question in this book that Thomas Edison reminds me, of course, of Elon Musk, as he does many others. And getting an insider look into not only the way that Thomas Edison's brain worked, but also his incredible ambition and the way that it was really more than anything else for Thomas Edison about his desire to be first, more than about money or power, that made me think so much of Elon Musk. Both of them are once in a generation minds, and both of them have had incredible impact, for good or not, in the world that we live in. But it was maybe the character of Nikola Tesla that was the most interesting. I didn't know almost anything about the real life inventor and this book made me feel like I had just stepped into a room with him or got to have a really awkward dinner with him, because all dinners with Nikola Tesla were really, really awkward. Did you know that Nikola Tesla mainly only ate salting crackers and water? All kinds of interesting things like that in the story. Kind of feels like a book that wouldn't have necessarily interested me because it doesn't have a murder driving that plot forward. But the question of who was going to get the all important patent for the first light bulb was enough of a who's gonna get it? Instead of a whodunit to keep me turning the pages all the way through. Graham Moore is an auto by author for me and I am going to double check that I have read everything in his backlist because he's really, really good. Never writes the same book twice. I highly recommend this one. If you love historical fiction, that will really, really also help you learn something. This is the Last Days of Night by Graham Moore.
- [33:07]
Katie Cobb
I do love a good historical fiction. Yes. This sounds excellent. And I just love this time in history too.
- [33:14]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah. And that I don't know much about.
- [33:16]
Katie Cobb
Age of innovation.
- [33:17]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah, very interesting. These big, huge personalities.
- [33:21]
Katie Cobb
Also, why didn't Tesla get scurvy? Like, hello, sir, you need some vegetables and vitamin C. What in the world?
- [33:27]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Well, he physically. Yeah, he physically wasn't doing real well.
- [33:31]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, I'm sure. Well, that's because your body needs more than that, sir.
- [33:35]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah. And apparently if you don't eat fruits and vegetables, you also can smell a certain way. I don't know. So lovely.
- [33:41]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, he's like, let's not make light bulbs so people can't see what color my skin is. And it's all turning yellow from jaundice.
- [33:49]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah. But he's fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.
- [33:52]
Katie Cobb
Oh, that sounds really good.
- [33:53]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah. I think if you like Erik Larson. But sometimes Erik Larson picking up one of his books feels like kind of a lot, but you're kind of in that mood. Oh, this is a really, really good one.
- [34:05]
Katie Cobb
Okay. I mean, gosh, why do I love historical fiction so much but I so rarely pick it up? What's that about? Can somebody tell me what my problem is?
- [34:15]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah, I mean, it's a great way to learn, for sure.
- [34:18]
Katie Cobb
It really is.
- [34:19]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
All right, Katie, let's get into our deep dive today, which comes to us by way of a reader or listener question. This is from Lisa Revord, who emailed us saying this, you encouraged readers to send you their reading questions. I would be curious to know how you guys make sure that you are reading books you already own when so many amazing books are being published every month. Between book of the month and a fabled subscription, I have tons of books that are just waiting to be read. However, when a new release is ready for me at the library, I feel compelled to read that first since I only have three weeks to do it. How do you work in your own, perhaps older books into that reading lineup? Do you switch between a new release or a buzzy book and one that you already own? So many books, so little time. I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you have in this regard. Happy reading, Lisa. Reward. Good question, Lisa.
- [35:16]
Katie Cobb
Such good questions.
- [35:17]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I know, and it was something we really, really like to do is to get your questions. So definitely send an email to us@currentlyreading podcastmail.com with any of your questions about the reading life. All right, Katie, how do you go about doing this? What are your first thoughts about prioritizing reading your shelves when there are so many other ways to take in books?
- [35:37]
Katie Cobb
You know, Meredith, one of the reasons that we really love getting questions from people is because a lot of times we don't even think about this thing until somebody else brings it up for us, right? So I was like, gosh, what do I do? I have no idea. So I kind of looked back at my reading logs over the years to see if I could find some patterns here. And really what I found is that I am a. I'm a girl of wild swings. I swing wildly from kind of eschewing everything that's not inside my house already to buying books with reckless abandon or going to the library and taking out 15 books at a time and letting that guide my reading. And it usually, the swing from one to the other is usually preceded by a slump of some kind, like, oh, I read something so great now. Nothing sounds good that is in my house at all. None of these books are good anymore. I need to find something else. Or, wow, I've been like, reading all this new release and I just, I'm so burnt out. What am I? You know what, let's go back to what past Katie thought, ah, she had good ideas, you know, like, so it's these wild swings from one side to the other. What about you?
- [36:46]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Well, I thought a lot about this, and I think that I also do some swinging back and forth. I think probably every reader does. So the true key to this, I think, is twofold. Knowing who you like read or know thyself. Right? That's the key, I think, to the entire reading life. And also know have strategies ready for yourself for when you're going through whatever mood or have a few strategies available. So you need to know, for example, are you someone who thrives on limited choices and that helps you. Or are you someone who rebels against limited choices? Are you someone, for example, for whom you could say, this year and lots of people do this and do this to great effect, this year I am only going to read my shelves. I'm going to devote an entire year or some period of time to just reading my shelves. And so I'm going to take all those other things out of rotation. For me, I'm not going to allow myself to do anything but reading my shelves. That works for a lot of people. For me when I tell myself I must do anything in my reading life, I think because the whole rest of my life is very based on must do's, I don't do that in my reading life because that shuts down my reading enjoyment a lot of the time. So I do better when I give myself not stringent limits, but options. So for example, there are lots of times where I say to myself, I really do want to prioritize reading my shelves a little bit more. So then I will try to do a book flight on of, you know, of my, my shelf. So like I do at the library, but with my own books, sometimes that works, but sometimes that doesn't work for me. So sometimes I will say, I'll put a poll up on my Instagram and say, hey, of these five books, which one are you most interested in hearing me talk about? Or which one do you think I should read next? Or sometimes I'll go to the bookish friends group and I will say, hey, what's the last five star book you read? And the first person who mentions one that is on my shelf, that's the book that I'll read next. Have to be in a very specific mood to do that. But sometimes that has been really, really a helpful way for me to move through my shelves. So the other thing that I've done is I have realized that the format that I'm reading in has really changed for me. So it's a question to ask, are you wanting to read a lot of buzzing new releases because those are ones that you're getting on your Kindle, for example. And really what's at play is reading digitally is working well for you or are on audio and reading your print books is not so much working. Those are all some things that come into play for me. I'll give you one more thing that I've been doing more recently, which is choosing books off of my shelf, giving myself a nice big pile that spans a few genres. So 10 or 12 and saying, I'm going to try to work from this pile for the next couple weeks where I can, and then giving myself the further permission to get that book on audio or digitally from my library or other places if I can. And sometimes moving the format helps me move through them. So those are some things that come up for me when I try to read my shelves.
- [40:03]
Katie Cobb
Okay, Meredith. I knew that this conversation was gonna get interesting because of the things that came up for me when I was prepping for it. But now it's even more interesting because what you're talking about there, getting 10 to 12 books and saying, maybe over the next few weeks, I kind of want to read through these. I used to do that all the time. It is why I called myself a planned reader, because I would say, on your piano, right? Yeah, it was my piano shelf, and my piano is no longer close to my bookshelves, so that's no longer a thing. But also, I just don't do that anymore. And as I was thinking through this deep dive, I was like, gosh, I'm a Ouija board reader now. I will walk up to my shelves and kind of feel their energy and see which one wants to jump into my hands and have no plan for what's coming up next. So it's more like playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey to see what's going to happen next in my reading life. I just. And it's. I mean, I'm sure part of its mood, part of it is the reading slumpiness we've been talking about for a year now, because nobody wants to hear that again from me. But my reading has changed so much in that I can't be like, oh, here's some good things that I really want to read next, and I'm just gonna plan, and I'm gonna make it, and I'm gonna make it happen. I'm just gonna do it will not work for me at all. If I say I'm only gonna read from my shelves, I will go to the bookstore three times that week. Like, I just cannot force myself to do anything in my reading life right now. So now I'm very like, oh, what should we read? Like, kind of wandering around aimlessly just seeing what happens. I've become a Ouija board reader. It's very strange, right?
- [41:38]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Well, but I think the important thing is a, we're talking about different things that normalize the fact that we go through seasons in what we like and in how we choose even what we're going to read. That that's really, really normal. And that's why I'm saying having a bun strategies that you can try to figure out what's going to work can be really, really helpful. While you were talking, I thought about two other things that have been really helpful to me. And because I'm thinking, I've kind of been moving through some books on my shelves recently. What has helped me do that? One of those is buddy reads. I have been picking up some books on my shelves because different people have said, like, hey, I'm going to read this. Do you want to join me? I have it on my shelf. And now all of a sudden that's prioritized in a different way because I want to read it along with that person. So that's something that can be helpful if you want to prioritize reading your shelves. The other thing, and this is a trick that I've used a lot over the course of my life, move around the books in your home. So if you're. Maybe some people just have one single bookshelf or, you know, or a set of shelves where they keep their books even there, I would say move them around, but also grab three or four books and put them on in a stack on a table that you don't currently have books on. Grab a whole bunch of books and put them on an inset shelf that's in your hallway that you walk past a million times a day but doesn't currently have books on it. Or maybe you have a shelf that has that, but you haven't changed up the books there for a long time. Sometimes we need to see books differently in our lives for it to start calling to us. So sometimes you just kind of have to physically start moving your books around to different spaces for them to talk to you differently.
- [43:21]
Katie Cobb
Yes. This is so true. And it works on children, too.
- [43:24]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah.
- [43:25]
Katie Cobb
So if. If it works on kids who are like, ooh, shiny, I should look at that. It will work on your adult brain because that's all. That's all you're doing. You're putting a different light on it so it becomes shiny again. And now you're like, oh, I think I do want to read that. Weird. All it took is putting it horizontal instead of vertical and moving it three feet to the left. And it's a brand new thing, even though it's a very old thing. Right?
- [43:49]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah.
- [43:50]
Katie Cobb
So I completely agree.
- [43:51]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
That's a good point. Because I didn't put together the fact that I regularly do that with my grand. My grandbabies. Right. Where I will put books and grab a few books, put them in a different pile, different place, and all of a sudden we're reading a book that had never drawn their attention on a different shelf before.
- [44:07]
Katie Cobb
Yes.
- [44:07]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
So, yes. But I, that really, that is something that really, really works for me. Moving my books around or sometimes I'll categorize them differently, I'll be like, and I just did this recently when I got back from the trip Betsy and I took to England. I had taken all of those books and categorized them by genre, as I do in my library as a whole. But all of a sudden I was like, I want to read more of those. I'm gonna grab like 12 of them and just put them as a grouping. And all of a sudden I've read like three of them back to back to back because I put them together and I grouped them in a different way and put them in a different part of my home. So that's a really good strategy to help kind of bring back some of the interest in books that you, your past self chose and said, hey, this is really of interest to me.
- [44:55]
Katie Cobb
Okay. So another thing I do that's kind of like what you're talking about. I read a lot with my reading partner, Katie Proctor. And sometimes I set all those books separate from the rest of my books so that they are stood apart from everything else. And sometimes I will walk down my TBR shelf and I will add post it sticky flags to books that either I think would be a good fit to read with Katie because she and I have a lot of similarity, a lot of great overlap. And sometimes one of us will say, I kind of want to read this soon. And we'll buddy read it. So the other person will grab a copy of that book. That's what's going to happen with the Bee Sting by Paul Murray, because I'm scared to pick it up because it's a chonker. But Katie has it on her shelves, so I bought it anyway and it's fine. What happens when I put the post it note flags on though, is other people come into my house and they say, what's with the pink flags? Or what's happening with these purple post its or whatever it is that I've used to denote them. And so it's another trigger for other people to start asking me about what's with those books? Why? Why are those ones special? And it brings them back, it bubbles them to the surface again. So it's that same thing. It's adding that little bit of shine, little bit of sparkle to Differentiate some of my books in a different way. So maybe even if you're a reader that is limited on shelf space for books inside your home, that can be a great way. If what Lisa is doing is asking us about, well, how do I prioritize the books I own that are on my Kindle or in my Libro FM account that I don't even see them because they're out of sight and out of mind. Then I would say use your library to your advantage. Put physical holds on those books when they come in. Put them on a stack in your house and you know you have them on Kindle or you have them on audio. And now it's time to read them because the library gods have said it's time. Right.
- [46:39]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I do that a lot. I will get the physical book solely because that will help move it so.
- [46:44]
Katie Cobb
You can look at it.
- [46:45]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah, yeah. And I like to move my bookmark through it. So let's just kind of. As we wrap this up, one of the questions she asks really directly that I want to make sure that we answer directly is how do you prioritize both being able to read buzzy new books that you're getting and ones that you have on your shelf? And my answer to that question would be either just decide that you're going to say, I'm going to do one of this and when I'm going to read a buzzy new book and then I'm going to read back list and just decide for a month that you're going to try and see how that goes. Those are really broad categories, buzzy new books, books I own. So you're not limiting yourself too terribly much, but you're at least giving yourself some guardrails so that you're making progress on both. Or just decide that whatever you feel like reading is okay. And the books that you own on your shelf, they don't have a hold on you. They are there simply in their potential for you to read them. They are not in judgment that you bought them. They are there as potential for you to read them when you're ready. So even if all you need to do is just tell the books on your shelf to shh, because I'm gonna get to you when I get to you. That's okay, too.
- [48:01]
Katie Cobb
Yes. There is no moral value to having a tiny TBR or to having few books that you've read in your home and a lot of books that you haven't read. Yeah. This is another place where readers like to should themselves a lot. But I should be reading the ones I spent money on. But I should be, you know, if I'm gonna keep subscribing to she mentioned book of the Month and fabled storybound subscriptions.
- [48:23]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
If.
- [48:24]
Katie Cobb
Well, if I'm gonna do that, I should. No, that's okay, honey. Your reading life is serving you. Right? Right. And there's no moral value to saying, well, I'm a good person because every week or every month I read my book of the month book and I read my fabled book. No, it's okay. Right.
- [48:39]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
The only thing that matters is whether or not those books are adding to your reading life. And that applies to books from subscriptions, books from the library, books on your shelves. That's the only thing that matters is that the next book you pick up or that you want to spend time with is bringing you as much joy or entertainment or learning or whatever you want your books to bring to you. That's the only thing that you should be shoulding yourself about.
- [49:05]
Katie Cobb
Yep.
- [49:06]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Okay.
- [49:07]
Katie Cobb
Exactly.
- [49:07]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
All right, so hopefully we have answered that question for you, Lisa. Thank you very much for asking it. And also, just reminder, if you have a sticky wicket in your reading or you just are curious how we handle a certain thing in our reading life, send us an email to currentlyreading podcastmail.com and we will answer that for you. All right, Katie, let's go to the fountain. What's your fountain wish this week?
- [49:33]
Katie Cobb
Okay, Meredith, my fountain wish is an archive wish I wish to press and it is again Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts into our listeners hands.
- [49:45]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Okay. Yep.
- [49:46]
Katie Cobb
After our fabulous discussion of Wicked by Gregory Maguire this past weekend, I kept thinking about how this is the perfect time to remind people that they should read Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts. Historical fiction that makes history brighter and more sparkly. We all love it. I first read this phenomenal historical fiction in 2019. It immediately went onto my favorite shelf. Finding Dorothy tells the story of L. Frank Baum, the author of the wizard of Oz, through the eyes of his wife, Maude. I am on the record. We both are, as loving historical fiction that tells that story through the women adjacent to power. And Maude Baum's story spans decades and American epochs from the flat prairies of Midwest to the Ivy Leagues to Hollywood studio backlots where the wizard of Oz was being filmed with Judy Garland. This novel hews closely to the history that inspired it while giving us a story that is totally page turning for Christmas of 2019. That same year, I bought copies for my mom and all her sisters because the wizard of Oz is part of our family story, our family lore. Put this one on your TBR for a summer read or your spring break. It is truly exceptional. I still love it. It's been almost six years since I first read it. This is Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts.
- [51:03]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I love it. We have been thinking a lot about that book and that's one that I really love too. That's a great press. All right. Well, my wish is that if you have especially kids, but I think this little strategy might even work with other people in your life, not necessarily children. One of the sticky wickets that we have in our bookish life, and I know this because it is probably the main one that I have in my life, is when we want to read and we are in fact in the midst of reading clearly and obviously in a room and someone comes in and they want to chat or they want to just kind of like do things around you that are interrupting your reading. I have started a strategy that has really, really worked with my 13 year old and that is he'll come down and you know, again he gets plenty of my attention. This child is not attention starved in any way, shape or form. One on very focused attention. But there are other times where I'm reading and he's just kind of like between, usually he's like between gaming groupings, right? Like he's, you know, they're all going to eat dinner real quick so people aren't going to jump back online for 30 minutes. So he's going to come down and bother me. I have started where I will talk to him for a minute or two and just ascertain that that is in fact what's happening. He's kind of using me just as a little boredom buster. And then I will say I'm really loving the book that I'm reading right now. Let me read aloud to you and I will start just reading aloud from whatever book I'm reading and I will just not stop no matter what he says or does. I will just continue reading aloud and then very, very quickly he will go upstairs and find something else to do. So this is my strategy for you to try. If they get involved and this has actually happened where whatever I'm reading, especially if I'm just beginning a book, he will actually get involved in it and he will actually listen for an extended period of time. But most of the time he gets annoyed and leaves. So give that a try. This is my, this is my wish for you. Ping, splash.
- [53:09]
Katie Cobb
That's a great wish. I love it.
- [53:11]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yes.
- [53:12]
Katie Cobb
My kids love being read aloud, too. So I would have to be a little choosy sometimes about what I started reading aloud, like. And then he pulled. Nope.
- [53:20]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I don't. It's not. That's not a lot of my. Of my reading, but a lot of that.
- [53:26]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. It's a problem.
- [53:27]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah. So choose wisely.
- [53:29]
Katie Cobb
Not a problem for me. It's a problem for reading aloud. That's the only problem I'm having. Right.
- [53:33]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Choose wisely. For sure. 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.
- [53:42]
Katie Cobb
Instagram and you can find me Katie at Notes on bookmarks on Instagram. Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Putovong Evans. And you can find her on Instagram at most of Megansreads full show notes.
- [53:54]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
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.
- [54:04]
Katie Cobb
Can also follow the show at Currently reading Podcast on Instagram or email us@currentlyreading podcastmail.com we love your question questions.
- [54:12]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
We do. We love your questions. We love your book recommendations. And if you want more of this kind of content, join us as a bookish friend. It's $5 a month and you will get so much more content. You will get tons of community and you will keep this show commercial free. You can also rate and review us on Apple podcasts and shout us out on social media. Every one of those things helps us to find our perfect audience.
- [54:36]
Katie Cobb
Yes, Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and get closer to our goal.
- [54:41]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
All right, until next week, may your.
- [54:44]
Katie Cobb
Coffee be hot and your book be unput downable.
- [54:46]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Happy reading, Katie.
- [54:48]
Katie Cobb
Happy reading, Meredith.