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The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 7, Episode 32: Reading Retreats + Boss My TBR
00:53:54
On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: reading retreats, one finished and one scheduled Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we’ve been reading lately Deep Dive:...
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- [00:00]
Katie Cobb
Foreign.
- [00:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
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 booktok, and our conversations will always be spoiler free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the fountain.
- [00:34]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz, a mom of four and full time CEO living in Austin, Texas. And it turns out I'm happiest when all I need to do all day is read.
- [00:43]
Katie Cobb
And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona. And sometimes I'd prefer to be more beholden to my books than my calendar. This is episode number 32 of season seven and we are so glad you're here. I feel like we're vibing today.
- [00:56]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Meredith, Love a theme. Love a theme. Even though, even when we don't plan on it.
- [01:01]
Katie Cobb
Accidental theme. I love that too. Okay, y'all, we are going to boss some more victims and their TBRs. Today we have two new bookish friends who gave us the old Pick me, pick me. And we can't wait to pick on them. But first, we'll get started the way we always do with our bookish moments of the week. Meredith, what is yours?
- [01:20]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Well, there is no way that my bookish moment of the week could be anything other than the fact that I am freshly home from our annual reading retreat. And it was so much fun. I feel like every year we know a little more about what we want. We refine, we tweak, and every year it just gets a little bit better. This year, our biggest tweak was that we added a fifth day. So it's a five day reading extravaganza. And it was absolutely fantastic. We did. Of course, as always, we have a schedule. We stuck to that schedule. We continue to believe that having that schedule is what makes it a reading retreat as opposed to just a girls trip. And both of those things are great. But know the result you're looking for when you go into something, right? The result we're looking for from this is a fantastic reading retreat. And we absolutely had that. We went with four of us. We rented our third Airbnb. This is our third, our third different Airbnb. And this one is one that we've decided is. Is the perfect one. We will be returning to this one every year if we can, because it had all the right mix of spaces, comfy spots, independent reading spots, group spots, game playing spots, and it was right on the lake and we just. It was perfect. So it was a great time. I got a total of five books read, and I feel really good about the reading that I did. One of those books I will be talking about today.
- [02:50]
Katie Cobb
Excellent. And just to be clear, the reading retreat is no longer the one that has like the creepy dolls or the creepy teddy bears or the weird crosses in any of the rooms. We've eliminated those past from contention.
- [03:01]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Past that. Airbnb.
- [03:02]
Katie Cobb
Exactly.
- [03:03]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
So, yeah, you have to try out a few to find the one that is absolutely perfect for you. This is one that not only is really beautiful inside and on the lake, but also had a really, really great place for us to walk, because we like to walk for an hour each day. And so finding that combination is not always super easy.
- [03:23]
Katie Cobb
Goldilocks. You guys found the Goldilocks. I love it.
- [03:26]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right? So we had a really good time. Lots of great bookish discussion and lots of great books read.
- [03:32]
Katie Cobb
Excellent. That's always so good to hear and it inspires all of us, Meredith. And in fact, it has inspired me because my bookish moment this week, life has been so busy. I've had wrenches in coming from every direction. Like, if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball. I've got the wrenches. All right. Plus actual fun events. I've got a lot of cool stuff on my calendar, too, and kids and their own wrenches and fun. I'm feeling kind of hollowed out and have mentioned that busted reading life multiple times. So finally this week, I decided to look ahead on my calendar and block off an entire weekend for a solo reading retreat.
- [04:10]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Oh, good.
- [04:11]
Katie Cobb
Two nights alone. Not at my house. So I cannot be like, well, I'll just fix that little niggling issue that has been bothering me because, you know, there's nothing on the calendar, no to do lists. I'm so looking forward to just taking a small break. And since I'm beholden to my calendar so often, I put it in the calendar. I blocked off the actual weekend so that I can't plan other. Oh, well, that is a free weekend. Maybe I can just put this, that, or the other in there because I'm always trying to fit things into the margins. Future Katie is going to be very grateful to present Katie or past Katie at that time. And I'm so looking forward to it. I just need it.
- [04:50]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Good. I'm so glad that you're doing that. Doing a Solo reading retreat is different and even better in some ways. Right. It's not exactly the same. And in a lot of ways that can be really good for your reading life, is what I mean. And so, you know, again, know the result that you're looking for when you go. I think that that will be excellent. I hope it really, really feels good. I mean, I have a lot of thoughts about how to make sure. Like, for me, one of the things that I've really learned is when you're gonna go on a reading retreat and you know that you want to spend the majority of your day actually reading, I find that I have to be very intentional about a few things with my physical body to make sure that I can use that time to the best of my ability. Because, you know, sometimes you have like an afternoon where you get in a slump or you, you know, where you're sleepy or you can't really focus those kinds of things. If that happens on your venue retreat, that's precious time wasted. Right, Right. So I have really come up with. And each person would come up with their own, but I have really come up with my own set of things that my body needs to be at top performance for being able to read for like 8 to 9 hours over the course of a 24 hour period. So I would just say for everyone who's doing this, if you literally want to read that much, think about what your body needs to be able to do that. For me, I don't drink anyway, but alcohol would absolutely mess it up because it messes up my sleep. Right. So my sleep has to be on. My hydration has to be on, my caffeine intake, which for me is chocolate, not coffee, because coffee doesn't affect me. That has to be on. I have to eat really well. I have to eat really small portions and healthily because if I eat a lot, sleepy. And so all of those things come into play. I'm very intentional about it and it paid off this time. Also, I highly recommend moving between formats and activities to also keep things fresh.
- [06:56]
Katie Cobb
Yes. It's like an elite athlete training regimen for readers.
- [07:02]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right, exactly. Because again, if you're, if you get there and like you're the last day, you're like, oh my. I just, like, I just don't have it. Then you're like, oh, this was my time, so gotta make it happen.
- [07:14]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. All good tips, all good points. Let's talk about some of those books that we've been reading lately. What is your first book?
- [07:22]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Absolutely. All right. My first book not the one yet that I read on my reading retreat that's going to come in my third slot. But this is one that I really, really liked and did on audio and I loved it. This way. This is Finders Keepers by the master storyteller Stephen King. Here's the setup. Morris Bellamy is beyond obsessed with the work of the fictional author John Rothstein and his character. John Rothstein's character is Jimmy Gold. Morris Bellamy has been reading these books for his entire life. He is obsessed with the books. He's obsessed with the lead character, Jimmy Gold. Well, Morris isn't just disappointed when Rothstein decides to stop publishing, he's absolutely furious with him. He also is really mad about what happened to the, his character Jimmy Gold in the last book that he, that he wrote. So in a moment of absolute rage, Morris murders John Rothstein and steals his cash. Because John Rothstein was an older author, he kept a lot of cash in his kind of writing cabin. But he also steals the real prize, which is a collection of notebooks that contains John Rothstein's unpublished work, including at least one more Jimmy Gold novel. So Morris hides his treasure and then in a twist of fate, gets arrested and imprisoned for an entirely different crime. Fast forward 35 years. Morris is now being released from prison. He's ready to go reclaim his treasure and read that unpublished novel, which he never got a chance to read.
- [08:56]
Katie Cobb
Oh, no.
- [08:57]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
But there's a problem. Teenager Pete Sobers has already discovered the manuscripts and the money. When Morris realizes this, he's determined to get them back at any cost. Standing between him and and Pete Sobers is retired detective Bill Hodges and his unusual but effective partners, Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson. All right, so if those names sound familiar to you at all, this is the second in the Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King. This particular trilogy is what he called his crime fiction trilogy. And it's not going to surprise anybody to know that this is a particular favorite of mine. The first one in the series is Mr. Mercedes and that is a five star read for me. I highly recommend Mr. Mercedes and you really should start there. Although I will say you don't absolutely have to. But Mr. Mercedes is very good. The reason to read this trilogy, if you're not a regular reader of Stephen King, but you do like mysteries are many. The Bill Hodges character, he's a retired detective, is fantastic, especially as we get to know him in Mr. Mercedes, then his character continues to come into full fruition. Fruition in this novel. Also, we've got Found Family. This Found Family develops around him is is worth the price of admission. One of his characters is Holly Gibney, who goes on to appear in further books by Stephen King, including one of his most recent, which is just called Holly. So you're getting the beginning of her story in this trilogy too. But what you really get here is the ability to understand why Stephen King is a master storyteller. In this trilogy, you get it without a bunch of supernatural horror attached to it. And especially in this book, you get a book that is filled with incredible characters, both really bad ones, Morris Bellamy is really bad and very good ones. And you get a mystery, this one surrounding a trunk full of journals by a very famous author. Really, at its core, this book is a heist novel. And for that reason, it's not a five star read. For me, at the core of a heist novel is the fact that someone somewhere did something they knew was wrong and is now trying to benefit from that. So for that reason, heist novels are just never going to be five stars for me. But this is probably the best heist novel I've ever read. The character development in the story beyond the heist is incredible. The story and the development behind the dead author in these journals is incredible. Not only is this book a heist novel, but it's very much a book about books and people who love books by a certain author so much that they become obsessive about them. You wonder if Stephen King has some real life experience like this. As a person who's very obsessive about one particular author. In my cl, in my case, Louise Penny, I understand why multiple people would be willing to do absolutely insane things if there was a trunk full of journals that might include 12 previously unpublished novels by their favorite author. So the story here is interesting and it's multi layered, it's incredibly well told and it's all the things that Stephen King brings to all of his books. And for that reason, I highly recommend that if you don't want to read something like the Stand or the Shining, which are both incredible, you could definitely read Mr. Mercedes and this book and the entire Bill Hodges trilogy. I do Recommend Starting with Mr. Mercedes. I've already downloaded the third one in the trilogy, which is called End of Watch, and I plan to dig into that one in the near future. They are incredible on audio. This is Finders Keepers by Stephen King.
- [12:41]
Katie Cobb
It sounds great and I do love a heist novel. So maybe this is a great time for me to totter back over to Stephen King. Yeah, I love that. Okay, my first one this week is an oldie but a goodie. I'm going to talk about the Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabin. This backlist pick is 25 years old this year and it's a chonker, both of which I'm unreasonably proud of. Right. Michael Shabin gives us a richly drawn, character driven novel that wonderfully blends historical fiction and even though it traverses the time of World War II, it is not a World War II book, which always makes me happy. Here's the setup. Joseph Cavalier is a magician and a young Jewish artist. As a young man in Prague, he's been pursuing his passion, learning the art of magic for years. When Prague is invaded by Nazi forces and he has to smuggle himself out of the city, which he does in a daring and unforgettable manner, he makes his way to Brooklyn, New York where he meets his cousin Sammy Clay and a friendship and a partnership are born. As they bunk down for bed on that very first night in Sammy's bedroom, Sammy catches a glimpse of Joe's drawings and realizes that maybe comic books are their ticket to the big time. So the two young men approach Empire Novelty Company, one of the biggest pulp fiction and gag gift purveyors in New York City at the time, to ask for a job. Together they create the Escapist and a few other memorable characters. But the Escapist especially draws upon their own fears and dreams, Jewish myth and legend, and bravely calls out Hitler directly in each issue with the Escapist, like giving him a sucker punch to the jaw on the COVID as he continues his rise to power. This was pretty scandalous at the time. Sammy and Joe, oh, and Rosa. Don't even get me started on Rosa. Are fully drawn humans. By the time you finish this epic novel, it's over 600 pages. I felt so deeply through them throughout the story. Even when I disagreed with their personal decisions, their business decisions, or the way they emotionally reacted to a certain plot point, it didn't matter because they were living, breathing friends on these pages. I will add that there are a few short sections of this book that dragged for me. My copy was 640 pages and I would say there were a couple 20 page chunks that made me want to set it down and walk away. But after I got through them, the reading flew by. I really appreciated that even in a big historical fiction novel, many of the chapters were shorter than five pages, which is great for this reader, balanced by some that were a little bit longer. None of the Slow sections were eclipsed by the three chapter chunk that made me so furious with Michael Shaven that I almost abandoned this book two thirds of the way through, even though I was loving it. Instead, I took vengeance upon him by requiring that Katie, my reading partner, skip those three chapters. I wrote them out in full spoiler fashion for her and told her what page to move to, which I think is very sweet. Vengeance on an author that has wronged you. I was adamant that she avoid them at all costs. If you, dear reader, are tender about animals and books, you can message me and I will go find my post it notes that say, skip these 20 pages and I will perform the same service for you for the good of the reading realm. Overall, however, I found myself hugging this chonky boy. By the end, it went onto my favorites shelf. Even though I wouldn't hate having a different cover on my copy. It adds to that nostalgic feel of the novel and I gave it four and a half stars. This one did light a fire under me to pick up more big books this year, but it remains the only one that I've read in 2025 that's over 500 pages. So I've let that idea go for now. If I were going to sink into a big one, I'm glad it was this one. It completely captured me. This is the Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Shabin.
- [16:38]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I'm so glad that that worked for you. And yes, I think in any book that is going to be over 600 pages, there's going to be some portion of it that is a little bit slower. Of course, like that's just. That's just what's going to happen. But so often those big chunkers are worth it, honestly.
- [16:56]
Katie Cobb
Sometimes you need that section to breathe for a second anyway, right. If it's so propulsive for 600 pages, you're going to feel like you ran a marathon. Like that's. It's just too much. You got to like, give yourself a little breather, breathe a bit.
- [17:10]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Exactly, Exactly. All right. My next book is nonfiction. It is kind of a compendium, so not really something you would read every single page of. But it's also a big chunker and I love every page of it. It is called Poirot the Greatest Detective in the World by Mark Aldridge. So this is a compendium of every Poirot related work by Agatha Christie, including all the novels, the short stories, the plays, the series and the films. The whole belg enchilada, like the waffle Belgian waffle. Maybe I should. I could have said the whole Belgian waffle. That would have been so much better. But we're going to keep it because I heard about this book from one of the many, and I mean many, Agatha Christie Facebook groups that I am a part of. This is a reference book and it's definitely a must have if you are an Agatha Christie obsessive like I am. So let's start with. You gotta have this book because it's just really beautiful. It's got a lot of heft at 488 thick, creamy pages. It's got a lot of weight to it and the COVID is beautiful with reflective scarlet wording. The end papers are that same scarlet and the whole effect is just incredibly beautiful. You just will want to have this book in your hands and on your shelves. But let's talk about why you might want the information that's actually inside of it. As I said, it's a reference work, not the kind of book that you're going to sit down and read from front to back. This is the kind of book where, at least for me, I enjoyed the experience of jumping around First. I went through it to get a sense of everything that it contained and this is everything related to Perot. Like I said, we have several pages devoted to behind the scenes information on every novel. You are probably going to better enjoy my reviews of the books that I read from here on out because this book will give me a lot more context and perspective on each one of those novels and that's really the way I will use this book. I went back and read the pages about all the novels I've already read. Going forward, as I begin a new Perot novel, I will pick this up and read the information about it because it does a really good job of informing me of the things to look for stylistically and thematically, as well as just some fun facts. For example, it lets you know how Agatha Christie herself felt about each one of the novels. Some of them she really really liked, like Appointment with Death, and some of them she really, really hated, like the Mystery of the Blue Train, which happens to be the next novel on my list. It's clear that a copious amount of research has gone into this book and I'm so glad that I found it. Also, the same author has just come out with the exact same kind of book for all of the Marple Mysteries, which I plan to start reading when I'm done with Hercule. Overall, there are so many ways that you can indulge your Agatha Christie obsession, and I'm so grateful for it. This is Agatha Christie's Perrot, the Greatest Detective in the World by Mark Aldridge.
- [20:21]
Katie Cobb
That sounds great. It sounds like a really great gift book for anybody that, you know, that is like, working their way through that series or that collection of content.
- [20:32]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
For sure. That plus that app that I talked about a couple of weeks ago, it's a. It's. That's a fantastic gift. I would have squealed with delight if someone had bought this for me.
- [20:42]
Katie Cobb
See? Perfect. I love that.
- [20:44]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yep.
- [20:44]
Katie Cobb
Okay. My second one is called Night Wherever We Go by Tracy Rose Peyton. It's 1852. We're on a struggling Texas plantation. The master and his wife have decided to force their enslaved women to bear children in order to increase their holding of human property. When they find out about this plan, six enslaved women slip from their sleeping quarters and gather in the woods under the COVID of night. The Lucys, as they call the plantation owners after Lucifer, the devil himself, have hired a stockman to impregnate the women. But they're determined to protect themselves. Now each of them faces a choice. Nan has brought. Nan, who is like the doctoring kind of witchy woman, although there's no magic in here, has brought a sack of cotton root clippings that can stave off children if you chew them every day, keeps you from getting pregnant. If they all take part, the Lucys might give up and send this stockman, this hired impregnator, away. But a pregnancy for any of them will only encourage the master and his wife even further. So they have to be united in their plan. And should they be discovered, they will pay the price. Only if they stand together in defiant and subversive resistance will they be able to harness their true power as women and avoid pregnancy. This historical fiction novel about the power of women gave me all the I can take on the world vibes that I need right here and now. It's not an easy read, but it's really beautifully written. This one jumped into my cart at Barnes and Noble over a year ago at their Christmas hardcover sale. After Christmas, they do a 50% off hardcover sale sale. It's solidly historical in its portrayal, but it does have a bit of that witchy magic vibe without including any magic. I really loved how the author, Tracy Rose Peyton, didn't shy away from any parts of this novel because you can't talk about a plot to impregnate women and increase the workforce without also discussing the ways that men and women like the Lucy's played into the scheme. You can't shy away from the stockman who has his own history, who was taken from his own home and family with the goal of getting as many women pregnant as possible. You can't hide from the fact that taking steps to prevent pregnancy was also a risky maneuver in the times of slavery. There's a lot about the rights of women and the way women control or don't their own bodies in this book. Each character is really deftly explored, even if the book itself is very difficult content wise. The ending left something to be desired. It felt very abrupt to me and I didn't love it. I don't need a tidy bow, but I really would have loved five more pages and a deeper sense of justice. However, I did enjoy, if that's the right word, the journey on the way there. Or at least I was fully invested and interested in the story itself. This one is hard to categorize. I didn't give it a very high rating when I finished, but it's really because I wanted something different by the time the book was over, and that's hard for me. This though was a really excellent book and it made me think about a lot of things and it keeps coming up in my mind even though I finished it probably five or six weeks ago at this point. This is Night Wherever We Go by Tracy Rose Peyton.
- [24:10]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
That sounds like a lot. That is.
- [24:13]
Katie Cobb
And it's not even. It's like 280 pages maybe. Like it's not a very long book, but it's heavy.
- [24:20]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, right. Just long enough. You probably didn't want to stay in that spot too much longer.
- [24:24]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, yeah, but I did want five more pages. Okay, so like just a little sprinkle.
- [24:30]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Extra, a little bit more. All right, well, I'm going to talk about that five star book that I mentioned at the top of the show. And what I'm going to say first is I want you to hear me say everything about this book is tongue in cheek. Okay, so don't me because I say something here that is a little bit beyond the pale. All right, so skip forward if that kind of thing bothers you. I want to talk about a book called Victorian Psycho by Virginia Lato. Here's the setup. Our lead character is Winifred Naughty. She has just arrived at Inser House in the dreary town of Grimwalds, England, ready to start her role as the perfect governess to young Drusilla and Andrew Pounds. She's prepared to fulfill all of her duties. She's going to tutor the Kids, she's going to tell bedtime stories and only occasionally will make jokes about eating them. You know, normal governess behavior. But spending endless days within these gloomy walls of Endzor House means that Winifred becomes uncomfortably familiar with the dysfunctions of the pounds family. Mr. Pounds can't seem to keep his wandering eyes off of Winifred's female parts, while Mrs. Pounds takes a perverse delight in punishing Winifred for her husband's inappropriate attention. Add to this mix Winifred's growing contempt for the privileged Pounds children, and our lead character finds herself increasingly struggling to contain violent urges. But Winifred counsels herself, be patient. Christmas is approaching and she has some very special gifts planned for the residents of Inzer House. All right. This book kicked off my reading retreat and it was perfect. It was maybe two and a half hours of reading, read in a single sitting. And I had a smile on my face the entire time when I wasn't looking horrified. But then I was quickly smiling again. It was a lot of facial drama. This is a five star book in so many ways. For this reader. It's five stars for being the absolute romp through the Victorian moors that it is. Every single paragraph just dripped with dark, shadowy drama. And I say romp because that is what it is. It was fun. Like F you in fun even before you know exactly what is going to happen. Before you know why you know, you want to know. That is such a happy spot in my reading. This book gets five stars for the humor. Lead character, Winifred, Naughty. I cannot with her name and it's N O T T Y by the way, was one of the funniest, snarky, charact, snarkiest characters that I have read in a long time. The most horrific things could be happening and I was giggling. Hear me say that. This book has the most hilarious baby murder that I have ever read and I was here for it. So you get five stars for the gory horror. This book is so gory, so oozing with viscera and I loved every single paragraph. The writing is a delight, even if it's a bit heavy on the use of metaphor, especially at the beginning. Five stars for the f, the patriarchy energy throughout. Yes, we're in Victorian England, but this badass governess knows how unfair things are. She is seeing things very clearly and. And she is angry. Or wait, is she angry or is she just bad? Why is it that women in contemporary life need to kill because they are angry or they want revenge? Male killers don't have to have a reason. Maybe in this book our villain just gets to be bad. This book was so successful for me because I knew exactly what it was and it was exactly that and it made no apologies. Victorian Psycho is not trying to be a great book for every reader. It's self aware enough to know that it is not going to be that. If you don't like satire, don't read this book. But if you are the right reader, this is the right book. Like I said, I loved it from the very first sentence to the last. It's a celebration of Victorian horror and I want more from this author. I liked her previous book, Mrs. March, but I loved this one with all my dark heart. This is Victorian Psycho by Virginia Fato.
- [29:06]
Katie Cobb
Well, I went on a whole journey with that.
- [29:09]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes. So good for the right reader.
- [29:13]
Katie Cobb
Yes. Sounds like the right reader is required. Agree. But it sounds like a not Katie book, right?
- [29:20]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And it's fully satire, so yes, exactly.
- [29:23]
Katie Cobb
Okay, I have an excellent book that just makes me so happy. For my third one this week I'm going to talk about the Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass. I'm thrilled to end today's current reads with a book that was just delightful on all levels. I needed some delight. This is a middle grade novel that has a central mystery, a few ghosts, and is super bookish. That book within a book or the love of story Catnip for me. Basically it's a perfect book. Here's the setup. In downtown Martinville, a little free library has appeared overnight. It's mysterious because no one knows who set it up and it appears to be guarded by a large orange cat. But it's also a happy mystery as the town of Martinville lost their beloved town library many years ago and has been lacking in reading material ever since. And that is a tragedy when 11 year old Evan picks up two books from the new little library and brings them home. He and his best friend Rafe discover a link between one of the books and the missing library. They start their own investigation, little detectives, and start asking questions even though most grown ups are not interested in answering them. A librarian from that long ago lost library, an elderly orange cat named mortimer and the 11 year old protagonist Evan alternate telling us this story and peeling back the layers on what happened to that lost library. The animal, the ghosts and the kids come together to create a story that's got staying power and reminds us how wonderful it is to share a book or even a book recommendation with someone. This book has two authors as I Mentioned. Both have written books that Meredith brought to the show in the past. In season five, episode 25, she discussed the Candy Makers by Wendy mass. And season three, episode 41, she brought when youn Reach Me by Rebecca Steady. They paired up beautifully in writing this book and I was thrilled to find out that this is not the first time they've written together. In 2018, they also co wrote a book called Bob, Just Bob. The ratings aren't quite as high as this one, but they are still excellent. And the setup makes it clear that it has another central mystery and includes another unlikely animal companion. I will be picking that up as well. For now, this beautifully illustrated cover and this wonderfully bookish middle grade mystery went on the future read aloud shelf for my kids, which I pull from whenever we finish our current book and don't know what's next. I'm positive they will love it. They are bookish kids. They love an animal sidekick to the moon and back. And especially because I'm allergic to cats and they don't get to have any of their own. Putting a cat in a book is the perfect compromise for us. This one made me just delighted from beginning to end. I smiled like an idiot the whole time I was listening to it. This is the Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass.
- [32:21]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Oh, I love that. That sounds really good. And I did really love both of those books. Although interestingly, the Candymakers and When youn Reach Me are two very, very different books.
- [32:31]
Katie Cobb
Right. So it's like the Bringing Together. And I did read when youn Reach Me after you talked about it on the show.
- [32:37]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah.
- [32:38]
Katie Cobb
And. And this is not like that. Nor is it, I assume, like the Candy Makers because they're very different.
- [32:44]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
So interesting. Okay, that's a good one.
- [32:47]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. It's like a perfect frozen yogurt swirl.
- [32:51]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. And very different from. Very different from Victorian Psycho. So good.
- [32:56]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. Or variety of the book. Any of the other books we talked about today. There's a lot, right, that we covered today. A lot of ground that we covered. Okay. Speaking of covering a lot of ground, though, now we get to peek inside the TBR drawers of other readers in our community. The bookish friends have offered themselves up for sacrifice. So we have two new victims today and I'm excited to get into this. So do you want me to get started, Meredith, or do you want to start?
- [33:25]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Go for it.
- [33:26]
Katie Cobb
All right. Our first victim today. I know everybody's on the edge of their seats right now. Right. We're going to talk about Emily, whose name on Discord is van hooked on reading. I asked all of our victims to give us five from their TBR and then give us their reader dating profile if there were such a thing as a reader dating website. So here's what Emily gave us. Sweep by Jonathan Auxier, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell youl She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman, Station Eternity by Mira Lafferty, s by J.J. abrams and Doug Dorst, and Vicious by V E Schwab. And for her reader profile, Emily says, I am a middle school librarian and I read across all genres. I'm a huge mood reader, but I really love books that either have a plot that keeps me flipping pages as fast as I can or stories with characters who I want to meet in real life. Some of my all time favorites are the House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, the Shades of Magic trilogy by V E Schwab, the Nevermoor series by Jessica Townsend, the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osmond, and the Dearly Beloved by Kara Wall. I think that Emily might be my book twin.
- [34:34]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes, you guys have a lot of shared loves here.
- [34:38]
Katie Cobb
We certainly do. And then there's some on this list and I'm like, how has she not read that yet?
- [34:45]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right, right. For sure. Exactly right.
- [34:48]
Katie Cobb
I have some big feels about this list. So Meredith, what jumps out to you as like a first stab at this?
- [34:56]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
So for sure, given that she's a middle school librarian, I thought she has definitely got to read Sweep by Jonathan Auxier. It's just one of those that is so fantastic in the genre. It's such a great example of middle grade fiction that I just feel like you've just got to read it. Then I thought she could go to Vicious by V E Schwab, which isn't exactly like V E. Schwab's Shades of Magic trilogy, but there's enough about V E. Schwab's writing that is consistent all throughout that I think that it would be a good pick. Then I think that she could round out her reading with My grandmother Asked Me to Tell you that she's Sorry by Frederick Bachman. So that was my. That was my threesome for her. What were your big feels?
- [35:42]
Katie Cobb
Okay, I did include Sweep on my threesome as well. I started her out with Vicious by V E Schwab because I think going back to an author that's already been a favorite is usually a pretty surefire hit. And then Sweep by Jonathan Auxier, and this is the one that I was like. I'm almost personally offended that she hasn't read Sweep yet because it is, it was not on my six star exceptional criticism book list but it, it could have edged its way on there pretty easily. I love this book so much. It is such a wonderful example of middle grade historical fiction with a little bit of magic, a little bit, a lot of heart. Wonderful characters that you just want to hug. By the end of the book I just Nan and Charlie, they live in my heart. I adore them. And then I went with Station Eternity for my last pick for her. This was an indie press list pick from Schuller Books in 2023. I read the first one and I said in my review, definitely reading more from this series, y'all. Spoiler alert. I never read more in the series. No, every once in a while I do, but it has not happened with this one. But I like the found family element of this one for her. I did also love My grandmother asked me asked me to tell you she's sorry by Fredrik Backman when I read that one in 2016. But for some reason I wanted this like Sandwich Feeling of Vicious and Station Eternity as kind of meteor books and then Sweep in the middle for that like sweetness and delight and central tastiness for Emily.
- [37:16]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes. I had forgotten how much you liked Station Eternity, so I can really see that being a good fit for her.
- [37:23]
Katie Cobb
Yes, I did enjoy that one a lot. Although. So I haven't read S by J.J. abrams and Doug Dorst, but reading about it today, it seems very interesting to me. It says it's slow paced, which doesn't feel like the right fit for Emily, but it is of interest to me.
- [37:40]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. So it's, it's a very, I actually own it and recently I actually spent some time with it. It's a very interestingly constructed book. It is, you know, the, the concept of it is that it's a, it's a kind of old, old book that has been found by two readers and these two readers are communicating with each other by writing in the margins of the book as they kind of work together to figure out the central mystery of the book. Sounds like it would be right up my alley. Again, very interestingly, like the book itself is very interesting. It has a lot of interactiveness to it. It's very, very interesting. I spent some time with it and set it down because I, I really struggle with anything that is two sources of sound. Right. So in my real life I can't like if someone turns on a, like a TikTok video while the TV is on. I can't no, it has to immediately stop. This book was the read the book equivalent of that, where it was like there was just too much going on, calling for my attention on every page, and it was just too much for me. So that's the reason that I didn't put it on this list.
- [38:52]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, I can see that. That makes a lot of sense to me.
- [38:55]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
But if you do get a chance to page through it, because you. If you buy it in the bookstore, it's bound in a way that's sealed because it has a lot of things in it that you take out and refold and you do all of that. And so they have to seal it in the bookstore so that you can know you're getting the entire thing.
- [39:15]
Katie Cobb
Pieces. Yeah.
- [39:15]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. So if you have an opportunity to interact with it in real life, you should take that opportunity because it's pretty interesting.
- [39:24]
Katie Cobb
All right. I think I've ever read a book like that. I've gotten, like, gifty or peeks at gifty books like that. The only one I can think of is the Jolly Postman, which was a favorite book when I was a wee child. And I love reading to my children. But you take out other people's letters from the book itself. But I don't think I've ever had, like, a disassemble, reassemble book experience like that.
- [39:45]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
There is one book that I read probably in the 2010s that was. It's epistolary and it's French, and it kind of does the same thing. But anyway, that it. Other than the fact that you have things that you take out, it's not at all like S, but S is. I've never seen a book like it, and it's constructed in a very interesting way. Okay, so I think those are good choices for her.
- [40:08]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, I think Emily's gonna have some good reading ahead of her.
- [40:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, Our second reader is Bethany Maines, and she. I chose her because I love the way that she started out. She said, I don't normally like to start by saying, pick me, but I guess that's how you win. So pick me. Pick me. I loved how uncomfortable she was this time.
- [40:30]
Katie Cobb
We had two people that had both said, pick me at the beginning, which wasn't intentional, but it was still fun.
- [40:34]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Exactly. All right. She says, Here are my five that are on my TBR shelf. Murder @ Gold's Nest by Jess Kidd, the Last party by Claire McIntosh, out by Natsuo Carino, Baby X by Kyra Peacock, and the Stolen Child by Ann Hood. Bethany says I am wanting some of these to surface as books that live on my shelves to books that I am actually reading. My favorite books I've read this year are Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dre. Thank you to the Indie Press list for bringing me great books that I've missed. The Wedding People by Alison Sbach and the Strange Case of Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker. I like books of all genres that somehow get to the heart or truth of the human experience, either in metaphor experience or with their beautiful writing. So this is what Bethany says. So what was your take on this list, Katie?
- [41:33]
Katie Cobb
Well, my first kind of pinged interest here is that Bethany said she likes reading all types of books. But four of these five are mysterious or mystery or cozy mystery or dark mystery or thriller mystery. Like it's like it's very heavy on the mystery for someone who never mentions in her favorites or her loves that. Like my favorite thing is mystery. And I'm like, so did she has she not read them because that doesn't usually call to her? Or is her TBR full of mysteries and she just can't figure out which one to pick up next? I'm a little interested in that question.
- [42:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right, right.
- [42:12]
Katie Cobb
But for me, I think that I want to start with the non mystery on this list, which is the Stolen Child by Ann Hood. It's almost a year old. I read a little about this one and it feels like true to what Bethany says she loves in her books. I haven't read Anne Hood yet, but it feels like a good place for her to start. There's a central mystery about what happened with a baby 50 years before and this artist that left paintings in the hands of a World War I soldier. And now on his deathbed he's trying to figure out what happened to that woman, what happened to the baby, what happened to the paintings. So there's a mystery, but it's mostly historical fiction and hopeful is what I saw marked a lot on storygraph. So it feels like a good fit for her with that human experience getting to the heart thing that she mentions. And then for something completely different, I went out by Natsuo Kirino and sandwiched those two with Murder at Gull's Nest. So this is again, I made a sandwich. Right. Murder at Gull's Nest has which is not out yet. It will probably be by the time she reads the other two and will bring back that essence of human nature type writing that she loves. So it was kind of a wild swing in the middle and then back to something that I feel will be pretty comfortable for her. But also scratch what is apparently a mystery itch because she has it even though she didn't name it.
- [43:39]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right, Exactly. That might be what she what appeals to her when she hears books described, but that might not be what actually ends up being five star books for her. Which I totally understand. I completely understand that. Okay. So yes, I started her out with Murder at Gold's Nest. It's a cozy, but it's a very smart cozy. I then went to Baby X because that's the one that like we're in the near future United States. You know, you can create an egg or sperm from any person's cells. So like celebrities are trying to keep people from like just taking their cup out of the garbage and then creating DNA. Yeah. So that, you know, I think that that is going to be a really fast moving thriller. And then out by Natsuo Karino has actually been on my TBR and I have heard am about it from a mystery point of view. But Bethany, I am going to urge you to read three other books if you haven't already because I actually am not sure that your TBR list here is going to get you where you want to go. So the first book I want to make sure that you've read. I'll bet you have. But if you haven't read Karen Thompson Walker's the Age of Miracles, get ye to that book. Beautiful writing, lots and lots of truths just coming through in a fantastic coming of age story. I really, really think that you would love the Age of Miracles. And again, I think you probably have already read that if you have my Plan B for that Would be Life as We Knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Also this is one where the meteor knocks the moon closer to earth and where we get the story from the perspective of Miranda who's a high school so sophomore. We get it through her journal entries and everything that's happening. It's dystopian, it's coming of age, it's beautifully written, it is very, very memorable. But also a lot of plot to keep you turning the pages. And then I think if neither one of those sound good to you, I think you should read I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger. I think that that book might be a five star book for you. I think it's the right mix of very beautiful sentence level prose and truths that get to the heart of the human condition. So I Cheerfully Refuse by Lee Finger.
- [46:08]
Katie Cobb
And that is true of Lee Finger's books in general.
- [46:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Exactly.
- [46:12]
Katie Cobb
Just that stunning writing and also incisive.
- [46:16]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. Virgil Wander is another, another great place to start, but I think I cheerfully refused. Would really hit that sweet spot for plot and character for her. So those are, those are my suggestions. Usually when we do boss my tbr, we try to really stick with the books that you've given us. But in this case, Bethany, I just felt like I. We both felt like we had to pivot.
- [46:37]
Katie Cobb
I love that. And I actually have a report back that Judith was our victim last. Last time we did this from, from Discord. And when I put the post up this time, she said, I just want to report back because we did the same thing. We were like, but also we have these other ideas for you. And she said she's read nearly all of them now. So we were very successful in our recommendations for Judith.
- [47:00]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Good. Right. I mean, I'm hoping that, you know, extra book recommendations are always a good thing. But also we do want to stay true to what we're telling people that we will do. So I don't want to like change it to a point where people are like, wait, I thought it was about bossing her tbr.
- [47:15]
Katie Cobb
It is, it is. But sometimes it's our show, right? Always it's our show.
- [47:19]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah. Well, right. We want to make sure they're reading the best books possible and like getting those five star reading experiences always.
- [47:29]
Katie Cobb
All right, let's go to the fountain. Meredith, what's your wish this week?
- [47:33]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay. As I was thinking about those books, I thought a couple of those at least, I don't believe I was able to include on our list of books we want to press into people's hands, which we, we did for the first, what, four season? The show, I think it was five. Five seasons.
- [47:49]
Katie Cobb
Okay, Five seasons.
- [47:51]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
We have taken on a lot of new listeners since then, so I thought there might be a lot of people who don't know that. For the first five seasons of the show, at the end of every episode, we pressed a book each into readers hands, meaning that was a book that we loved so much that we absolutely wanted to be sure that as many people as possible were reading it. We compiled all of those hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of those into lists on our website. And so I just wanted to remind people, go to the currentlyreadingpodcast.com website and take a look at the lists that we have there. We have our press list, which a lot of people have said that they kind of use that as their reading challenge every year just to read through all of those presses. Some people have identified themselves as a Meredith reader or a Katie reader. They will go through and choose the.
- [48:46]
Katie Cobb
The.
- [48:47]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
The. The presses from just that person As a different kind of challenge. We also have a list of our favorite kids books from 0 to 3 years old, I believe. And so we have. We have compiled a lot of great lists on our website. So I just want to make sure we don't talk a lot about our website, but I'm really proud of it. It's a great place to get show notes, which of course are those timestamped really, really very complete show notes that we put together that our. Our producer puts together for every episode. You can get those there. You can. And you also can access these lists. So I just want to make sure people know about that. So that's my wish. Ping Splash.
- [49:24]
Katie Cobb
Yes, the searches are useful even for me. Sometimes. I will use our master spreadsheet that patrons have access to that mentions every book we've ever talked about on the show. And then I'll find where it was mentioned and then I'll go to our website and find it with a timestamp and with the audio up at the top so I can re. Listen to, you know, when Meredith talked about the Candy Makers by Wendy Mess and When youn Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and see what she thought about them.
- [49:52]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, exactly.
- [49:53]
Katie Cobb
Definitely. Okay, so I stole my fountain wish. I borrowed it, actually. Okay. But it's a good one. So I wish this week for Find and Replace in my books. This is a borrowed fountain wish, but I thought it was brilliant. So I told our bookish friend Sydney that she would hear me share it with the world in an upcoming episode. Here's what she I wish we can find all and replace words in the Kindle version of a book. I wanted to read the first Immortal After Dark book. But the main character shares my daughter's name and there is spicy time. Find all and replace with another name, please. Ping Splash. I love this wish. We know that this is a problem for me sometimes. Especially because I chose three very common boy names for my boy children. I never find Anneli's name in a book. That's not a problem. But I would like to expand it to any number of situations. Maybe the victim in a murder mystery has the name of your grandmother. Maybe the delightful hero has the same name as your nefarious ex lover. Perhaps the story takes place in a town where you had a burger that gave you food poisoning. Find all and replace. Sometimes it's the little things that make our reading life just the tiniest bit better. And especially with a digital copy of the book. I think that this should be doable. Now, if the book fairy were real, I'd also ask her to make it happen in the print and audio editions. But I would settle for Kindle for now. I think it sounds like a great wish. Ping. Splash.
- [51:23]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I really wish this in audio especially. I'm listening to the third Wheel of Time book and there's a character in the Wheel of Time series whose name is Huron. H U R I N But the very fantastic audiobook narrator says it as urine and I just can't take it. I just can't take it. I so wish that I could find and replace that.
- [51:47]
Katie Cobb
I had a book where the audio narrator pronounced the book as urine, Urine and it was like Y e e R e n or something. And I can't like, do not make your character name sound like the word urine.
- [52:03]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Two different spellings in two different books, but the same problem. That's funny, I had forgotten about that, but now I remember you mentioning that.
- [52:13]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, and it's like, gosh, should I even be listening to this? Because when I'm reading it on the page, I could say it totally differently in my head, Right?
- [52:20]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Exactly. So yeah, find and replace would be really useful for a lot of different things. I like that wish. That's a good one. 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 Meredith eredithmonday Schwartz on Instagram and you can.
- [52:35]
Katie Cobb
Find me Katie at Notes on Bookmarks on Instagram. Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Puttivong Evans. You can find her on Instagram at Most of Megans reads full show notes.
- [52:47]
Meredith Monday 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 on our website@currentlyreadingpodcast.com.
- [52:57]
Katie Cobb
Youm can also follow the show @currentlyreading podcast on Instagram or email us us especially with your listener questions@currentlyreading podcast gmail.com.
- [53:06]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And if you want more of this kind of content, you can find so much more if you join us as a bookish friend on patreon. It's only $5 a month and it gives you tons of additional content. It gives you a lot of community and it keeps this show commercial free. You can also rate and review us on Apple podcasts and shout us out on social media. All three of those things help us to find our perfect audience.
- [53:33]
Katie Cobb
Yes, Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and let us boss your TBRs and get closer to our goals.
- [53:40]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Until next week, May your coffee be.
- [53:42]
Katie Cobb
Hot and your book be unput downable.
- [53:44]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Happy reading, Katie.
- [53:45]
Katie Cobb
Happy reading. Meredith.