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The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 7, Episode 35: Piles of Books + How We Purge Our Shelves
01:03:56
On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: piles of books and bookishness in non bookish places Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we’ve been reading lately Deep...
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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 chitchat, heavy on the book talk, 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.
- [00:35]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I'm Meredith Mundy Schwartz, a mom of four and full time CEO living in Austin, Texas. And I love evangelizing the bookish life.
- [00:44]
Katie Cobb
And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona. And the stacks of books around my house are now just decor. This is episode number 35, season seven, and we are so glad you're here.
- [00:55]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I am anti piles of anything except books. Books are the only thing that piles of them can be left around my house.
- [01:04]
Katie Cobb
Same. Yes. Clear all the surfaces. Put away the dishes. The dishes, the mail, the everything. Right. Clothing. Ew. Put it away. Books.
- [01:12]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yes.
- [01:12]
Katie Cobb
You're just friends. You're just friends visiting my lovely home. Please make yourself comfortable.
- [01:17]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Right. Piles of books are cozy.
- [01:20]
Katie Cobb
They are, yes. They're decor. I love it.
- [01:24]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
All right, speaking of piles and books, of accumulating lots and lots of books, our deep dive today is going to be about how do we purge our shelves. This is a question that we got from a listener. So we're gonna, we're gonna chop it up a little bit later on. But first, let's get to our bookish moments of the week. What have you got, Katie?
- [01:46]
Katie Cobb
No, Meredith. First we have mischief to manage.
- [01:49]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Oh, dang it. I was trying to go right past the mischief.
- [01:53]
Katie Cobb
It's the first Monday of the month, Meredith.
- [01:56]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
We do have mischief to manage. So as you know, the way we keep our show commercial free is that just one time a month, the first episode of the month, we talk a little bit about our Patreon community. And it's that community that keeps this show completely ad free. So buckle up for just a little bit. This month, we are going to talk specifically about a piece of content that we offer every month behind the paywall at Patreon. And that is a lot of people's favorite piece of content. It's all things murderful, Katie. People love murderful stuff, especially books.
- [02:35]
Katie Cobb
They really do. And one of the things that for everyone is very special about all things murderful is that you don't have to love murder. You don't have to do murder. Or love Murder in order to enjoy all things Murderful. The rapport, the conversation between you and Elizabeth is what keeps people coming back to that content, even if there's not a book that they love there. However, as we know, there's usually a book they love there. Like, people get so excited to listen to y'all talk about books. We especially love hearing Elizabeth hand sell us books every single episode, talking about something upcoming that she's excited about or something that super captured her that she has chosen to specifically hand sell our bookish friends. And they get something special if it's a book that she's hand selling us, which is fun too.
- [03:20]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Exactly. One of the things that we love because Elizabeth Barnhill works at Fabled Bookshop, they have been kind enough. All the links for All Things Murderful go straight through to Fabled Bookshop's website and they offer us a discount if you purchase through that link. So if you love books about murder, horror, thrillers, any of those things that make your heart race, this is the piece of content for you. For a lot of people, it is worth the $5 a month that it costs to become a Patreon subscriber. And it is seriously a joy of my life to be able to talk about 8 to 10 murderful books every single month. We also lately have been talking about our favorite murderful television. That is something that we're hearing from a lot of listeners that they are loving. So anytime we've watched a scary movie or series or or we've listened to a scary podcast, we talk about those too. So it is all things murderful. And you can join us by going to patreon.com currentlyreading podcast. It's $5 a month. You get that, of course, and the indie press list and love and Chili Peppers and our Facebook community. It's a whole bunch of things that you get. And of course, you keep this show commercial free.
- [04:34]
Katie Cobb
Yes, it's like a smorgasbord of bookish delight. And the cherry on top is that this is the only time we have an ad right here, right now. And we're almost done. That's so cool.
- [04:45]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
In fact, Katie, we are finished for the month. Mischief managed. All right, Mischief managed. Now let's go on to our bookish moments of the week.
- [04:57]
Katie Cobb
All right, Meredith, after a number of bookish events this month, including a book festival, a few meetups with bookish friends, bookstore visits, the book stack from this month's indie press list, starting to feel a little bit like maybe I'm drowning in Mini book cairns around my house. However, I was not at all sad to add a couple more to those piles because I got to spend some time with Bumi Eshola, my co host for from the Auditor's Desk, which is a quarterly segment we do on Patreon, while I was in California this past weekend. As often happens when I get together with Bumi, she had some goodies to share with me. This time she brought the first graphic novel that their imprint has released because she works for an imprint of Penguin Random House. And she brought me two children's books in Finnish. She just returned from a trip to Finland, and Since my Duolingo 500 day streak is from learning Finnish, she brought me copies of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the Horse and His Boy, both translated into Finnish. So while I don't think I'm quite at the point where I can read an entire children's book in Finnish yet, I was very happy to pick up the COVID and be able to read Hevonen Japoika, which is Horse and Boy in Finnish, and know exactly what it meant right away. I was so proud. This is a new goal of mine to be able to read some CS Lewis in Finnish.
- [06:17]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
You know, I am today years old that I just realized that your duolingo was in Finnish. I mean, we do our friend challenges with each other all the time. I'm learning Spanish on Duo Streak.
- [06:30]
Katie Cobb
Yes.
- [06:30]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I had no idea that you have 500 days in Finnish. Why? Why?
- [06:35]
Katie Cobb
So, okay, there's a lot to say about that, but I am one quarter Finnish. My maternal grandparents were one Finnish. Immigrated from Finland to northern Minnesota.
- [06:46]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Okay.
- [06:46]
Katie Cobb
North Dakota, South Dakota. So it's like a very strong part of my heritage. I have a master's in Spanish. I basically have a minor in Portuguese. So I have these other languages kind of under my belt already. And I've actually reached the end of duolingo finish. All it does now for me is review. It's not adding anything. So I've decided to start a new one. So now, now I'm learning Arabic because I wanted to try a different type type of writing. What am I up to? That's like seven, six or seven languages and spreadsheet, right?
- [07:17]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Exactly. You have a real talent for languages, and I think that is wonderful. Also, I'm not sure I knew you could reach the end of duolingo.
- [07:26]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. So you know how you have like a little path kind of that you're following as you go through units. So I reached the end of that path and now Every day it's just a circle, and if I complete that circle, it's like, that's all the finish you get today. It just is a little circle of six lessons, and that's as many as I can do.
- [07:42]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I know for a fact that there are so many listeners out there that are really wanting me to say, so you finished? Finish?
- [07:51]
Katie Cobb
Mm. I'm all finished with finish. Okay. All right.
- [07:55]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Okay. That is fascinating. Okay, good. Well, and it's always so good to see Bhumi. She is a joy.
- [08:02]
Katie Cobb
Gosh, my kids are obsessed with her. They call her Auntie Boomi. Yeah, they are obsessed with her.
- [08:07]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yes. I'm obsessed with her. I mean, that. Yeah, absolutely. I love that so much that you have also had a lot of bookish society lately, which is something that makes you super happy.
- [08:19]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, I'm kind of done, actually. I need a. I need a pause for a minute.
- [08:23]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Sure. Yeah, that makes sense.
- [08:25]
Katie Cobb
What is your bookish moment, Meredith?
- [08:27]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Right. Speaking of bookish society, this last week, I was at my leadership retreat for my Here Comes the Guide leadership team. There are six of us, and we, of course, work together. We've worked together for a really long time, several of us, for almost two decades. So we know each other really, really well. And we often, you know, we do all of this work, but oftentimes late at night, you know, we'll be talking about just life in general. And the conversation the other day turned to not just books and reading, because oftentimes we'll be talking about that, but it turned specifically to the fact that a couple of people on my leadership team have just this year started using the currently reading track for the first time and really, really loving it. And so we started talking about, like, well, why track your books? And how does that add to your reading life? And so we just ended up having this very detailed conversation amongst people who were on different parts of the I read a lot or I read very little spectrum. And it just. It was so fun to get to talk about, like, the different pieces that you can track and how it adds to reader know thyself, which, of course, is the key to a happier reading life. And we talked about, for example, you know, one person said, well, I made a goal for myself that I would read 10,000 pages this year. And I. And they were like, well, you know, how do you make that quantity goal? And I said, well, I don't make quantity goals, but my goal is for my per book rating to my average per book rating to be higher and higher. So then they were like, oh, that was like a real light bulb moment about how that could really affect how if you're make you're moving that piece of it, you're really adding to your happiness as a reader. So it was just one of those really nuanced conversations where you could see light bulbs going on over people's heads and we were convincing more people to track their reading, which always makes me really happy. And I love talking about the currently reading tracker, Katie, which of course you have created and it is an absolute work of art. I didn't mean for this to be part of our commercial, but when we managed our mischief, we didn't talk about the reading tracker, which is something that you get if you are a patron subscriber. And I just really wanted to pass along to you, Katie, the fact that the people who've begun using it are just like, this is the best, easiest, most amazing spreadsheet I've ever used. Like, all the snaps for Katie and her and her currently reading reading tracker.
- [10:57]
Katie Cobb
It's so fun. And one of my favorite things about the tracker is when people start tracking with whatever metrics matter to them and that's when they have a click and they realize, oh, it turns out my friend Candice just the other day said, I looked at the map and realized I've only read one book set in the US this year. I had no idea. But because I put the setting into my tracker, I can see that map and I know exactly what's happening with my reading. Somebody else said, it turns out I need multiple select on timelines and settings because I didn't realize how many dual timeline books I've been reading until I had to select one or the other. And it turns out I need more than one. And like, until you actually take the time to click through all those little boxes, you don't realize it. And then they're like, ooh, here's a new fun thing I didn't know about myself. Yeah, it's like a fun personality quiz.
- [11:46]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Exactly, exactly. I also really like it when someone says, you know, I'm going to start using it. I'm only going to track maybe five, four different, like just the basic, basic basics, which again, in, in my view, much better to track that than, than nothing at all. And the spreadsheet makes that easy. But, but already that person was like, I already know like four different things I'm going to be adding next year just because I'm already in there anyway. And it's so quick and it gives such great data. So yes, all the snaps for you, Katie. That is such a good spreadsheet.
- [12:15]
Katie Cobb
Delightful.
- [12:16]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yes. Okay, so let us start talking about our current reads. Katie, what's first up?
- [12:22]
Katie Cobb
All right, my first one this week is called There Are Rivers in the sky by Elif Shafak. This book, just like we were just talking about, spans centuries and continents, and it interweaves the stories of three remarkable characters. This is not my first experience with this author, but it is my favorite one so far, and it makes me want to continue with her books. So here's the setup. Let's start a few hundred years ago in the 1600s with story of Arthur, a baby born on the shore the banks of the Thames River. His family is impoverished, dirt poor, but his brilliant memory, his kind of quirkiness of mind might be able to lift them from their status. His life becomes intertwined with the story that connects all three narratives in this book, because there is an underlying myth that follows these characters. Narin is nearly in our present time, around 2014. She is hoping to be baptized with holy water, but the ceremony is in interrupted. So she and her grandmother must travel at great peril across a landscape wracked by war to reach the sacred valley of Mesopotamia, which we all learned about in ancient history, Right? That means between two rivers and the Tigris and the Euphrates in Central Asia, basically. And just a few Years later, in 2018, Zelika moves to a houseboat on the Thames after leaving her marriage. She is despondent and unmoored. Not literally. It's a houseboat, it's moored, it stays put. But she does find a connection to her home. All three of those stories, like I said, are connected by water, and even more so by the story within the story, which is the Epic of Gilgamesh. It was written thousands of years ago, but this epic poem is worth visiting in its own right. It's very cool to read it as an adult and make connections between myths that we see in other cultures as well. Bringing it to life through this braided narrative and using the water to tie the stories together is frankly a stroke of genius. The author's note cannot be skipped in this one. It speaks to why Shafak wanted to bring this epic poem to life and to a new audience. This is the kind of historical fiction and contemporary fiction that requires attention. This is not a let it wash over you kind of story, as much as playing with water puns is very fun. Instead, I found myself needing to fully immerse myself, bathe myself in it with pointed Attention and focus. That's not to say that it's too heavy or literary to be enjoyable, just that it was great for a listen on a long car ride. But I. I don't think it would be great to listen to between chores. You need to take time and sit with it and let it be with you. It's so obvious that Elif Shafak really dove into the research here, both historical and scientific, because the way she pulls water into the story and brings it to life, that knowledge really sings through the prose. Storygraph and Goodreads ratings are remarkably high. Worth mentioning for this book, at above 4.4 stars on each of those sites for good reason. The writing is brilliant, the story is woven and nuanced, and the characters will stick with you for a long time. I keep thinking about it. I gave it four and a half stars. I really loved it. This is There Are Rivers in the sky by Elif Shafak.
- [15:35]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Oh, man. I mean, every time we read one of those books that makes us work.
- [15:39]
Katie Cobb
For.
- [15:41]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Is really, really worth it. I mean, I won't be surprised if that's on Your list of 10 Best of the year, right? Like, it's so common that when we end up saying that, like, I really slow down and pay attention. But I was so richly rewarded by it.
- [15:57]
Katie Cobb
So good.
- [15:57]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I love it. Okay. Katie, I've been excited about bringing this book to the show because it is by one of your favorite authors and I don't think you've read this one. This is a book called this House is Haunted by John Boyne.
- [16:15]
Katie Cobb
I have not read this.
- [16:16]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Did you know that he wrote a gothic murder mystery?
- [16:20]
Katie Cobb
I had no idea. It almost makes me think that maybe it's not the John Boyne that I already love. I'm sure it is, but I was. I'm just gobsmacked.
- [16:28]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I thought the exact same thing, Katie. And so I went and triple checked. It is in fact John Boyne who we know and love. Absolutely. And so here's the setup. It's 1867 England. So, you know, we're in my happy place. And our lead character is Eliza Cain, who finds herself very much like, at loose ends after her father's death. Her dad died really suddenly and impulsively. She accepts a position as governess at the remote Godlyn hall in Norfolk, England. When she arrives, two unsettling things await her. There are no adults present at all, only her two young charges. We've got Isabella, who's an unusually composed little girl, and her brother Eustace. And Also, there is something in this house that seems determined to make Eliza's stay as brief and terrifying as possible. From invisible hands trying to push her in front of a train to nighttime visitations that leave Eliza gasping for breath, the message is clear she is not welcome. However, Eliza is not one to give up easily, and as she begins to dig deeper, she learns that five five governesses before her have vanished or run away, and the villagers very cringely shun her when she mentions where she works. So all the red flags. So we of course need to find out what dark history haunts Godlan hall and why are these children alone when Eliza gets there? All right, there are very few things I love more than a gothic murder mystery, except one that is backlist by a great author I had no idea existed in my genre of choice. So this was a book that I ran across completely by accident at my library. I just saw the title and the author didn't even know if it was the John Boyne and put it in my bag. And this is exactly the kind of gothic ghost story that I love. I think someone says on Goodreads that it's Dickensian and yes, I can definitely see that it's the right period of time and in fact our book starts with a story about Charles Dickens, but the prose itself is very easy but really well done, as you would expect from jeanboyne, it's not difficult at all, it's just trademark. Boynextremely readable and very evocative of both character and place. In this case, the place is a very, very haunted English manor house and the ghost is extraordinarily malevolent and the governess is smart and steely and exactly what our story needs. Interestingly, this book has a 3.6 rating on Goodreads, which seems extraordinarily low to me. This is an exception that proves the rule for me in Goodreads because I completely disagree with that rating. I gave it at least a 4.25. I fully enjoyed every page of this well paced book. It's an absolute perfect story to read if you love gothic mysteries, but if you want it done in a way where the pace moves a little bit faster, this one is really really well paced. A lot of times with got murder mysteries there's a lot of slow build. This really gets into it. It's paced very well. It's the perfect story to read on a rainy day in fall or winter and it would be a great one to save for October reading because it's very ghosty Such a fantastic bookish surprise. I would love to know if anyone else has read this one. This is this House is Haunted by John Boyne.
- [20:02]
Katie Cobb
Well, this sounds absolutely like something I need for my fall reading. I'm gonna put a note in my calendar right now. Yes, I did find a critical review where somebody was mad that NPR called it one of the best books of 2013. Good for him. How? How does this exist in the world and I did not know about it? I'm so mad at the Internet.
- [20:23]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I know.
- [20:23]
Katie Cobb
But I'm delighted with you, Meredith. Thank you.
- [20:26]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I feel like I won a prize for finding, like, some treasure, right?
- [20:31]
Katie Cobb
Yes, definitely. It's like a pirate ship, Like a buried treasure that. Mostly because I know you like it. When I say buried, I love it, but it's like a present. That was my present to you for giving me this present. I'm so excited.
- [20:46]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yes. You'll like this one a lot. For sure.
- [20:48]
Katie Cobb
Excellent. Excellent. Okay, I am going to talk about an author that we both love, Kendra Adachi. I'm going to talk about the Plan by Kendra Adachi, which is her newest release.
- [20:59]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yes.
- [21:00]
Katie Cobb
So this is Kendra's newest release, which came out in October of 2024. I read it early in the year because I love to pick up some kind of planny, time management something or other in late December, early January, just to set my tone for the year. Like, I've read them. I know the tools, I know the techniques. It doesn't matter. Every year I want a little something. Just how every summer, I want something about homeschooling thrown in. Every January, I want something planny ish. Here's how that worked for me. I love Kendra. We love Kendra and the way she encourages compassion in the ways we manage our time and our lives. She has her lazy genius principles, right. That's how she's known on the Internet. Be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about things that don't. And that has led to us giving five stars collectively, you and I, and co signed recommendations to each of her previous books. Books, the Lazy Genius Way and the Lazy Genius Kitchen. Each of those is a great place to start with her work. And I feel like the plan really builds on the Lazy Genius way, especially this one dives much more into time management of the puzzle, as evidenced by the subtitle, which is manage your time like a lazy genius. Unlike nearly every other habit and time book that I've read, the Plan comes at time management with the perspectives and considerations of womanhood front and center, which was Surprising. Right at the very beginning, she talks about how I believe it was 96% of time management books are written by men. More than 50% of us are not men. Right? There's a lot of women reading these books. Women have unique rhythms and demands on our lives. Many of us have a monthly cycle of fertility, a lifelong cycle as well. Many of us spend a lot of mental energy on time management for others as well as ourselves, whether we're managing the demands of a family or a workplace or a team or a classroom. And many of us are reading time management books written by men who at the very least do not have monthly cycles of energy and depletion to contend with. That's what makes this time management book stand out from the rest of them for me. I did find some chapters to be totally overwhelming as far as the number of steps to get to, let's say a to do list that's actually productive and prioritizing importance versus urgency. I think that's because, like I said at the top of this, I've spent much time playing around with these principles. I know how time management works. I have a decent handle on it. I am not a novice in this field of play with regard to my life. But time and again, Kendra makes it clear that each portion of this book is to be used as a tool. If you are looking at this list of how to curate your to do list appropriately and you're like, holy Hannah Kend, that is too many things. That's okay. She's like, this part is not for you. Set it down. Go to the next section. You do not have to get bogged down in remembering every step and acronym. And when I look at critical reviews, that's where people get stuck. If you're winding yourself up into color coding and highlighting and abbreviating multiple steps in a process to get to a list that works for you, maybe you could have spent that time actually knocking out some tasks instead. But here's the crux of it. Never before have I felt so seen in a time management book. It's absolutely geared toward women and the unique demands on our lives. But Kendra also takes very specific steps to make room for neuro spiciness, the challenges of long term health struggles, and more. This is indeed a book that any woman can take resources from with compassion for exactly where you are in your own life. If you don't have a partner to share the load, that's okay. Kendra's got you so overwhelmed you don't know where to start. Kendra has a space for you, too. This one went on my shelf. Not because the entire thing is applicable to every single part of my life, but because the pieces that are really, really resonated. Kendra's lazy genius principles make it easy and accessible to refer back to again later. And for that reason, I loved it. This is the plan. Manage your time like a lazy genius by Kendra Adachi.
- [25:05]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I love Kendra so much. I liked the plan, too. I really love the number one thing that I love about what she does in all of her books and in this one, too, is that the way that my lazy genius systems, whether they're in my kitchen or in my whatever or in my time management, will look different from yours. And the fact. The way that she helps each person prioritize the things that matter to them is the genius of the lazy genius. Like, it's just consistently so helpful. I love. I love the way she thinks and I love the way she communicates so that we all can benefit from the way that she thinks. Right. Which not everybody can do in their book.
- [25:47]
Katie Cobb
Yes, definitely. That's why we love Kendra. She's a delight. And if y'all have not listened to the episode when she came on and talked with us, that one is lovely. Go back and listen to it for us. I'm sure that Megan will find it for us and link it in. Show notes.
- [26:00]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yes, the Lazy Genius Way is pro. Is a book I have probably bought 10 different people.
- [26:07]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, yeah.
- [26:08]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Her first. Her first book. It's that. It's that good. For sure. All right, Katie. My next book is excellent, and it is difficult. And also I'm reading a lot more nonfiction this year, just a little aside, and I'm. I'm really happy about that.
- [26:24]
Katie Cobb
Nice.
- [26:25]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
This is, in fact, part of that. This is a book called Sandy Hook An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth by Elizabeth Williamson. Okay, so this book examines the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, through a different lens than most accounts I had heard of before, rather than focusing primarily on the tragedy itself, although that, of course, is covered in the first couple of chapters very respectfully. But that is one of the hardest things that has ever happened. Ever. And it's very difficult to. To read about in any way. But the prime. The primary focus, instead of being on that day, Williamson investigates what happened afterwards, how a group of conspiracy theorists and social media accounts began claiming that the shooting was a hoax, and how these grieving families found themselves targets of harassment and death threats. And at the center of this, of course, is Alex Jones and his infowars platform, who amplified these conspiracy theories to his millions of followers. And then also, there's tremendous focus in the book on the incredibly brave Sandy Hook parents who decided to fight back through the legal system despite their overwhelming grief. This book follows that legal battle and Elizabeth Williamson raises questions about the responsibility of social media platforms, about how we amplify conspiracy theories in this social media age and what actually happens when online harassment crosses into the physical realm. This book is meticulously reported and deeply empathetic to the experiences of the families. So let me tell you one thing that I know is true. You guys are gonna get tired of hearing me say the following about many books in 2025 I would not have read this book except for the fact that I got it at the library on a total whim. I had intended to get this book and really just dip into it a little bit. Like I just wanted to skim here and there. This is not a topic that I honestly ever saw myself wanting to read from. Read the book from start to finish. I really thought that this book would just be too difficult for me to deal with emotionally. And there's no question that it is a gutting read. It is really difficult to even contemplate the tragedy that unfolded in Sandy Hook in 2012. But the way that author Elizabeth Williamson, who is a featured writer for the New York Times, wrote this book with nothing short of spectacular, this is the exact definition of narrative nonfiction. It grabbed me by the throat and just kept me in its thrall for all 400 pages. I will say again, like I said at the top, that maybe 10% of the book deals with the actual day of the tragedy. There are enough details to of course put the event into context, but everything that is included is handled with extreme sensitivity and care for the victims and the victims families. There's not a single bit of information in this book that is there to titillate. Also, the shooter himself is very much not focused on in this book. We get very little about him because that's not what this book is about. This book is about the victims of this tragedy, the ones who died that day, the ones who had to deal with that grief and Even more so 80% of this book is about what happened in the days, weeks and months and the decade that followed. The villain in this book, of course, is the gunman himself. That goes without saying. But the focus of the villainy in the book is Alex Jones and Infowars. I knew, of course, that this completely insane notion of Sandy Hook as a False flag operation existed. And of course, I knew that there had been lawsuits against Alex Jones and that the families had prevailed in those lawsuits. But this book takes you deeply into exactly what happened. It tells you in the lawsuit. It tells you what happened. It tells you why it happened. It tells you the fight that the families had to go through and the emotional toll that it took on them. It tells you everything about the attorneys, both the ones that decided to defend Alex Jones and the ones that took up the cases that are the focus of this book on the part of the family. This book is published in 2022, so it doesn't take us all the way through everything that has happened since then. And a lot has happened since then. When I finished this book, I immediately watched the HBO Max documentary called the Truth versus Alex Jones, which gives, of course, pictures and audio to what is described in the book as far as the lawsuit goes, but also takes us all the way through the 2024 verdicts against Alex Jones that occurred. I highly recommend this book if you want to understand the way that our current social media and media environments affect everything from the way crimes are investigated to the way that truth is being undermined every single day. This is an incredibly important read and is as important in 2025 as it was when it was published in 2022. I'm honestly so glad that I read it. This is Sandy Hook, An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth by Elizabeth Williamson.
- [31:37]
Katie Cobb
Sounds so tough. Oh, I don't know if I could read that.
- [31:41]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah, once you get past the first 20%, it's. It's tough for sure. But you are more mad than. Right, sad and on the part of the families because that's what happened to the families. They. They literally had to use their anger to power through the grief and getting through all of this. And this book was just incredibly well written.
- [32:09]
Katie Cobb
It sounds excellent and I'm so glad it was treated with the kind of care and attention that it deserves. I felt the same reading Columbine by Dave Cullen and the way that he dealt with something that was very much part of my own growing up experience because I was in high school when Columbine happened. So it felt like, okay, well, if he doesn't do this right, it's actually like, shameful to me, even though I wasn't there or anything. So I feel like, sure. For Elizabeth Williamson to take that same care and really respect the families and the way that they had to deal with this fallout, it just. It shows really wonderful integrity.
- [32:47]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Right. And it's written Very much like it's not written. I don't want to say like a just the facts, ma'am kind of way, because it's very empathetic. Like, clearly, there's no question the side on which the author falls unheard, you know, there's no question about that. But it's not about anything other than putting the facts forward, all of the true facts forward. So, yeah, really, really interesting, interesting book.
- [33:12]
Katie Cobb
All right.
- [33:12]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
What's your third one?
- [33:13]
Katie Cobb
Okay. Mine has some interesting ties to that in a totally fiction way. I'm going to talk about the Trees by Percival Everett. Hold on to all your butts for this one. And I will say that the setup is not suitable for children. So we're going right into gory descriptions of murder. Skip ahead if that's gonna be an issue or if you like listening with your kids. Here's the setup. Our story begins in Money, Mississippi. This is a real town, and it is the site of Emmett Till's brutal murder in 1955, which is a real event that happened. True facts in our history. In the story, a white man is found in a locked room in his home with his testicles removed and a barbed wire wrapped around his neck. He is accompanied in that room by a dead black man in whose hands those testicles reside. That murder happens over and over again. Both dead bodies are taken back to the local morgue, and then the black man disappears, only to turn up the next day at a second identical crime scene and disappear again. Two detectives are called in from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and we could call them Laurel and Hardy. They are slapstick and hilarious. They bring the snark and the humor to this story, which is otherwise, as you may have guessed, very dark. These two detectives make a connection with Emmett Till's brutal death 65 years ago and start piecing together the puzzle of how a dead black man can disappear from custody multiple times over to turn up at multiple murder scenes. They seek answers from a local root doctor who has file cabinets full of documentation of every lynching that has ever occurred in the country for her entire life. But while Mama Z, that root doctor who is amazing, she's like 110 years old, allows the detectives into her files. The coroner, the sheriff, his deputy, and many of the racist white townsfolk seem to be thwarting them at every turn as they work to puzzle out a solution to these crimes. The bodies keep piling up. And I am talking about many, many bodies, and not just in Money, Mississippi, because the violence in this book is relentless. This is now the third book that I've read by Percival Everett and he continues to grow on me as an author. While the satire in Erasure I'm on the record as it did not work for me at the first time I read it, I found that reading his books on paper really allows me to absorb them in a different way. When I reread Erasure for Popcorn in the pages, it sat with me in a totally different way. The Trees is not satire per se, it's more like dark humor and social criticism. The core of this book might be considered a police procedural. We're following the investigation, but with dead bodies disappearing and reappearing. You might also shelve it with magical realism. It's laced with history and social justice, but also filled with over the top murder scenes and gore. And again, that laurel and hearty hilarity of humor. Many of these scenes are historically accurate to the lynchings that occurred in the US So when I say over the top murder scenes and gore, I mean with regard to our current time, not historically. One thing I will point out here that I neglected to mention in the Popcorn episode of Erasure when Shad and I discussed that one, is that to me, Percival Everett seems to be obsessed with a capital O with fat people. He cannot help but comment on everyone's body, the size and shape of it, as well as employing various derisive adjectives within his books. This was true of Erasure, written 25 years ago, and it is true of the Trees, which released in 2021. I did not notice it in James, which was one of my top books of the year last year. It was also a blockbuster hit, won all kinds of book awards. So perhaps in those few years he finally grew away from it. But just note that if brutal murder isn't enough to make you shy away from this one, the fatphobia, maybe. Overall, Katie and I, we read it together, really loved this book. We found it to be utterly unputdownable, completely grotesque, darkly hilarious and brilliantly written. I did give it 5 stars, despite my quibbles with the way he describes living bodies, the ways he describes dead bodies, that's all his own thing. This was excellent and heart wrenching and hilarious. I mean the fact that he could put all those three things in one. He's. He's a genius. This is the Trees by Percival Everett.
- [37:27]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I'm so glad this one was good. It's been on my shelf for a long time and one that my plan is to read before I read James. Just because I want to put More time. I'm very much looking forward to James. I just want to save it, put more time in between, so. But yeah, I'm so glad that the trees is good. I can't wait to read that one.
- [37:48]
Katie Cobb
There's so many cool things about this book. It would make a great book club discussion if you have, you know, people who can handle it on a number of levels. Right?
- [37:56]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah.
- [37:56]
Katie Cobb
All right.
- [37:57]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
My last current read is also a five star book. And Katie, I could not be more surprised to Give this book 5 stars if you paid me.
- [38:05]
Katie Cobb
Okay.
- [38:06]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
This is Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins.
- [38:11]
Katie Cobb
No. Oh, I'm so excited.
- [38:13]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I can't read it yet. You need to soon, like, quickly, because, you know, it's starting. People's reviews are coming out and it's. Yeah. This is the newest addition to the Hunger Games series. It's a prequel, as was the last one, the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. But the big difference here is that this book is actually good.
- [38:32]
Katie Cobb
Amazing.
- [38:33]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
It's not just good, it's Hunger Games great. And I loved it. Here in Sunrise on the Reaping, which I love that title. We follow the 50th Hunger Games. So 25 years before the games of the original series. And in our story, we are following Haymitch Abernathy, who was Katniss's mentor in the original series. He's the character that was played by Woody Harrelson in the movies. Haymitch is just 16 in this book when he gets reaped. Reaped. He's 16. He's got a family he loves and really cares for and provides for, and he has a brand new romantic love. And it's just so everything that you love about the Hunger Games, we find out here how Haymitch became the character we knew, loved, and also hated from the original series. I could not believe. This is good, Katie. I could not. I was not going to buy it because Ballad of Songbirds and Stakes was so bad. But I have spent time thinking about why I felt so differently about the two prequels. So, first of all, this book really does all the things that we love, especially about the first book in the original series, the Hunger Games. In a lot of ways, you're getting many, many, many of the same things for me, because it had been been so long since I'd read that first book. This was just propulsive and it was just as interesting to me. It kind of almost felt good to be back in the Capitol and in the arena. Although it feels weird to say that we're back in this fight between good and evil. There's something so clear cut about it. So this didn't feel derivative, but it's kind of like the way you feel about Christmas. You know, you've celebrated Christmas before, but you still love to celebrate Christmas.
- [40:21]
Katie Cobb
Yes.
- [40:22]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
So it didn't feel boring, it just felt nostalgic. Right. Also, Sunrise on the Reaping, really, I loved going through the whole process, but being in Haymitch's head, he is so much kinder and sweeter than Katniss Everdeen ever was. I. I love the Hunger Games trilogy. Love, love, love. But Katniss is not my favorite.
- [40:45]
Katie Cobb
Yes, agree.
- [40:47]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Haymitch is like an upgrade. Like, I loved being it from his point of view in the Hunger Games. There was something really just sweet about him and I was so invested in his story from the beginning. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was just none of those things. It didn't have any of the excitement and it didn't have any of the heart that the original three books have and that this one has in spades. Also, it's interesting to go through the Reaping and the Games from Hamish's point of view, because here, unlike when we read the original series, we know the outcome. Right? Right. We know. We know that he makes it through his games. It's interesting that Suzanne Collins was able to turn the story on its head by adding in that element, and that really made it interesting. All the things that were triggering about the first book exist here. We have children trying to kill each other. We have children dying in horrible ways. All of those things are still here. But we also have a slightly more nuanced look at the difference between the very rich and the very poor. I could almost see Suzanne Collins winking and nudging at certain parts, heartening us to our current global state of affairs. That was also an interesting element here. It's under the radar. It's not banging you over the head with it, don't get me wrong. But there's winks and nods there. I also thought that the ending was really, really well done. One question people have asked me is whether or not they think that this book could be read as a standalone, or if you haven't read the books before, the. The actual trilogy before. And I really want to say that I think this could be read as a standalone. If you've never dipped into the Hunger Games, I think you could start here. I think there are going to be a lot of people who end up suggesting that this book Might be the new place to start because it leads us very smoothly to the first book in the original trilogy. It would almost be fun to go back and reread the trilogy now with this new part of the story in place. I gobbled this book up in an afternoon. I hadn't felt that kind of page turning joy in a long time. And it was very, very good to be back with Suzanne Collins doing what she does so well. This is Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins.
- [43:07]
Katie Cobb
I know this is so dumb, but I am so happy that it's purple like I just bought. Yeah, it's like a iridescent purple with the gold symbol on the front.
- [43:20]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
And I only only read it on my Kindle.
- [43:22]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, okay. So it doesn't matter that it's purple. I am so mad also that, like, right now I can only get it in hard pack. And I just, what, two or three weeks ago talked about getting the special edition paperback copies that they just released of the original three, which I didn't get the box set because I didn't want Songbirds and snakes because that's not. I just ignore that one completely. I just disliked that book so much. But now I'm gonna have to wait God knows how long, and then they probably won't match and I'm gonna be even madder. But maybe I just need the purple one. Meredith, do I just need the purple one?
- [43:55]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah, if you want to do it in print. I, you know, I. This is one of those books I think you could do in any old format that works for you.
- [44:01]
Katie Cobb
I have heard the audio is phenomenal as well.
- [44:04]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
For sure. Well, what I did was I was reading it on my Kindle and then I had in my ears an ASMR room. That Hunger Games. ASMR room. So, like, every once in a while, in the way background of the audio, someone would scream and then, oh, my God, like a boom. Like a gong would sound.
- [44:25]
Katie Cobb
The cannon.
- [44:26]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
The can. Yeah, so that was weird, but, like.
- [44:31]
Katie Cobb
Very great, especially if it doesn't match up with the book. Right.
- [44:34]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
But at one point.
- [44:35]
Katie Cobb
Oh, no. Someone just died.
- [44:36]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
No, at one point, I swear to God, at one point, three people died in Sunrise on the Reaping and the. The canon went off three times. And I was like, what is happening?
- [44:47]
Katie Cobb
Oh, it was.
- [44:48]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
So I highly recommend that experience, by the way, like listening to the ASMR room and reading something at the. Reading your Kindle or print at the same time. It's a really well done ASMR Room.
- [45:01]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, I'm very Excited to get into this. And you're right. I need to do it as soon as possible because it is just going to continue to build. It's been, at this point, 10 days since it released, and it's already, like, it's getting to that, like, shy away point, and I need to just jump in and hurry up and get it done before I run away completely.
- [45:20]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah. Don't let any of that take the Hunger Games experience from you. It's really, really good. And I just could not be any more delighted about that.
- [45:29]
Katie Cobb
Oh, I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I love this world.
- [45:32]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah.
- [45:33]
Katie Cobb
And that. I think that's why I was so, like, personally hurt by Songbirds.
- [45:38]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah.
- [45:38]
Katie Cobb
Because I was like, this isn't good.
- [45:40]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah.
- [45:41]
Katie Cobb
I was so cranky about it. So I'm so glad that she's, like, back with a canon boom.
- [45:47]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I will tell you that I cried at one point in this book.
- [45:50]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. Like, I've heard that, too.
- [45:51]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Big tears.
- [45:52]
Katie Cobb
Yeah.
- [45:54]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
All right, well, maybe our conversation that we're going to have right now is going to help you along your way. So we're going to answer a question that we got from a listener, which was, how do we purge our shelves? Like, what are the. What's the process? How often do we do it? Do we do it at all? What are the things that you take into account, Katie? What. How do you feel about shelf purges? How often do you do them?
- [46:18]
Katie Cobb
Oh, it's like meditation. I love it so much. I know that I don't seem like somebody that would like to do that because I do get so emotionally attached to so many of the books that I read. But it feels like. It feels like clearing my chakras to purge my shelves. And that is true whether it's my keeper red shelf, my to be read shelf, or even my currently reading shelf. I mean, to be like, listen, right now my reading life is just kind of in a muddle. I'm purging the current reads shelf, just getting rid of everything in a swoop and starting over. I love that, too. Like, I just. I just love getting rid of all the things. But the first thing I thought of with regard to this deep dive prompt was with regard to my keeper shelves. I don't know if that's what you were thinking of too, Meredith.
- [47:11]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Well, I mean, right. It depends on. I think for each person, it depends on what kinds of books you keep. And again, we could be also talking about Kindle. I was thinking, you know, I have a very small section of, like, A very small proportion of my books are ones in my house that I have read and loved. I do have a growing keeper shelf now, but it's a very small number compared to all the rest of the books in my house, which. Which are. Which I haven't read yet. So for me, a purge would mostly be tbr. Purge.
- [47:45]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. Mine's probably opposite of that. I think I have a smaller physical tbr, although the mental and emotional TBR is monumental.
- [47:54]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Exactly. Well, I mean, I think that's useful for answering the question, though, because then we can kind of come at it from two points of view. So when you're looking at primarily your keeper shelf, these are books that you. How did you decide? What was your criteria for keeping them?
- [48:08]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, as soon as I finish a book, I will decide whether it goes on the outgoing shelf or if it goes into the big keeper shelf. And the keeper shelf is divided into adult fiction, middle grade, and YA fiction, and then different varieties of nonfiction. So there's different spaces for all these different things. And that's because, you know nonfiction, you're going to refer to it more often. Or maybe you're gonna take it off and reread that one essay that made you laugh so hard you had to clench your legs together so you didn't pee yourself. Or you're going to hand it to a friend and say, that I would like this book back, but it's really great for this exact moment in time for you. So nonfiction gets treated a little differently. I feel like I actually have a lower criteria for what gets kept on my nonfiction shelves because it seems to be so utile later on. As opposed to my fiction shelf, which is my treasure Dragon Hoard of Conquered Trophies. Right. Those are books that, for whatever reason, I finished them and said, oh, I'm keeping you around, but not necessarily forever. And that's where this deep dive went for me, is that I can look at that. It's the top shelf on my big custom bookshelves that my dad and I made that holds my favorite adult fiction titles. And I look at it every day because it's in my living room. But every once in a while, I go over there and I say, you don't belong here anymore. And that's okay. It's not a bad thing. It's just that you're no longer part of, like, the books that define the edges of my heart like they used to. And so when I finish a book that feels like it might be one of those, I slide it on top, like that space between the top of the spine and the shelf above. And there will be a number of them up there until the time when I decide it's time to shelve them and put things in alphabetical order. And at that point I might have to get rid of some in order to fit some more. And so I will go through and evaluate, well, what does that mean? Are some of these ready to go find a new home? And maybe somebody else will feel like this is the book that defines the corners of my heart now, which is what I want. Right. I want somebody else to find that book. So.
- [50:25]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Right. And I think that's a really good way to think about it. And, and I think part of what makes this difficult and I experienced this too. I mean, in fact, just a couple weeks ago I did, I did look was looking at my keeper shelf and it was like, oh, there were a couple things there that I was like, why did I feel that I needed to keep that? So I took a couple of them off there and I, you know, there is a weird emotionality about that. Like that doesn't mean that I didn't love that book. It's, you know, it, it just means that I don't need to keep a physical copy of it. And so I just reminded myself like, look, if I ever want to have it again, I can purchase it in the future. And maybe at that point I could purchase a cool new edition or something. But it doesn't need to be on my shelf right now and I could share that with somebody else. With my TBR books I try to regularly, like by regularly I every six months or so, I really like once in the summer and once around Christmas time, I try to do a little bit of a review and to go through. And what I found is this. And it really is informing the way I'm making book purchasing choices. Now what I found is when I go through and do that review, a lot of times the books that I'm deciding to, you know, take to half price books or the little free library or give to friends or whatever, these are books that I bought like as the books were coming out, they were new releases. And for whatever reason, once the book was out and more people started reading it, I had enough information to realize that it probably wasn't going to be a fit for me. And then what I'm also finding is that the, when I do take books off of my shelf and read them and really love them, it's oftentimes backlist that I purchased because I had checked the Goodreads ratings. I had had multiple people recommend it to me. I had, you know, I had more information, I had more context for the book. Now it does always strike me that there have been times where I will have had a book on my shelf for many years and if thought for a while I should probably get rid of that and then for whatever reason, I end up being glad I hadn't. And like, oh, actually I still have that book. That has happened a few times. And it does inform my decisions about like, you know, because you just, you always want to be able to pull a book off your shelf instead of feeling like, oh man, now I'm rebuying it. That does, it does kind of suck.
- [52:49]
Katie Cobb
That is the worst, right? Like, it's fine, but it also sucks.
- [52:52]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
It absolutely does. But what I find is especially on my shelves, like in my library and in my dining room, which now is a library that allows eating in it, the books that I'm looking at that I, that my gut tells me I'm not going to read because I've gotten that new level of information that that's not going to be a fit for me. They suck a little bit of my energy every time they come into my peripheral vision.
- [53:16]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, yeah.
- [53:16]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
My field of view. Exactly right. They just take a. They just suck up. There's just a little tiny energy suck every time I do a purge. And I usually tell myself I don't do a full purge because I don't believe in all or nothing kinds of projects that doesn't really fit into my life right now. When I do a purge, I'll usually say, hey, let's see if I can just grab 10 books that really shouldn't be on my shelves anymore. So I'm not going to go over every book in my house at one time. I just don't work that way. But I will say, let's take 10 that have kind of been sucking that peripheral energy from me. Every single time I do that, a couple things happen. My energy is refreshed and books that are still on the shelf now look a little bit different for me and call to me in a little different way. And I don't know what kind of bookish magic that is, but it happens every single time.
- [54:08]
Katie Cobb
Yes, that's exactly how I feel about it. So my big purge of my TBR shelf is usually between Christmas and New Year's. A because sometimes I got myself some books as presents or Katie and I often buy each other books as presents for Christmas. So there's, there's a number of books that need to go onto the TBR shelf, but also because I'm working on my new spreadsheet for the following reading year, and that does have a TBR tab on it. So I want to put my physical TBR in there. But I don't usually just copy and paste whatever I had from last year and put it directly in first. I go through the entire shelf, and I'm not like, picking up every book and holding it and holding it to my chest and looking up goodreads ratings and deciding about every single one again. But I'm standing closer to my bookshelf and giving it a good look to make sure that I even remember what that book was about or if it feels off to me in some way. And it is. It's that little bit of energy drain. There's a, like, a home energy resource. It's called phantom power. When something is off, but it's always drawing that little tiny bit of energy. And, like, your TV does it to have the status light on. Right? That kind of thing.
- [55:26]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah.
- [55:26]
Katie Cobb
And that's what it is. It's like phantom power that's getting sucked by the book. That is not right for me anymore. And it could be because I bought it too early. It could be because I went to the thrift store with my kids, and I had heard of it enough times that I decided, you know, for 50 cents, I'll just throw it into my cart and see what happens. And then it turns out I don't actually, actually want to read that book. Like, for whatever reason, it just doesn't need to be there. But refreshing that shelf, taking off those old ones that, for whatever reason are not going to work for me anymore, and putting on the new ones, it's like flipping the sequins on, like one of those sequin design pillows.
- [56:07]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah, exactly.
- [56:08]
Katie Cobb
And you're like, look, new design. Everything's a little sparklier now. And that's it. That's exactly how it feels. And I don't know what that is. It's the loss of phantom power.
- [56:17]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Right, Exactly. I mean, and also, we've talked about this. Anytime you, like, take a pile of books and move it or you just rejuice your books in any way, some kind of power is released. I love it.
- [56:30]
Katie Cobb
That's why books as decor works, because there's that power.
- [56:33]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah, exactly. All right. Those are our thoughts on purging our shelves. We would love to know, how do you guys do it? When do you do it? How often do you do it? And how emotional do you get when you purge your shelves. Like, do you get paralyzed with emotion, or do you just, like, sweep everything off the shelf and start fresh? Absolutely. All right, Katie, let's talk about some wishes that we can make at the fountain. What's your wish?
- [57:04]
Katie Cobb
Okay, I'm probably gonna regret this, but I am wishing for a great laugh, which means I'm asking for recommendations. It's. It's happening. You've all been waiting. You have a little more background now, y'all, from last week's episode, what life has been like for me lately. I mentioned watching some shows with both of my older boys, and we are getting so many great laughs from the Good Place Ted Lasso. My solo sitcom is Abbott Elementary. I would like a book recommendation or many that is guaranteed to make me laugh. Like a great show can. I want the kind of feel good observational humor you get from a great sitcom like Abbott mixed with the sweetness of Ted Lasso that makes me believe in the goodness of humanity and the forking good time of the Good Place. I want all of that wrapped together. As you all know, I read pretty much any genre. The challenge here is that, like we've already talked about today, satire isn't. Is kind of a no go. That's not really going to work for me in this area.
- [58:04]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
But it doesn't make you laugh.
- [58:06]
Katie Cobb
It doesn't make me laugh. It makes me cringe. And I don't love that feeling. But if you've got something where you were on a plane and you snorted your drink out your nose because you could not hold the laughter in, that's the book I'm looking for. I'm rescinding my restraining order on DMs about book recommendations, because humor, that humor is exactly what I need right now. So please help me just laugh my literal ass off. Ping.
- [58:34]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Splash.
- [58:34]
Katie Cobb
Or my literary ass. Laugh my literary ass off.
- [58:37]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I love it.
- [58:38]
Katie Cobb
I love it.
- [58:38]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Okay, good. Well, I'm sure you will get lots and lots of recommendations. The last two books that did that for me, I talked about on the show not too long ago. Victorian Psycho and the Millicent Quibb. I cannot remember the entire title of.
- [58:51]
Katie Cobb
That Millicent Qub book, but Etiquette and Science and school. Kate McKinnon.
- [58:56]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Kate McKinnon's Millicent quibble. All right, well, my wish is nowhere near as. As funny, but I can't stop thinking about it. So the other day, it was either yesterday or today. Our. Our good friend Holly at Holly's Lit Magic on Instagram. She posted in her stories. Or she reposted an Instagram post that someone else had done that basically said, I cannot get this out of my mind, Katie. And now my wish is that you will have. All of you will have it in your mind just to shoot. I'm not. There's no solution for this. I just want to. I'm just. I can't stop thinking about it. Has publishing gone the route of fast fashion? Are we in an age where publishing is becoming as quantity over quality kind of fast response to exactly what consumers want to the detriment of actual quality, like feed the beast kind of commoditization of literature? Like, are we to that place where literature is going the way of fast fashion? I don't have an answer for this, but I just want all of you to be in the same existential crisis mode that I'm in. Thinking about it. I just, I can't stop thinking about it because a lot of it, like we talk about books by favorite authors who are so good, but when they start having to come out every single year with a brand new book, then what becomes important is the quantity of the books, not the quality of the book. And I sort of feel like we're seeing that industry wide.
- [60:29]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. Existential dread, for sure.
- [60:31]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Yeah. It's not a fun thing to think about, but like, it's. It's very difficult to think. It's. I can't. There's just so many elements to it, like the market, the demand.
- [60:43]
Katie Cobb
There's so much instant gratification anymore too, where it's like, well, I want to read a book about this. Oh, look, here it is. Right?
- [60:49]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Or I just, I want to read a Riley Sager. So, like, Kim, it's. It's time to go. Yeah, right. It's time to go on vacation. I want a new Riley Sager. I want a new Emily Henry. Like, more, more, more, more. And is it finally gotten to the point where even, you know, literature is being affected by that? Like, are we not capable of the next great American novel anymore?
- [61:10]
Katie Cobb
Okay, this isn't the answer to this question, but at the Tucson Book Festival, I was at a panel with romance authors and one of the audience members asked in the Q and A, how does it feel to work on a book for a year and it releases and then people read it in a single day? Like, does that feel like you did all this work for nothing type thing? And all these authors said, no, I love the idea of my book being page turning. You couldn't put it down. You couldn't get Enough of it. The only thing I super hate that, and it sucks, is when the person then comes to me and says, I'm all done. When's the next one? And that's exactly the issue here, where it's like, yay, good job, Emily Henry. Also next. Thank you. Next.
- [61:56]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Exactly. As readers, what's our responsibility in this cycle?
- [62:02]
Katie Cobb
Mm. If we're like, bring. Bring on the next part of this series or these characters or just your writing style or your life. Just pour more of your life into whatever is happening here. Yeah. Oh, man. Fast fashion. I mean, I could see it. It doesn't feel good on my body, but I can see it.
- [62:21]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
I know. So that's my wish that we could maybe. My wish is for us to have more of a discussion about this as a. As a group of readers and to really just be thinking about that as we're making our choices and saying what we're saying on Instagram and tagging people in all of that. So. All right, that is it for this week. Just as a reminder, here's where you can connect with us. You can find me, I'm Meredith MeredithMonday.
- [62:47]
Katie Cobb
Schwartz on Instagram and you can find me Katie Oesonbookmarks on Instagram. Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Puttivong Evans and you can find her on Instagram at most of Megans re reads full show notes.
- [63:00]
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.
- [63:11]
Katie Cobb
Can also follow the show at currentlyreading podcast on Instagram or email us@currentlyreading podcastmail.com.
- [63:18]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
As we said, if you want more community, if you want more content and you want to keep this show commercial free, join us as a patron on patreon for just $5 a month. It will help us so much to find our perfect audience.
- [63:37]
Katie Cobb
Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and get closer to our goals.
- [63:42]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
All right, until next week, may your.
- [63:43]
Katie Cobb
Coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.
- [63:46]
Meredith Mundy Schwartz
Happy reading, Katie.
- [63:48]
Katie Cobb
Happy reading, Meredith.