Season 7, Episode 39: Brain Farts + Reading Canadian

Summary

Podcast Summary: Currently Reading — Season 7, Episode 39: Brain Farts + Reading Canadian

Hosts: Meredith Monday Schwartz and Kaytee Cobb
Release Date: May 5, 2025
Episode Title: Brain Farts + Reading Canadian

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1. Supporting the Podcast: Patreon Highlights

In this episode, Katie and Roxanna kick off by discussing the importance of Patreon support in maintaining an ad-free listening experience for their audience. Katie emphasizes the simplicity of joining Patreon and the benefits it brings, including access to bonus content and community groups.

Katie Cobb [00:45]: "Your support gets you so much extra content, keeps the show ad free, and helps keep this woman-owned small business running every month."

Roxanna shares a heartfelt insight into how the ad-free format enhances her listening experience, especially when she uses the podcast as a calming background while falling asleep. She contrasts this with her experiences of disruptive ads in other podcasts.

Roxanna Kasamkara [04:16]: "It's so great and really with so many more podcasts that now are on these platforms with these really annoying ads, all the more reason to support on Patreon to keep your favorite podcast ad-free."

2. Bookish Moments: Enhancing Reading Practices

Roxanna delves into her recent adjustments in reading habits inspired by the "Currently Reading" tracker. She highlights her efforts to incorporate more diverse voices and genres into her reading list, noting a significant increase in the percentage of diverse authors she engages with.

Roxanna Kasamkara [07:06]: "My diverse and own voices reading was way, way down, like single digits, right? This year I set a goal to intentionally seek out more diverse voices."

She also reflects on her approach to nonfiction, opting for shorter, more digestible content like magazine articles to avoid feeling overwhelmed by lengthy, dense books. Katie complements this by suggesting essay collections as a suitable alternative.

Katie Cobb [10:39]: "I think that's gonna be a good fit for you too."

3. Current Reads: Diverse Selections and Reviews

Roxanna's Picks:

• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

  Roxanna praises this National Book Award-winning novel for its innovative screenplay-like format and its poignant exploration of identity and societal roles. She commends Yu's ability to blend humor with deep emotional resonance.

  Roxanna Kasamkara [14:20]: "He trusts you to kind of follow him where he goes... his writing is so sharp. It's hilarious one moment and it's gut-wrenching the next."

• Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe

  This urban fantasy set in rural Tennessee blends Southern Gothic elements with subtle magic. Roxanna appreciates the authentic portrayal of Appalachian culture and the book's immersive, atmospheric storytelling.

  Roxanna Kasamkara [23:35]: "It's a really interesting setup... very different than the Appalachian stories I normally see."

• Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Hussain

  A futuristic tale combining elements of buddy cop narratives with ancient magic and dystopian technology. Roxanna describes it as a "buddy cop movie crossed with ancient magic and a futuristic tech dystopia," lauding its originality and engaging plot.

  Roxanna Kasamkara [34:00]: "It's packed with big ideas, but it never feels heavy. It's a great way to portray a community and talk about its traditions and loyalty."

Katie's Picks:

• Coven by Soman Chainani

  Katie introduces this graphic novel as a fresh addition to Chainani's "School for Good and Evil" universe. She highlights its exploration of justice, goodness, and villainy through engaging illustrations and a compelling narrative.

  Katie Cobb [18:18]: "It does say ages 8 and up on this front flap here. I would absolutely hand it to my middle-grade readers."

• Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight

  While intrigued by the title, Katie expresses disappointment that the book focuses less on octopuses and more on a complex love story intertwined with horror elements. She critiques the book for juggling too many themes, ultimately rating it three and a half stars.

  Katie Cobb [32:36]: "I really wanted too badly to give it more than that."

• Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Hussain

  Katie is enthusiastic about this novella, appreciating its brevity and impact. She describes it as a "short, sharp, hilarious, and honestly, totally original" story that serves as a perfect palate cleanser.

  Katie Cobb [35:30]: "This one I need. Definitely."

• Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wispell

  A monstrous romance filled with gore and dark humor, Katie enjoys the book's adventurous spirit despite its grisly content. She rates it 4.5 stars, praising its originality and emotional depth.

  Katie Cobb [43:37]: "I loved it. I loved it."

• Happy Place by Emily Henry

  Reflecting on a two-year-old favorite, Katie recounts the profound emotional impact this romance novel had on her, describing it as a book that "broke my heart open."

  Katie Cobb [65:11]: "This book broke my heart open... while my story did not end in a happily ever after, this book does and it delivers."

4. Fun and Funny Deep Dive: Reading Canadian with Elbows Up

Katie and Roxanna engage in a lively discussion about Canadian reading stereotypes, infusing humor with cultural insights. They debunk common myths, such as all Canadians being lumberjacks or exclusively wearing flannel, and celebrate the rich diversity of Canadian literature.

Roxanna Kasamkara [47:30]: "Everybody needs to discover Canadian authors. We have a very vibrant literary scene here."

They highlight favorite Canadian authors like Margaret Atwood, Louise Penny, L.M. Montgomery, Emma Donoghue, and emerging voices such as Kevin Sylvester. Roxanna advocates for exploring beyond well-known names, encouraging listeners to delve into awards like the Giller Prize to uncover hidden gems.

Roxanna Kasamkara [49:28]: "There's so much amazing can lit beyond kind of the big names."

The hosts also share amusing anecdotes, such as misconceptions about Canadian readers using maple syrup as "book lube," which Katie humorously corrects.

Katie Cobb [59:03]: "Lube makes things slide and maple syrup makes things sticky. That doesn't make any sense."

5. The Fountain: Listener Wishes and Host Desires

In their segment of wishes, Roxanna expresses a desire for a streamlined method to transfer Kindle highlights and notes directly into a Google Doc, eliminating the cumbersome multi-step process currently required.

Roxanna Kasamkara [66:27]: "If anybody has any solutions for that, that is less than four steps, I would love to hear about them."

Katie wishes to reintroduce “Happy Place by Emily Henry” to listeners, emphasizing its enduring emotional impact and recommending it as a heartfelt summer romance read.

Katie Cobb [65:11]: "This book broke my heart open. And really, now, two years later... I hope you will pick it up as your romance of the summer."

6. Closing Remarks

Katie and Roxanna wrap up the episode by reiterating their favorite book recommendations, encouraging listeners to support the podcast through Patreon, and sharing their social media handles for further engagement. They leave listeners with a final dose of camaraderie and well-wishes for enjoyable reading experiences.

Katie Cobb [72:10]: "Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and get closer to our goals."

Roxanna Kasamkara [72:14]: "Happy reading Katie."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Katie Cobb [00:45]: "Your support gets you so much extra content, keeps the show ad free..."
• Roxanna Kasamkara [04:16]: "It's so great and really with so many more podcasts... all the more reason to support on Patreon..."
• Roxanna Kasamkara [07:06]: "My diverse and own voices reading was way, way down..."
• Katie Cobb [10:39]: "I think that's gonna be a good fit for you too."
• Roxanna Kasamkara [14:20]: "He trusts you to kind of follow him where he goes..."
• Katie Cobb [32:36]: "I really wanted too badly to give it more than that."
• Katie Cobb [43:37]: "I loved it. I loved it."
• Roxanna Kasamkara [49:28]: "There's so much amazing can lit beyond kind of the big names."
• Katie Cobb [59:03]: "Lube makes things slide and maple syrup makes things sticky."
• Roxanna Kasamkara [66:27]: "If anybody has any solutions for that, that is less than four steps, I would love to hear about them."
• Katie Cobb [65:11]: "This book broke my heart open..."
• Katie Cobb [72:10]: "Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and get closer to our goals."
• Roxanna Kasamkara [72:14]: "Happy reading Katie."

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Conclusion

Season 7, Episode 39 of Currently Reading offers a comprehensive exploration of diverse literary selections, enriched by the hosts' personal insights and humorous takes on Canadian reading culture. Listeners are treated to thoughtful book reviews, engaging discussions on enhancing their reading habits, and a playful deep dive into cultural stereotypes, all while fostering a supportive community through Patreon.

Transcript

[Katie Cobb]

Foreigners. 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 already know, we do not shy away from having strong opinions. So be ready.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

We're light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our descriptions will always be spoiler free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the fountain.

[Katie Cobb]

I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona, and I mix up books sometimes too.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

And I'm Roxanna Kasamkara, a mom, a marketer, and a mood reader living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And this week I'm giving my reading a shot of B12. This is episode 39 of season seven. And we're so glad you're here, Roxanna.

[Katie Cobb]

I am so glad to be here with you. We did have a slight timing recording snafu, but we made it and we're here and we're excited.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

All good. So excited to be here with you, Katie. I feel like we haven't recorded in a while and I brought some great books that I'm really excited to talk about with you.

[Katie Cobb]

I brought one that I'm like, people are going to wonder why I did this to Roxanna, but there's a reason and I'm going to talk through it, so it's going to be okay. I am going to let everybody know at the top of the show here that we came up with a fun deep dive for this week. We're talking about reading Canadian Elbows Up Style. We're going to discuss some stereotypes and some truths about Canadian reading. And this is going to be light and fun and hopefully delightful. I'm excited.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I'm so excited. And as you can see, I'm in my closet, my recording closet, and I've got all my flannel shirts lined up here just for you, Katie.

[Katie Cobb]

Easy access.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Easy access.

[Katie Cobb]

Just in case there's an emergency flannel situation. And I love that we do have a little bit of mischief to manage this month. This week, Roxanna, we have a Patreon ad to discuss here, and that's because we don't have ads on Currently Reading. We have our Patreon supporters to thank for the fact that Currently Reading is an ad free show. So once a month we do an ad for ourselves and this month we're gonna talk about how easy it is to join Patreon. We got a super sweet email this past week. Meredith and I about how sometimes it feels a little intimidating to actually go to a website and sign up for a new thing. So that's what I decided that we were going to talk about. It is so simple to join Patreon and to support us as a bookish friend and to get all the content that we talk about here every week. So you create an account on the website, add payment info like any other subscription service, and then your account will have access to all the bonus content for the tier that you select. So after signing up, you get a welcome email which includes links to the Facebook group, the Discord Group and and your personal RSS feed. That link can be added to almost any podcast app that you usually use to listen to podcasts. So if you are an Apple podcast user, great. If you like Spotify, excellent. If you're an Android user like me and you're a podcast addict, fan girl, you can put it in there wherever you normally listen. You don't have to open another thing, you just add it to that app within the Patreon app or on the website. There's also really great additional features like collections where you can say, what I really want in my life right now is All Things Murderful. Click on the All Things Murderful tag and it will give you every episode ever of All Things Murderful or the Indie Press List, or Love and Chili Peppers or Trope Thursday or from the Auditor's Desk. All the different content that we have put out over the many years on Patreon. It's so easy. The bonus great news is that whether it's accessing your content, making customizations to your spreadsheet, or even needing a step by step walkthrough on how to cancel, I am available as tech support. I love answering questions. I want to make sure that you get what you paid for. Your support gets you so much extra content, keeps the show ad free and helps keep this woman owned small business running every month helps us pay people like Roxanna to be here to contribute to this amazing show. We would love to have you join us. It'[e-mail] currentlyreading podcast. You can join us for five or ten dollars a month and we would love to have you as a bookish friend.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Well, can I add my own little Patreon benefit, Katie? And this is something I've noticed lately and I want to share it because I don't know if people realize how much of a benefit this is. So you know, you and Meredith say that when you do the reader survey that one of the things that comes up the most is that Currently Reading is ad free. And obviously Patreon is what helps pay that. And I was like, okay, ad free. Like, that's great. It's nice. That kind of a nice to have. Well, now I listen to podcasts, going to sleep because I find that it helps me sleep. And when I listen to an old podcast that's defunct now because they are on a new podcast network, you know, they're talking like this and then welcome to Honda crv, blah, blah, blah. They have some. I like, I love Honda. Don't get me wrong, it had nothing to do with that, but just that it's like a really loud, intrusive commercial. The. The volume is five times higher. It's some random stupid voice. It's not the podcaster's voices. And so it really like jolts me out of sleep. And I just. And then I was like, wait, I have seven seasons plus hundreds of episodes of currently reading with my favorite Meredith and Katie talking and Elizabeth and Mary. Why don't I just listen to this? And it's been you guys, you know, and I know you get this all the time in emails that people say you're my favorite, you know, best friends to chit chat and fall asleep to. And it's so great and really with so many more podcasts that now are on these, you know, platforms with these, you know, really annoying ads, all the more reason to support on Patreon to keep your favorite podcast ad free. And so you can listen whether you're sleeping or whether you're just folding laundry. You just want some quiet time and you don't want to be interrupted. It's. It's a really great benefit that now I 100% am so grateful for.

[Katie Cobb]

It does hit a little different, especially if you're trying to fall asleep to a podcast. And we have tried to not internalize that and take that personally. People find us comforting enough to fall asleep too. We want to be exciting and stimulating, but, you know, if. If this is how you go to sleep at night, we want you to be calm. We want you to enjoy your reading life.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Well, I never listen to a new episode. I never listen to a new episode when I sleep because I want to hear it. But I love to go back to old episodes and listen, and sometimes I'll listen and it falls asleep so quickly that the next day I'm like, no, no, I need to re listen to this whole episode because I've missed it. So it's. It's actually really Great.

[Katie Cobb]

This is why we have so many download numbers.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes. Here's. Now I have the whole podcast library.

[Katie Cobb]

It's all Rossi.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

All of it. It's all me and a million others like me that are doing the exact same thing. Yes.

[Katie Cobb]

Love it. All right, that is our Mischief Managed for the month. That's our only ad that you'll hear on Currently Reading. Which means that now we can get to our regular content. We'll start the way we always do with our bookish moments. Roxanna, what is yours?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay. Well, Katie, I have you to thank for my bookish moment this week because it's all about how the changes I made after tracking my reading through the Currently Reading reading tracker in 2024 are really paying off. So I had this discussion a bit when Marin and I, Mary and I talked about our best books of 2024. And I was looking at my numbers, and I love the tracker for this. And I noticed a few things that were really key. First, my diverse and own voices reading was way, way down, like single digits, right? Because I was just doing a lot of comfort reading last year. But it's really important to me to keep those numbers higher because it opens up different perspectives. So for me, it's, like, really valuable. So this year I said, okay, no, I'm going to set a goal to intentionally seek out more diverse voices. And I really wanted to read them like authors from different countries who set their books in different countries. Right. Or which, you know, I love. Right. Or diverse voices in a different genre, like sci fi. And so I was looking at my reading tracker last week and I'm like, 49.8% divorce for diverse voices. And I was like, yes. And my reading has been so much more, like, interesting and fulfilling because of that. Right. So I made that change. And then I realized, and this is where the data really helps. Like, I had the same number of five star books as I did the year before. So if I had had just my goodread tracker, I would have been like, okay, fine. But I knew my reading year hadn't been as good. And then I realized, like, 75% of those were rereads. So of course they're five stars. I reread them because I like them. But I was. It was comfort reading, right? And gravitating to what I liked, not what grew me. And then I noticed that the ones I liked weren't necessarily five stars. They were books that I found interesting and that were outside my comfort zone. So this year I'm leaning into those kinds of offbeat reads. Not necessarily what I love, but what I find interesting. And that's really helping. And then finally, this is one that didn't work out, but I learned a lot from it. So my nonfiction reading was up last year, but I like reading books like, you do a lot of this, Katie. Books where you're learning something and they're really like, you know, like the Light Eaters. I really wanted to read a book about a subject where I go deep, but. And I'm always excited, and I get those books and I Instagram them, and the covers are beautiful. And then I read 20 pages and I'm like, oh, my God, I can't read about.

[Katie Cobb]

My brain is melting.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah, I can't do it. And I've tried all sorts of different times to read it. I can't. So I was like, hey, I was listening to an old currently reading episode while I was falling asleep, and you guys were talking about taking out magazines from the library. And I was like, oh, yes, I forgot about this. So I went to the library. I got a whole handful of, like, you know, like, just like, science magazines and hbr, like Harvard Business Review and the Economist, and like, just a books magazine that are more, like, have a lot of articles. And then I was like, great. Instead of scrolling when I eat my lunch or when I'm snacking, I'm just gonna bring a magazine easy, one article. And then I take notes and I write them in my commonplace book, like, when I have, like, an interesting thought and idea. So it's just like a low pressure, joyful way to engage with nonfiction where I don't have 448 pages on, like, photosynthesis to read. And I just feel like, much better. So it's funny, like, those three things have really given my reading life a shot in the arm. And it really does feel like I like, it's energized in a different way. So thank you. They're not things I could have articulated, and they're not things I would have known what to do with, but they've been really easy solves, and I just feel revitalized. So thank you.

[Katie Cobb]

I love that. Okay, I'm going to. Normally, this is not how bookish moments work, but I'm going to, after we get off today, send you a picture of some of my favorite essay collections. Oh, yes. Which I think is going to scratch that itch. Exactly. Between what you're talking about for your nonfiction reads that you don't want 448 pages about plants. But you also Want something that's easy to digest in a single sitting and maybe also contributes to your overall book reading for the year or gives you a cohesive thought overall. So I love an essay collection for that. Getting in one a day or one at one at your morning tea. Is it morning tea and then afternoon tea maybe? I'm gonna make some Canadian stereotypes in this episode, guys. But just like being able to take a small chunk at a time and then say, now my brain is sated and I can move on with something else for the rest of the day, I love doing that. So I think that's gonna be a good fit for you too.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I actually love essay collections and had forgotten about them until you just said that.

[Katie Cobb]

And that happens to us too, right?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Katie Cobb]

We are actually going to talk about, for my bookish moment, a brain fart. That's a thing. So I'm going to. I'm going to take over the mic now and I'm going to talk a little bit. If this is a little amusing, a little embarrassing, but I'm glad it hasn't happened until now. This week, I have to issue a retraction as my bookish moment with all the grace toward what has been mentally and emotionally taxing for me in this season of my life. I am not beating myself up. Got a lot of messages this week saying, katie, it's okay. We all make mistakes. Yeah, it's okay, guys. I'm fine. I just want to make sure that I tell you about the right book. On a previous episode, episode 36 of this season, I set up and discussed a book that I called Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri, including the character names from that book. But in fact, the entire plot, setup and discussion were from a different book that I had read relatively close together with that one. So if you were interested in the discussion of a book about a woman who lives in a very secluded home in the mountains and heals a wounded prisoner of war with her magic, you, in fact, need to check out Song of Blood and Stone by Elle Penelope. This book was phenomenal. Not the first I've read from this author who also writes under the name Leslie Penelope. I have loved her work in the past, and I loved it this time as well. I just told you about it incorrectly. So this is a retraction and publicly stating that the book that you want to look for, if that book caught your ears, is Song of Blood and Stone by Elle Penelope.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

That's so funny because I distinctly remember this episode, and I remember being like, oh, that sounds so interesting. India. I have actually read Empire of Sand, and it didn't. I wasn't like, wait a second. What book is Katie talking about? That's not the book I read. So maybe I was going through a perimenopausal moment or something, because I also did not pick up on, wait a second. This is not the book she's talking about.

[Katie Cobb]

Honestly, they were like, they're not the same. They're not the same. But when I chose the book I was talking about and I went and refreshed myself about the character names, I skimmed the blurb, and then I made it fit together with what I remembered in my head, which was not the same book, but it was a woman.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Like a fantasy about a woman who's making her own way. Like, I can see how you got there.

[Katie Cobb]

And she's kind of outcast and different from others. And it. Like, there are things that add up, but it's not the same. The same book. And I did, in fact Love Song of Blood and Stone. I just wish I had told y'all about it correctly. It's fine. Everything's fine. That's the story. I'm sticking to it. Let's get into our current reads. Roxanna, what do you have for us this week?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, well, I'm kicking things off, Katie, by talking about Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. So, as I said, I'm really trying to read more interesting books, different books this year. And this book is really interesting in that it plays with form and structure in a really different way. So it's written almost entirely like a screenplay. It has stage directions, scene cuts, dialogue, kind of the whole Hollywood shebang. But underneath that, it's a very clever setup. It's telling a story that will absolutely punch you in the feelings. So this. Actually, you might have heard about this book because it won the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. So it's been on my list for a long time. And I hadn't. I just had kind of been meaning to pick it up. And I think I just had to be in the right kind of frame of mind to be like, okay, this is going to take a little bit to get into. So we follow Willis Wu. He's the main character, and he spent his life playing generic Asian man in a cheesy cop show called Black and White. His biggest dream is to someday maybe possibly be promoted to Kung Fu Guy because that's the highest role he thinks he can reach in, like, in this TV show, but also in life. Because, of course, this whole book is sort of a metaphor for life. So already, you know, it's a bit heartbreaking. As the story unfolds, we see Willis not just stuck in this TV world, but trapped in a larger societal script that boxes him in. We also meet his parents, who have their own emotional and tragic histories. And we see Willis slowly, painfully wake up to the idea that maybe he doesn't have to keep playing the part he's given. So it's really fascinating because, yeah, as I said, it's told as a screenplay. It doesn't hit you over the head. And Charles Yu really trusts you to kind of follow him where he goes. So if I'm honest, the format did take me a second to get into because I was like, like, am I reading this right? What's the novel part? And is this really a cop show? Like, you have to kind of put a little bit of it aside. Like, if you're reading it really literally, you'll be like, okay, are we in this black and white cop show now? Are we not in this cop show? Is he at home? Is he. Like, if you think too hard about it or you try to untangle it, it's going to fall apart. So you just kind of read it and go with it. And once you kind of get into the rhythm of it, you know, you can kind of. You go with the flow. And his writing is so sharp. It's hilarious one moment and it's gut wrenching the next. Not in like an emotionally manipulative way, but just because he's giving you little details that are really, really, you know, that put you in the moment. And I can totally see how this book won that National Book Award. It's really. It plays with form in an interesting way. It hits you in the heart and it makes you laugh and cry and scream a little. It's really great. So that is Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu.

[Katie Cobb]

Sounds like a lot of complex feelings.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

It is, but it's first, I'll say it's relatively short, which is one reason I picked it up. So if I read an interesting book, it has to be short because I, again, I can't hang on for 440 pages of a screenplay. Right. And then the other is it's not super hard to get into. Like, his language is not hard. It's not like, as I said, it's like going wading through lots and lots of exposition or like, he's not hitting over the head or explaining things. So you can get through it fairly quickly once you get into the swing of things. And It's a really. Honestly, like, a really fascinating pov. Like, just a perspective that I wouldn't have had before. So I don't know. It was a really interesting read. It's in. It will stick with me for a long time.

[Katie Cobb]

I think it was recently adapted, too. Is that.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes, was. You're right. It's a Netflix series. I think that's probably why I remembered it, because I was like, oh, yeah. I went back in my Goodreads, like, TBR. And I was like, oh, yes, 2017. Here it is. I put it on my TBR. Something ridiculous.

[Katie Cobb]

Like this time.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Not 20, 2017, because it came out 2020, but, you know, like one of those you put on. You're like, yeah, I should get to that. And then it just completely went out of my head. Yes, yes, exactly. But then I think I saw that Netflix ad and I was like, oh, yeah, I wanted to read this. It looked interesting, so I was glad I picked it up.

[Katie Cobb]

Are you the type of reader who will go on to watch the adaptation?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

No, sadly, no. I. And I don't why you'd think I would, but I almost never, like, if I see an adaptation coming out, I either read the book and then almost always forget about the adaptation or I watch the adaptation and I. And I don't read the book.

[Katie Cobb]

Disregard the book. One or the other.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah. I don't know why I like it, except when I'm falling popcorn in the pages, which I have done. Then I've read it, and then I've watched the movie along with you guys, because then I feel like I'm. I'm doing the experience part of the chat.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah, we're all in the chat together. I love that.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah, exactly.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay. My first book this week, I brought with me so I could show it to you. It's Coven by Soman Chainani. To recognize this need.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

No, I don't. But it looks so good.

[Katie Cobb]

Oh, it's dark. It's a graphic novel. Okay, so Soman Chainani is the author of School for Good and Evil, which also has a Netflix adaptation.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes. In which the kids love, right?

[Katie Cobb]

The kids do love the books and the movies. He is a billion copies bestselling author. I have read only the first of School for Good and Evil, but I went to an author panel that he was on when I was at the Tucson Festival of Books, and he did talk about because Coven was just about to release at that time, and they had it for sale already at the book festival, so I bought it while I was there. But this is his first graphic novel. So let me tell you about it. Coven, as you may have guessed, is about witches. Three witches, specifically. Their names are Hester, Anadil and Dot, and they are dark witches. And they solve mysteries. They are well known throughout the land as always getting their guy. They're excellent at solving mysteries, at seeking justice. They are called out to the Red Isle, which is actually two lands, the Land of Light, the Light Lands, and the Dark Lands that are connected with a river running in between them. And they share a resource called Raka. The Lightlands have been mining Raka because it gives energy to their society. They can make cool little, like, machines and do some kind of little magicky things. With raka, it's like an energy source that's really powerful, but it's also just natural energy. The Darklands want to keep it in the Earth where it belongs, so that it can power the Earth and it can make nature be in balance with itself. As we might expect, things do not go as planned. When the witches show up and they're supposed to help mediate this dispute between the Queen of the Dark Lands and the King of the Light Lands, everything goes awry. There's copies of each person in Light and Dark, and we get to start questioning who's really good here, who's really evil. As we all know from growing up in this world that we live in, light is good and darkness is bad. Right? And it's because darkness is scary or whatever, but so much hainani. His entire thing as an author has always been to kind of flip the idea of villainy on its head. What is evil? What is darkness? Who should we really be rooting for in all these stories? That's what the School for Good and Evil is about. That's what Coven is about. He does make a little hat tip to his original series, the School for Good and Evil within. This graphic? No, but it can easily be read by itself. It has fantastic illustrations. It is really propulsive all the way through. And for a ya, I guess, novel, it really gets to the heart of some of those questions about, like, what is justice, what is goodness, what is villainy? And who should we be rooting for in each of these situations? So please pick up Coven by Soman Chainani if you are interested in a beautifully done graphic novel. It does say ages 8 and up on this front flap here. I would absolutely hand it to my middle grade readers. It has some great LGBTQ representation. Author of Color and Characters of Color within as well. I loved it. I cannot wait for More of this content from this well beloved author. This is Coven by Soman Chainani.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I love that you brought that. I was, as you were talking, obviously, I just added it to my TBR and I was looking it up.

[Katie Cobb]

Read it in 8 years.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

This one I might get to a little bit sooner. Let's see. But no, it just looks right up my alley. But also, like, it's funny because you look at his school for good and evil, and it's like 100,000 ratings and 28,000 ratings and 56,000 ratings. Right, great. And you look at this one and it's 130 ratings and it just came out in April. Yeah.

[Katie Cobb]

And I bought it. I got to buy it, like, March 16, which was so fun to get to be ahead of the curve on that.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

But you think still more like, it would be a buzzed about release and I hadn't heard anything about it. So I'm so glad that you brought it to the show because, yeah, I honestly, you'd think this is one that we would have heard about.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes. Yes. I hope more people pick it up. It's delicious.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

This is what you're amazing for. Thank you, Katie. It's on my list. Okay. I am going to go to my next one. And this is not a new release. In fact, it's a way back. Playback. It's called the Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe. Have you heard of this book?

[Katie Cobb]

No. Although I feel like I've heard of Alex Bledsoe maybe.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, so this is a series that he's. I also thought I had heard of him. I thought it was a woman. No, it's. It's a guy. It's. I hadn't heard of him, but I don't know, the name sounded familiar. So this book is a vibe. It's technically classified as urban fantasy, but, like, don't let that fool you. It's actually set in the rural south, deep in the mountains of Tennessee, and it reads way more like Southern Gothic with, like, a hush of magic running through it. It's very different. So I picked this backlist gem up because I wanted to read more about Appalachia, but I wanted something different from the memoirs and kind of the stories I'd been seeing. All of them had Hardscrabble in the blurb. And I do not read Hardscrabble. Just, like, I just find that hard. Like the, like the kind of, you know, write in kind of the depths of poverty and, like, you know, I just find that hard. But, like, I'm not trying to say, I don't want to read these stories. I want to read these stories. I just wanted to read maybe a different perspective. So I saw that this was named as A Kirkus Review's Best of 2011 Science Fiction and fantasy title. And I was like, well, I've not heard of this, so let me pick it up. So here's the setup. We are following Bronwyn Hyatt, and she's a war hero who returns home from her to her tiny, insular Appalachian town after serving in the Iraqi war and being gravely injured in combat. Bronwyn is fierce and stubborn, but she's wrestling with a lot. She's got war trauma, the weight of her family's mystical legacy, and the complicated pressure of being seen as a hero when she barely feels like herself. She's also trying to outrun her volatile ex boyfriend, adding another layer of danger and emotional tension to her homecoming. The tufa, which is what Bronwyn's people are known as, aren't just any mountain folks. They have ancient otherworldly roots tied to music and a quiet kind of magic. As Bronwyn tries to heal both body and soul, she's pulled deeper into the tufas traditions while a reporter from outside the community is trying to infiltrate and learn its secrets. Meanwhile, a ghostly haint, which is what they call a ghost, lingers, hinting that there's tragedy on the horizon. So all these things kind of simmer, simmer, simmer, and you feel a building. And then this tension comes to this rolling boil when all these dangerous characters collide in a fiery climax that had me compulsively flipping pages. It's really well paced. What I really appreciated is that Alex Bledsoe, the author, is from Tennessee himself and he really portrays rural Tennessee with like an accuracy and honesty. He doesn't romanticize it, but he also shows kind of the fierce loyalty, the traditions, and the dark undercurrents with a clear eye. And I read some good read reviews just to because I'm not from Tennessee. So I wanted to see if people from the rural south and from Tennessee felt that way. And there were a lot, a lot of reviews that said that there's no big flashy magic battles here. It's more of a slow burn, deeply atmospheric story that's very different than the Appalachian stories I normally see. But it's perfect when you want something immersive, transportative, page turning without needing a PhD to follow the world building. And that is the Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay, first of all, I love this title. And picking it up and looking at the COVID while you were talking, of course, I'm like, oh, of course it has a violin on the COVID Because what would an episode with Katie and Roxanna be without something that has a touch of music to it? I don't know. That's a theme for us now, I think.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Right? Yeah, yeah. It's true. Now that you say it, I think you're right.

[Katie Cobb]

I'm glad it delivered again, even though I did not pick that up until just this setup. But I'm like, oh, no, there's gotta be something that's like, a little fantasy, a little music. That's our Venn diagram overlap right now. Yeah, I love that. Very cool. I also like the idea of getting away from the word hardscrabble. Like, can we find some. Some joy and some delight in even a dark fantasy? Yeah, let's do it.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Right. Like, there's other stories you can tell and there's fantasies you can tell in this world. And, like, because when you pick it up, the book does not read like fantasy. So for people who are like, oh, I don't do that. It does not read like that at all. These are not mystical beings who turned water into gold or anything like that. It's nothing. Like, it's actually, when you read it, it's seems very. You have to kind of remind yourself that this is realistic, that this is fantasy, because it seems very realistic. Like, this is a private who's come back from war. People want to celebrate her. Like, it's very based in the real world. And then, like I said, there's like, just a hush of this magic woven through it. And it's done. Almost feels like it could be real because it's like, you know, songs that have been passed down and stories that have been passed down in this community that make this right. And so it's just really, really well done. And I just was like, yeah, this is the beginning of a series. I was like, I'm for sure gonna read more about this because it just seems like such a great way to portray a community and talk about its traditions and its loyalty and its, like, closeness and, you know, how they keep them alive. Like, other aspects that maybe we don't read as much about of.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, Yes. I love that.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, well, what's your book?

[Katie Cobb]

Okay. My second one is another new release. I have new releases this week. I'm going to talk about the Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight, which I don't know how many people sent me this book because they were like Katie Octopus. But the first one, the award for first bringing it to my attention because of the octopus in the title, even though she had not yet read it when she sent it to me, goes to Elizabeth Barnhill, our beloved adult book buyer at Fabled. She sent me a message basically saying she wanted to scoop any future recommendation sources. She was like, no idea what this is about, but I need you to know about it right now. Thank you so much. Bye. Like mic drop, walk away. She did pull it off. She told me about it before anyone else. Sadly, the fact that the word octopus is largely printed on the COVID belies the content of this book. Instead, it's primarily about a girl named Pen or Penelope. Pen at the start, is newly arriving at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. When we meet her, she has left her divorced parents back in Canada where she is sure they are keeping secrets from her. There's something going on there and she can't figure out what it is, but she's pretty sure it revolves around Lord Lennox, an old friend of her father's from college and now a prolific and well known writer in Scotland. Pen reaches out to Lord Lennox to test the waters and see if she can get the story straight from the horse's mouth on the other side of the pond, so to speak. As such, she is invited to the sprawling estate of the Lennoxes and gets to know Lord Len and his family, including a number of young and attractive men, his sons. She starts to unravel the secret her parents have been keeping from her for all these years. While she's at the estate, Lord Lennox's wife Alice is the not so hidden gem of this book. She embodies motherhood and friendship and the leaving that our children do as they grow and the mothering they still need when they grow up. She is wise and kind and warm hearted and human and flawed. She's not like a paragon of motherh. She is a flawed, full drawn character. I love her. I wanted so much more of Alice. I wanted the whole book to be about Alice. Pen herself is a character that has growing up to do and she does do so on the page, but she doesn't have main character energy for this reader. I did want to love this book because the word octopus is in the title, but I mean, there's a very brief allusion to a story about octopuses and the way that when an octopus becomes a mother, she gives of herself until she dies. Right. Is that our paragon of motherhood? Probably not. But instead this book, I felt like it was trying to be too many things at once, so it didn't really pull off any of them effectively. It was flitting around between love story and coming of age and then maybe some family drama thrown in for spice. And then we're learning about motherhood and heartbreak. And none of the characters were like enough to root for all the way through, except Alice. More Alice, please. I really wanted the book to be about Alice, but everyone else made me want to scoop out their eyeballs with a dull spoon, so that was sad for them. Or maybe use my octopus tentacles to pluck them out instead. This book had so much promise for me. I love Scotland. I love Edinburgh. I love the connection to Penn's Canadian family back home. I do love a good family secret that we have to uncover. There's a lot of elements in this book that should have worked for me, but throwing all of them in together was just not the recipe for success. So I only gave it three and a half stars. I wanted so badly to give it more than that. This is the Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So I do love all those things, too. When you. When you were talking, I was like, oh, yeah, look at that. Family secret, Scotland. Some hot suns I'm in. But you're right, when it's too many things, it can get to be too much. So I get that. And I do propose now, Katie in storygraph, you know how they're like X percent thrilling x percent this. They should have an X percent octopus. So, like, how much octopus is there in this book? If it's called the Life Cycle of the Common Octopus? Like, it's not like. Yeah, it's not like. Like the shadow of the octopus or something where that's a dummy, but, you know, like something where it's like the octopus, but it's more like abstract. But this is literally called the Life Cycle of the Common Octopus. So you would think. And so, you know, if it's not 77% octopus and it's 2% octopus, you'd be like, okay, that's good, but not for me. And you could move away.

[Katie Cobb]

And then we have a book like Remarkably Bright Creatures which is like 93% octopus and doesn't even have the word octopus in the title.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

See, this is why we need. Maybe that's my fountain wish is have a percent octopus on the back of your book.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, that would be great. Book fairy, make it happen for me, please. Just like a. How many tentacles would you give this book on a scale of one to five tentacles.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I love that. Like, the chili could be read in a very different way. Yes, but maybe on love and chili peppers it could mean something different. In here it just means how much octopus.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, exactly. Exactly. What's your third book, Roxanna?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, my third book, Katie, is the Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Hussain. So this is also a way back. Playback. It's something completely delightful and bananas in the absolute best way. So picture this, Katie. It's the far future, like a thousand years in the future. The world is basically cooked thanks to climate change. There's one shining city left, and it's Kathmandu. But it's run by an all seeing, all controlling AI called Karma, who hands out happiness points to keep everybody polite and docile. In this world awakes an ancient God who has been asleep for millennia. His name is Melek Amr, and he is the Lord of Tuesday. He is frankly very unimpressed with this boring, overly sanitized world. He wants to stir up a little old school chaos, you know, for fun. So he teams up with an aging, cranky former Gurkha soldier who's just as fed up with the system. And together they decide it's time for a little glorious rebellion. It's like a buddy cop movie crossed with ancient magic and a futuristic tech dystopia. The capers that they go on are at times hilarious, at times thought provoking. I would compare this book to if Terry Pratchett and Black Mirror had a brilliant, slightly chaotic baby you that I was like, what could I compare this to? What? And that's what it is. Like, I know it's weird, but it's really. That's what it feels like.

[Katie Cobb]

I feel like those two things would not have a slightly chaotic.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah, maybe it's full. It's. It's. I mean, it is full chaos. But I. The reason I said slightly chaotic is because the story doesn't read chaotic. You're not like, wtf is going on here? Where is this guy going? Like, he. He organizes it into a good narrative in a clear narrative that you can follow, and you get that, you know, mischievous, witty humor of Terry Pratchett layered on top of some really smart, chilling commentary about surveillance freedom and what it means to be truly happy. So when I talked about a B12 shot, Katie, this is what I was talking about. This is a novella that's short, sharp, hilarious, and honestly, totally original. It's packed with big ideas, but it never feels heavy. And can you imagine? He does that whole plot in 150 pages. So if you want something that will absolutely snap you out of a reading slump, the Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday. Is it okay?

[Katie Cobb]

This one I need. Definitely.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

It's so great.

[Katie Cobb]

I'm excited about this.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah, it's. And honestly, it's not. I like strange books. I don't like weird books. Like, I don't like when they're weird and there's no purpose and they're not going anywhere.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

And also for the record, I actually don't love Terry Pratchett because I find it kind of too clever by half. Like, it's like, hahaha, look at me and how funny this is. I get that. I get annoyed. But this one wasn't too much of that. And it was a really well organized narrative and it was just like funny and like a raucous ride. Like I had to know what was going to happen next because it really is like this ancient God and this Gurkha soldier go on this like, rampage. They try to like foment like he wants to, you know, get rebellion up. And they go into this bar and these people are like, why, why would we. No, no, we get free beer here. No, we're, we're good. Thank you. This like, God is like, come on, don't you want to create some chaos? And they're like, no, no, it's fine, we're good. Leave so mad. Like it just, it's fun and it's crazy and it's so original. And I just thought, you know, Catman do in like the future state. It's just like something I've never read before. And it was really like when I wasn't sure what to read, you know, I didn't know I was going to read this. So it was a great kind of like put that in as a palette cleanser. Before I was like, okay, now I need a historical fiction or whatever.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, I love that. It feels like a perfect book for that. Like a little mouthful.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah, that's what I use these little novellas for, is I'll slip them in when I don't know what I want to read next. And I don't want to because I don't read as fast as you, Katie. So I'm going to be stuck in a book for a week, a couple weeks. So when I'm like, I just don't know what to choose and I don't know what my mood is or blah, blah, blah, then I'll be like, okay, let me put in this Weird little novella. I just want to be in this world for a day or two, and it's usually, like, a backlist one. It's like. So this one was 2019. And they're so fun.

[Katie Cobb]

I love that. So good. Love it. Okay, my third one is too weird by half. That's fine. Sometimes that's what we need, right?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes.

[Katie Cobb]

I'm going to talk about someone you can build a nest in by John Wisfell. Sounds a little weird, doesn't it?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Someone you can build a nest in in.

[Katie Cobb]

Yep, that's correct. It's gonna make sense here in a minute. This book first came onto my radar last year because Schuler Books, one of our ipl, our indie press list anchor stores that we partner with every single year, added it to their Best of the Rest list in June of 2024. But I didn't pick it up until about six months later, and then I didn't read it until early March of this year. It takes time sometimes for the books to find us at the right time. Here's the setup. Shisen is our main character, which. It sounds like I just developed a lisp right there. Her name. Her name is Shiseishin.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay. I need you to spell that for me. I need to know.

[Katie Cobb]

It's, like, the word she. The word she. The word she. And an N. So, like, Shi Shi Shen.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, already.

[Katie Cobb]

Shisheshin.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

The title. The character I've already like. I can't even wrap my head. Okay. Shiseishen.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay, well, we're gonna keep going. She's a monster, A shapeshifter worm who mostly looks like a blob of goo at the bottom of a ruined manor, just living in, like, the cellar. Right? But when her life is threatened, she constructs a body for herself out of past meals, so she becomes even more terrifying. She is constructed of old bits of metal, like bear traps and severed human limbs and a spinal cord from a previous person. Like she. It's. It's gross. It's gross, right? She is intent on devouring anything in her path when the hunters who want to kill the beast, because that's what hunters do, show up and they chase her off a cliff. She is badly wounded, but she's found by Homily, a sweet and kind human who, due to Shishan's injuries, mistakes her for a human as well. So she's like, oh, this poor injured being. This poor human. I must help nurse it back to health. Not a human made up of rogue body parts from other things, but a shapeshifter so it works out. As Hamley cares for Shishation, nursing her back to health, Shishan starts to care for Homily as well. She realizes that she's considering making a nest of her. No, wait, in her. This type of monster lays their eggs in a living host so that when they hatch, they can devour the. In this case, human being from the inside out as their first meal.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Katie, I can't hear anymore.

[Katie Cobb]

I'm so gross. So gross. But there's like a fungus that like, that, like, eats ants.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, this. I'll just tell you right now, everyone, this is not an episode to listen to a bedtime. Can you just put that. Stamp it. Like, this is not a bedtime episode.

[Katie Cobb]

I'm gonna have to have Roxanna remove her earphones and then put them back on when I'm done. Okay, but here's the thing. She realizes that what she's feeling is love. And that humans, and specifically Homily, are not interested in this kind of love. Where they are made a nest of like, they're like. That's not hot, actually. Right? So Shishaishin will do whatever it takes to keep her true identity a secret from her beloved and definitely not lay her eggs and make a nest out of her.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Thank God.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay, this is probably complex enough. You might think this is complex enough. But before we know it, we find out Homily is also hunting monsters. Specifically, a shape shifting monster like Shoshein truly is, one that cursed her family many generations ago. Even though it's not her, both of them have to uncover the truth before it's too late for them or their affection for each other to survive. So this is the crux of this book.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So can I just, first of all, just give you a standing ovation for putting together that setup? Like, how? I would just be like, I'm not bringing this.

[Katie Cobb]

Ridiculous. This is ridiculous, right? Like, from the title to every single word I said after that, this book is dark and gory and hilarious. I found myself eyes wide with shock and then cackling with glee. This is, I guess, monster romance, but not mostly. It's fun and adventurous and a love story with plenty of bloody violence thrown in for spice. But why, Katie? Why would you bring this to an episode with our sweet Roxanna? Why would you do this to her friends? It's called balance. I happen to know for a fact that Roxanna will also allow Meredith to spoil any number of gruesome books for her so that she never has to read them. Yes, and so Meredith is in Hawaii right now. Someone has to take on that role in the interest of serving up something kind of yucky and delicious for our murder lovers and telling Roxanna about something she would definitely have never let cross her radar. Otherwise, we are in a two birds, one stone situation here. I really loved this clever story. I gobbled it right up like a monster, if you will. And then I used its bones and weird parts to build you this weird little gift of a setup. And I hope you will accept it as the token of love that it is meant to be. This is someone you can build a nest in by John Wispell.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, so how many stars did you give this?

[Katie Cobb]

I think, like, 4.5.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, so you really.

[Katie Cobb]

I loved it. I loved it. Yes.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

And I'm not against a weird book as long as it's organized and I can follow it. So this one you could, like, once you got into it and you understood. Understood kind of the basics of it.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah, I mean, that's it. Like, this weird monster thing that can build her body out of other body parts. A human who's very kind and lovely, and then monster hunters. I mean, that's what you need to know for this book. It's gross. And is it gross?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Is it, like, body horror and stuff in it? Or is it just what you told me?

[Katie Cobb]

He talks about, like, which specific body parts? And, like, what's that weird feeling I have right there? Oh, it's that tooth that shouldn't be in my spleen area. Like, I mean, it's pretty gross.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay. Because I maybe would have given it a try just because, like, it's weird, but that. Yeah, the gore, like, the grossness I don't think I can handle.

[Katie Cobb]

And she can't figure out when she starts to, like, like, have a heart, because that doesn't make sense because she's a worm. She doesn't have a heart like that, but she, like, accidentally pulled one in from somebody else.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Oh.

[Katie Cobb]

And then she's like, why does it feel like that inside my body? I shouldn't have, like, feelings of love and affection because of this heart. So it's interesting. It's a weird book. All right, let's get into our fun and funny deep dive. We're going to lighten things back up a little bit. We're going to talk about reading Canadian with our elbows up, because that's the phrase now. I am so excited to just have fun with this. So, Roxanna, do you want to start us out or do you want me to, like, just Take us totally off the handle right away.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So do people know what elbows up means? Like, do you?

[Katie Cobb]

No. Let's talk about elbows up first. Yeah.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay. Because I. And, you know, I'm a true Canadian, but I don't. I don't honestly follow hockey so much, so I didn't actually know what it meant. I had to ask my husband. And so you put your elbows up before a fight in hockey, right? Like, you put them up, and you're like, you're getting ready, and you're gonna do some injuries. So that's been, like, elbows up is like, a defensive move for, you know, with the tariffs coming and, like, hey, Canada, elbows up. So we are obviously taking it in a bookish, not politicized direction. Let me just be clear here.

[Katie Cobb]

Right?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

We're just keeping it fun. But that's where elbows up. Where the phrase comes from.

[Katie Cobb]

Well, and the joke is, I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out, right?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes.

[Katie Cobb]

And so that's why you need your elbows up.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes. Yes. And the last, I think game, I'm gonna butcher this, and people are gonna yell into their mic, but into their radios. But when I was the last American game, there were three fights in seven seconds. Because it was. Oh, you know what it was for? It was for the. The last big championship. It was like the four nations. And when Canada and the US Went at it, they literally had three fights in seven seconds. It was brutal. So, yes, it's a real thing, people. It's. The fighting is.

[Katie Cobb]

But also, Canadians are so nice. Like, that's the only time they're fighting each other. Right. That's why they had to be told, elbows up. Because otherwise they'd be like, well, don't. You know, you can just come on over here and take some of our money. I don't know.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I think that's more of a Minnesota accent. But. But I'll let you out.

[Katie Cobb]

That's the only accent I can do. Okay, but real question. Are all Canadians lumberjacks?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Well, as I showed you, Katie, I have a bunch of flannel. I have never been out personally to collect lumber. I'm sure all my neighbors do. Yes.

[Katie Cobb]

Can you split a log? Is that a requisite for Canadian citizenship?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I can split an avocado. Really? Really Well, I don't think I can do a log.

[Katie Cobb]

No, that's perfect.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So that is the perfect answer. That's the best I can do. And even my flannel collection, I think that's really very particular just to me. People don't actually wear Flannel here, I just do because I find it soft. I wear it for pajamas, but nobody else really wears flannel here. So just FYI, don't pack your shirts when you come here thinking people do that.

[Katie Cobb]

You're going to just blend right in.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay. Okay. I like it. I will say to get the more the legitimate part of this deep dive going is that my main Canadian author crushes are Margaret Atwood, Louise Penny. We can't not say, obviously, we all love Louise Penny and L.M. montgomery, which is three women authors. I could not think of a single male Canadian author. But I do like those three women. They're big author crushes. I will read nearly anything from Margaret Atwood, Ellen Montgomery, you know, shaped my reading as a child. It made me the person I am today. And of course, Louise Penny, we just live in the world of Three Pines always, which is why we journey there every other month with you and Meredith. But tell us about some of your favorite Canadian authors, especially if they give us, like a real feel for Canada itself.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, so I'll just get on a soapbox for a bit here and just say everybody needs to discover Canadian authors. We have a very vibrant literary scene here. We have a lot of amazing Canadian lit. And if you are tired of seeing the same kind of 20 books on Instagram, just Google Canada Reads, Google the Giller Prize. You will find some amazing books and ones you, you know, haven't heard of, authors you haven't heard of that are really, really great. So I just wanted to say that first because I really do want to stand up for Canadian reading. There's just so much, so much amazing can lit beyond kind of the big names. It's like knowing Celine Dion but not knowing anybody else. Right? Which, and I think I was telling you, Katie, before the show, I think it's amazing because when American readers discover Canadian authors, they make a book really big. Like Ashley Audrain, like, she made the push and, you know, so they can make a book really big, you know, because we have one tenth of the population here, so it doesn't get as big as it doesn't see.

[Katie Cobb]

So we love the second largest land area in the world, but the second largest land area. So many facts about Canada this week.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I can't wait to hear more moose.

[Katie Cobb]

Than any other nation.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I have never seen a moose, but I will believe you.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, well, there's more there than anywhere else.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So now I'll have to go out and look, go moose hunting in my flannel and see if I can find.

[Katie Cobb]

No, not hunting. They could kill you. They're like real life Pokemon.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Oh, my God.

[Katie Cobb]

They could take out your car. They're giant.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah, they could. They can. But yeah. I will bring up a few that I think are really good. Some authors that I think people should try. So. Okay, so the first one I'll talk about is Emma Donoghue, who wrote Room many years ago that I think a lot of you have heard of. You know, there was a movie. So. Emma Donoghue is actually a prolific author. She's written a ton of books. Her latest one, I think is called the Paris Express. It just came out about a big train crash. She has a bunch of really interesting books. They're always very different from one from another. She also has a great middle grade series called the Lotteries. And it's. There's a number of books in it. It reminds me a bit of the Penderwicks. Okay. Like, in terms of like, you know, except it's very the. It's much more kind of modern day. So it's about a huge, chaotic, loving family in Toronto. And there are, you know, seven children, four parents who are all lesbian and gay couples. They live in a Victorian gothic mansion and they homeschool their children. And the series explores themes of family diversity and acceptance within a liberal, multicultural setting. So, you know, there's a ton there. If you just want something fun to read, that's a really, really great one. And they're not too high stakes. Like, they talk about real things. I think the first one I read talked about, like, getting evicted from their house because of a rent, but they kind of deal with it together. And, you know, it's just a really heartwarming series.

[Katie Cobb]

Is this the one that you were talking about that you were like, there's one I can't wait to tell you about that will be perfect for your kids.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

No, this is actually another one. And then I was remembering Emma Donoghue and I was like, oh, yeah, I should tell her about that one too.

[Katie Cobb]

Family that loves, like their gameless lesbian moms, like, right.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So great.

[Katie Cobb]

How does this exist?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So for sure, go and read the lotteries. And then I will also talk about another middle grade author that I love. So Kevin Sylvester is like a beloved CBC personality here, just like Louise Penny was before she started. So Canadian Public Broadcasting Corporation. He actually has written a bunch of middle grade books. My favorite by him is called the Fabulous Zed Watts Watson, and it's written by him and his child, Basil Sylvester. Basil is non Binary. And they and their dad have an amazing relationship. So they wrote this book together and it's all about Zed, who is this non binary kid who has endless energy and imagination and they embark on a cross country treasure hunt for a lost LGBTQ gothic novel. So I love this one because, you know, again, a lot of the stories you get about non binary deal with a lot of the harder stuff, which is a really important perspective to bring. But sometimes you just want to hear the joy and you also don't want that to be the only thing about the book. Like you, you know, like, why can't LGBTQ kids have just a great adventure and a road trip, just like, you know, a kid who is not LGBTQ kid. So I really loved this. It's like they wrote this together and they just bring pure joy, heart and quirkiness. And it's a really hilarious and kind of life affirming adventure. So that's the fabulous Zed Watson by Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester.

[Katie Cobb]

Love.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So yeah. So that one I loved. I will talk about a harder one now because I think it's important. So I don't know. Do you know Miriam Toews?

[Katie Cobb]

I've heard of Miriam Toews. I have had women talking on my kindle for probably eight to 10 years, but I have not read it.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Okay, so I was going to talk about women talking. Now I have not read this one and you'll understand why, but I wanted to bring it because of a couple things. So this is a story inspired by true events, right? And unfolds in a Mennonite community in Bolivia where this women, these women who have part of this Mennonite community have survived sort of these horrific abuses, right? Where they have been told that these demons have come and sexually abused them at night because of their misdeeds. When it turns out it's the men in their community that have been drugging them, right? And abusing them. And they gather here in this barn secretly to decide their futures. Should they stay, should they fight, or should they flee? And Miriam Toews herself grew up in a Mennonite town in Manitoba. Though so very different. It's not that she has this background, but she has a really sharp, spare writing style that brings kind of wit and compassion to even the darkest subjects. So this one has been on my list for a long time. The book inspired Sarah Pauley's Oscar winning film adaptation. So again, you could read the book and see the movie. The book I. I've heard is much more approaches it from like a philosophical drier kind of perspective.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

And then I think the movie gets into it. And the reason I wanted to bring up the movie is because Sarah Pauley, who is an award winning film director, is also. So she was the child actor in Road to Avonlea. It was a Canadian, like a CBC show here for many years. So she's also a writer and she's written a book which is a memoir called Run toward the Danger. And that is an excellent book. Yeah, Run toward Danger. Danger. So if you liked Viola Davis's book, Finding Me, like, this is a really great one. It's really. Because, you know, she's writing about the time she start. It's a series of essays and, you know, she's been through a lot. Like, it's. She talks about her time at Road to Avonlea where she basically had no parents and she had scoliosis and they took her to the hospital to get a brace and she never wore it. And there she had no parents to tell her to wear it. So anyway, there's some really interesting stories here about trauma, resilience, facing fears head on, which is where the title comes from. And it was really, really excellent. So if you're looking for a memoir, that's a really great one. So those are just a few I wanted to share.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay. I like it. I definitely have used the Canada Reads CBC site to go through and find some really great picks from past years. They are oftentimes pretty heavy. Although one of my favorite books, Washington Black by A.C. edukon, was championed by an author a few years back for Canada Reads. And honestly, I just love the entire concept of Canada Reads. I love that it's, you know, famous personalities championing other people's books and they get to like debate and argue and that there's a winner. Like, I just think that's so cool. I would like it to be as popular as WrestleMania, honestly, like, just put them up against each other and let them duke it out. I think it's so great.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So I will say, yes, it does bring heavier books. And I think people have a lot of that perception that, okay, like, get your tissue box and it's like your.

[Katie Cobb]

Big girl panties on.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes. I think they're trying to lighten it up a little bit. They brought a romance this year, so they do have some great romance. Like Canadians. We also have a lot of great romances. So I don't know if you've read Uzma Jalaluddin. I think you probably have. Katie Aisha, at last.

[Katie Cobb]

I think I read Four Weddings and.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

A Funeral Three holidays and a wedding.

[Katie Cobb]

Three holidays and a wedding. Yes. I was like, it's something and something.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes, yes, exactly. So she's written a few. She's written. I liked Much Ado about Nada. I'd say one of her. She's written quite a few. So one of her more recent ones, I find them. You know, she's really grown as a writer, so I would try her as well. And then. Yeah, the one that was up on Canada Reads is a. Oh, Carly Fortune is another one who writes. She always bases them in kind of small Canadian towns. Not always, but most of the time. And so they're really fun too.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes. The other one that really sprang to top of mind and I think it was a winner a couple years ago, is Five Little Indians by Michelle Goode, which is about the residential school system. And I have not picked it up again because. Because it is a little bit of a harder read. It's definitely something you gotta put on your big girl panties for. But there's so much. There's so much great can lit. And not everybody is, you know, wearing a sweater, a scarf and a blanket at home with their tea sweetened with maple syrup and only taking breaks for poutine because I assume that's how your day goes every day. Do you eat poutine?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Actually, Roxanna, I do not eat poutine. I do think it's delicious. I've had it and it's delicious.

[Katie Cobb]

I don't look delicious? To me.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

No, it does not look. And there's no way you can make it look delicious. So anybody who does this morning, it looks disgusting.

[Katie Cobb]

Right?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Let's be honest.

[Katie Cobb]

It really does. It really does.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

It looks like somebody upchucked on fries. So, yeah, I could see how that's not appetizing. And I didn't want to try because I just. Cheese and gooey cheese, I just. It's not. I'm unlike pizza, sure. But on sauces, anyway. I will not go into it, but I do not like that. But actually it is really delicious. I just find it. It's. It's a lot like. You have to really. It's heavy. Right. So you have to be in the mood for it. So. But it is friggin delicious. So I will say that. And can I say. And I put into chatgpt, like common, funny misconceptions about Canadian readers. And it was. And one of them was like, you use maple syrup for book lube. And I was like, book lube?

[Katie Cobb]

What does that mean?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

This is given. And so I was like, should I type it in? Should I? And then I was like, okay, what do you mean by chatgpt? And I was like, please, please, crossing my fingers.

[Katie Cobb]

But like, just on a very basic knowledge level, lube makes things slide and maple syrup makes things sticky.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes.

[Katie Cobb]

That doesn't make any sense.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Well, you know, the AI is not perfect.

[Katie Cobb]

I think ChatGPT is showing its ignorance there.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I know. So what it said was it makes your fingers sticky, so it helps you turn the pages. Which I would not describe that as.

[Katie Cobb]

Like licking your finger.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I guess so. But even as a joke, I feel like every readers right now is like maple syrup. It's offensive on every level.

[Katie Cobb]

Every level.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

And like anybody would like, can you food in your book? And like, and then. And then you're calling it so. No. So chatgpt was not good on any of these. I was trying to come up with like some interesting ones and that was not them.

[Katie Cobb]

So that wasn't it. That wasn't the move. Okay. I have one more stereotype and it's that because Canadians are kind people until they put their elbows up, that I just assumed that most Canadian book reviewers would be like, this book was a boot. Something I really hate to read. But I read it and I just enjoyed it and I gave it four stars and I hated everything. I had to put a boot in there somewhere. A boot.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So I do not say boot. Meredith Sun Jackson bugs me that I'm like a boat. A boat. And when we were in Maine, every time I said something, he'd be like, a boat. And I'd be like, that's about. That's what I'm saying about. He's like, no, you're saying about. So I say about the way it's supposed to be said. I don't say a boot. I don't say about or I don't know what he said. I say about as a normal person would. But I will say that when we had our Canadian bookish friends meetup, Katie, it was the most polite. I'm sure it like you. I was shocked. Like, even I was shocked. There was like 11 of us started.

[Katie Cobb]

Eight of us Canadians. And then you just upped the game into bookish friends who are already the best people. So it's like you got the cream of the crop. Of the crop.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

It really like somebody would throw out a question and then everybody would respond and nobody would talk over each other and nobody would interrupt. And even like there were a couple shire people at the table and everybody would thoughtfully look towards them. So that, because, you know, otherwise people talk and then they never get a chance to actually answer the question. No, no. They would stop and look at them in a kind manner and then they would respond and then we'd ask another question. And nobody built that. Like, that's just how it happened. And like, there was a therapist there and she would ask questions. Not therapy questions, but, like, it felt like she was leading a facilitated discussion. And I was like, this is the most delightful thing I have ever been to. It was so lovely.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay, but you did just say that there were some Shire people there. And in my head, I went to the Shire with hobbits and I was like, wow, this is way more interesting than I thought it was going to. So that would also be cool. Okay. Do you feel like we have tackled this deep dive appropriately, Roxanne?

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

We have. I wanted to mention a couple of mysteries because I just realized I did not mention mysteries.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, please.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

And missing Meredith. Like, we need some of those. So for fans of Louise Penny, I would suggest the Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zeenat Khan. And I know Meredith brought a more recent book of hers that she didn't love, but I do love the Unquiet Dead in that series.

[Katie Cobb]

I think the Unquiet Dead was one you brought the very first time you were ever on Currently reading.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Oh, yeah, okay. Yes, I remember they brought him. I didn't realize it was so long ago. So maybe if you guys are listening in your sleep, you might hear me break it.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

And this, this series follows Detective Issa Katak and his partner Rachel Getty. And in this one, they investigate the suspicious death of a man tied to the Bosnian genocide. They uncover lots of deep seated community secrets. But then there's also, I think I remember like a jewel heist in here. So it's a really interesting story. And Khan herself has a PhD in International Human rights law. So she really weaves real world trauma into rich, gripping mysteries. This one's based on a real case. She also has a lot of great, like, Toronto scenery that's not like, here's the CN Tower. Like, she talks about the bluffs, which is our area near the beach. She has some really beautiful, you know, neighborhood stuff, local neighborhood stuff. So I loved it for that. So that's a great mystery. That whole series is great. So that's the Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zeenat Khan. Another one, Marissa Stapley, writes some great, like, not really. This is a thriller. It's called Lucky. Have you heard of this? I don't think so, okay. Because Reese Witherspoon had named it as one of her books, you know, a while ago. And this is about heist that goes terribly wrong when the main character gets a winning ticket, like, wins the lottery, but then they can't cash in the ticket because they're outlaws. Like, her dad is an outlaw, she's younger, and they can't cash in the ticket. So the whole story is about how are they going to get this money? So it's a really. Yeah, it's really, really interesting. It's a really fascinating setup. And so, you know, if you're looking for something that's kind of more along the lines of something you love to read, but you just want a Canadian perspective. That's a great one, too. Lucky by Marissa Stapley.

[Katie Cobb]

Excellent.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah. So I think that's all the book recommendations we have. The only thing I will add about a stereotype that is true is that every Canadian home has an Anne and Gables emergency kit for literary first aid. We have the book, we have the CBC miniseries on DVD and streaming. Because what if one is not working?

[Katie Cobb]

Not vhs, though.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I might have the VHS back there somewhere. And I think I have it, like. I think I have it, like, recorded halfway through one Christmas. Like, I think I have one of those versions where I was like, oh, my God, it's on hit record. And I got it, like, 15 minutes in old school. The Gen Z's are like, what are they talking about? But, yeah, no, we. For sure, every Canadian has to have that. So that's.

[Katie Cobb]

Does it also include, like, raspberry cordial? Yes, yes.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

We, in fact, sip our. That's what we put on the. On the mug warmers, our raspberry cordial. So we drink that.

[Katie Cobb]

You drink it warm.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Oh, no, you're right. No, it's cold. It's cold. No, we do not.

[Katie Cobb]

I was horrified.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

No, no, no, no, no. We. We have tumbler fulls, but only one tumbler full. We're not cut glass like Diana. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One cut glass tumbler full with it. And we have, you know, preserves like Mrs. Rachel Willand would make. And we wrap ourselves up in quilts, and we all have Anna Van Gables hats that come out.

[Katie Cobb]

And we're all grateful for a world in which there are. October.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Of course. Of course. I mean, yes. And we. Yeah. And we use our blinds to do sign language to each other.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Not sign language. Morse code. Yeah, we do all those things, of course, in 2025. That's what we do. So if you, you know, if you Canada's 11th province. If you want to come and visit us, feel free to come down here.

[Katie Cobb]

And just put your elbows up.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes, put your elbows up.

[Katie Cobb]

Oh my gosh, I loved this.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So that was a little joke because some Americans may not get it, but we have 10 provinces. So I was just calling you guys.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, right. Because there's jokes about the 51st state and now there are opposite jokes about the 11th province. Of course. Let's go to the fountain and make some wishes, Roxanna.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yes. Okay. So my wish, Katie, is on something very different and I'm just. If a reader can solve this for me, God bless them. I really need it. So I, you know, everybody knows I love my Kindle. I read on it all the time and I, Katie, take notes on that thing religiously. I'm like, highlight this, I'll take a note here, highlight that. And I finish a book, I'm like, oh, look at all these great things that I remembered from this book. It's amazing. They go into some Kindle graveyard. I never look at them again. And I know, yes, you can export them and email them to yourself and blah blah, blah. I'm never gonna do that. Let's be honest. I'm just not gonna do that. So I would love like some way and I don't think it's possible because it's a two different big tech giants so it wouldn't make sense. But if I could like download them into some Google Doc and then keep all my notes together. Cause like I said, I like to commonplace which is like taking notes and quotes and ideas where I hand write them into a notebook. But imagine if I had like the digital version of that and I could just even make it into one big document and I know I can email it to myself and then take those notes and then physically plop them into the Google Doc.

[Katie Cobb]

But like a four step process.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah, but you know, I'm never going to do that. So I just wish there was some way to take those notes. And like with an iPhone you can airdrop things or like there's just an easy way to pop them into a Google Doc. And then I had to have every Google note I ever took and I would actually look at them again.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Splash.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah, I feel like there should be like a like a hotkey shortcut type thing. It's not just export it, it's transfer it to Google Drive.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Yeah. And like if I could, you know, existing doc or like put it in here. Thank you. And just, I don't care. Plop it in anywhere. But at least then I can because I'll go back and be like, oh my God, that was such a great. Like when I randomly open something and I accidentally hit that button, I was like, oh, that's such a great highlight. It's good for me. So great. This is such a great quote. I haven't seen it since 2015, you know, like, I never remember this.

[Katie Cobb]

True, true. Yeah.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

At least if you have paper books, you can open them and you can see your highlights and you have your, you know, the Kindle. It's just hard. So anyway, that is my last. Yeah, it's lost right in the digital graveyard.

[Katie Cobb]

Digital graveyard.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

So if anybody has any solutions for that, that is less than four steps. I would love to hear about them.

[Katie Cobb]

Ideally, one step. Thank you. Yes. Okay. I love it. Okay, this week for my fountain wish, I'm going back to our roots. I'm going to press a book. This week I'm going to press Happy Place by Emily Henry into our friends and listeners hands. It has been two years now since I read and loved Happy Place by Emily Henry. And Emily Henry has just released her newest book and I loved it and I'll bring it to the show soonish. But in the meantime, I want to be sure to record for posterity that Happy Place is the book that so impacted me that I sobbed about it on the show two months after I read it, which I waited so that I could get my emotions under control. And it didn't work. So here's the setup. It's been two years now. I think I'm gonna get through this one just fine. Harriet started dating Win after they met in college. They are part of a tight knit group of friends that have an annual getaway to a cottage in Maine. Just like Meredith and Roxanna did last summer. A found family of sorts, these friends understand each other in a way that no one else understands them. Which is why when Harriet and Wynn broke up six months ago, they decided not to tell the group before their annual get together. Even though it's now pretty far in the past, they haven't wanted to change those group dynamics. So they go to their get together and pretend that everything is fine between them. But that means this year they're forced to share the big bedroom because everyone assumes they're engaged, which they aren't. The gathering is also happening this year because the parental units that own the cottage have decided to put it up for sale finally and unload this asset. So it's the last time they're going to get together here, their happy place where they eat seafood until they grow fins. So they fake it and in the meantime being in close proximity sharing one bed again reignite all the flames of a second chance romance. This book broke my heart open. And really, now, two years later, now that everyone knows about my own personal life updates, I can trace a number of big conversations back to my reading of this book in April of 2023. While I would hesitate to credit a hot pink romance with changing my life, it really doesn't feel that far off for this book. And while my story did not end in a happily ever after, this book does and it delivers and I love it for that. So I hope you will pick it up as your romance of the summer. This is Happy Place by Emily Henry.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

I love that one too.

[Katie Cobb]

And I didn't cry. We did great. Ping Splash. Okay, that is it for this week. As a reminder, here's where you can connect with us. You can find me I'm Katie at Notes on Bookmark Remarks on Instagram Meredith is at Meredith Monday Schwartz and you.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Can find me Roxanna roxannethereader on Instagram Full show notes with the title of every book we mentioned in the episode and timestamps so you can zoom right to where we talked about. It can be [e-mail] Our show is.

[Katie Cobb]

Produced and edited every week by Megan Putam Evans. You can find her on Instagram at most of megansreads. You can also follow the show at Currently Reading Podcast on Instagram Instagram or email us@currentlyreading podcastmail.com and if you really.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Want to help us become a patron, rate and review us on Apple podcasts or shout us out on social media, it'll make a huge difference in our being able to find our perfect audience.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and get closer to our goals.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Until next week, may your coffee be.

[Katie Cobb]

Hot and your book be unput downable.

[Roxanna Kasamkara]

Happy reading Katie.

[Katie Cobb]

Happy reading Roxanna. That.