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The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 7, Episode 41: Poolside Reading + Bookish Friends' Best Books Of 2024
00:59:09
On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: poolside reading and friends who know your reading tastes Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we’ve been reading lately ...
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- [00:00]
Meredith Monday 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.
- [00:24]
Katie Cobb
We are light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our conversations will always be spoiler free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the fountain.
- [00:34]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz, a mom of four and full time CEO living in Austin, Texas. And making reader friends is incredibly beneficial.
- [00:42]
Katie Cobb
And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona. And it's mid May, but it's officially summer reading season for me. This is episode number 41, season seven. And we are so glad you're here.
- [00:54]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Oh, yeah, it is summer reading. We're going to hit 1:04 this week, which means you definitely are in summer reading.
- [01:01]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, actually it's 1:02 here today. It'll get hotter, but we had this cool stretch that was very weird for May and so it's feeling like it's actually exciting for it to be warm, which is weird. So I don't know. We're trying it out. We're trying out a new weather pattern this year.
- [01:16]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Let's look at the upsides, right? Absolutely.
- [01:19]
Katie Cobb
Indeed.
- [01:20]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, well, we are going to let you know that we're going to do a deep dive today. It is May, Katie.
- [01:27]
Katie Cobb
It is. It is. It's fine.
- [01:29]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's fine. We make the rules.
- [01:33]
Katie Cobb
It's our show. Thanks for watching.
- [01:35]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. But it is strange because we are going to do a deep dive today that is the best books of 2024 according to the currently reading bookish. Friends, we're completists here at Currently Reading. We. We forgot to do it. We need to get it done.
- [01:52]
Katie Cobb
We do. We do. And I was late sending out the survey about this and I'm positive it's been months now, so half of them probably forgot what they put on the survey. It's fine.
- [02:02]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's gonna be great. To be fair, the end of 2024 was a little bit of an SHO period of time for you.
- [02:09]
Katie Cobb
Especially for me. Yes, you do. Our.
- [02:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
You, you keep the trains running on time. So I think giving some grace makes a lot of sense here. It's still interesting to see what that.
- [02:19]
Katie Cobb
Looks best for you. If you haven't read it, it's new to you. There you go. So here we are, May of 2025. It's great.
- [02:26]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Exactly. So that's gonna be our deep dive. But first, let's do our bookish moments of the week. Katie, what have you got?
- [02:33]
Katie Cobb
Okay, Meredith, I had to, like, dig a little for this one, so I realized we already talked about the weather, but it's really. As of today, we have hit poolside reading season for me, which is indeed the best reading season. Sadly, I do not have a swim up bar, but I have everything else. So the water is above 80 degrees. The outside temperatures are over 100. So it's perfect time for swimming. Drying off a little bit, reading on the couch for a while, getting back in the pool to cool off once I start feeling sweat between my boobs, basically is when that has to happen. It is part of why summer reading season is my favorite, even in this state, which is hotter than actual hell most of the time for the summer. I'm thrilled to have a big stack of summer reads lined up for the next few months, and summer reading guides are going to start coming out probably between when we're recording this episode and when it drops, so. So by the time this episode drops, there's already gonna be at least hints of, like, coming on Tuesday or whatever it is. And I can't wait to just further stack my tbr, especially with backlist stuff, and just really get into summer reading season. Right.
- [03:35]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Which is perfect. And do you know that my husband is so sweet. He know this. You know, one of my favorite things this summer is when we start using our pool. And I love to lay out at the pool and listen to an audiobook and I love to get my pool noodle and just like lazily swim back and forth in my pool and listen to my audiobook. Right? Because I don't get my hair. I don't. It's not my hair. I don't like to get my face wet, so I might as well have my audiobook in. Anyway, he created what we are calling a swim up bar for me. And he takes a big yeti cooler and fills it with ice and then turns it on its side and stacks drinks in there and just puts it right next to the side of the pool. So it's. It effectively is. And then like with a little. What's the thing called that? A bottle opener.
- [04:20]
Katie Cobb
Bottle opener? Yes. That's a word.
- [04:22]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It is the swim up bar.
- [04:24]
Katie Cobb
Okay. I do have a small table built into my pool with like a bench seat around it. I call that the swim up bar. But nobody brings me drinks, so I'm missing the yeti cooler element. Of it. And I think now I have some ideas for what to do with that. Right.
- [04:38]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
You got to turn it on its side. And, you know, it's. And it's perfect.
- [04:42]
Katie Cobb
So, yeah, I love that.
- [04:43]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay, my bookish moment of the week. So get you a friend who knows your taste so well that they will randomly DM you and say, hey, here's a book that I have a feeling you are going to run across and you are going to think that it's for you, but I'm going to tell you it's not for you, and here's why. Yes, Isn't that useful? Morgan Tallman is that friend for me. She is an enneagram one. Like I am she. We're really close to being bookish twins anyway. Not perfect bookish twins, but close. And we're both enneagram ones. And so there are things that, for both of us, are complete deal breakers. She ran across a book. The name is escaping me right now, but she was like, this premise is going to be catnip to you. And she was right. If I had run across it, I definitely would have bought it. Put a hold on. It's something. And she was like, nope, it's a main character who's making tons of bad decisions and who, like, is doing, like, morally gray thing. And I was like, oh, no. And she was like, see, if you have friends who know your taste really well, they can not only give you books to read, they can save you time and effort and disappointment from reading books you should not read. So just another reason to lean into bookish community.
- [06:02]
Katie Cobb
And she's like a book Sherpa in that way. I love that. And it doesn't have to be someone down the road, because Morgan A is like, a full generation younger than you.
- [06:13]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
She lives in. She's younger than my daughter.
- [06:15]
Katie Cobb
Right, exactly. So, like, that person could be anyone. Keep looking. There's an Easter egg waiting out there for you. And it might be a Morgan, because we are so lucky to have a reader like that in our midst.
- [06:27]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Exactly. Exactly. And she's. Morgan's not all like, ooh, she's on a podcast. Maybe I shouldn't DM her. Morgan just started DMing me, and she's my good bookish friend.
- [06:36]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, I mean, that's how it works sometimes.
- [06:39]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It is how it works sometimes. All right, Katie, let's talk about our current reads.
- [06:44]
Katie Cobb
All right, Meredith. I am excited. My first book this week is Tempest by Beverly Jenkins. This book is from a series I hadn't read before by Ms. Bev which is how she's known in the romance community. I got to meet her at the Tucson Festival of Books last year in 2024 and went to multiple panels where she was kind of headlining because she was so funny on first one that I then cleared my schedule and just said, I don't care where Ms. Bev is, that's where I want to be. She is a delight if anyone ever gets to go see her speak. I have read her entire Women who Dare trilogy, but as a prolific author, she has much more to share. And this is where I jumped into her Old west series. This book, Tempest starts out with an arranged marriage trope. Regan Carmichael has been ordered out west to wyoming to marry Dr. Colton Lee. As a mail order bride, she is independent and not scared of anything. So when her wagon is approached by an unknown man, she shoots him in the shoulder. Especially because there have been raids recently around the area. Turns out that unknown man she just shot is her future husband, Dr. Colton Lee.
- [07:53]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Uh oh, but you know what? I would. I would 100% have done that. She first asked questions later.
- [07:58]
Katie Cobb
Exactly. As they get his shoulder back in working order, they also get to know each other a little bit. Dr. Lee is not looking for love, just a new wife to help raise and care for his daughter, who became motherless when he buried his wife. He wants someone nurturing who he can trust with his young girl. So it's unexpected when sparks start to fly between them. Reagan is fierce and strong and not the docile little woman he was expecting to tend his home fire. But her fire is not just passion and wit. On the outside world, it translates to mental and emotional stability and excellence as well. She is direct about asking for what she wants from him. A true match that includes full bedroom privileges. What's most surprising is when Colton starts realizing he wants that too. That maybe burying his wife didn't bury his heart as well. This I know, right? This was just the right kind of dreamy historical romance that I love. A sassy and spunky woman who is competent and capable, but also passionate is the kind I can root for. Regan and Colton's fire for one another gets started pretty early with marital relations and quickly grows from there. While this would count as a bodice ripper because it is that historical romance with, you know, grasping, clutching couples on the COVID Reagan also breaks the mold by wearing jeans.
- [09:19]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
What?
- [09:20]
Katie Cobb
Absolutely not allowed in the Old west, right? She can shoot a gun. She's well read. Basically. She's perfect, but absolutely out of the ordinary for Old west culture. And that's why we love her. This book hit all the right notes for me and I gave it four and a half stars with her Women who Dare series also garnering high ratings from me especially. Ms. Bev continues to deliver. I'm so glad for that. She will always be the queen of black historical romance and I'm so lucky for her vast backlist. This was Tempest by Beverly Jenkins.
- [09:50]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I feel like maybe this kind of historical romance might be another win for me. Right. Not just the Victorian or Regency romance, but maybe Old west romance.
- [10:04]
Katie Cobb
Right. And Westerns are kind of up and coming now, but this book is 10, 15 years old at this point. It's not a brand new based on banter book like we see that really turns you away really often. So I think it could be a match.
- [10:20]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Interesting. I'm going to look into that for sure. Okay. My book is brand new and it has been getting lots of buzz in lots of different places. This is a book called Careless People, a story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn Williams. So coming out the gate with nonfiction here, but this is soapy page turning nonfiction. Okay. As I finished Careless People, I was thinking, this book is such a wild ride. And it is a wild ride through glittering, messy underbelly of Facebook or meta the corporate structure. So it takes its title from that perfect line in the Great Gatsby about people who smash up things and creatures and then retreat back into their money. I love that line. This memoir gives us a front row seat to the tech world equivalent of that Gatsby era. Wynne Williams, who served as Facebook's global policy director, pulls back the curtain on what it's actually like to work alongside Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. Spoiler alert. It's not all free snacks, segues, and inspirational posters about moving fast and breaking things. All right, like you guys, I heard news stories about this book and I heard when I got it, you couldn't even buy Careless People here in the United States. I had to buy mine from Blackwell's. And this was because the book had a series of injunctions and lawsuits pending on it. Facebook is, not surprisingly, trying to get this book shut down, but that hasn't worked. And as of now, you can get it on Amazon without a problem. So it turns out that very many of us, 60,000 of us at last time I looked, are interested in what seems to be, after a lot of vetting from a lot of news agencies, a fairly straightforwardly true account of what it's like to work at Facebook, especially between 2009 and 2017. This, as you know, was a time of tremendous growth and very volatile change at Facebook. Now I'm of two minds about this book, honestly. There's no question that it is written in a narrative style that makes it very easy to read. I think it's about 400 pages and I was very surprised how quickly those 400 pages flew. There's a lot of talk, of course, about political policy and the underbelly of things like Facebook and its deal, for example, getting itself into China, or the way that its algorithms specifically targeted female teenagers between 13 and 17 when they were, quote, unquote, most vulnerable. Basically, this book is all about the terrible ethical choices that Facebook now Meta has made over the course of the last two decades. What I think I found most interesting was the absolute takedown that the author goes through in her assessment of not just of Mark Zuckerberg, who of course is absolutely the annoying, arrogant, narcissistic man child that you think that he is, but also, interestingly, she takes down Sheryl Sandberg. The author worked directly with Sheryl Sandberg for years and man, if I had any lasting good impression of Sarah Sandberg, it is got Sarah Sheryl Sandberg. It is gone. Now she excoriates her in this book, on and on. There's really nothing in this book that is terribly surprising unless you've been living under a rock or unless you just believe in fairy tales of large corporate conglomerates being capable of doing good in the world. Facebook is definitely not doing any good. In fact, I feel even worse about it than I did when I started reading this book. But I do have to say that I was annoyed over and over again that the author herself describes herself as being aghast at the decisions that were being made by the leaders of Facebook. And yet you realize she's saying this over and over and over again over the course of multiple years, and she's actively executing on the plans that she is so dismayed about. So there's a little element of like, okay, so how upset were you? How bad could it really be if you continued to do this work for years and years? Now, I know this is a complex statement and it was a complex set of years and issues and change and growth. And I know that there's a lot that goes into all of that, but there was a part of me that began to roll my eyes. And every time she expressed shock, dismay and righteous indignation in neon lights. I think if she had been a little more self deprecating about it or a little more self actualized about it, it wouldn't have rubbed me so the wrong way. Then as our story comes to an end, we realize that the author gets fired, probably unfairly, but she accepted a very difficult generous severance package and she signed a bunch of paperwork saying explicitly that she would never say anything bad about Facebook. And then she goes on to write a book saying a lot of bad things about Facebook. Now I understand the why behind all of that. At the very least, this book gives us a lot of a lot to talk about when it comes to just how bad Facebook is, but also how culpable each of us are in participating in the rise and dominance of not just Facebook but all the social media companies. I count myself firmly among that number. I think this would be a fascinating book club book or buddy read in the right group. As I said, it's extremely readable. Full of pots and pots of tea and full of a lot of extraordinarily nuanced and complex ethical arguments. If that is your cup of tea, you are going to want to get a hold of this book. As I said, it is now fully available in the United States. This is Careless People, A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn.
- [16:30]
Katie Cobb
William this is so interesting because you know, all the time we hear about ironclad NDAs and I'm assuming she has opened herself up to lawsuits because there's not like a statute of limitations that she has passed. Now at this point, like why is this even possible?
- [16:48]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Well, so I know that, I mean, for example, at my company we don't have people signed in NDAs for a variety of ethical reasons, but also because they are very, very hard to enforce. Right. So it'll be interesting to see how all of this shakes out. Again, my enneagram oneness came into play when I was reading this book and there was this part of me that's like, if you thought what was happening was so wrong, how did you keep doing it and benefiting from it for years and years and years? And I again, I understand the nuance and the complexity of how we get wrapped into situations. And I've never been there. I understand that. But now you've written a book where you are back on the experience. And I think my problem was not necessarily everything that happened or the way that she handled all of that. It was that there was no self actualization in the book as she looked back upon it with the years in between that she could mull over it. I think that was the piece that really Pinged me over and over again. Does that make sense?
- [17:54]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, I know. So my reading partner, Katie, had picked this one up, and at one point she was like, I cannot anymore. And she is not a DNFer. So for her to say, this is actually, I'm just not interested in reading this person's story and hearing about this element of things behind the curtain. It has to be, because she's like, you know, I'll just. I'll just read it. I don't care. But it made her very mad.
- [18:21]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah. It's a big feels book, and it's a book that I wanted to move through really quickly because I didn't want to be there. You know, Judge Judy, my idol is she often says, you have to come into the courtroom with clean hands. Right. And so what that means is don't come in here complaining if you, in fact, were, like, taking part or do or benefiting, whatever.
- [18:43]
Katie Cobb
Yeah.
- [18:43]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And I just kept thinking about that phrase as I read this book. Like, okay, it's. You're righteously indignant over, like, Zuckerberg and Sandberg, and you should be. No question that I am not apologizing for those people or the decisions that they've made at all. But you were in those rooms. You were. You did the thing. You. You know what I mean? And now you're gonna go back and, like, point fingers at everybody else. Like, you're not coming into this with clean hands. So it just riled me. That part of the narrative riled me up. But again, it accomplished what I think she set out to do, which was A, to tell her story and B, to do it in a way that would lead to a lot of thought, provocation, and conversation. And that is definitely what. What happened.
- [19:32]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. Mission accomplished, I guess. Okay. My second book this week is one that people want to know what I think about it. It is the Dark Maestro by Brendan Slocum.
- [19:45]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Oh, and it's coming in position two.
- [19:47]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. Oh, okay, it's time to get into this one. I have been. I have been. I am a Brendan Slocum fan, girl. Ever since his first book, the Violin conspiracy, released in 2022. I had just the best author interview with him way back then, and it set the bar so high that I was like, gosh, I don't know if I could even do these anymore because it was so wonderful. And then we became really good friends. Yeah. Okay. So this newest book is a departure from the dual timeline, historical fiction, thrillers he's done in the past. I am excited to tell you about it. So let me tell you about it. Once again we have a young black musician. This book starts with Curtis Wilson. At the young age of probably around 8 years old, he starts being labeled as a cello prodigy. Cello was my instrument already. I was like yes, a cellist. I've been waiting for a cellist. I'm so excited for a cellist, right? His father Zippy is a mid level drug dealer trying to rise in the ranks of the drug syndicate that he's part of and so Curtis mostly relies on SCH and the support of Larissa, his dad's girlfriend, to encourage his cello dreams. When Zippy catches the notice of the kingpin drug dealer who's been running the scene in their D.C. neighborhood, Curtis really starts to rise with private lessons and a world class instrument provided to him by this drug dealer and Zippy gets promoted into an accounting position that leads to all of their worlds unraveling. From the top of his game as a soloist for the New York Philharmonic, Curtis, Zippy and the girlfriend Larissa are thrown into witness protection after the Feds get involved. The book pivots from that point to an action based thriller where the scrappy upstarts attempt comic book style to take down a huge crime network while trying not to meet certain death. It happily included a couple of Easter eggs from his previous books, the Violin Conspiracy and Symphony of Secrets, which thrilled me to no end as I adored both of those stories. This one had a few elements that didn't really work for me. First of all, we spend a significant amount of time in Curtis's childhood and I got worried that this was going to be an entire book about an 8 year old boy, which is not what I was wanting to read. I didn't want a middle grade mystery, right? We moved along after. I want to say it was almost a quarter of the book of Curtis being a young kid and that felt like a really long time. I did read a galley of this one prior to release, so it's possible and even probable that the pacing issues I felt were will be resolved by the final copy, which releases a few days after we're recording this episode. That being said, this book felt personal to me by way of Brendan Brennan and I chat really regularly online. We're friendly with each other. I've been cheering for him since well before he hit big and I understand the sentiments behind this book, even if it wasn't a big hit for me. Since that previous release, Symphony of Secrets in 2023, he has had a pretty severe health issue including a kidney Transplant. This book has a plotline around organ transplants as well. So this book was personal for Brendan. I think there's a blessing and a curse as an author that you can use your own writing to work through your personal life, and that's what we see here. It became this very important, all encompassing issue for Brendan, which is what it should be. It changed his entire life, this kidney transplant that he had to go through last year. It shows in where he decided to spend his time within this story and where he added the details and where the emotion got really big and maybe a little muddy. So while this one was not a knockout of the park for me, I loved the cello elements. I loved being back in a world that my friend created. If you've read one of his books and you wanted more in the moment, action and thrills, I'm pretty sure this one will deliver for you. For me, I will still continue to recommend that you start with the Violin Conspiracy. This was the Dark Maestro by Brendan.
- [23:42]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Slocum, and I'm sure a very complex kind of review for you to put together.
- [23:48]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, yeah, that's not easy, but I couldn't not do it. This is like our April Fool's episode when I was like, oh, Meredith, I can't wait. Because I've been waiting to hear about Katherine Ryan Howard, and you were like, great.
- [23:59]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, exactly. That's never ever easy. All right, well, my second book, it comes in my second position, which often is a book that I maybe didn't like as much, but that is not the case here at all. But this is a real 180 from the book I just talked about, because we're going into a cozy mystery, which I have not read for a really long time. But this one has a fun backstory to it. This one is called Campfires and Corpses by Nikki Weber. Here's the setup in this first book in the main campground cozy mystery series, we meet Noelle Cooper, who's a down on her luck event planner who reluctantly returns to rural Maine to run her family's campground, which is not something she was wanting to do. With her faithful beagle, Corny by her side, Noelle hopes this temporary summer arrangement will give her the breathing space that she needs to kind of regroup after losing both her job and her apartment. It's the classic city girl back in her hometown setup, but with a deadly twist that happens before Noelle and Corny can even unpack their bags. On her very first morning back, Noelle stumbles upon the body of her high school rival. And before she can process this grisly discovery, she is confronted by her ex boyfriend, she meets the suspiciously handsome county sheriff, and she finds herself under scrutiny by a creepy state trooper. So of course Noelle has to clear her name and catch the real killer before she becomes the next victim. All right, this is a super fun book. It was a very enjoyable palette cleanser and it's got a fun backstory. As I said, the author Nikki Weber reached out a couple of months ago and let us know that she had always dreamed of writing a book, but that she had decided to actually put pen to paper after listening to an episode of Currently reading back in 2021. She Let us know that she was inspired to write this after spending her summers in a small town in rural Main and I'm so glad that she decided to do it. I was totally in the mood for a short, sweet palette cleanser and this cozy mystery was exactly what fit the bill. This book has all the things that you want in your cozy it's got that super sweet main character who's back home for a new start. It's got a great cast of supporting characters, it's got some low stakes murders and a campground setting that really makes you want to spend the summer in Maine in front of a bonfire making all manner of TikTok related s' mores. Summers in Maine have become a new tradition for Roxanna and my families and so this book made that piece of it all the sweeter. I have to say that I was almost a little surprised. I feel bad saying this, but I was a little surprised how well this was written. Nikki Weber has the is a first time author, but I wouldn't have thought that if I had just read this and not known it. I admire the fact that she decided she wanted to do this and then went through the entire process self publishing on her own. I've already pre ordered the second book and I'm hopeful that all of our cozy mystery fans for currently reading will jump into this one and support fellow bookish friend Nikki. This is one that is definitely worth your time if this is up your alley. This is Campfires and Corpses, a main campground cozy by Nikki Weber.
- [27:22]
Katie Cobb
So cute. I'm so glad that you read this and brought it to the show. This makes me so happy.
- [27:27]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes, it was. It was really, really fun. And you guys know if I didn't like it I just wouldn't have brought it at all.
- [27:34]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, I have.
- [27:35]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
No, that would have been very easy for me to do. So I legit liked this. I was, I was happy that I did, too.
- [27:42]
Katie Cobb
Yes, of course. Of course. I love that. Oh, that makes me so pleased. I remember seeing that email come in and just being like. Just like the one. I don't even remember who it was, but there was somebody who, after you talked about the island in Maine, was like, I think I'm gonna do it. I think I'm gonna write that book. Should I do it? And you were like, yes, you should, because you made a fountain wish about wanting to read a book on this island.
- [28:03]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yep.
- [28:03]
Katie Cobb
Just makes me happy.
- [28:04]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I know. I love it.
- [28:07]
Katie Cobb
Okay, my third book this week. Just like, take notes, folks, is woodworking by Emily St. James.
- [28:14]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Oh, I'm hearing about this book all over.
- [28:16]
Katie Cobb
It's starting to buzz. It's starting to buzz, which makes me happy. Okay, here's the setup, pulled heavily from the publisher blurb with my own little sprinkles. Erica Skyberg is 35 years old, recently divorced and trans. But no one else knows it yet. Her small town in South Dakota is not bursting with trans women. For now, she keeps to herself, teaching English by day and directing the community theater by night, where her ex wife is starring in their production of Our Town. For anyone who loved Tom Lake last year, this is a fun tie in, because productions of Our Town just abound in fiction now, which is very fun. But everything changes the day that Mitchell High's resident political dissident and only trans girl, Abigail Hawkes, enters her detention classroom. Erica's detention classroom. Abigail had not planned to spend her senior year playing trans mom to the newest woman in town, but she remembers the uncertainty and the loneliness that comes with it. And besides, there's no one else to take the job. So even though Ms. Skyberg is 18 years her senior, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. So begins an unlikely friendship that teaches both women as well as the community at large, that there is nothing more radical than just being who you actually are. I did this one on audio, and it was kind of funny how it came to my attention, because it was before it got buzzy. I had asked for funny book recs and said that my DMs were open for recommendation. That same week, I got multiple gentle recommendations for this book. Not from people saying it was funny, but I was getting so many messages at once that it just got filed with everything else. Right? They were from people who know me and know my sister and know how important it is to me to read trans stories. I listened on audio nearly immediately after a special recommendation from my friend Aaron I loved how the audio was produced. There's multiple narrators and a cool add in for when someone is referred to by their dead name, which is the name that a trans character had when they were born that they have chosen to eschew to become the person that they are becoming now. So throughout this book we never know Erica's dead name and we never know Abigail's dead name, even when other people refer to them as such. The title is also addressed early in this book, so I feel really great telling everyone that it's from a Brazilian Portuguese word about passing so well that one is capable of blending into the woodwork or woodworking. Abigail and Erika were both portrayed and narrated beautifully and I love that Emily St. James, the author, who is a journalist and pop culture critic, took the time to tell this very personal story for her. She also lends her voice to the audio for a very special role that I loved and knowing that it was her as part of the book made it shine that much more for me. As I was reading it, I sent my library card login to my sister so that she could just borrow the exact same copy that I was already listening to and we could have this story as part of our shared story because it was that important to me. Overall, it was a huge hit for me and I have started to see posts in the Bookish Friends group that it's currently sitting at People's number one spot for the year, which thrills me to no end. It's contemporary fiction. If that's your jam, allow me to lovingly but also forcefully press woodworking by Emily St. James into your hands. It's a dual press from me and my sister.
- [31:39]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I love it. Yes. And I'm hearing the exact same thing that people are saying. Best book of the year. Like absolute raves about it.
- [31:45]
Katie Cobb
Just phenomenal.
- [31:46]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Excellent. I love it. I love it. All right. My third book was a five star book for me too. And it's a five star thriller which is really not something that happens all the time. Yes, this book is called this Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead. Here's the setup. Our main character is Jane Sharp. She's a college student whose life is really coming undone after her father's very sudden death from a heart attack. She's seeking both escape and some sort of meaning. And Jane dives into the world of therealcrimenetwork.com which is a virtual community of amateur Internet sleuths who collaborate to solve crimes. So this begins kind of just as a simple way to procrastinate but it quickly evolves into something darker when Jane and her new online friends become fixated on a series of shocking murders in Delphine, Idaho, where three college girls have been killed. The narrative unfolds as a tell all account written by Jane one year after the events, creating a confessional kind of situation that pulls you right into her obsessive quest to solve these murders. All right, I got a chance to hear Ashley Winstead speak at Hampton's Whodunit, and I got a chance to meet her. And then I saw her again at the fabled Book Lovers Retreat weekend just a couple of weeks ago. And both times, I was incredibly impressed by the way she talked about the thrillers and the dark works of crime fiction that she's known for. But I hadn't picked up one of her books yet. This one, this book Will Bury Me, was a big hit with Elizabeth Barnhill and with several other readers that I trusted. So jumped into it. I did it on audio, and I also picked it up on Kindle because I found myself doing that thing where you get a book on audio and then you're like, okay, but wait, I have to keep reading it and I have to read at night and I have like, I can't wait till my next audio time.
- [33:42]
Katie Cobb
Fix it, fix it, fix it. Right.
- [33:44]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
So I did the duel. So once I was in, I was in. This book was just incredibly well paced from the first chapter. I was interested in our lead character, Jane. She's in her early 20s, which sometimes can bother me. A lead character that's that young. She just lost her father, who she was really close to, and I just felt so much for her really quickly. And I was really invested then into this journey into the online world of sleuthing. The book does a great job of bringing us into the crime that she investigates and also into this world of the kind of hive mind that more and more is becoming involved in real crime investigation in our generation. The methods that they use and the different personalities that are attracted to this kind of work are very fascinating to me. And of course, we have the crime at the center, which was interesting to me because I have been following very obsessively close to what is known as the Idaho murders. This book does follow that true crime case fairly closely. I felt like it took a different enough spin on it to be really interesting. But there have been people who've said that they felt that Ashley hewed too close to that crime for their taste. I didn't feel that way. I might have thought the Exact same thing, in fact, except for the fact that I got a chance to hear her talk about the genesis for writing this particular book. She talked about the fact that she herself had lost her father recently, and in her grief, she found herself being drawn into the rabbit hole of the Idaho murder case. She really beautifully explores in this book grief in its many forms. And one of those forms is that sometimes we can get kind of obsessed about something and then not be able to focus on anything else. This is what happens in this story. I read this book fast, just about two days on audio and Kindle, which is really fast for me. I know Elizabeth read it in almost a single setting herself. This is a rare five star thriller for me, but I have to say, with an author as smart and as sweet as Ashley Winstead, I felt really good about giving it this rating. This is. This book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead and I highly recommend it.
- [35:57]
Katie Cobb
I have seen this one, of course, around especially after the book lovers weekend when people were posting pictures with Ashley Winstead. But I am more interested than I thought I would be to pick it up. Although of course, I would pronounce it wrong and I would say, this book will bury me.
- [36:13]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yep, you would. That's why we're just gonna let me have this one. But yeah, this. This one is really, really good. And I do. You know, again, part of my arc as a reader has been realizing, gee, you actually really do get a lot more out of your reading when you listen to authors talk about the books that they've written. This is like the secret that nobody thought was a secret except me. And so this is an example where, man, just knowing what she was going through when she wrote this book added a ton of layering to how it landed with me.
- [36:46]
Katie Cobb
That has never not been true for me. Yeah, Like, I could have zero interest whatsoever in a book and hearing the author talk about it, I'm like, am I. Am I your newest super fan? I don't even understand how that happens.
- [36:59]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Well, that's only happened to me in the opposite direction one time.
- [37:02]
Katie Cobb
Oh, yes. Right.
- [37:04]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Where I heard an author speak and I was like, oh, no, I. I can't read any more books by you, dude. You're dumb as a stump. I can't do it.
- [37:13]
Katie Cobb
And those authors should just stay home and keep writing books and not go to author events.
- [37:19]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
You're cute, but you need to stay home.
- [37:20]
Katie Cobb
Oh, you're cute, but stupid. Yeah, it's like my dog. It's like my dog. She's cute.
- [37:29]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay, all right. Right. So now we're going to get into.
- [37:33]
Katie Cobb
Our deep dive, Deep dive and backlist.
- [37:37]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's a weird episode, Katie. I feel like people are gonna have a lot of stuff to say about this episode, and I can just imagine it's not all gonna be positive.
- [37:45]
Katie Cobb
It's like a little slap happy and stupid. It's fine. Everything's fine.
- [37:49]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's a weird episode.
- [37:51]
Katie Cobb
Okay, well, since I run the trains on time, let me explain a little bit about this deep dive because we are going to talk about the best books of 2024 in this May 19th, the year of our Lord 2025 episode. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. Okay, so I actually. I tried to fix it for next year already. I went into my calendar, our calendar, our shared one, and I wrote for the day after Christmas, put up the best books of the year survey. And then I said, repeat this every year, just don't forget it ever again. Katie. And I put notifications for a few days before that, because the first thing that happened is that I did not put out a survey for the bookish friends until February, which is two months into 2025. I was like, hey, guys, remember 2024. We should talk about your best books of the year. And that was not the move. It had lower response rates than the 202420 or the 2023, 2022, and 2021 best books of the year surveys. And that's because I sat on my hands for too long.
- [38:54]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah.
- [38:55]
Katie Cobb
So that happened late. We did still get about 500 responses. And then they sat there. I did coalesce. I coalesced them. I collated them into a useful list. Because we use this data to send out to the indie press list bookstores and give them a feel for what was our. Our group reading in the past year and what really worked for them and what didn't work for them. So it's data we need and data that we use. But then we just. That was it. That's all I did with it. And finally, here we are in May, and it was like, we got people that were like, hey, remember how you asked for requests for deep dives? Mine is that you finally tell us what the 24 top books of the year were. And I was like, oh, poop.
- [39:37]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, let's do it. Let's give the people what they want.
- [39:40]
Katie Cobb
Let's do it. Okay. So because of the way ties work with these lists, we ended up with a top 24 of 2024 and a bottom 16 of 2024. Because there are some that ended up tying together, and that's where it made sense to break these lists. So I do think I want to cover at least the top four, which ends up being six titles for the top list. And then other than that, I kind of want to jump around and play around a little bit. So tied for number four, we have the Women by Kristin Hannah, God of the woods by Liz Moore, and then A Dark Horse, Draco Malfoy, and the mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love by Is this Self Care, which is fanfiction and has never showed up on our top lists of the year and was so exciting for me.
- [40:29]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Very exciting. I had no idea that that many people would. Would have it in their top 10.
- [40:35]
Katie Cobb
Right. Read it and then love it so much. To put it in their top 10 made me thrilled. Number three was the frozen river by Ariel Loughun. And then tied for number one were Margot's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe and All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. So within this top five. Ish, we do have both my and Meredith's top book of the year, which does make me very happy as well.
- [40:59]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right.
- [40:59]
Katie Cobb
Y' all have found the right place.
- [41:00]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes.
- [41:01]
Katie Cobb
Here you are listening to currently reading, Being Bookish Friends, and this is the place for you. We love that Margot's got money troubles, though. That surprised me. Was that surprising for you, Meredith?
- [41:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
No, it really isn't. I feel like that I really would have been surprised if that wasn't right up there at the top. I feel like that one was one that. It was one that had broad appeal. It was one that my literary friends loved, my not literary friends loved. I just feel like it was really. It just hit a sweet spot for a lot of readers, so that doesn't surprise me at all.
- [41:33]
Katie Cobb
It never even made it onto my tbr.
- [41:36]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, it didn't make it into my tbr. I mean, I own it, but only because I feel like it was just absolutely everywhere, and I'm gonna have to wait till, like, 20, 30 to read it for it to be fresh at all. Like, that's just one of those books that I just feel like I can't. Like, I can't even hear the setup again. I'm so, like, I love how many people loved it, but, like, man, we've just talked. It's. It's been talked about a lot.
- [41:58]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't that I actively chose not to put it on my tbr. I just. It never drew me in, so. Which is fine. One of the things that really stood out to me for the list this year that we've actually never seen before is that there are not any titles that overlap. There's nothing that shows up both on the favorite and least favorite list. And so I actually went through some of the ones from each of them to see where they ended up on the other one. And most of the time, if I was looking at, like, the women, it would have gotten down. If we were went to, like, 25 or 30 on the least favorite list, it would have been on there. But I was looking for the ones that were big, fuzzy books that a lot of people liked, lot of people had strong opinions about, because normally those are very interesting books for us to kind of check out and look at. And none of that repeated this year, which was a little bit out of the ordinary for us.
- [42:51]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, I mean, it. There was something about what you just were talking about leads into kind of what my feeling was about this list overall, which was that I feel like last year, more than a lot of years in the past, there was about 20 books that seemed to be everything everywhere all at once, and everyone was reading the same. And I really think I mentioned to you, I got to a point where I was like, I'm going all backlist, because I feel like everyone is reading the same 20 books.
- [43:20]
Katie Cobb
Right.
- [43:21]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And this list. And there's nothing wrong with that because there's nothing wrong with the books that are on these lists. Several of them. You know, God of the woods is right up there at the top. Absolutely. Absolutely loved it. All the Colors in the Dark. Absolutely loved it. But it. It does seem, you know, James Sipsworth, the Wedding People, I mean, Frozen river, these are all just ones that I feel like, yeah, those are the books that everyone was reading.
- [43:44]
Katie Cobb
Yeah.
- [43:45]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
So, yeah. I think that's part of the reason, too, why I didn't cue you to do this episode. If I had to guess, I think I probably saw that you co. I know that I saw that you collated this because we needed to give it to our indie press stores. And I looked at the list, and I was like, I just. Yeah, it's those books.
- [44:03]
Katie Cobb
Yep.
- [44:05]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
There was something about last year that had everyone coalescing behind, at least in our community, a smaller number of books. And I just. There was nothing wrong with those books. I just felt like I didn't have anything interesting to add to the conversation.
- [44:19]
Katie Cobb
Right.
- [44:20]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
That wasn't already out there.
- [44:21]
Katie Cobb
Right. Okay. So with that in mind, there were a few little points of interest for me. I always love seeing a backlist book show up on here and one of them that that happened for was an Indie Press list pick in 2024 released in 2020 in an instant by Suzanne Redfern. Yes, I love seeing that. That something hit well enough from the Indie Press list that it made it onto the top 10 lists of art bookish friends. That's exactly why we love that program. Right.
- [44:47]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right.
- [44:47]
Katie Cobb
There were a few that released in 2023 and even made the 2023 best of list, but then stuck around for 2024 and that includes the Many Lives of Mama Love by Laura Love Hardin, released in August of 2023, made that list and is now still again hanging out on the 2024 list. Tom Lake, same thing released that summer, made the 2023 list again, showed up on the 2024 list. And all the sinners bleed by SA Cosby came out in June of 2023 and is on the 2024 list. So those ones had some staying power that we don't see for the rest of the titles on that list. And I always love finding those. I do have a few that are still on my tbr the Wedding People, you Are Here and Lion Women of Tehran. But I mean it's mostly either books that I've read or books that I have written off completely and not a lot of in between between those two options for that favorites list. Right.
- [45:45]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I was really happy to see the Colton Gentry or the. Yeah, Jeff Zinger. He was at the fabled Book Lovers weekend and really, really, really liked him. Loved hearing about his career arc. Loved hearing about why he wrote that particular book and how fun it's been that it was like a very surprise success. So that was one that was just really fun to see on the list. But yeah, it was a. The marketers did a really good job last year getting us all behind a set number of books for sure.
- [46:18]
Katie Cobb
And then just briefly touching on the least favorites list. Number one was the Ministry of Time by Kellyanne Bradley. Number two was the Fury by Alex Michaelidis. Three had a tie for Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson and the Heaven and Earth Grocery store by James McBride. And then there's another 13 on this list. A lot of them I can see the polarization for them even if they are books that I liked. So. Like yellowface by R.F. kuang, Starling House. Loved. But it's on the least favorites list on spot number five in a tie for spot number five.
- [46:56]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. Which also includes. I'm Thinking of Ending Things, one of my favorite Books of the year. But I can totally see this book being incredibly divisive.
- [47:04]
Katie Cobb
Yes, definitely. Butcher and Blackbird. Of course. Like, okay, first of all, those people probably shouldn't have read Butcher and Blackbird. Honestly, I feel like I tried to steer them away. The Husbands by Holly Grimacio. All this and More by Pong Shepherd. I mean, they're books that we can see. See why somebody would not like them. No giant surprises as far as that list goes.
- [47:27]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Well, I mean, I. I didn't appreciate the fact that Alperton Angels was the Mysterious case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Howlett. I was given side eye to that being on the list.
- [47:36]
Katie Cobb
Okay, so those people are banned. It's fine.
- [47:38]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
No, but I just was like, but the word. Like your least favorite of the whole year. I like, you know, but again, they can be wrong. Well, they. Every. Not every book is for every reader. You know, I'm going to be talking about the new Janice Howlett real soon. And not every book is for every reader, Katie.
- [47:54]
Katie Cobb
Correct. That's correct. And so again, we're not going through all 24 of the top. We're not going through all 16 of the bottom of this list. But we had some highlights that are going to be in show notes. And also I sent this image to Megan and she will put it in show notes. So if you are interested in looking at the entire compiled list for both of these, that will be available to you in our show notes on our website. If it doesn't populate in your podcast app, which I think it probably won't. So go check it out there.
- [48:23]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And stop reading Alex Micheliti's books, people. Come on. Come on.
- [48:28]
Katie Cobb
Why even pick that up? His books are always on the least favorites list. Whenever there's a new one, they're always on the list.
- [48:34]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Be better.
- [48:35]
Katie Cobb
Okay, but still, I just want to do a little happy dance about Draco. It just makes me so happy that there's fan fiction on the top list. It just. It makes me so happy.
- [48:43]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Why does it feel chaotic to me?
- [48:45]
Katie Cobb
Maybe because 2024 was when the world caught on fire.
- [48:49]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I mean, yeah, I guess it has that same kind of like, I don't know, is that what we're doing now? I mean, I know that. I'm so glad that it exists, but there's a part, there's like a rule following part of me. I'm sure that like a year from now when half of my top 10 is fan fiction, I'm gonna look back on this and laugh. But right now it Just feels kind of like chaotic. Like, is it really. There aren't enough books in the world.
- [49:13]
Katie Cobb
We can blame Jamie B. Golden for two of these, actually, which is Draco Melfoy and what Happened to Nina. Both of those were on her top list of 2020. When did we talk to them on her top list of 2023, we had Knox and Jamie both on the show and they shared their top five books of the year and both of those were on Jamie B. Golden's list. And then they both showed up in the top reads of 2024 lists for our listeners. So.
- [49:40]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And those were ones that were.
- [49:41]
Katie Cobb
Thank you to Jamie.
- [49:43]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Very popular with so, so many readers. I mean, I haven't dipped into any of the Harry Potter fan fiction, but man, one thing I, one thing I do love is I do love it when people find something that they just go headlong into. Like where they're like, I haven't read anything except this for six months. Like, I kind of love it when people just like fall for something. And that seems to do that for a lot of readers.
- [50:10]
Katie Cobb
Definitely. And actually that right there, Meredith, is the perfect segue to my fountain wish. So I'm not driving, but I'm going to take right over. I'm going to tell you that my wish at the fountain this week is to press this is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch into your hands. I read the whole title. This is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carvin nearly three years ago and now it lives on my forever shelves and I think about it regularly. This book speaks to how women's interests are often minimized or dismissed within the culture at large. But it doesn't have to be that way way for her specifically. She has a special kind of crush obsession with Benedict Cumberbatch. But this is not just a book about that actor who she says has like kind of a weird face and is very tall and gangly. And that's okay. He does show up many times in the text, though. Instead, it is a book about how your interests are valid even when you want to go hog wild. They are worthwhile no matter what draws in your attention. For some of us, it might be what Meredith calls unicorn gathering or finding exactly the right person for the thing. For others, it might be a hobby like puzzles or crochet or fan fiction or building little bookshelf nooks. It could be a person like Pedro Pascal or a fandom like Disney or Harry Potter. It could be something that feels female centered and specific. Or it could be that it would be dismissed if a male said they loved it, but. But a female liking it makes it girly. This book is readable and thought provoking and it enables us to put words to that feeling around frivolity versus authenticity. Whatever your thing is, enjoy it. Dive in with both feet, love it with your whole heart. And pick up. This is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carbon.
- [51:55]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
You know what's funny, Katie? I haven't even read this book and it's living rent free in my head.
- [52:00]
Katie Cobb
It's so good.
- [52:01]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
In a good way.
- [52:02]
Katie Cobb
Honestly, I think it would be a great Here Comes the Guide book club book. Like, y' all do those kind of leadership book clubs every once in a while? Yeah, I think it would be so good for that.
- [52:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's a very interesting conversation about women and what we like and how we tell ourselves we can't like it or, you know, all of that. And I do. I am. It brings me so much joy when people become obsessed with weird ass things. I just. Yes.
- [52:27]
Katie Cobb
And just, like, let themselves love it.
- [52:29]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, I'm obsessed, weirdly with, like, obsessed with this Instagram account or it's a TikTok account. You. I don't know if you know it, but her name is Shauna the mom.
- [52:40]
Katie Cobb
Okay. I don't think so.
- [52:41]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I, like, I've become unhealthily obsessed with this account and I.
- [52:46]
Katie Cobb
Would it be unhealthy if it were somebody that wasn't you?
- [52:48]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Well, I mean, I guess it's the same as, like, I realized all of a sudden that I had a bunch of, like, shows that people were asking me, like, have you seen this? Have you seen that? And I was like, I haven't watched. It's because I have been watching Shauna the mom, and I am obsessed with this, like, show. It's like she plays all the parts of an ongoing story around this family and this friends and this woman. And it's. It's about parenting and it's about marriage and it's about friendship and it's about, like, is it okay to be friends with a guy? Or you're legitimately just friends with them. But then is that weird? And I literally, I find myself going like, is the next episode up? Is the next episode up? But at the same time, it's so fun to get head over heels over something like that, right?
- [53:36]
Katie Cobb
Yes.
- [53:37]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I just love it. And her new episode should be up. And Jen's about to have her baby finally. I'm so excited. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but it's gonna be great.
- [53:46]
Katie Cobb
But by the time this episode releases, everyone will know.
- [53:48]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Oh my God. And Greg's gonna be the dad. And he's such a green flag. But anyway, Jen has had a long dating life and she really had a hard time. But then she found Greg and it's brought her a lot of her own self actualization. So she's become a better sister and a better sister in law and it's just been wonderful to watch. Anyway, I told you. Obsessed. Obsessed.
- [54:08]
Katie Cobb
That's okay. It's not about Shauna the mom. It's about loving what you love.
- [54:12]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. But I also do really like Shauna the woman. Shauna the mom. Okay.
- [54:16]
Katie Cobb
Anyway, what's your fountain wish?
- [54:18]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I'm glad we talked about that because my fountain wish.
- [54:21]
Katie Cobb
So everyone watched Shauna the mom.
- [54:23]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I mean, it's not bookish at all, but also, yes, that. But no, I mean, my wish. I just. As I was doing my notes for this show, I was like, I guess my wish is that slumping wasn't a thing because, Katie, I am in the worst book slump. April was such a crap reading month for me and I keep getting books and having super high hopes for them because they're from authors that I've really liked before or the book I've been really looking forward to. And then I read it and it's mid at best. Or I just am not interested in anything and I'm dnfing all kinds of things and I don't know, I just feel out of sorts.
- [55:02]
Katie Cobb
Yeah.
- [55:02]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And I just don't. I'm not. I'm feeling distracted. I think I'm feeling really mentally and emotionally distracted. Not like there's anything bad going on, but just I'm feeling very distracted. And so every time I go to read, I feel like I can't sink in. Do you ever have that feeling? Like, yes. I'm reading the same paragraph over and over again. Even when I'm reading in a room completely by myself and it's quiet. Like, what's wrong with me?
- [55:28]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. And actually I had a banger of a reading month for April, and now it's May 10th and I've finished, I think one or two. It just like hit a ditch as soon as we entered May. And I don't know what happened. I did sign divorce papers, but I don't know, it just like cratered right at the beginning of May.
- [55:48]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
March was huge for me. I read a bunch of books that I really Loved. I think I ended up reading 16 books that month. Like, that was my reading retreat was in that month. But just in general, it was just like, all cylinders. And then, yeah, it really does ebb and flow this way. But slumps are the worst because when you're slumping, it always feels like you're forever gonna be in a slump.
- [56:09]
Katie Cobb
You're never gonna read again.
- [56:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
You can never have a slump and just be like, oh, it's all right. It's gonna be over soon. I always feel like this is it. This is it. It's done. It's over.
- [56:18]
Katie Cobb
Yes, yes. Put, like, create the gravestone and shutter the podcast.
- [56:23]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's over, people.
- [56:24]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, yeah. But no, that's exactly how I feel. I get it.
- [56:28]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
So while you look for a new co host, Katie, I'm going to close the show out for. No, I'm just. I'm joking. But it's going to come back. My reading is going to come back. It's okay to have a slump. Our rational minds know this.
- [56:41]
Katie Cobb
Yes. We can know it in our heads, but not in our hearts. And that's okay.
- [56:44]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah. All right, that is it for this week. As a reminder, here's where you can connect with us. You can find me. I'm Meredith. Meredithmonday Schwartz on Instagram, and you can.
- [56:53]
Katie Cobb
Find me, Katie, at Notes on Bookmarks on Instagram. Probably not. Talking about books. Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Putamong Evans. And you can find her on Instagram at most of Megan's reads. She does talk about books.
- [57:04]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
She is talking about books and good books.
- [57:06]
Katie Cobb
Actually, you're talking about books a lot. You have all these great posts. Posts going. I'm like, wow, I am dropping the ball.
- [57:11]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I'm doing something new. I do have to say that I am. I am really trying. And that may be part of the reason why I've been so distractible is because I've been in this mode of thinking in terms of social media content creation. And so I haven't been. When I get in that mode, that actually might be related, a really big part of this is because I've been in that mode so fully that when I have that time, I'm like pulling my laptop open and I'm like, like, you know, hamster at the keyboard. So it's a little aha moment there right here in the closing, which nobody listens to anyway.
- [57:46]
Katie Cobb
So that big drop off, some. Somebody's gonna hear this and they're gonna be like, I have a thought about that.
- [57:52]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Somebody tell us if you listen to this I want to know bookish friends. Let's just go to the bookish friends who probably are the only people if you hear us have this conversation this week it put it in the bookish friends group. I just am curious but we persist full show notes with the title of every book we mentioned in the episode and timestamps so you can zoom right to where we talked about. It can be found in our show notes and on our website@currentlyreading podcast.com youm.
- [58:16]
Katie Cobb
Can also follow the show at currentlyreading Podcast on Instagram where we also talk about books or email us@currentlyreading podcastmail.com yeah.
- [58:24]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Betsy's doing a great job to helping us talk about books on social media. Gold star, Gold star Betsy. If you really want to help us rate and review us on Apple podcasts, shout us out on social media or become a bookish friend, it's $5 a month on Patreon and you get a ton of bookish content, a lot of bookish community and you keep this show.
- [58:43]
Katie Cobb
Commercial free and and bookish friends read books so that's also exciting.
- [58:47]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And they talk about books and they.
- [58:49]
Katie Cobb
Are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and get closer to our goals.
- [58:53]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, until next week, may your.
- [58:55]
Katie Cobb
Coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.
- [58:59]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Happy reading, Katie.
- [59:00]
Katie Cobb
Happy reading, Meredith. There.