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The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 8, Episode 19: Reading Short Books + Deep Dive w/ Megan P. Evans
00:54:04
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A
Foreign.
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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 already know, we don't shy away from having strong opinions. So be ready.
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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.
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I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona. And my books needed a little something to change them for the better.
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A
And I'm Megan Puttivong Evans, a mom and editor living in Nashville, Tennessee. And reading big books is really hard for me right now. This is episode 19 of season 8 and we are so glad you're here, y'.
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B
All. I am so excited today because as you can hear, we do have a different voice on microphone. Today I am joined by our editor, our producer, our magic maker behind the scenes Megan to record this episode today, we asked her to step in. It's Thanksgiving weekend here in the US So everybody was a bit busy. I am thrilled for you get to hear directly from Megan today and we're gonna learn a little bit about her reading life. Megan, thank you for hanging out with me.
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A
Of course, I may have had to change my pants before this because I was so excited, but I'm here.
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B
Were you nervous? Were you excited?
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A
I was very excited. Very excited.
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B
Okay.
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A
I'm not that nervous, but I'm excited. So we'll see. We'll see. I gotta slow my talking and take out all my things so I don't have to edit as much later.
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B
We'll see.
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Right? As editor, you know what happens behind the scenes if somebody has a lot of verbal tics or a lot of things going on. So I'm excited for you to get to be on the other side of things.
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A
We will see.
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B
As you know, we are going to get started the way we always do with our bookish moments of the week. Megan, what is yours?
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So I alluded to that in my bite size intro that books are not going well with a new baby and life and audiobooks are saving me. But I have read one large book this year and I am proud of it. So that is gonna be my bookish moment of the week. So I decided to conquer a classic like from the front Porch with Bookshelf, Thomasville, Annie B. Jones, all of that. I did not do Don Quixote. I was a little too intimidated and I came in late. So I decided I'm gonna go back. And I chose lonesome dove from 2024, so good by Larry McMurtry. And I was still a little intimidated because it's a western. I don't read that genre. I was pregnant all of 2025 until July, so wondering if I was gonna finish my chapters on time and was I gonna make it after July or was this gonna be rolling into 2026. But I ended up finishing it in October on track, like I was supposed to, and I was very proud of myself, and I loved it. I can understand why it's such a classic. I can understand why people say, you don't need to read the rest of them, just read this one. I know we are not animals, but I'm not reading any more of them. But I really did enjoy it, and I've already gotten the schedule for 2026, and I've already purchased the book with them. I'm not a part of their Patreon, but I was able to purchase all of it individually. And so next year for 2026 is the complete stories by Flannery O'. Connor.
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B
I have that on my shelves.
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A
I've never read Flannery o', Connor, so I'm.
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B
I don't think I have either.
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A
Very excited. And it's, you know, short stories, one at a time, a few a month, and I feel like that will be manageable for me, just like this was. So if that's the only big book I get in in 2026, it will be fine. That's fine. I have two toddlers, but it's my one big book that I'm like, I did it.
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B
You did it. That is so satisfying to get to the end of a long reading project. Right. When you've been making that very slow, like, bookmark progress. Yes. Throughout. Yeah. Be proud of yourself. But gold star from me also.
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A
Thank you.
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B
I love that.
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A
What's yours?
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B
Okay, Megan. I utterly delighted myself this past week when I decided to go full bore on Wicked. Nonsense. My mom had gifted me the Lego set Wicked bookends about two months ago, and I had not found the time to get into the building of them. That's fine, because even the box is pretty. Like, it just. It's like a black box and it shows all the different views of it. Right. But when I saw Wicked for Good in theaters twice already, I knew I wanted to rewatch Part one before going back for the second time to watch with my kids. So I started the movie and I opened Bag One at The same time of this LEGO set. And I immersed myself fully into the experience. A few small pauses for snacks and such, but I found myself finishing the last few pieces of the final bag right as those final notes of Defying Gravity played on screen. It was magical. And now I have these beautiful bookends to hold my in case of emergency break glass books. They had already been separated off into their own pile, but having them surrounded by this monument to female friendships and pink and green. And then if you open them up, there's all these different minifigs inside. It's just so fun. And it makes them shine so brightly. I love them.
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A
That's awesome. So is one book in green and one book in pink?
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B
Yes. One is Glinda, and it has butterflies from Wicked for good. It has a book like the History of Oz. It has a couple flowers, little tulips, and it's very pink and bubbly looking. And then the other side is green. It has the big W for Wicked on it. It has a green bottle. It has the Grimory. And all these things kind of open up. So when you open up the bookends, you can see Glinda at Shiz and Elphaba in the Emerald City. You can see there's Fierro, Madame Morrible, Shenshen. Oh, my goodness, the wizard are all part of it. And you can, like, tuck them inside it. So it's very fun, super wicked, and very nerdy.
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A
I love it. That's so cool.
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Yes. It was a great gift from my mom. She always knows what's going to make my heart happy. So, all right, let's get into our current reads. It's okay that they're not all giant classic books. I don't think I have any giant books today. But what have you been reading lately? What's your first book?
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A
So I did end up bringing small books. That was kind of my theme for this episode because it's what's working for me right now. So I'm trying to also advocate for other people that small books still count. So this is what I'm gonna bring today. So my first book that I want to talk about today is the Book of I by David Greig. I wish more people would read this, so I'm bringing it so that more people can hear about it. So here's the setup. The year is 825 CE. In the aftermath of a vicious attack by raiders from the north, an unlikely trio finds themselves the lone survivors on a remote Scottish isle. One is Brother Martin from the monastery. He hides in the unlikeliest of places in order not to be martyred along with every other religious figure on the island. Next is Oona. She's a beekeeper whose husband dies in the raid, so now she is finally free. And last we have Grimer, a lively but aging Norseman who I don't even want to say what happens to him because I think it ruins part of the magic of this story. As the seasons pass in this lonely isolated setting, their distrust of each other slowly ebbs and instead we have this story of found family, love, redemption, along with the humor of a modern day comedy. It's only 160 pages, but this tiny little book is in the running to be the top book for my entire year. I'm not kidding. From end paper to end paper, I was totally engrossed and I could not wait to read what happens next. I laughed out loud multiple times, stopping in the middle of a paragraph to go find my husband and read him a line. You'll hear about it later. How audiobooks are saving my reading, but my hold for the digital copy came in first and I literally took every waking moment to read this book. I'm breastfeeding, I'm doing laundry, the baby's in the bath and he's splashing around for five seconds and I'm looking to read this book. So if you're looking for a book that packs a lot into a very small amount of pages, I highly recommend the Book of I by David Greig.
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B
Oh my goodness, I have never even heard of this. Is this new release? Is this backlist.
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This is the only one that I'm bringing that came out in 2025 and I think it came out in September. I'll correct myself pretty self if I'm wrong, but yes, I think it's September, it's small. I saw it on Instagram, someone shared it in their stories and the cover's beautiful. And then I saw one person in the bookish friends group talking about it. Could be the same person from Instagram, but I did not catch the username so I don't, I'm not sure, but they're the only person I have seen talking about this book and they're the reason I read it. So now I want everyone to read it.
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B
Interesting. Okay, Yeah, I love that and I love, I love a small win especially. I think this is the perfect time to talk about those because people are looking at the end of their reading year and they're concerned, you know, maybe, maybe they haven't read as many books as they wanted to this year because their life is in a total upheaval. I don't know who that might be, Katie Cobb, but like a good small win that is actually just excellent is a great thing to talk about in December.
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A
Exactly, exactly. So what's your first book?
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B
Love it. I am bringing one from the Indie press list this year. I'm going to talk about Blackwood's Blue sky by Eowyn Ivy. So I already had this book on my TBR for about six months when Book Tenders put it on their stack of five books for the July Indie press list. Much like Eowyn Ivy's first breakout hit, this one is set in Alaska. It gives us that dreamy magical realism vibe that she's so, so known for. And her first one is the Snow Child. That's the one that if anybody has read AO and Ivy, it's usually that book. She actually has three now, but they're all set in Alaska. Here's the setup. Birdie is trying her hardest most of the time to get her life together. She works not far from home, like walking distance at a local roadside lodge in Alaska. Sometimes she has to bring her daughter Emily to work with her, but she works hard enough to keep that daughter's belly full. And that by itself is an achievement as single mom in small town Alaska. Arthur Nielsen is a strange and reclusive man with brutal scars across his face, both physical ones and emotional ones. He's quietly present, despite the fact that he's a hulk of a man. He's like, they're always talking about how tall he is, how broad he is, how wide he is. He speaks with this strange presentness to his speech. Nothing is past or future for him. He'll talk about his teachers in school and he'll say, my teachers always do this thing. Thing. Currently, even though he's talking about when he was a child, everything he tells is happening now. When Emmeline gets lost in the woods one day, be still, Mother hearts, because everything's okay. Arthur is the one to bring her home. Even though most others in town avoid him. Birdie finds herself strangely drawn to him, especially the remote cabin in the woods where he lives, which brings back memories for her of fishing and hiking with her grandfather in the tundra and all those beautiful things that she associates with the Alaskan wilderness. When she uproots Emmeline to move to that tiny cabin with Arthur, it's probably against the better judgment of her family, her friends, everybody in town, but she goes anyway. There they are utterly alone. Thankfully, Birdie is as prepared as she's sure that she needs to be, because Arthur disappears for days or weeks at a time. But Birdie is competent with her rifle, and she knows how to fish. She can stir, start a fire, and she can keep them fed. Those disappearances, though, and the isolated nature of the cabin make the stakes ratchet up higher and higher for Birdie and for Emily. In the meantime, we as readers are sinking into the wilderness and the wildness of Alaska. It's dangerous and gorgeous at the same time. I As a reader, I'm not always great at suspension of disbelief, but I really loved my time in this story, in this world that Eowyn Ivey is building. I first tried reading it in March of this year, right after I went to the Tucson Festival of Books because she was a featured author there, but it just wasn't hitting right for me. And it was because we were already warming up here in Arizona and I needed cooler weather. So when I tried again in the fall, it worked out perfectly. So that timeline is I tried reading it in March. Booktenders put it on the indie press list in July. Still wasn't working for me. I I love the writing. I loved the story idea, but I couldn't get into it. So I set it aside without prejudice, came back to it as it started to cool off. Perfect timing. Emmaline, the little girl is so easy to root for, and as readers, we really want to protect her from everything that's wild and harrowing outside the doors. Birdie makes decisions the rest of us are shaking our heads at. We might not be rooting for her, but it does feel within the realm of possibility. Arthur is gentle and kind, but moody and distant and a little unpredictable. So so we're left feeling lost in the woods, relying only on Eowyn Ivy's surehand to show us where to go. I think this book is a great pick for the end of your year. It's not going to end up on my top books of the year or my favorite books of all time like the Snow Child did, but it felt very much like returning to that world she had built that I still love now. And so I'm glad that I read it. This is Blackwood's Blue sky by Eowyn Ivey.
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Oh, that sounds so good. It is one of the very few books that I bought from the indie press list, so this is one of the very few. It's sitting on my shelf. I'm waiting for it and I might have to maybe get to that maybe January, February. January is perfect physical copy. Hopefully I can get to a physical copy of a book and I will crack it open. It'll be one of the first books of the year. So I'm excited for that.
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I think that's great timing for it. It has that like dark blue and black moody cover. So it, that feels like January to me. Not sure why. Yeah, there's colors with months, I think.
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Yes, yes. And I read the Snow Child because of currently reading and I really loved it. So I think this one will work pretty well for me too.
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So this is so great because I this is some of the stuff that I really want to get into for our deep dive about what it's like to know all the content before it releases and how it impacts your own reading life. So stuff like, like a little preview of what our deep dive is going to be today. Let's talk about your second book.
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A
My second book is actually a series, but I'm going to bring the first one because I don't think cozy mysteries make an appearance very often on the show. I know that they're read, they've been read in the past, but I do know people in the bookish friends group who do read them. And so this one just may be one that is under the radar and maybe a new one they can start for the new year. So the book is called the Deep End by Julie Mulhern and it is the first in the country club cozy mystery series. So here's the setup set in the backdrop of 1970s Kansas City. Our main character, Ellison, is swimming at her local country club early in the morning. When she swims up on a body, it's not just any body, but the body of her husband's mistress. Ellison is a successful artist and mother, but she has long stopped caring about her husband's philandering ways. But now she's a suspect in this woman's murder. So of course as any cozy mystery, she has to work to clear her own name before the killer finds her. What I love most about this particular series is that this is not a young woman whose boyfriend has dumped her or her marriage has fallen apart and she has nothing and she has to go home to be supported by parents going back to her childhood bedroom or going back to her parents shop or bakery or anything like that. Ellison is not a young woman. She's an established adult. She doesn't need her husband's money, so she's successful. She has a teenage daughter. So there's parenting elements in this One which I thought was really interesting. She basically doesn't need rescuing. It's not a drop down and then come back up type of story. Yes, there are very predictable elements, such as new loves and bodies everywhere and friendships that are being made. That found family element you get with cozy mysteries a lot of times. But she is her own person. She has her own thoughts and feelings. And I loved that. As an adult reader going back to read this, I'm no longer 25, and I don't relate to those cozy mystery characters as much anymore. So, Ellison, her love of coffee could rival Lorelai Gilmore. And her relationship to her mother is also very much like Emily and Lorelai in the Gilmore Girls. You've got this woman who's an artist, who wants to be her own person, raise her daughter a very specific way, where they are friends. And her mother, who every time she finds a body is so disappointed in her, wonders what the people at the country club are going to say about her. You have to still go to these dinner parties and save your face. What are you wearing? It is very a la Gilmore Girls, which I also love. So it feels like I'm stepping into a very familiar place because I've seen every season of gilmore girls, like five times. So there are currently 20 books in this series.
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B
Oh, my gosh.
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I have been reading this since 2016, almost a decade now at this point, and I get excited for each and every one of them. I genuinely love all of the characters. I love the side characters. Julie Mulhern is a great writer. She has other things. I've never stepped into those other areas of her writing. But if you're looking for a cozy mystery because you think I've read every single one of them, there is no new one. And you haven't heard of this one. I really do recommend it. The first one is the Deep End, the first in the Country Club series by Julie Mulhern.
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B
So this probably is also where I should admit to you, our dear Megan, that I have never seen any episodes of the Gilmore Girls.
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A
It's fine.
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B
Do you still love me?
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A
It's fine. I understand.
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Why some people are not attracted to the show. I don't agree.
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B
I never even tried it, so it's not like I have anything against it. I just. I don't know.
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A
You would hate.
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B
I would.
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A
Yes. I think you would be so annoyed with her. Everything she does, you'd be like, that was dumb. Why did you do that? I don't agree with that. Please don't do that. I could Just see you being mama bear and just being so disappointed.
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B
Lorelai's the mom though, right?
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A
Yes, yes.
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B
Okay.
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A
It's great. Emily's actually one of the best characters and she's like the most hated because she's the matriarch mother, Lorelai's mother. And that whole dynamic of that relationship of this really rich country club, like wealthy connections, mother and this child who no one says is a disappointment, but it's implied that this child could have done so many other things. And you know, in the book, she's an artist. It's. You're making a living doing art, you know, there's that undertone versus you could have married a wealthy banker and you could have been a, you know, stay at home mother who does charity work, stuff like that. It's another dynamic that's very interesting in this book that you don't get a lot of times, because a lot of times the mothers and the daughters have these very tight knit relationships because the child is coming home to be supported by their parents because they've lost something, a job, a fiance or whatever. And so it's coming home to this wonderful family unit. No, this mother and this daughter really butt heads on a lot of things and it's something that I actually really enjoy. I feel like that's more truth to, to parent child relationships. Sometimes they're messy, so.
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B
Yeah, yeah, I can see that. All right. Well, for my next book, I have some nonfiction for us, which, as you know, often ends up in the middle slot for both of us. I am going to talk about House Love by Patrick Richardson. The year is not over yet, although it feels like it's creeping up on us very fast. But sometimes you just need that kick in the pants to clean the slate. Spring cleaning is a big deal elsewhere as, as well as like New Year's resolutions for a purge of our possessions. But for me in Arizona, fall is when we start to cozy up in the house, open the windows to air out rooms and carpets, and it felt like the right time to pick this one up. Of course, Patrick Richardson is the laundry evangelist and many of us picked up a copy of his book Laundry Love when it came out a couple years ago. This is kind of a follow up. I'm guessing he had a two book deal at the time, so. So it follows up to that and it gives us some great tips and baselines for keeping our homes tidy while remembering that they are real places that we live and love. They are not magazines. Right. We don't like, make them cute and then Just look at them. We live here. Much like his approach to laundry, Patrick uses this book to remind us that our homes, like our clothes, are not meant to sit unused. Even your dry clean only clothes in Laundry Love. He encourages you to wear them, to use them. They're meant to be enjoyed. They're meant to get dirty and need regular cleaning. Whether you're living in a tiny home, a fifth floor walk up loft or a sprawling estate, Patrick walks us through each room in our homes by introducing us to his own house and the ones that he grew up in. I love his gentle and joyful way of looking at the spaces around him and therefore around me, and the short and sweet tidy up lists he includes in each chapter. Those lists also include a 5 minute and a 10 minute playlist for each room of the house, making it easy to drop everything and clean for small chunks of time in the best order to make the most impact possible. I still reference Laundry Love all the time. It's the only book that lives in my laundry room, but I will go look up specific stains, I will look at specific instructions for how to take care of kind of more delicate wearables. It makes that laundry room just another bookish place in my house. But this one will sit perfectly, happily on the shelf next to my other home books like the ones by Mike Quillin, Smith, Mercury Stardust, Safe and Sound and Right at Home by Bobby Burke. He writes these books that have a very specific place in my life and I'm really glad that he does, especially because, like I said, he's very joyful. Whether you're listening to the audiobook or reading the text, you can feel how bubbly he is about the way he lives his life and it's delightful to read. Even if you're like, this is weird that I'm enjoying this book about laundry or about cleaning my house as much as I am. So this is House Love by Patrick Richardson.
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A
That sounds great. I did not read the laundry one because I am like a 50% housewife. I'm not very good at these things and so maybe I should read it and then I'd be better, but I just do what works and I'm like, okay, nothing happened, nothing shrank, nothing died. Anything else. So we're good. I'm that kind of mom, that kind of wife, but it's fine. This one does sound very good though. I'm always about getting as much done in as little time as possible with young children.
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B
That's the key here.
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A
Yeah, I will definitely be looking at that one. Because with young children, there are things like we haven't invested in yet. And so keeping the things we do have nice until they're older, when we can replace them with nicer things or, you know, like you said, those task lists. In the small amount of time getting stuff done, I do try when my mom is here to help with the babies to time myself and say, okay, she's leaving at this time. Let's see how much I can get done between now and the time she leaves. And usually it's more than any other time of the week.
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B
Yeah, 10 times more than that. Yeah, exactly.
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A
Awesome.
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B
All right, let's get into your third book. What do you got?
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A
My third book this week is perfect for this season. I picked it specifically because it is small and because it is very atmospheric for winter. It is called above the Fire by Michael o'. Donnell. So here's the setup. A father, Doug, and his son Tim are grieving the loss of Tim's mother. For some distraction and some extra bonding, they decide to take a late season backpacking trip through the mountains of New Hampshire. The setting is beautiful and they're making friends along the way. Soon, however, they are receiving reports of warfare and social collapse down in the rest of the world. Doug makes the decision to take Tim even deeper into the backcountry to try and actually survive on their own. The winter is brutal and the novel follows their trek through this wilderness, facing the elements, the solitude, and even some encounters with other survivalists. As spring approaches, they have to decide, do they stay in the wilderness alone, just the two of them, or do they attempt to hike back to civilization or what might be left of it? I really loved the parent child bond we get in this novel. I haven't read too many father son novels like this. The father's very emotionally attuned to his child. I did the audio, so we do get a perspective of both father and son at different points in the novel. So seeing this, living alone, working through, trying to survive, getting firewood, finding a dry place to stay, through the son's eyes as well, which is really interesting. I think he's around 8, 8 to 10. So old enough to help, still young enough to feel like a true child in this situation. The sense of place really felt like a character. It was blistering and cold and harsh and it felt like a modern day. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Where they're on this trek, they're on this journey, it's the two of them. If they meet somebody, are they and an ally are they an enemy? Is this person going to help them survive or is this person going to attempt to steal their food type of a situation. I realize that I really enjoy a winter post apocalypse novel. It's just tense and it makes me want to turn the pages because I'm almost cold myself. I want to get to the end to figure out are these people going to survive? Is everything going to be okay? If you've ever read Moon of the Crusted Snow by Wabgesig Rice, that book just had its sequel come out, Moon of the Turning Leaves and these Silent woods by Kimmy Cunningham, I think that you would really enjoy this one because they all have that sense of wilderness alone. Bond family. So this was above the Fire by Michael o'.
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B
Donnell.
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A
And I do want to say again, it's very short. It's about 230 pages, so even the audio is short. You can get through it while working on a puzzle in a couple of hours.
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B
That sounds really good. I didn't love the Road because it's so bleak, but I do love that like father, son, post apocalyptic journey. It gives me vibes also of the Last of Us, which I could have Pedro Pascal in my mind every day for the rest of my life and not be sad about. So that like older man ferrying this impressionable youth across the wilderness and the dangers and that sounds really good. I haven't, I haven't even heard of this book, which with those similarities it feels like I should have.
- [28:56]
A
I got this from Libro fm. It was one of my very first advanced listener copies and it's from Blackstone Publishing and I just loved it. It's got good ratings, but not many.
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B
Okay, interesting. All right. My third book has a few strange similarities with your third book. I'm going to talk about Sky Full of Elephants by Sibo Campbell. This book messed with my head in all the best ways. I of course bought it because of the title, knowing nothing about it because it could have said sky full of elephants or sky full of octopuses. I still would have bought it. Despite the fact that it sat on my shelves for nearly a full year. I decided it was finally time to pick it up. Also on a whim, who can resist a sky full of elephants? As we dive into this book, we are just on the heels of a never before seen cataclysmic event. On a single day, every white person in America stops what they're doing, kind of zones out a little bit and starts walking toward the nearest body of water where they drown themselves. That's the start, right? Yeah. Your eyes. Yes, exactly. About a year later is when we get into the story. We meet Charlie, a black man who spent time in prison under a wrongful conviction. He's now making his way in this totally changed up world. He works as a professor of solar and electric power at Howard University, teaching the students what he was mostly self taught. And one day he receives a call from his daughter Sydney, a 19 year old he didn't even know existed. Until he hears from her, she is utterly alone. Her white mom and stepdad and family walked into the lake behind their home and she's not sure where else to turn. It's been a year and she's just trying to manage. She's been isolated for the past year in Wisconsin and finally reaches out to Charlie, a man she's never met and has always resented for his absence, even though he didn't know she existed. They meet for the first time and start out a journey that reminded me, look, I even wrote this in my notes of Pedro Pascal in the Last of Us.
- [31:07]
A
Yes.
- [31:08]
B
It's a journey across America that is truly changed. And neither of them really know how to navigate the new systems of travel and government that they find along the way. Sydney has heard of an enclave community in the south where she may have a long lost aunt, so she wants to go find it. They head toward what is now known as the Kingdom of Alabama to see if they can find community and prosperity there. Along the way, heading south from Wisconsin, they get to know each other for the first time. This story went so many places I didn't expect and I loved it for that. It's surprising and reflective and thoughtful. It's also strange to read about and imagine as a thought experiment like we know that race is a social construction so why would all the white people like what is happening in the world in their brains and what's going on that would make this strange event happen? If there's no genetic difference between white people and people of any other race because race is made up, right? It was so interesting. It's hopeful. While balancing this darkness that we might expect when society explains experiences a huge change up in a short period of time. I love a peek at what authors think might be coming for us when something completely unexpected and apocalyptic occurs. And this was no different. Sibo Campbell imagines a world that's utterly changed and also has some of the same divergences from utopia that we see today, making it a dystopia. It's a magnifying glass on our society. And communities while also zooming out to a much bigger picture. And even though past Katie threw this in her cart without looking at it and past Katie picked it up without reading about it first, present Katie is okay with that, and future Katie will continue to let her call the shots because this was a good one. I gave it four and a half stars. And even though I read it about a month ago, I still think about it every single day. This is Sky Full of Elephants by Sibo Campbell.
- [33:08]
A
The very first thing I thought of when you were talking about that was 50% of me is white. So.
- [33:16]
B
Right. That's what's going on with Sydney.
- [33:18]
A
Would that be the part that goes into the water or would be the part. Or would the other side of me not go into the water?
- [33:27]
B
Right. Like, where would your. What would draw you? Right. The part that says to stay or the part that says to go? Right.
- [33:34]
A
That's very interesting. And were there other elements in the book about other races besides black?
- [33:41]
B
White. It's mostly black and white because Sibo Campbell is a black author. Sure. But there are. There are other people in this world. We're just mostly focused in on Sidney and Charlie who are fully black and half black and white. Gotcha.
- [33:56]
A
Because, you know, you got that ambiguous, like, well, what about everybody else? There's a lot of brown, right? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But that sounds so interesting. And the COVID looks so cool.
- [34:07]
B
It is. I don't.
- [34:08]
A
Still don't know what elephants have to do with it, but it looks very, very inviting. I definitely want to pick that one up.
- [34:16]
B
It does get explained where the title comes from, so that is not something that you're left wondering by the end of the book, but it's very integral to what's happening at the center of all these questions that we're asking. So I'm not going to tell what the title actually refers to, but it's important to the story.
- [34:35]
A
Awesome. Well, very cool. Yeah, I'll definitely pick that one up. And did you read it or do it on audio?
- [34:41]
B
I listened to it and the narrator was great.
- [34:44]
A
Okay, good. Because like I said, that's pretty much all that's working for me right now. So if I get the audio, then at least I know already that it's enjoyable and that I don't get in it and then think, oh, man, this is not as enjoyable as I wanted it to be.
- [34:58]
B
Exactly. Okay. Those were our six current reads, which means now we get to get into Megan's reading life and Megan's life in general, when our bookish Friends tell us about how the podcast has changed their reading lives. A lot of them have really great answers. They share with each other about finding a reading partner or being willing to pick up things they never would have before. But dear Megan, nobody has an answer like you do. Right. I went back through my emails to the. The one that I went to look at was March of 2022, when we started turning over editing to you for the full episodes and rereading those notes that Meredith wrote up, which really set the tone for your work with us going forward. Before that, you were doing show notes and social media and whatnot. So we're looking at like five years of you becoming this integral part of our team, taking over more and more of the behind the scenes action. But let's talk about how that actually started. Where did currently reading come into your life?
- [36:01]
A
I worked in a library for a really long time. So I started at the Nashville Public Library shelving books, and I also naturally progressed there. Then I was circulation, and then I was children's librarian, and then I was adult librarian. And throughout that time, I would have to Google resources, I would have to look things up for people, I would have to do things. And some of the things that I would have to do is create little articles for the library website or whatever. And one of them was bookish podcasts to get into. And in 2019, that was one of the things I was searching and looking for and going into itunes. And I don't know how I stumbled upon currently reading, but I did. And I think the first season had already been out, so I came in in season two.
- [36:56]
B
2019.
- [36:56]
A
Yep. I remember hearing little Ollie in the background and I remember the house I was living in and I would listen on my drive to work, even though my drive to work was five minutes, every time you guys uploaded one, I would put it on. I'd be listening when I would shelf books before we opened. And it just became part of my routine. At that point, working for you guys ended up just.
- [37:19]
B
You sent us an email and said, I think I want in kind of thing. Right. But it just happened to work out that it was a time when we were looking for a little help and it wasn't a lot. We weren't like, oh my gosh, finally somebody that we get to just start dumping everything on her. That would be great. Right?
- [37:39]
A
Right. Well, what happened is I ended up updating the press list and the spreadsheet. I updated the press list spreadsheet for myself. Like the books that you were pressing into people's hands. And so I emailed you and said, hey, I finished this for myself. Here you go, so now you don't have to do it over again. And you emailed me back and just said, oh, my gosh, thank you so much for doing that. Do you want to keep doing it every week? And I, every week would listen and I would get to the end of the episode and hear the books you wanted to press in each other's hands, and I would upload each and fix the spreadsheet, and then everyone else would get to look at it. And I did that for. I mean, there was no money exchanged and I was 15 minutes of my life, you know, I did it for probably that. Just that for a year or maybe like six months.
- [38:29]
B
Probably like six months. I want to say, at least just.
- [38:32]
A
Because I wanted to and because it took something off your plate and it was easy and I was listening every week anyway, so why not do it right? And then you came to me and said, hey, you're already doing this, so how about you do some more?
- [38:46]
B
This next little thing. Yes, it's like a war of attrition.
- [38:50]
A
It's the natural progression that I seem to be doing with my life in every profession I have.
- [38:55]
B
Right? But in the meantime, since that first fateful day, a lot has changed for your life, right? You no longer work at the library, you're now staying home. You've had two kids since you started working for us. And there's been. Your reading life has evolved and adapted quite a bit. You've taken on other clients for editing. You've gotten really good at it. And now we're at this point where it was so funny to me to go back and look at that March 2022 email, because it's like, we're like, don't worry, we're going to listen after you're done and, and first ask us, like, we trust you, but we, we want you to ask us about anything if you're concerned or if you're worried about it. And now I laugh to think of it, because our conversations, every once in a while, very infrequently, you'll say, is it okay if I leave this in or is it okay if I take this out and we' you can do whatever you want because we know it's going to be perfect for our show, our vibe, and currently reading as a whole. So what has that process been like to go from like, regular listener, normal, human to we created this job and this space for you and now have given you this, like authority and autonomy of do your thing. We, you've got this. Enjoy your life. What has that been like over the years?
- [40:14]
A
I will say this position feels exactly like what I would want for my life if I were to dream it up before, if someone were to ask me because I'm a big introvert, I'm very much like Meredith, where it's like, I don't want to talk to you unless I have to, but I will, and I'm very nice about it. And I really enjoy being able to still listen to the podcast, still interacting with bookish people. But I'm in my own space. I'm my own boss, kind of, and I make the decisions, the executive decisions, because I know you guys at this point. I know what you would want to stay in and I know what you would want to take out. There have been certain things where you've said something off the cuff in a special episode and I come to you and say, I'm taking that out. That's not something we need on the Internet forever. Or something stays in. And the people in the bookish friends group say, thank you for leaving that in. That was so funny when I didn't even consult you. I just did it and it ends up being great and people really love it and I know they would love it. So I don't give you the option to second guess yourself on whether they would love it or not. But it really has changed the way I live my life. I am able to stay home with my I. Well, I did stay home with my daughter for the first two years of her life and was able to just work during her naps and at night. And I'm there now with my son and able to pick up my daughter from school and my stepdaughter from school. I'm not beholden to a vacation schedule or like an approval. It's been beneficial for my family in so many different ways, honestly. And I think one of the biggest changes for my actual reading life is that I'm pretty positive. 80% of my reads are from the podcast. Now I don't have to go looking for any book. It's all at my hands either. With the indie press list with Love and Chili Peppers, all things murderful gifts. I am never having to look for gifts for bookish people in my life because it's there. Those decisions are just automatically, quickly made for me. I mean, my bookshelves are exploding, which is, like I said earlier, I try to contain myself. But when you're editing three episodes a week Sometimes it gets very hard for me to control that. But at least it's not drugs.
- [42:45]
B
That's what we all have to say.
- [42:46]
A
I just tell my husband, hey, I'm breastfeeding. We're saving so much money on formula.
- [42:52]
B
Mm.
- [42:52]
A
It's. It's going towards books and coffee. Basically, at this point, it's my treat. I deserve it.
- [42:59]
B
Right? Exactly. I mean, I think there's probably a question about, do you. Do you, like, build up, like, a base immunity at some point? Right? Because that's true. I mean, it's not really true. Y' all can still hear. We're in season eight when we finish talking about a book, and I will be on with Meredith and be like, I need that right now. Like, why are we even still recording at this point? And when I was editing things behind the scenes, or before we transferred things all the way over to you, I occasionally would say, like, I wasn't part of this conversation. I need this immediately. What is going on in my life? And I know we've had indie press list episodes where you will say, hey, before this even goes out, can you send me the best of the rest for this bookstore? Because whatever they're doing, it is working for me, and I need it in my veins. Right? So we love the fact that you're not just somebody off the Internet that does podcast editing. You were a reader first, and that's what really mattered to us in finding somebody to partner with in this way. Because you can make those executive decisions. Because, you know, it is interesting to hear about that one thing. Right? Or when a conversation goes totally off the rails, or when we follow a bookish rabbit trail all the way to, like, well, what about this connection between those two things? What about that? And making that reader first mentality makes you the best editor and producer we ever. We couldn't have grown you in a lab and made a better person to do this with us. So is there anything else about just the way that being in a bookish land, week in, week out, hours of your day, multiple times a week, has impacted your life overall?
- [44:46]
A
I will say I don't listen to the podcast anymore. Like, I don't listen.
- [44:52]
B
Right. You listen so closely.
- [44:54]
A
I listen in fragmented segments every week, Monday through Friday, but I don't listen to it all the way through, even after editing. I just don't. So it goes out, and it goes out. I also don't listen to any podcasts, any other reading podcasts. I just don't need them in my life anymore. I still utilize the Library. Because I was a librarian, I'm such a proponent of public libraries. I don't negate any purchases from the indie bookstores or small businesses. But I am 95% a library user. And so as soon as I hear something like you said, for of you guys talking, I will go pick it up or put it on hold at the library. Sometimes you guys talk about a book that I've already read and then I'm cheering as I'm editing because you liked it. We haven't, we haven't overlapped at the point yet where someone doesn't like a book that I like, which is great because I think that's another reason why we work so well together, is because our tastes align. I align with both you and Meredith in different areas. So I'm very into your diverse and social justice reads. I'm very into Meredith's fantasy and sometimes murdery books. I was in my thriller era in like 2018-2020, but not so much now. But I do love editing all things Murderful. Elizabeth is a joy to listen to in my ears every month. I just love all of it. And it really does change the way I talk to people in public. It changes the way I talk to people on social media. I am constantly saying, well, have you listened to this episode? There's a whole episode about this if you're looking for this book and doing this. So it really has infiltrated every facet of my being. But that's what you do, right? You find a job that you love and you don't work a day in your life, is what they say. And so I feel like at the end of the day, even if I'm up at, you know, 10:00pm after the kids have gone to bed, or I wake up at 5:30 because I've got to finish something. Yesterday we got home at 2:00 clock from Pennsylvania, and at 3:00, I was sitting down and finishing working because I didn't finish it during Thanksgiving because I was busy.
- [47:13]
B
Had the four days off to be with your family.
- [47:15]
A
Right. But it was Sunday. I was like, I got to get this done because people are counting on it. That's the only thing I think that would be a negative is Sunday. Sometimes life gets in the way a little bit and I'm too flexible. So there's that flexibility of saying, I can do this tomorrow. And then tomorrow something happens where it's like, I should have done this yesterday.
- [47:36]
B
Right.
- [47:36]
A
But other than that, I mean, it has just been the biggest blessing to me and my family and having this to say. I went from the library to. I stayed home with my daughter, but I still had this thing I'm able to say, I still have a job, I'm still working, I'm a working mother. And it gives me a sense of accomplishment and it gives me a sense of satisfaction every day that I probably wouldn't have. Honestly, for me personally, as a stay at home mom, if all I was personally doing was keeping house and taking care of the child. It gives me that external sense of validation.
- [48:17]
B
Yeah.
- [48:17]
A
That I think I desperately look for in my jobs, which is why I have that natural progression all the time in my work because I'm always looking for that moreness. And it's not money moreness, it's just moreness within myself. A challenge to continue to do new and different things. I really appreciate that you guys took a chance on some random lady on the Internet.
- [48:41]
B
Hey, it worked out great for us. We say it all the time. But it's so great to get to say it in person where everybody can hear it, that there, there are times we would not have made it, we would not still be doing currently reading if we could not have offloaded some of the things that you took on for us. And we love podcasting also. It's a phenomenal job. That's not a job like it feels like fun. And also we get paid to do this thing we love so much and it's a lot sometimes there's a lot of work that happens behind the scenes to have a partner in that. Not just partners, Meredith and I with each other to develop and curate and turn this into something, but then to have somebody come along and say, okay, now let me take it from here. You've created the thing. Let me turn it into something. A shiny gem for everybody else has been life saving and life giving on so many levels. And we just frankly would not have made it to season eight without you, so.
- [49:41]
A
Well, that's very sweet. You would think I'm an enneagram too, but I'm not. I'm an enneagram.
- [49:46]
B
8 as we know, that is the same journey that I went through. Okay, well, as you know, we now get to go over to the fountain and make our cute little woo woo wishes for the. The reading lives of others or for ourselves or just reading. Just bookishness. So what are you going to wish for this week, my dear?
- [50:06]
A
My wish is simple. If you do not read short books because you don't think that they count as reading, I wish that you would read Short books. I have found some amazing short books, a lot of them due to currently reading, and they have made as much of an impact on my reading life as any other book. I feel like I'm guilty of this, that I think, oh, it's not a real book or it's not a 336 page book. So I feel guilty for counting it on my reading list when it's only 150 pages or 200 pages they count. And that experience of reading that book counted. And so I wish that we could all just enjoy all of these short novels because those writers are just as important as writers of bigger books too. So ping splash.
- [51:03]
B
Ping splash. All right, I this week I'm going to wish for a book parade like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Of course, as we said, we've just finished Thanksgiving weekend in the US in real time. But here's what I'm picturing. This is a little like the seasonal previews that Fabled does or the one hour with Bill that an unlikely story does. But I want a national or international event, maybe on World Book Day, which is in April, where we can all sit on the couch drinking yummy things with our notebooks and our tbrs open in front of us and we get a preview of what's coming up and what has been hitting it big this year in books. As I watched the parade this year, I loved getting to see old favorites like Snoopy, who is 60 years old at this point, has been in the Thanksgiving Day Parade for so long. And I love seeing the new things, the the shows that are just now hitting Broadway. And then I loved celebrating Wicked with Cynthia Eribo and watching the Rockettes high kick into the season. I want a book celebration show like that. Maybe not with High Kicks. It's not going to have big balloons like that, but it could. Instead, it would be a parade of new bestsellers, classic wins like Lonesome Dove, upcoming titles that you should have on your radar, and current favorites that are really sweeping the nation. Let's celebrate bookishness like this on the national stage. Let's block the streets and do it big and then show it on every station. That's my wish. Pink Splash.
- [52:28]
A
I love that wish.
- [52:30]
B
Would that be fun?
- [52:31]
A
I would attend every year. That is amazing.
- [52:35]
B
All right, y', all, that is it for this week. As a reminder, here's where you can connect with us. You can find me Katie at Notes on Bookmarks on Instagram and Meredith is at Meredith Monday Schwartz on Instagram.
- [52:47]
A
The show is edited and produced by me every week and you can find me on Instagram at most of megansreads.
- [52:56]
B
Full show notes done by Megan with the title of every book we mentioned in the episode and timestamps done by Megan so you can zoom right to where we talked about it can be found on our website and in our.
- [53:07]
A
Show notes@currentlyreading podcast.com youm can also follow the show at currentlyreading Podcast on Instagram or email us@currentlyreading podcastmail.com and if you.
- [53:19]
B
Really want to help us, if you want to continue making this show happen, become a bookish friend. You will get great community, amazing additional content and you help keep the show commercial free. You can also rate and review us on Apple podcasts or shout us out on social media. All of those make a huge difference in our finding our perfect audience.
- [53:39]
A
Yes, Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and giving me job security and get closer to our goals.
- [53:47]
B
Megan until next week, may your coffee.
- [53:50]
A
Be hot and your book be unput downable.
- [53:53]
B
Happy reading Megan Happy reading Katie.