Podcast Summary: Currently Reading

Season 8, Episode 20: Finding Bookish Twins + Organizing Our Recommendation Sources
Release Date: December 15, 2025
Hosts: Meredith Monday Schwartz and Kaytee Cobb

Episode Overview

In this episode, Meredith and Kaytee delve into the joys and quandaries of navigating the vast universe of book recommendation sources. They explore what it feels like to find a “bookish twin,” discuss how emotional responses affect their reading habits, share their top recent reads (both fiction and nonfiction), and conduct a practical deep dive into how they track and curate book recommendations. The show wraps up with their “Wishes for the Fountain,” encouraging listeners to give themselves reading grace and sharing a podcast-listening hack.

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Bookish Moment of the Week [02:07]

• Kaytee’s Moment:
  • Dinner conversation with bookish friends Lizzie and Jen about being so emotionally overwhelmed by a book that you have to set it down.
    • Kaytee does not experience this, saying, “If I'm obsessed with a book and I love it, I will do anything to keep reading. I'm like, children, fend for yourselves…” [03:09]
    • Meredith admits she does relate:
      • “I feel myself becoming invested to the point where I'm going to be vulnerable to that feeling. And that's, I think, where I'm like...sometimes I'll take a break because it just feels like too much.” [05:39]
• Meredith’s Moment:
  • Found a "book twin" in social media recs via Bookstagrammer Caitlin M. Lilly.
    • “...her videos are really, really high quality...we had all the same opinions on books...” [09:15]
    • Finding readers who match your taste “just makes me feel so positive about the world.” [10:27]

2. Current Reads

Kaytee’s Current Reads

• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin [10:45]

  • Classic, foundational feminist sci-fi novel — groundbreaking for its time and still powerful.
  • “This book is like philosophy mixed with science fiction...I loved the way that I had to think about the science fiction and the world building in this.” [14:52]
  • 4 stars; compared it to Hartman’s I Who Have Never Known Men; some slower, politically dense sections.

• Of Boys and Men by Richard Reeves [19:52]

  • Nonfiction exploring the struggles of modern masculinity in education, work, and family.
  • Kaytee was wary but found it nuanced:
    • “I finished this book in September and now it's three months later and I still think about it every day as I look at the boys I'm raising and I consider how to make sure that I'm turning them into the best men that they can be…” [25:06]
  • Engaged with ideas like “redshirting” boys in school and the intersection of gender roles and education.

• I, Medusa by Ayanna Gray [32:40]

  • YA/New Adult Medusa retelling; lush, evocative, and feminist.
  • “This lush and evocative new adult retelling of the Greek myth fired on every cylinder. It was propulsive from first word to last...” [34:11]
  • Suitable for opening conversations with teens about consent and female autonomy.

Meredith’s Current Reads

• Life and Death and Giants by Ron Rendo [15:16]

  • Interwoven lives of small-town Amish, focused on Gabriel, a prodigious boy.
  • Deep emotional resonance; narrator perspectives include a veterinarian, Gabriel’s grandmother, a bar owner, and a coach.
  • “I read this novel with...emotional trepidation. From the very first pages I knew I cared way too much about these characters and I knew that author Ron Rendo was going to break my heart. And he absolutely did.” [17:22]
  • Docked one star for a jarring scene of magical realism.

• Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid [26:19]

  • Nonfiction exploring the history and science of forensics.
  • “Easily one of the most interesting works of nonfiction that I've read. Not just this year, but ever.” [28:02]
  • Full of memorable real-life forensic cases, advances in technology, and transparency about the limits and ethics in forensic science.
  • Fun detail: Each page has a tiny illustration of a blowfly [31:02].

• The Creeping Hand Murder by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper [36:33]

  • Interactive, illustrated, Agatha Christie-style murder mystery that readers solve by piecing together evidence.
  • Targeted at adults despite playful visuals; physical print is essential.
  • “It comes from Maureen Johnson...and Jay Cooper, who illustrated your guide to not getting murdered in a quaint English village. You know that book, and it's like if a mystery novel and one of those hunt a killer mystery boxes...had a baby.” [38:13]
  • Quirky format and abrupt ending – requires reader engagement to unveil the solution.

3. Deep Dive: How Do You Track and Curate Book Recommendation Sources? [43:47]

Listener Question:
Rachel Kolbrenner asks for strategies on managing multiple sources (social, podcasts, groups) and keeping track of where one hears about books.

Kaytee’s Advice:

• Humorously suggests just using Currently Reading’s resources and search tools (“We made it so easy!”) [44:41].
• Realistically notes, “Whatever you do to keep track of who recommended a book has to be so easy that you can do it in, you know, two seconds without thinking about it. Because otherwise it will become too onerous...” [45:16]
• Suggests entering new books directly into a spreadsheet TBR with a “recommendation source” column before shelving them [52:04].

Meredith’s Approach:

• Uses screenshots on her phone when she encounters book recs, captions the images with the rec source (e.g., “Caitlin M. Lily”) [48:39].
• For print books, adds a post-it with source and date inside the cover [48:39].
• Her main use is for post-read data: assessing which rec sources (friends/bookstagrammers) match her taste [46:59].
• Extra: uses bookmarking functions (Instagram, TikTok) for rec posts [54:07].

Additional Tools Discussed:

• Storygraph’s tagging system for quickly marking rec sources [52:22].
• A forthcoming upgrade to the hosts’ reading tracker spreadsheet for better source tracking [55:41].
• Ultimately, both agree: Track only what is meaningful to you and don’t feel pressured to make reading into “work.”

Notable Quote:
“If you don't want any part of your reading to be work, I very much support that. And this is something that you should just completely let, like, just let it go. It doesn't matter. The book found me and it was supposed to, and that's all that matters.” – Meredith [55:32]

4. Wishes for the Fountain [57:46]

• Kaytee:
  Wishes listeners will “give ourselves grace to start small” in implementing any reading life changes or tracking systems [57:46].

• Meredith:
  Excitedly shares a podcast app tip: On Apple Podcasts, you can set the play order to Oldest to Newest for binge-listening archives without endless scrolling [60:11].

  • “I am not kidding you that I had literal tears in my eyes when I figured this out...” [61:14]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Meredith (on emotional overwhelm in reading):
  “I feel myself becoming invested to the point where I'm going to be vulnerable to that feeling. And that's, I think, where I'm like...sometimes I'll take a break because it just feels like too much.” [05:39]
• Kaytee (on bookish twins):
  “When I feel those moments, I'm like, shh, Everybody go away. I've got to do the thing. I've got to be in it, you know?” [06:01]
• Kaytee (on raising boys):
  “It’s a joy and an honor to parent these boys and I’m grateful to the men I have around me who invite these kids into conversation regularly…” [25:47]
• Meredith (on forensic science):
  “She gives us examples of how they can also go really wrong...she’s committed to showing the full picture, including the controversy, the budget constraints… and the very real human costs.” [29:51]
• Meredith (on deckled edges and French flaps):
  “If there’s a book that has French flaps and deckled edges, it’s like a guy with great hands and forearms, like, please shut it down...” [57:11]

Useful Timestamps

• [02:07]: Bookish Moments of the Week (Kaytee’s and Meredith’s emotional reading experiences)
• [10:45]: Kaytee’s first current read — Left Hand of Darkness
• [15:16]: Meredith’s first current read — Life and Death and Giants
• [19:52]: Kaytee’s second current read — Of Boys and Men
• [26:19]: Meredith’s second current read — Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime
• [32:40]: Kaytee’s third current read — I, Medusa
• [36:33]: Meredith’s third current read — The Creeping Hand Murder
• [43:47]: Deep Dive — Tracking Book Recommendation Sources
• [57:46]: Wishes for the Fountain (reading life grace and practical podcast tip)

Tone and Style

Warm, candid, and practical—Meredith and Kaytee maintain their signature blend of close bookish friendship, book nerd enthusiasm, and gentle self-deprecation. Conversation is cozy but deliberate, with strong opinions, honest confessions, and supportive encouragement for all types of readers and organizational preferences.

Summary for New Listeners

Whether you’re seeking your next “book twin,” wanting to tackle your messy recommendation-tracking system, or just enjoy hearing two friends dig deep into the emotional and practical sides of reading, this episode is packed with robust book discussions, heartfelt moments, and actionable tips for organizing your readerly life—without ever turning a bookish passion into a chore.