A (2:27)

It really is. I. I'm spoiled for a good time. I'm spoiled for an ad free listening experience.

B (2:34)

Oh yeah. Honestly, I really. There's nothing, you know, I get it, right? But when I don't have to keep hitting that 15 second jump ahead just to get back to my content, it's like the best day ever.

A (2:46)

It really, really is. Okay. But that is our mischief managed for the month. So now we're all done for all of March and we get to get to the way we always get started, which is with our bookish moments of the week. Mary, you get to go first.

B (2:58)

Awesome. Okay, so Katie, as I noted in my bite sized intro, I have been debating sharing this now or and you'll see why in a sec. But it this particular book as related to my bookish moment has been such a delight in my reading life lately that I just couldn't not bring it today. So bookish friend and friend of mine, Ashton and I have been reading the book A Comfort of a Backyard Year by Margaret Renkle together and it has just become such an anchor for me and a bright spot for me lately. This book starts on winter solstice and continues in a like bite sized kind of weekly secular devotionals almost themed around the natural world. So Ashton and I have been reading just one a week starting on Monday with kind of savoring these little bite sized bits of wisdom on nature and life and we voice memo back and forth with our thoughts and our reactions and everything in between. This has been a really, really grounding way for me to disconnect from like the world of humans. Right. And connect with just the natural world for just a few moments a week to have that good kind of reset and reg. It is just like bringing me, I guess just grounding is the best word. It is really grounding to me. It's given new meaning to my weeding in the yard, to filling my bird feeders, to hiking through the woods in a way that is just saving my life amidst the rest of the stress and upheaval around us right now. And it's really fueling and sustaining me to be able to continue to be present and active in doing what matters to me back in the real world. Right? I hesitated to bring this book now because I really do think this is where I'm gonna get bossy. I really do think that you need to read this book week by week, slowly over the course of a year starting on the winter solstice. I Think you should pace it out as you watch winter unfurl and think about the ways that we are getting closer to the spring. And I'm sure I'll feel the same way as we move through spring and get closer to summer and so on and so forth. And it's just simply not possible to do that if you were to jump in right now. However, if you were, I would say if you really wanted to, you could catch up and then go week by week. We're only nine or ten weeks in, right from winter solstice. Of course you can read this book, however, and whenever it appeals to you. But you know, I will be giving this one the full treatment at the end of 2026. It's probably going to make it on my best of list after having spent a year in its words and reflections. But right now, I just couldn't not share what a delightful repeating bookish moment it's been for me lately.

A (5:28)

I love that I did not read it like that. Katie and I read it together. I do recommend it as a buddy read for sure. And I have to ask, you are reading it on paper, Mary?

B (5:39)

Yes.

A (5:40)

Okay. Because the illustrations, the like, seasonal color inserts. Oh my gosh, that book is so stunning, gorgeous.

B (5:51)

It is an experience.

A (5:53)

Yes, indeed. So Katie and I did binge read through it. We love A Year in the Life, but we don't spend A Year in the Life. In the Life. Yes. And. And we loved it that way as well. So I agree with Mary that if you wanted to, you could read maybe two a week until you're caught up to the current week and then join along with Mary and Ashton in their delightful buddy reading of this through the rest of the year. And it really will add so much to your reading life.

B (6:20)

I love that. And I love too, Katie, that you can speak to the experience of not doing it week by week style. Because obviously every reader is different. Right. So if someone is hearing me and saying, heck no, that's not for me, great. You get Katie's seal of approval on that method.

A (6:35)

You're allowed. You're allowed. It's okay.

B (6:38)

I love it. All right, Katie, what about you?

A (6:40)

All right, Mary. My bookish moment this week is a cute little upgrade for my E reader. One of our lovely bookish friends, Alex Cox, reached out to Meredith and I and offered to make us custom Kindle lock screens that reflect us specifically as readers. And because she's been a listener for forever and a day, she knows our taste so well, all we had to do was say yes. And she was off to the races. So this only works if you are one of the readers who displays the COVID of your current read on your lock screen, which means you have to have an ad free device. But it's so delightful that I find myself intentionally backing out of my book and switching to Alex's lock screen cover just so that I can have it laying out on the kitchen counter or the kitchen table or on my nightstand. And I'm like, look at that. It has some of my very favorite romance tropes on mine. They look like little conversation hearts and it says Katie's Kindle. Meredith's is very specific to her. It's a delight. I am not going to describe it just in case she wants to bring it later as her own bookish moment. We will link Alex's Instagram in the show notes. If you are interested in reaching out to Alex, you should do that directly with her. Again, link in the show notes. And it's just like this little bit of happy joy that I get to see my E reader there and just be like that. Makes me joyful.

B (8:01)

I love that. I've never been angrier at myself for not having the ad free version, but my Kindle's like 7, 8 years old. Not like I bought it a while ago. Knowing what I know now, when it dies, I will treat myself to a device that I can put Alex's beautiful lock screen on.

A (8:21)

I'm not here to enable any additional money being sent to Jeff Bezos, but I can tell you that within your account settings, you are able to pay the $20 difference at any time and make any device ad free.

B (8:35)

No, that's tempting. Okay, let me ask you this too, because I have family members and maybe I should just ask Alex this, but I have family members with Kobos. Is this only for Kindle, do you know?

A (8:47)

I don't know if she has migrated it to other devices yet. I don't know about the settings on other devices because I'm looking at a couple different devices for whenever mine dies. Finally. And so that is in the back of my head, I was like, okay, are these options in other device worlds? And maybe our bookish friends can tell us because they use things like Kobos Nooks Books, which is a different genre of E reader that I've been looking at lately as well. So we'll get some information and figure it out.

B (9:16)

We'll find out. I love it. That's so cool.

A (9:18)

All right, let's get into those current reads. Mary, I'm excited to hear what you've been reading lately.

B (9:23)

Okay, Katie. Well, my first book this week is Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett.

A (9:31)

My eyes. Okay, Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter.

B (9:36)

You know, as I was prepping this, I was like, what a title this is. In fact, I read this a while ago. I read it as an arc and I was like, are we sure? Was it always the title? Did she change it? Anyways, so yes. Agnes Aubert and her Mystical Cat Shelter. Those of you who have been around for a while know that Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde series is one of my all time faves. It is Comfort trilogy reading to the nth degree for me. So of course, when I saw that she had released this standalone, cozy kind of mystery, I suppose, with cats, of course I had to read it. Agnes Aubert is a methodical, rule abiding cat shelter owner in 1920s Montreal who just wants to take care of her charges, grieve her late husband, not get kicked out of her shop's rental storefront due to her cat's shenanigans. When a magic blast outside her charity sends Agnes on the hunt for a new lease, all she can find is a suspiciously cheap rental that comes with a requirement that she'll promise not to go down into the basement. It's not long into her new rental tenure that she discovers that the bottom floor is inhabited by Havelop Renard, feared and infamous failed dark lord responsible for nefarious deeds that nearly triggered the end of the world and sent him into exile not long ago. But it's not long in his company that Agnes begins to believe that he may not be the uncomplicated vil he's long been believed to be. And when an enemy from Havelock's past surfaces and puts not just the cats, but maybe all of Montreal in danger, she may need to set her prejudices aside for the good of all Katie. This book was so fun, I'm realizing as I'm setting it up, I'm like, this just sounds absolutely madcap. But this book is not as silly, I think, as you would anticipate it being. Just by synopsis alone, it very much is similar in vibe and tone to the Emily Wilde series, if that was for you. Heather Fawcett paints such a vivid picture of 1920s Montreal and man, I just really loved being in this world. It is Montreal, but magical, right? So in addition to the fantastic setting and the intriguing plot lines, she takes this shelter full of cats and gives them such personalities in the way that we all do to our pets, not through an anthropomorphizing, like, way. They're not speaking, they're not running around as comical little cartoon characters, right? But the way that we all give our cats personalities or interpret their personalities, dogs, etc. And it just like took these cute, sassy little background characters and made them such a true part of the story in a way that our pets just really inhabit our lives. It was like, yes, this is exactly what it would be like for, you know, someone to have to be running a humdrum kind of normal business while magic is kind of imploding all around them, right? So as with any Heather Fawcett book, she crafts these worlds that we really want to exist in with characters we just want to know they're cozy but complex. It's maybe lower stakes, but also compulsively page turnable. My one qualm with this story was that it didn't seem fully resolved to me. But she claims it's a standalone book. So be prepared that you may not get the complete resolution you were hoping for. If you're anything like me, Agnes Aubert and her crew didn't usurp Emily Wilde's place in my heart, But I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I find myself still thinking about it even weeks or months after initially read this book. This is the perfect one to cozy up with under your blanket in front of the fire in these waning days of winter. Maybe with a cat perched on your lap. That is Agnes Aubert's mystical cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett.

A (13:05)

Okay, you did say you read this one as a galley. Is it out now? Soon?

B (13:10)

Okay, it is out now. Yep. I think it came out maybe a few weeks ago. Yeah.

A (13:15)

Okay. All right. I do not have any worlds that I want to live in in my books for today.

B (13:23)

All right, let's hear them decisively.

A (13:25)

Even the real world nonfiction 1. Don't want to live there either. Okay, so my first book this week. I'm curious if you've read this one, Mary. I'm going to talk about Mate by Ali Hazelwood, which is the follow up to Bride.

B (13:39)

I checked it out from the library, did not get around to it, and so now I'm back in the queue. I'll be really curious to hear how this one landed for you.

A (13:46)

Okay. Like I said, it's a follow up. It's a second book. It's a companion novel, but it's not a book in series. It's more like a romance series where and even in fact, on StoryGraph and Goodreads, it's not even labeled as like Bride number two or whatever.

B (14:01)

Sure.

A (14:01)

But we do have some of the same characters in here. Bride by Ali Hazelwood was her first official foray into paranormal romance and dealt with an arrangement and opposites attract situation between a werewolf and a vampire in order to keep the peace between two factions that are constantly on the brink of war. That book focuses on Misery Lark as our main vampire character. To pivot to this one, readers need to know that Serena, Misery's childhood companion and confidant in the first novel, is now the star of the show. However, the setup for this novel does include a spoiler for a piece of information revealed at the very end of the first book. So if you haven't read it and you desperately want to, right now is a good time to pause or skip ahead. And yes, I'm making this a little longer just in case, but you can go to Mary's next book if you want to read Bride still. Okay, so at the end of book one, we find out that Serena is half werewolf, half human, probably the only one in existence here in Mate, we are reintroduced to Serena as she grapples to understand herself and her ancestry and where she fits in this world that she's living in that is made of full humans and full werewolves and full vampires. But nobody like her. It was thought that her choice to out herself as the first hybrid between humans and werewolves would make it easier for those two sides to understand each other. But instead, she finds herself being hunted. It's a dangerous game that she's playing. She's a target for everyone involved. Humans, werewolves, even. The vampires are out to get her. Because an alliance between humans and werewolves means that vampires are now the odd man out and could put them at a disadvantage. It's a huge mess. So she finds herself turning to an unlikely source for safety. Cohen, the Alpha of the Northwest Pack. He's a full werewolf, is a young pack leader, but a fierce one. He holds himself and his pack to the highest standards. He's a perfectionist. He fiercely protects those within his orbit. When he quickly and quietly and nonchalantly reveals that Serena's his mate, no big deal. It's clear that he's the right choice to keep her safe, even if Serena doesn't reciprocate his feelings. And he's determined to keep them under control at all costs. That's why the NBD at the at the end of this, oh, by the way, you're my mate, just forget it no big deal, right? Blood runs hot and so does desire. This is forced proximity Paranormal romance. I would say it runs pretty typical for Ali Hazelwood spice levels which is different for all readers, but plenty will put this at a four chili pepper end of their personal rating scales. That's also where Romance IO ranks it in their rating systems, which is a great website if you you are looking into a book that you haven't heard about and you don't know where where the chili peppers are. They've ranked and rated a lot of romance on that website. I devoured this one, pun intended, in a single weekend. It's probably clear from the setup that there's quite a bit of external political maneuvering happening within the storyline and I didn't find that to be the most exciting piece of the story, but it didn't detract from it enough for me to not enjoy it. Serena and Colin are both flawed protagonists, but they're easy to root for. So I rated this one just slightly lower than Bride as I gave it 4.25 stars overall. This was mate by Ali Hazelwood.

B (17:15)

I am realizing Katie, when I brought Bride, whenever that was I was like now I'm gonna read more at least a year, right? I was like I'm gonna read more paranormal romance. And I don't think I've picked a single one up since then. So this is like a good. I'm like okay, that sounds like that could be a fun. I also read Bride in like a weekend, right? Like a good dip. Just totally binge it. So. All right, I'll have to check and see where I'm at in the library queue on that one.

A (17:40)

All right, let me know what happens. What's your next book? Mary?

B (17:44)

My next book is a solid pivot from Paranormal Romance. This is Before I Forget by Tori Henwood Hoen. 26 year old cricket Campbell is stuck. She's stuck in her flashy but exhausting dead end job at this Manhattan zeitgeisty wellness company. She's stuck in a situationship. She's stuck in the loop of a tragedy that she's still grappling with from a decade ago. Her feet barely underneath her, she gets further knocked off course by the devastating news of her beloved dad's Alzheimer's diagnosis. Cricket decides to move back home to the quaint and rustic cottage on the lake that has been practically one in the same with her father since her childhood. And she takes over caregiver duties for her dad from her older sister while she tries to figure out her own next steps. As Cricket and her dad settle into a rhythm together, she begins to suspect that as his memory fades, he is seemingly beginning to be able to predict the future. Before long, Arthur cements his reputation as this unlikely oracle. But for Cricket, believing in her father's prophecies might also mean that she's got to face the most painful parts of her history. As she begins to remember who she once was, she uncovers an important truth. The path forward often starts by having to go back. Katie, I'm sure you can imagine I really love a father daughter book, especially if it's a father daughter grief book. While this one looks nothing like the end of life experience I had with my own dad, there is just something tender and special to me about reading about the dynamics in this kind of relationship. However, when I went into this book I think I was hoping that it would kind of wreck me more. And I say that carefully, right? But I think I wanted this to be a capital F father loss book. But really this one is more of a coming of quarter age story, a story of redemption for Cricket and her past. And yes of course a story of her relationship with dad, but in the end his loss and illness really just kind of becomes a background to the rest of the narrative unfolding. Once I reset my expectations, I can really see the beauty in this setup for what it is. And it truly is a really unique and interesting, lovely reflection on all sorts of loss and change. I've read Tori Henwood Hone's previous book and even brought it to the podcast I think way back and I really appreciate how she tells a unique and compelling story with plot lines that aren't just kind of a copy and paste of whatever else is on the market right now. I definitely think the best way to go into this one is with just little expectation and just know that you're going to be told a good story. Trust the author to unfold it before you. That was Before I Forget by Tori Henwood Hone Interesting.

A (20:16)

I like how I like how you said that that sometimes our expectations or our hopes for a book are bigger than we even realize, right?

B (20:25)

For sure. I don't even think I realized what I was hoping or expecting to get from it. But like when I can I was like why didn't that totally it right for me? I still enjoyed it. I still gave it a good, you know, like I think around a 4 maybe, but it ended up just like when I stepped back I'm like okay, that's a good story. I like what she did There. I enjoyed it. It's not a very long one. It really kind of pulls you in. Sucked you in. She's a good writer. So I'm seeing this one pop up here and there. It was the book of the month. Yeah. And I think it could be for many of our listeners.

A (20:59)

Yeah. All right. I like it. Interesting. Okay. My second book this week is a little uncomfortable. I'm going to talk about one day. Everyone will have always been against this by Omar El Akkad. This is nonfiction. This is five star nonfiction. It has been sweeping awards lists and top books of the year list for probably about a year. It had sat on my own shelves for about a year. So I did finally decide to pick it up with Katie, my reading partner. Here's the setup, which doesn't really work because this is nonfiction, but here's what you need to know about it. Omar El Akkad is a renowned journalist. He's got an established 20 plus year career. He's also an immigrant who came to the West, Canada specifically, and then into the US with his family with promises of freedom. Especially like this was when he was pretty young that his parents immigrated. But he has since reported on the war on Terror, Ferguson, Black Lives Matter, climate change. Like it's, it's, it's been a heavy 20 years in the news cycle. Right in October of 2023, when the conflict between Israel and Palestine reached a new level and came back to the forefront of many of our screens, he tweeted one day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this. This book and the title of course draws from that tweet which has been viewed more than 10 million times at this point. In these pages, he chronicles his own family history, his own personal viewings of battlefields and war torn communities. He uses really incisive writing to tie together these little vignettes of destruction at the very top of each chapter with the overall political landscape of North America, the Middle East, Europe, and the way that social media shapes our history and our present and the ways that we look at these broad issues through really narrow lenses over and over again. As I read this book, I was heartsick. This is a hard read. I was stricken by not only El Akkad's razor sharp writing, but his really crisp depictions of scenes that most of us have only ever seen either on the news or in Hollywood films. So it's either like the very quick glimpse or the really dramatized vignette, right? This isn't an easy read, but it's necessary. It brings clarity and breadth to a conversation that feels muddled when we distill it down to just one sentence, quips or 24 hour news talking points. There's no way to talk about this book without a gentle reminder that for all of us, whether you're reading Mate by Ali Hazelwood or the mystical Cat Cafe by Heather Fawcett or Omar El Akkad's first book of nonfiction reading is political. It shapes us through information and empathy, both and whether it's comfortable or knowledge, it broadens our responses to the world at large through imagined political machinations between humans and werewolves and vampires, or through real world terror and carnage. There is no escaping the world that we live in, not even through books. And this book reminds us all that it's easy to sit on the sidelines and see how it shakes out in the end and read about it afterward and form our opinions then. But this is the world we're living in right now. These are the lives being impacted and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Mate by Ali Hazelwood will be there for all of us also. Not to worry. So will the mystical cats. This book though, the devastation, the call to action, it is here for you also. This is one day everyone will have always been against this. By Omar El Akkad Katie, I'm so

B (24:35)

glad you brought this one today. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for at least a couple of months now. I have wanted to read it right and felt like this is the time to read it. And also I really appreciate hearing too that like this is one that you read with Katie. I feel like books like this are so powerful when they're processed together. And so I'm like, oh, there it is. That's what I was missing as I think a reading partner for it. So I'm glad you just held my hand into calling myself to action and picking this one up. And I'm glad that you brought it.

A (25:11)

I am glad too. And I, I am happy to also be that person. I think it's hard to find a reading partner for this book because you have to be ready to be in that space together. So if and when Mary, you pick it up and you say, you know, this chapter was really hard and I just want somebody to like hear my word diarrhea about it, I can be that person for you because it matters to me that you want to step into that space and that you're ready to do that.

B (25:39)

That. So, yeah. Thanks, friend. I appreciate you.

A (25:42)

All right, let's hear what you've got for your third book, because I can't imagine that we're not going up from here.

B (25:47)

We are going up from here. I saved the best. My fave. My first book of 2026, and also my like, oh, is anything going to top this book in, like, the best way possible? This last book, rather, for me this week is the River Has Roots by Amal at Motar. Katie, like I said, this is my first book of 2026. It absolutely started me off with a bang. I truly am. Nothing has knocked it out of first place yet, though. We still have plenty of reading to go. But it was such a great way to start my reading year. So difficult though this one may be to describe. I'm gonna borrow a little bit from the publisher's blurb just because I sat down to prep for the show and I was like, how. How do I. I don't know how to describe this book. So I think they did it beautifully. In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorne family. There they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honor an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family's daughters, Esther and Isabelle, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees. But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters bond, but also their lives will be at risk. So, Katie, you might hear fairy and think traditional fantasy, or maybe even romantasy. No, that is not what we are dealing with here. This is fantasy, yes, but it is also a lyrical literary gem. It is a sister story. It is a feminist story. It is a love story. It truly defies genre and trope. A bookish friend of ours recommended that I do a tandem read for this one on paper and audio at the same time. I am so glad they recommended this to me. I would not have done it. I've never done it before. I know you have. I know plenty of us have. That just had not been for me up until this point. The audio was exquisitely done, like it was truly a performance. You can hear the rushing of the river, the singing of the songs, the plucking of the harp in a way that just enhances the story beyond what I could have ever imagined when reading the paper copy alone. However, I do think you also need the paper copy in hand. There's these stunning Linotype illustrations dotting every page. And whilst once I got into the flow of the story, I was hooked. It absolutely helped me orient at the beginning as I was getting into this story with its really unusual world and setup. This is one of the authors from this Is how youw Win the Time War. This book was accessible, but it needed me to start it well. Right. I needed to give myself time to get into the cadence my bookish friend Ashton had recommended. Like, when a book is having a hard time, like landing in her head, she says she reads aloud to herself. And I was like, that's brilliant. Why am I not doing that more often? This was like that experience. It gave me a chance to slow down and not do the thing that I can sometimes do, which is like race and try and get into the story and like read fast just because that's what I'm used to, right? Like, I was like, no, this is to be savored. Right? And having that tandem experience really helped me savor it. So ultimately, this one was a win for me on all counts. It was a true delight to consume. It felt, like I said, like being present for a theatrical performance. It is a stunning sister story above all else. One of my favorite themes in fiction, and all in a fairly bite sized package that could be easily read or consumed in one sitting for a really impactful reading experience. That was the River Has Roots by Amal El Mohtar.

A (29:24)

I Is this one. Is it little, tiny?

B (29:27)

It's little. It's baby.

A (29:29)

I need to grab. I need to grab this book.

B (29:31)

It's time. You're gonna love it and do it for sure.

A (29:34)

Yeah, I know I'm gonna love it. It's so pretty too. I know that we don't judge books by their covers, but this cover.

B (29:43)

But when it's a good cover and

A (29:45)

it's a good judge, it's a great.

B (29:47)

We can be like, this is. Everything about this book is beautiful. It's so beautiful. Yeah.

A (29:52)

Oh, I love that. That. So my third book this week is Honey by Imani Thompson. All right, y'. All. As you know, I always try to bring a little darkness or a little murder when our Meredith is out in order to balance the chakras of the universe. So this week I'm glad to tell you about another academic thriller. I was very academic at the beginning of this year. End of last year. Here we go. Imani Thompson is a debut author and this debut novel focuses on Ursa. She is a PhD student who's bored with her program and the way her students demand coddling. Oh, she's mean, etc. Etc. See, she is researching racial violence and the ways that it shows up in feminist theory and literature. And even the research has grown stale for her. How is she supposed to write a whole hundred page dissertation on it? It's just theory on the page. It doesn't mean anything, right? She's in this like angsty crisis of confidence. But when she's in a meeting with a problematic professor who is kind of icky on one level and also steals people's research on another level, and she sees a simple and terrible way to exact some vengeance, she takes it. But it kills him. On accident, of course. Ursa doesn't feel bad about it, though. She's exhilarated by the power of knowing. She saved a friend from a terrible relationship. She. She saved other students from his vindictive teaching style, and she's glad he's gone. Soon she finds herself amusing herself in otherwise boring lectures by imagining how she could kill the men she sees in the news, down the street, or on dating apps when she's swiping. She's determined to only find men who have been abusive or sexist. She's discriminate in her actions. Like Dexter, right? He only kills bad guys. But she also cannot get caught. All of a sudden, that dull dissertation we were talking about feels applicable and relevant again. It's no longer just a theory. Racial violence and feminism are playing out right in front of her eyes. But nothing stays secret forever. And Ursa must either get her urges under control or find a way to make sure that she never gets caught. This novel was really fun, right? I enjoyed it a lot. And while I have not yet read they Never Learn by Lane Fargo, I know that there are others of you who will be messaging me. I can't believe you didn't listen. I know that there are similarities between that setup and this one. And yes, I have moved it up my tbr, so don't worry. Within this book, I found that Ursa's story had a bit of a gas brake problem and that there were pacing issues with the novel as a whole. But that did not keep me from turning pages even when I wasn't all the way invested in order to get to the next piece of the puzzle that I knew was going to grab me. It was just. Just out of reach. I knew it was right there if I was willing to be patient enough to wait for it. And I always did. So I'm glad I stuck with it. Now people adding this feminist rage revenge murder book to their TBRS will note that it doesn't come out until April. This is one that I read as a galley, so right now it's a pre order pre hold at the library situation. But that means it's also obvious that this novel was well before release when I read it. I am reasonably and hopefully expecting that some of the pieces that were a little bit laggy for me will have been tightened up a little by the final release. I probably got the galley of this novel nine months before release and while I didn't read it that far ahead of time, that file had not been updated. So there's a high probability that even that issue that I'm talking about will be gone by the time it makes it to readers hands. Even if not, this was a solid four star, four and a half star thriller for this reader. And while I don't read a ton of true thrillers anymore, I really loved being on the side of the antagonist rather than the victim in this one. It made it deliciously sticky and sweet. Like the title. This is Honey by Imani Thompson.

B (33:53)

Katie, if you saw my eyes dart down while you were talking, I was like add to tdr. This one sounds like it would be like enjoyable. Feels weird to say, but like like I am gonna. This is one I want to read. This one I want to read. That sounds great. I love it.

A (34:13)

Yeah, as soon as I got the publisher email about it because we get a lot of emails, right? Are you interested in this, this and this? And every once in a while, whatever it is, we'll just. I'm like one eyebrow up. Excuse me, what did you say? And this one was one of those, so I was really glad to read it.

B (34:30)

I love that.

A (34:31)

Excellent. Okay, so those were our six current reads and now we get to go into our deep dive, which is about bookshelves and especially how to organize a newly expanded collection. We did get an email from one of our bookish friends, Emily. Here's what she says. My name is Emily. I'm a longtime listener, first time emailer, and huge fan of currently reading. I grew up as a reader but had fallen out of the rhythm of reading for several years after grad school. I found the podcast during COVID and it reignited my love of reading. And now I'm plowing through more books than I ever have. So a huge thank you for helping me fall in love with reading all over again. In fact, my reading life has become so full that my current bookshelves are bursting at the Seams and packed with books two layers deep. I decided that they deserve a new home with more room to breathe and space to add to the collection. So I've remodeled a room in my basement into a cozy home library. Now I just have to to shelve everything and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect. My old shelves had no system whatsoever, only pure chaos. So I'm curious to know what are some different ways to organize bookshelves? How do you have your bookshelves organized? I know it's probably a slightly different answer for each reader, but I don't quite know where to start and would love some ideas and inspiration. Thanks for all you've done to help this reader find her passion for books again. Emily, I had to read the whole email there because I love that Emily got to refined her love of reading through listening to currently reading.

B (35:55)

Yes, always the like best the best message to get. And I'm so excited to talk about this with you today Katie.

A (36:03)

Indeed. And Mary, I knew that you were the perfect person to do this deep dive with because people who follow you on Instagram, we know that you've just added a bit of an addition to your house and there's some cozy reading nook space in there. So you've been considering what that experience expansion of bookshelves looks like for you. So tell us first of all what your bookshelf situation was and what it has become.

B (36:26)

Yes. So Emily, my soul sister in bookshelf chaos. I as I was like reading this when you shared with me the topic, I was like yep, two like two layers deep, check and check. Chaos, check and check. Like that was our bookshelf situation in kind of previous prior to this renovation that we did. So I had like a big Calyx IKEA bookshelf upstairs before that I we kind of had organized by vibes and that still is generally I like vibes organization but still organization, right? Like my books were not just like all over the place, but I'd have like sub genres here and a TBR shelf there and things like that. But it was just too much and I was always like we are container method people. When the books outgrow the bookshelf we just call the books down. And guess what? You get to a certain point and you're like these are my children. I cannot possibly call them all down. And so when we were talking about doing the addition renovation in our tiny little home to make it our forever, we didn't do a huge addition in our living room, but it was just Enough to kind of match. We like bumped out a foyer, right? But we matched it in the living room that is just big enough that my husband put in some beautiful built in bookshelves, pseudo built ins with the help of the Ikea Billy bookcase. And we've got a cozy little chair in the corner. It looks at my fireplace. And I was like, this is my dream. Like, this is my dream space. So we still have the bookshelves. We moved that big Kallax cube. It's still in fine shape. It's living in our, like, basement living room space now. So that one. I feel like I am uniquely poised to talk about this with you today, Katie, because we have organized the upstairs bookshelves in the addition and I can talk about what we did there. The basement bookshelves are still chaos. Tone. We have not yet anchored that bookcase, so there are no books on it yet. And they are in piles all over the floor. So as I was kind of thinking about this and preparing for this episode, I was like, okay, this is giving me some good ideas for how we want to tackle that basement bookcase. Because upstairs we went by favorites. We were like, what are the books that we want to stare at all of the time? What are the books we might pull to reread? We each have a few. My husband and I, we have a few. Each of us have a TV TBR shelf. Because it's not fun for me at least to only look at a shelf and say, ah, I have read all of these. Like, I want to stare at the shelf and see my possibilities too. So we have like a few series with a couple that, like, we haven't read this one in the series yet, but it's up there because it's a favorite. Then we each have our TBR shelves. And then this is not really relevant, super relevant to this conversation today. But we also put our family photo books on that shelf, which previously they'd been kind of shoved away. It's fun to have them in more prominent pride of place. I also have a shelf. I love this idea that we kind of lost with no more encyclopedias, like physically on bookshelves. That my daughter can't just go to a bookshelf and pull a book off and learn something new, right? So I put a bunch of Picturepedia style, like kids encyclopedias on there. Those are our kind of other little random, random shelves. But for the most part, our upstairs bookcase is favorites. TBR shelf for my husband, a TBR shelf for myself. And then I also added in an arc shelf for myself just because I don't get a ton of physical arcs. When I do get them, though, it helps me to say, like, this is like, let's consider these. These are coming out. I only keep the arcs that feel most exciting to me. And I think that this is whether you get galleys or not. I think that this could be transferable in a hey, maybe this isn't my immediate tbr, but maybe these are ones I kind of want to consider picking from that. You know, that kind of is the representation of that shelf for me. So that's our like, big, nicely organized upstairs edition bookshelf. And like I said, the basement one is in chaos right now. And I have some some thoughts on like, maybe I might like to do this, maybe Emily might like to do xyz. But before we do that, Katie, do you want to talk about your bookshelf organization?

A (40:40)

My bookshelf organization is always changing and expanding over the Coming up on eight full years that we've been doing the podcast, not only have I moved twice, but I've also expanded my bookshelves over and over and over again. I'm not good at saying, you know, we should really use this wall for something else. Let's get rid of a bookshelf. Those words nary will cross my tongue, except in jest. So I have a number of bookshelves and each of them are organized a little differently. Right. We have a homeschool bookshelf which was built by my dad for my mom when they were dating 45 years ago. It's so precious. He built her a set of two. They still have one and I have the other one. And it is so sturdy and strong that it can hold all the homeschool goodies. So it has like, you're talking about kind of a reference shelf where the kids can pull off an atlas, an anatomy book, a visual dictionary of animals, whatever it is that might be interesting to them or that we're learning about and get a fuller picture of that topic. It has the actual buckets that we use for homeschool that have their different daily activities in it. And then it has curriculum that I can pull from if something's starting to feel a bit stale. It has activity boxes on it. It's just a catch all, but it's very honed in to these are things we use for school. Right. When you first walk into my house, I have a lot of my YA on that shelf because I want the kids that go in and out of my house to see Books and to get interested and talk about books when they're coming in and out of my house. So it's important to me that YA and middle grade and also really pretty books are right there by the front door because then they catch the eye. And even kids who might otherwise be looking down at a phone or be otherwise distracted by get your shoes, get your water bottle, it's time to head out, are going to turn to the side and say, oh, look, graphic novels. I love these. Oh, look, pretty versions of the Cinder series by Marissa Meyer. What is this that I see sprayed edges? Yes, child, let's talk about the beautiful world of books. Right? So those are strategically placed and also honed into the ones that I want kids to look at and have catch their eyes. And then my main bookshelf is the one that my dad and I built from reclaimed semi truck flooring. It has so much character and kind of an industrial but very open nature to it. And that holds my favorite shelf, my TBR at eye level for me, because that way, when I go stand in front of it, it's all books that I want to read. And then it has other little chunks of it because it's really like 15 different sections, maybe 18 different sections, six shelves divided into three chunks each. And so one section might be memoirs that I've loved, and one is science writing that I've loved. And one is TBR for Katie and I, the books that we plan to read together as reading partners. And then kind of what you're talking about with your arc shelf, Mary. It's a. I call it my priority tbr, but it's either books that I still need to shelf that I recently bought that I haven't logged in as now being part of my collection in my spreadsheet, or the ones that a second stack that I want to get to sooner than later. Maybe I put the audio on hold at the library, or I really want to prioritize it for this month because of a theme that I'm excited to get into. But priority TBR and to be shelved both go in that little center niche of my big bookshelf shelf. It's all over the place, but I know where everything is, which is what's important to me. I think that's a big part of what we want to talk about with this deep dive, is that the first thing to identify Emily, is how do you find your books if you have the opportunity? If you are at the library, do you go to a genre or do you let covers catch your Eye. Right. Those are important things to know about yourself as a reader and as a. A picker of books in order to figure out the best way to choose a book for you.

B (44:45)

Yes. You know, the thing that really stuck out to me here is first of all like an alphabetical system is never going to find its way in my home. Like that's just not how I am seeking books. Especially if it's books I haven't read yet. I'm not going to remember the author unless it's like an all time favorite author for me. I may not even remember the title. Right. I'm probably going to remember the genre. I'm probably going to remember what the COVID looks like. Right. But thinking about, I think that's a really key piece here is like, like you said, Katie, how do you want to seek to find your books? What is it that is going to work for your brain? For me I know that generally by genre is like the way that it works best for me is I will kind of characterize have things that are similarly. The stories would be similarly categorized. That's what's going to work. So in the case of my basement shelves, I know that I'm going to have a mix of books I have already read but maybe didn't make it to the favorites shelf but are still good enough that I want them as keepers forever. Right. And also books that I haven't yet read but are ones that I may pull from. So for my TBR shelf, I think I've talked about this before. I like to do a mood TBR shelf or a seasonal TBR shelf. I will kind of rotate it out with the season to shop my shelves, so to speak and pick what feels like the right vibe. What from my collection might I like to get to this season and do I ever read all of them new. But I like to know I like to have that opportunity to shop my shelves. And so this is where it does get a little sticky is that I want them by genre and then usually that is a mix of red and unread. For me, I don't mind taking the time to really shop my shelves when I am shopping. Like swapping out that TBR shelf for some folks. I saw somebody, I can't remember where I heard about this, but someone say the way that they always organize their bookshelves with unread books, they'll maybe do red on the top and unread on the bottom or vice versa. I like your eye level idea. And they had said they'll always put newest Books on the left and then, like, move them along.

A (47:01)

Oh, my gosh.

B (47:02)

So as a book is in their shelves for longer, it gets moved more towards the right. And I was like, like, I think that's kind of brilliant. And I also don't know if it would work for me, but I would imagine that, you know, if you were like, I want to know what is unread for me, I know that we all kind of vary. How many books do we keep in our homes? How frequently do we go through and cull? If you are like, it is really important to me to be a one in, one out or to make sure that nothing is lingering on my shelves too long, that could be a really cool way to go about it. For me, though, I find generally, like you said, I know what's on my shelves. Nothing is too super surprising to me. And generally, when I'm calling for this seasonal TBR shelf, I'll be like, okay, it's winter, so I want more literary. I want kind of dark, maybe I want a mystery, and, like, I can go to those areas and grab what I think might work. And it doesn't bother me that it's a. Could be a mix of red and unread. Unread. But I know that that might not be the case for everybody.

A (48:00)

Right. Right. Yeah. So you could do genre. You could choose between red and unread. You could choose between fiction and nonfiction. You could alphabetize by author. My fiction read favorites are alphabetized by author. Sure. And also separate, because that way when somebody says, oh, you know, is there a book on this shelf that might work for me, it's really easy because those are my favorites. I know the title. I know the author. Right. That shelf, it might change. But it's books. I know because I love them. Right. My TBR as horrified Meredith many years ago is organized by color. And that is because, like Mary said, I usually can picture the COVID or the spine of a book faster than I can come up with the title or the author. So today I was looking for the Lion Women of Tehran, and I was like, I know I have it. It's on here somewhere. I'm picturing the COVID and it's green and purple. So I just looked in the green and purple sections, and what do you know? The spine is also green. And it was easy for me to find, but that makes some people a little bit batty. For me, it allows for serendipity in a different way. Right. I haven't picked a lot of red and pink books lately. Maybe I'll go look over there and see what's over there. Oh, this thing that I totally forgot I had. Right. There's a book over there called Hot Mess that has a really big title on there. And I'm like, oh, it's about climate change. Who knew? Katie did at some point because she put it on my shelves. Right, right. But I really think for anybody looking to organize their bookshelves, it's really important to identify a. Are you a mood reader or a planned reader? This is one of the first things that Meredith wrote about in our Reader Know Thyself Dispatches that we're putting out as newsletters. You can sign up for those at Substack, but that is a really core question to how do you choose your next books? Because that's really going to help guide you on how best to shelve things in order to make those bookshelves not just dreamy and beautiful and Instagram worthy, but workhorses. Right. Our shelves and our books and our reading lives are supposed to serve us, not the other way around. So if you come up with a complicated shelving system and you end up again with books two books deep and you can't find anything, it's still not working for you.

B (50:19)

Yes.

A (50:20)

So, yeah.

B (50:21)

You know, another thing I feel like is important to think of, and I absolutely felt that this, when my shelves started to get two groupings deep. Right. Is that it was like overload for my brain. The same way that when my countertops are full of crap, I'm like, I'm gonna fall into pieces on the floor. Right. And that is what kind of I think about as well with a bookshelf is when it's organized well, it functions well for me. It functions perfectly. It is enjoyable. It's an enjoyable experience. You know, this is previously why I would more regularly cull our shelves. Now I think I'm a little more thoughtful about what books I'm bringing into my home. Just in the way I've kind of evolved as a reader. I'm still buying plenty of books. Right. But having enough space, seeing everything, like, organized in a way that works for my brain and is aesthetically pleasing to me. That if it if aesthetically pleasing to you is that your books are organized alpha by author. That I love that for you. I think something else, too, that works for me that I've noticed as we were setting up. Never really done this before, but when we were setting up our upstairs shelves, our new shelves, I was really mindful of not having books, like, popping up and down, like, differing heights all next to each other, trying to keep even within the. The same way that you mentioned Rainbow Katie, I was like, oh, these, like, taller books are going to go next to each other and then the next taller and then the next taller or this whole shelf is going to be. I've got so many books, books that are this size within this genre, so I may as well put them there. There's something very aesthetically peaceful and calming to me about a bookshelf that, like, the books catch my eye, not the clutter. Right. And so that was like a little piece that I was kind of reflecting on. Like, what did I do that worked for me or that is working for me in these shelves? I'm not a rainbow organizer, though. I love to see rainbow organization, like, on Instagram. I think it's very pretty. And I've got zero, zero opinions on that. This is like, one way that I was like, ooh, these aesthetics really work for my eye. Again, plain people are probably not gonna care about that, but that was really nice for me too.

A (52:27)

Yes, Yes. I love that.

B (52:29)

Kind of. The last thing for me, I feel like, is like, don't be afraid to try something and change it. I understand that organizing a bookshelf can feel like a big undertaking, but don't be afraid to try. And if you're like, I do not like this. This is not working for me. Let me try something new. You can always take it apart. And honestly, I love organizing, so I'm like, that sounds like a fun Friday night to me. It's like, take it apart my bookshelf and reorganizing it. Right. So this can be something that you can try out, a system. If you're curious about the left to right. Right. Give it a go. And if after a little while you're like, well, I hate that. It's. You can always shift it, but don't let it paralyze you from just trying something. Especially if you're tackling, like, you just moved or you just built a beautiful. Like, our friend Emily just built a beautiful, cozy little library space in home. And you're not just reorganizing, but you're kind of starting from fresh. It's totally okay to try a system that if it doesn't work for you, you can always just try again.

A (53:28)

Yes, definitely. And as a final note, I think all readers can agree that the only wrong answer here is spines in.

B (53:37)

Yep. Yep. That. That is the wrong answer.

A (53:42)

All right. I feel like we solved that problem. Ready to go? So now we are going to our new ending segment. It's still new for all of us. It's called Before We Go. And first, I will introduce you all to our Bookish Friend of the Week. Today I'm going to tell you about Charlotte. She needed some assistance this week. Here's what she says. Hey bookworms, I need some suggestions. I'm trying to pick a historical fiction book for book club, but I think I've researched too much and now I'm totally overwhelmed with decision fatigue.

B (54:11)

Same.

A (54:12)

I love historical fiction, but I want to Skip World War I or World War II topics or sanatorium settings. Weirdly specific, I know. Also, I'd like it to be about women or written by a woman, focusing on a specific historical event, a story we can learn from that creates a good conversation. I'm hoping for something a bit obscure, not super mainstream, but still good for discussion and well written and not a chunker of a book. Then she comes up with a few options. The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, the Wife, the Mistress and the Maid by Ariel Lahan, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, the Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich or the Antidote by Karen Russell. Any additions? Suggestions? Here's a photo of more. Oh, maybe the Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali. She posts this little this very specific ask right? At the time I looked at this post, it had 34 comments already, many votes about the ones that she had given as options and many additions to her list of potential benef books. One of the best things about the bookish friends group that I really wanted to highlight with this comment is that it's not just Meredith, Katie, Mary and Roxanna. Right? It's not only our taste and what we read. If you feel like we don't tackle enough of a certain genre on the show, we can guarantee that there's a bookish friend for that. And in this case, 34 bookish friends for that who are like, oh girl, if you need historical, that's not this. Not this. Definitely this. Also not this. And maybe this. I know exactly what to tell you and like, it's like a, a genie in a lamp. You can just wish for it and it appears for you. Nice job, Charlotte. I hope you found the perfect book for your book club.

B (55:46)

Okay, before I go, I just have to say I love as you're saying this, Katie. I'm like this is what I love about read early friends and booksellers and librarians is like a computer could never like take such a specific request and give the perfect recommendation. But 34 people are like, let me tell you, I just love bookish people. I love our bookish friends. That's such a good one this week. I love it.

A (56:11)

So good. All right, what is your before we go pick for this week?

B (56:15)

Mary okay, Katie, so in my inaugural before we go today, I thought I would totally start by breaking the rules. I am going to go with a sleeper hit today. I am this is the category that I am going to speak to, however, but instead of a book, I am bringing a newsletter. But this is a newsletter about books. This newsletter has tons of books books listed in here that are absolute sleeper hits. But I am so obsessed with this newsletter and it has been continuously a source of joy for me for so long that as I was thinking and prepping for this episode today, I was like, how have I not talked about this yet? So I thought I figured it was worth being put in host timeout, which I know you actually wouldn't do. But for activating my inner rebel here and starting off by going rogue, the newsletter is called Looking at Picture Book Books by John Clousson and Mac Barnett. Do you know this one? Katie?

A (57:06)

Oh, I know, but I love these

B (57:07)

two authors, you know, John Clausen and Mac Barnett. If you exist anywhere near the children's lit world, you know that they are powerhouses behind some of the most beloved modern classic kids books out there today. In fact, in February last year, maybe some of you know this, maybe not, Mac was inaugurated at the Library of Congress as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for this past year, 2025 to 2026. So it's been especially cool to see him bring this angle and aspect of his work more to light over the last year too. So I love and have every intention to get back to someday sharing about kid lit on my separate Instagram account. Even though that's kind of fallen off lately, reading kids books to my child has absolutely ignited such a fascination and dear love of the complexity of children's literature in me. Mac and John are first and foremost equal parts, just like brilliant and hysterical. They make you feel like you're just sitting in this room with them, engaging in a fun and funny conversation. But picking these brilliant minds on children's literature, they deep dive into various topics, tropes, styles, behind the scene, facts from children's lit and also just like bring their very unique perspective as children's books authors and illustrators and has given me such a more complex understanding of the books that I am reading to my kid Even if you don't think this is of any interest to you. But you are a reader, which is of course why you're here. I am imploring you to just go read one installment on their sub stack and tell me that you weren't entertained. Tell me you didn't learn something fascinating and new. I find not they talk about classics in a fascinating way. They did a deep dive on Goodnight Moon that I was like, jeremy, come over. I need to show you this. You need to read this. It is so fascinating. But they also dig into, like, books you would never even think to pick up and tell you exactly why the author and the illustrator is doing this. And they're funny and they're smart. My sleeper hit this week is the entire backlist catalog of looking at picture books. And I hope that by sharing it this week, I can bring some of the joy it's brought to me. To our Bookish people too.

A (59:17)

I love that we're not going to put you in host jail. I think that there are going to be plenty of people who are so that is perfect for including yours truly.

B (59:25)

Yeah, you're gonna love it. You're gonna love it too.

A (59:27)

I am gonna love it. 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 Notes on Bookmarks on Instagram, Meredith is at Meredith Monday Schwartz on Instagram and you can

B (59:40)

find me at Mary Reads and Makes on Instagram.

A (59:43)

Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Putamong Evans. You can find her on Instagram at most of megansreads Reads Full show notes with the title of every book we mentioned in the episode and timestamps. So you can skip me talking about the sequel in a series and zoom right to where the next book starts. Can be found in our show notes and on our website@currentlyreadingpodcast.com you can also

B (60:04)

follow the show at Currently Reading Podcast on Instagram or email us@hellourrentlyreading podcast.com and

A (60:10)

if you really want to help us become a patron, you get all three of those amazing benefits. You get great content, amazing community and keep the show commercial free. You can 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.

B (60:27)

Bookish friends are really the best friends. Thank you for helping us to grow and get closer to our goals.

A (60:32)

Until next week, may your coffee be

B (60:34)

hot and your book be unput downable.

A (60:37)

Happy reading Mary Happy reading, Katie.