← The Currently Reading Podcast
The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 8, Episode 4: Bookish Bling + Using AI to Improve Your Reading Life
01:15:43
On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Roxanna are discussing: Bookish Moments: introducing book club friends to niche romance + romance-related jewelry Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we’ve been...
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- [00:00]
A
Foreigners.
- [00:12]
B
Welcome to the Currently Reading podcast. We are bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we've read recently. And as you already know, we do not shy away from having strong opinions. So get ready.
- [00:24]
A
We're light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our descriptions will always be spoiler free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the fountain.
- [00:34]
B
I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona, and I love a bit of bookish bling.
- [00:40]
A
Ooh, I can't wait to hear about that. And I'm Roxanna Kasankara, a mom, a marketer, and a mood reader living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And I love using AI as my reading sidekick. This is episode number four of season eight, and we're so glad you're here.
- [00:56]
B
We are so glad to be here. Roxanna and I have not gotten to record together in a long time, so we're happy to be back on mic together as well. Roxanna, we had a lot to catch up on.
- [01:07]
A
We just spent some time before catching up. It wasn't nearly enough, but we have a lot of time on mic. We have a lot of things to catch up on. So I'm so excited to talk to you about all the things.
- [01:18]
B
Yes. And y'. All. Today for our deep dive, we are going to talk about using AI to improve your reading life, which is a special new topic that Roxanna is really familiar with. So I'm excited to pick her brain about that. But before we do that, we're going to get started the way we always do with our bookish moments of the week. Roxanna, my dear, what is yours?
- [01:39]
A
Well, this week my book club gave me my bookish moment of the week. And I know here we're currently reading between the hosts and our readers. We have some strong feelings about book clubs. I joined mine in 2020. I've had several along the way. Some have been good, some have not been good. This one is great. We actually talk about the book, which is amazing, and then we let it segue into deeper conversations. It's with 10 women that I didn't know actually that well. And, you know, in the last five years we've really gotten close. So this session we read Margo's Got Money Troubles, which, you know, was a great book for discussion. I was really interested to see what people would think about it. We all loved it. But really what was the important thing was the Kind of the discussion, it was a gateway to, you know, we talked a lot about noble professions and what is a noble profession and who decides what that is and whether that badge even matters when you're just trying to be a good mother with real bills and real constraints. And then it led us to some really honest conversation about slut shaming, how quickly we label women's choices, you know, some of our experiences growing up and how that was affected, and the gap between what we say we value and what we actually reward as a society. So it was a really great discussion. And then it ended on a bit of a lighter note, because I pulled up that Love and Chili Peppers episode, Katie, that you recorded, where you guys dared each other to read. You know, like a read. And so my group had never heard of niche romance, so I introduced them to Unhinged. Yeah, we were deep scrolling on our phone because I was reading them some of the blurbs, and they were like, this is not a real thing. You just had AI make this up. No, I did not. I introduced them to the spoon one right there. A whole bunch.
- [03:34]
B
Yeah, there's a whole cutlery series you can read Forked also.
- [03:38]
A
Yes, exactly. So they couldn't even conceive that these were real. So we just had the best time, you know, a couple glasses of wine in on a Friday night. Like, it was just the best time. My friend Reyhana immediately christened this category Intimate with the Inanimate.
- [03:54]
B
I like it.
- [03:54]
A
It was really good. And we had many discussions around the logistics and the idea. It was just a very fun end. So just to say it was just a great bookish moment in real life, which I don't get that many of anymore. So it was really great.
- [04:09]
B
I love that so much. And I love the idea of a group listen where everyone is, like, blushing and covering their eyes and laughing simultaneously. I mean, it's just delightful. It does segue a little bit into my own bookish moment, because last weekend, as I mentioned on the show, I went to bookstore Romance Day at my local store store, which is Changing Hands in Tempe. And I came home with two new pieces of bookish jewelry. One was a Changing Hands specific activity. They had set out friendship bracelet making supplies, and they encouraged people to make a bracelet of their favorite trope. So my custom bracelet says Enemy to Lover on it, and that's not the name of the trope, but they were out of S's, so it couldn't be enemies.
- [04:53]
A
Okay.
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B
And they were also very low on ease, so. So I had a Hard time finding E's because Enemy to Lover has three E's in it. It took forever. I ended up with Enemy to Lover. It was great. It's very cute. Second, and even more fun, my friend Toni met me at the bookstore for bookstore romance Day. She gave me a pair of book earrings that say once upon a time on them. They're made of clay. They're very lightweight, which is great because my ears are precious and sensitive and they don't like anything adorable or heavy or ostentatious. They're beautiful. And she said she got them on Etsy, but I just. I felt very loved by this delightful gift. She said, you know, over the past year, especially listening to currently reading has really changed my reading life and really brought it back front and center for me. So this is just a little gift to say thank you.
- [05:41]
A
Oh, Katie. Oh, that's so lovely.
- [05:45]
B
So fun. So I will, of course, Roxanna, I'll send you a picture right after of these adorable little earrings. And then we can share them either in show notes or on social media this week because they're just so cute. And I love them.
- [05:57]
A
I love that. That's so sweet. And I'm the same with. I don't like heavy things, but the clay sounds perfect.
- [06:02]
B
Yeah, it's like that. Very lightweight.
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A
Yeah.
- [06:05]
B
I don't know why clay would be lightweight. It feels like it should be like a heavy porcelain jug.
- [06:09]
A
Yeah. No, it's not. My daughter makes things out of clay all the time. And I get it. Like, it's. It's very light and easy, but. And they look so beautiful. Like, the colors are so nice. I can't wait to see them.
- [06:19]
B
Yes.
- [06:20]
A
I will say I think Enemy to Lover might have been destined because it's not the trope. It's like you. You start off as an enemy and then you become a lover. So maybe when you are out there on the dating scene at some point, it might be a good one to wear.
- [06:35]
B
I mean, I love Enemies to Lovers as a trope, but I don't have a lot of dudes in my life that I'm enemies with. And I don't think I'm looking for enemies on a dating site. So I don't think I'm going to be living this anytime soon where I'm like, oh, we finally, like, made that transition and, like, turned our passion against each other into passion for each other.
- [06:57]
A
Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe that drama lives better in the pages. But I'm thinking those, like, easy romances, like, you know, when they, like, I don't know, somebody falls into somebody with a latte and then they hate each other and then meet cute. Yes, A meet cute. Like an enemy meet cute. Right. And then. But then it quickly turns into, not that I want latte spilled on you, but, you know, one of those.
- [07:17]
B
Or like, I fender bended your car. Yes, right, like that you're an enemy now I have to talk to insurance. Nobody wants that.
- [07:24]
A
Yes.
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B
Okay.
- [07:25]
A
Like light trauma in real life.
- [07:27]
B
Got it, Got it. Light trauma. I like. It's the trauma bond, but make it cute. Okay, let's talk about current reads. I had so much fun choosing my books today because I really want to talk about them with you. And there's a little through line to them that I'm excited about. So I can't wait to get into these current reads. What's your first one?
- [07:48]
A
Okay, me too. I brought some that I think you will like and that I think the readers will like. My first one is called these Summer storms by Sarah McLean. And if I had to sum this up, I'd call it Succession Meets Emily Henry on a private island. Okay, so this is a frothy, perfect summer read. Here's the setup. So Alice Storm is a teacher, hence these summer storms. And she returns to her wealthy family's Rhode island island for her father's funeral. So her father, I think his name is Gavin Storm or something, is like Steve Jobs. Like, he's like the richest guy in the world. He created the phone. It's called the Storm. Or it's like the. The tagline is Storm inside. You know, everybody has one of these phones. But she has kind of given up on this life and gone to live as a teacher and just turn her back. But she comes back because he has passed away and they're all meeting for his funeral or celebration of life. But when she gets there, she finds out he's left one last manipulation. An inheritance game that forces the whole messy, moneyed crew to stay together for a week and complete his tasks. So his whole family, the, you know, not well adjusted and distant, cold, frigid mother, her sister, who made different choices in life. Her brother, who's a real a hole kind of character. They all have to stay together on this private island and do things that they really don't want to do. So think boardroom power plays but in linen and on the docks, boat shoes. Yes, in boat shoes. And then throw in a very inconvenient attraction to Jack, who is her father's very capable, very handsome second in command. And then let the fireworks fly. Okay, Katie, this is not high literature, but it's soapy, it's dramatic, it is high summer fun. Sarah MacLaine is an author of a Regency romance series. So, you know, you can really feel her romance bones steering the ship here. And it's one I really loved. I gotta say, these kinds of books haven't been working that well for me, if I'm totally honest. Summer is the time for me. I'm not a big kind of seasonal reader. Like, I don't do spooky season, but I do love a great summer frothy read. And I think I said the last time when we recorded the four of us, my go tos have not been. They have been delivering on that. Let's be honest. They've all been delivering. It has not worked for me. So I really was looking for something like that. But I didn't have high hopes because none of them have worked. This one really, really worked for me. You know, rich people drama usually doesn't work for me because I don't like to root for characters I hate. It's different in literary fiction when they're, you know, they've actually got some dimension to them, you know, like, I didn't watch Succession. I don't like shows where it's just people being crappy to each other. But this has got a soft heart. You know, it's about grief. It's about birth order politics, about sisters who hurt each other the way only sisters can. And then it's got the slow burn, enemies to lovers, romance that really pays off in the end. So it's one that was just exactly what I needed. It has pacing that begs that one more chapter a night. Each task that these siblings complete clicks another gear into place. And the island setting is sultry without turning the book into a thriller. But you are like, oh, these are the tasks and what do they have to do next? You know, you're following that along and then of course, you're following this romance. And, like, it starts off very differently than you expect. You know, Jack is a bit of a mystery. So you're kind of falling to figure out who is this guy and what is he doing? And I listened on audio and Julia Whelan narrates it. And so I don't love all her narration, but this one, you know, because it is kind of like a soapy audio drama. You know, her way of really acting through it I think really helps. And it nails that simmer. And there's a lot of snark so if you like that, I would say, you know, it's a really great summer read. We're in high summer. This is the time to pick it up. And that is the Summer Storms by Sarah Maclean.
- [12:00]
B
All right, I like it. I have only dipped into a Sarah Maclean book for the indie press list, but I've never read a whole one before. And this one sounds kind of like it has a lot of the things I like. I like the idea of this, like, central game and the family drama and that it's rich people, but it's not necessarily like the central, like, super wealthy a holes that, you know, we've got this daughter who just wants to be a teacher. This is very appealing to me. I like it. Maybe next summer.
- [12:31]
A
Yeah, like, each of the characters has something good at their soul. Even the ones that you think don't.
- [12:36]
B
Okay.
- [12:37]
A
That was important to me. Like, they didn't all have to redeem themselves and become great people, but they did all have to have something that made like, even the, you know, a hill brother. Like, I needed something there to root for him because I don't need another rich white man to hate. Like, I don't need that. So it was really great that way. So, yeah, if you are folding laundry or if you're going on a road trip or if you're by the pool and you're like, I need another summer banger or you want to pad your list for next year that you can get something backlist, you know, so you're not waiting for the newest one. This is a great one.
- [13:07]
B
Excellent. I love that. Okay, Roxanna, this first one for me is so made for you. I'm going to be shocked if you haven't read it, but it's never been on the show before. I'm going to talk about the Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters.
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A
I've heard of it. I have not read it.
- [13:22]
B
Okay, perfect.
- [13:24]
A
I think it's voiced by January Lavoy. So I don't know why, Because I love her.
- [13:28]
B
I think it is too. Gosh. Seriously, I love this woman. Okay, all three of my books this week have an element of reader roulette to them that I talked about a few weeks ago. So I will make sure to mention how they made it onto my current read stack for each of them because it's a little bit interesting. Back in April of this year, I chatted with Jessica Turner on a bonus episode and she brought this as a current read. Brought it back to my radar. But, you know, that was April. It just kind of made it hover around a little more in the periphery. I was very happy to find it in a spin through my Libro account as a galley when I was playing reader roulette on my road trip. Which as a reminder, reader roulette means I open my app, I go to my library and and I just flick the screen really hard and I see what comes up and nobody knows what I'm going to be reading. It's exciting.
- [14:17]
A
It's very on you. I have to say I did gasp when you brought this to the show. I gasped. But I love you're living into this new reading life of yours.
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B
It's a different Katie and you know we're allowed to read in seasons and this is a new season for me. So here's the setup for the Berry Pickers. In July of 1962, a young girl named Ruthie, who is only four years old at the time, goes missing from the side of a road in Maine. Seated next to a berry field, she and her First Nations Mi' Kmaq family have traveled from Nova Scotia. Her brother is only two years older than her, and since he was the last one to see her, he feels her loss most palpably. It haunts his life for years to come. He's also sure she's still alive, that he would feel it, and she wasn't. Soon we meet a young girl named Norma. She's an only child. Her parents are wealthy, but her father is distant and her mother won't ever let her out of her sight. She's super overprotective. Strangely, Norma is plagued by dreams and recurring visions. She is sure that there's a secret hiding in her family history, but it might take decades to uncover what that is. And all of that is revealed in the publisher blurb as well. Astute readers already know what's happening, right? But Norma and Jo's stories are intertwined in this book as it traverses the years. There's plenty of heart in here. There's a bit of mystery. We're trying to figure out this connection. We're trying to figure out how it will be revealed. Even if with the setup you're like, well, I know what the connection is. It has a strong sense of place and a beautiful community at its center. I'm not sure why this 2023 release didn't make it to the top of my TBR at the time, or the rest of ours, because Jessica's mention is the only time it's ever been on the show, but I'm so glad to Highlight it. Now, I gave this book four and a half stars, and I did not end up sobbing, which, as we discussed before we started recording, Roxanna, I'm not necessarily in a place where I want to be sobbing at my books, so I was fine with that. I wanted to be emotionally transported and affected, but not, like, laid out trying to drive my car on my road trip. I was impacted by the story and these characters in a really beautiful way. The COVID is just gorgeous blueberries that you look like you could just pluck right off the COVID and eat yourself. So anyone who's ever been to Maine in the summer during blueberry season, Roxanna and Meredith, this is going to be a very transportative read for you. And I loved getting a look inside the Mi' Kmaq nation of Canada, which is, as I said, located in Nova Scotia area. So having a view inside this family, seeing some of their traditions played out on the page, I just really loved it. Again, two years later, it was the perfect time for me to read it. Reader roulette did me good here. This was the Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters.
- [17:11]
A
That's so interesting, Katie, because I've heard of this, but I think I've just heard of the title. And, like, the very barest explanation. I did not know it was about the Mi' Kmaq nation in Nova Scotia. I didn't know the Canadian connection at all, which, you know, would, like, throw it up the list, like, indigenous and Canada and then Maine and blueberry season and. Yeah, you're right. Like, there's so many things. Plus, I don't like books that put in a lot of elements but can't actually back it up. But this one really feels like it has a lot of meat to it, you know? And I also do love when the reader knows something at the beginning and you're waiting for others to figure it out. I love that. I love that even more than me not knowing.
- [17:50]
B
Yeah. You're like, how is this gonna come.
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A
Together and what is the reaction gonna be? It's like those reaction videos you watch, you know, Like, I just need to know.
- [17:58]
B
Yes.
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A
Like, how are they gonna respond when they find out and what's gonna happen? So it does sound really perfect. You have definitely moved this up. It wasn't, frankly, on my list. You really. You really put it on.
- [18:09]
B
Exactly.
- [18:10]
A
Thank you.
- [18:10]
B
I don't know if I was like, oh, you know, it's just blueberries on the COVID There's no woman's back. This is probably not for me. Like, I don't Know why? It didn't strike me at the time, but I'm so glad that it finally flew to the top because it was. Oh, it was so good. It was just beautiful. I loved it.
- [18:29]
A
I love that. It was beautiful. And 4.5. Okay. Okay. Got it. It's in here. Thank you, friend.
- [18:34]
B
Okay. Love it. Love it. What's your second one?
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A
Okay, my second one I'm bringing for you, Katie, and for everybody else. It's got a canlit connection, which, as we just talked about, I love. It is called Detective Auntie Khan Investigates Number one. It's by Uzma Jalaluddin. So I'd say this is a cozy whodunit, but with suburban grit. It's got auntie sleuthing, a mother daughter mess, and a plaza full of secrets. Here's the setup so readers might know. Uzma Jalaluddin is the author of romances set in Scarborough in Toronto. You know, she's done a shat last and a number since then. I have read them and I've liked them, but I really was interested to see a cozy mystery from her, especially because on the COVID she's got, like, a teacup with a peak free cookie with the red center.
- [19:27]
B
What's it called? A peak freeze.
- [19:29]
A
Peak free. Oh, do you guys not have peak frames?
- [19:33]
B
How do I even spell that?
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A
Okay, sorry, guys. This is such a. But every Canadian reader is gasping.
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B
They're yelling at me right now. I know, I know.
- [19:42]
A
Peak freeze is P, E, E, K, space, F, R, E, A, N, S. Okay.
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B
Which is what it sounds like.
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A
Yeah, it's a. I don't know. Now you're making me question.
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B
I mean, I've seen cookies that look like this.
- [19:56]
A
No, no, that doesn't matter.
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B
So it's like, oh, you've had a sandwich cookie versus an Oreo.
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A
Like, yes, yes.
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B
Nobody cares. Okay. Okay.
- [20:05]
A
Yeah. These are kind of OG cookies that we all grew up with before there was a billion cookies in the cookie aisle. They came in assorted packs as a kid. And I'm talking Gen Xers here. Okay. Maybe some millennials. Your parents would buy these. You'd pick your favorite. They had these chocolate one ones called Bourbon cookies. There's no bourbon in them. My mom called them bourbon to sound fancy. And these ones that were called nice that we called nice also to sound fancy. They were just assorted. They weren't even particularly exciting.
- [20:32]
B
A tin. Is it like the cookie tin that turns into a sewing kit?
- [20:36]
A
No. Though those are also big with the Indian community. I will say this is a box. They came in this plastic tray.
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B
Okay.
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A
And you would have them with tea specifically.
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B
I see.
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A
And there's one that comes. That's a sandwich cookie, and it's got a red jelly center, which doesn't sound good. And if I'm honest, Katie, it's not good.
- [20:52]
B
But when it's dipped in tea, is it good?
- [20:54]
A
No, not really. But when you're a kid, it's got, like, vanilla cream and then this red jelly center with sugar on that red jelly center. And it's like a fancy cookie. Like, who doesn't like that? So on the COVID she has one of those cookies and, like, a little dagger on one this teacup. And like that is a detective auntie if I've ever seen one in my life.
- [21:14]
B
So.
- [21:15]
A
So it's just like this was talking to me. So sorry for that. Sidebar, guys.
- [21:19]
B
No, I think this is important. Like, we all needed this cultural context. I love it.
- [21:23]
A
This is. Oh, my God. So important. So that was why I picked it up. This is Jalaluddin's first foray into mystery, and it's really interesting beyond just the COVID So here's the setup. Khosir Khan is a widowed mom in her late 50s who lives in North Bay, Ontario. But she flies back to Toronto when her daughter Sana becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her Plaza landlord. This landlord is found in Sana's Desi clothing boutique. That means like an Indian clothing boutique with a dagger in his chest. And that dagger was from a display that she had. It was a ceremonial dagger in a mannequin's display, and it's in his chest. Now, Koster isn't a detective, but. But she is observant. She's connected and she's impossible to brush off. And she's got a few old friends and a determined granddaughter. So she starts pulling on threads that the police have missed and things unfold from there. This was a really interesting one, Katie. I will say I did rate it 3.5 to 3.75 stars, and I usually bring four or fives to the show, but this was so different that I wanted to bring it because Jalaluddin writes the Toronto. I know the way Toronto has grown. I'm not going to give you a ton of context here, but some is important. You know, I think people outside of Toronto know it is like this great melting plot. The most diverse city in the world. It's great. It's metropolitan and it is, but we have a ton, ton, ton of urban sprawl because of some very bad Decisions made around transit many years ago. So it's just hard to move around the city. So there's a lot, a lot, a lot of suburbs. And those suburbs are very vibrant and there's a lot of communities and there's a lot of diverse communities. Scarborough is like a. I guess people would call it more of a middle class to lower class suburb. It's where I grew up. I love it. But, you know, it's got a lot of diversity in terms of people who live here. So this story is set in the Scarborough Strip Plaza. In these Scarborough Strip plazas. In any of our suburb strip plazas, they're like ubiquitous. They're not pretty, but everybody knows them. You know, like the halal grocer is next to the Korean bakery, which sits next to the Indian dress shop, which sits next to the Persian threading place. You know, they're all beside each other. Yeah, that's where this is set. So you're getting this really vibrant community of people. And Khalsar Khan is investigating this murder, but she's also tackling real city issues that affect these people, people. She's talking about housing strain and how can people afford to buy property now in Toronto and the squeeze on immigrant families and their kids. And, you know, how does divorce work with an immigrant family? When people have been married young and then they come back maybe into a family, how does that kind of knock the life sideways? She addresses a very complicated mother daughter bond that formed when her son passed away. Her relationship with her daughter became very complicated. And there's a lot of that in there. So it's not the usual Andre pressuring arranged marriage stereotype. You know, there's a lot of social texture woven, but there's no hard hitting hammer here. It's a story about this mid-50s woman who is investigating a murder. And then she's woven all this context really into the story. It's not. She's not sermonizing at all. Like these characters are going through things. So like, you know, the dad who's divorced and has become an Uber driver to make ends meet. You know, those kinds of stories are woven in, but there's no paragraphs where she's like, well, he couldn't afford to have his own place. There's nothing like that. Which I really appreciate.
- [25:00]
B
Yeah.
- [25:01]
A
I will say it looks like a cozy, as I said from the COVID but it's not. I'd say it's cozy adjacent because it's got this grit to it and it's dealing with real world issues. It's Not a zany caper. So think of it as like a steady, affectionate community drama wrapped around a murder investigation. Accessible. It's readable. It's never sort of the heavy lit misery you sometimes see in kind of prize lists. You know, things work out at the end, and I really did like how I felt grounded in its place and its people. The reason I rated it lower is because I find Jalalin's writing a little bit basic. If I'm honest, I find it elementary. It's not a Richard Osman, you know, where it sparkles with Witness. The plot lines are drawn together perfectly here. The writing is basic, and there's different between accessible and basic. This feels a little bit basic.
- [25:52]
B
Right.
- [25:53]
A
And you can definitely tell this is her first cozy mystery. It's like if I wrote one, I would outline it to the end degree, and then I would go, Then she learned this piece of information. Then she went and talked to the Korean baker. Then she learned this information. Then she went to the Caribbean patty shop. Then she learned this. It's a little bit of that where it becomes like, as Kasser learns, she conveniently runs into people. But I was willing to forgive that because there's enough clarity and warmth and enough promise that I'm curious to see where book two goes. So I think for those who obviously love those kinds of cozy mystery books. Yes, like, you know, Arsenic and Adobo or the Thursday Murder Club, but want a little bit more grit and want to learn about a community that maybe they have, in their own sense, city, but haven't really explored. This is a great one, and that is called Detective Auntie, and it's by Uzma Jalaluddin.
- [26:46]
B
Interesting. Okay. Yes. I have read two of hers. I read Aisha At Last, and I read Three Holidays and a Wedding, and both of them, I felt a little bit of that, like, oh, I kind of wanted more to the writing here and story in the structure without it being go through the steps like that. So I can hear exactly what you're saying. I think it's a valid critique, and I also think there's plenty of readers for whom that does not matter. They want this type of story, and it's going to be exactly the perfect fit for them. So this is great.
- [27:19]
A
Well, and even knowing that, I would pick it up again because I feel like the great outweighs that, and it was such an original, fresh voice in this genre. It's a very interesting read.
- [27:30]
B
Right, right. It was worthwhile. Okay. I like it. And we all got to learn about Peak free.
- [27:38]
A
I'm gonna put a link in the show. Notes, you guys, you need to know. And all you Americans are gonna look and be like, what is this? Okay. And it's a British brand. And then you're gonna try it and again, you're gonna be like, what is this? Okay, why.
- [27:49]
B
Why would she get so excited?
- [27:51]
A
Yes, but picture an 8 year old in like the early 80s who never got treats. And I couldn't have Chips Ahoy or Oreo because they all had lard and I'm Muslim. So this was. It was very exciting for me.
- [28:03]
B
Love, love, love. Okay, my second one this week is called Ghost Music by An Yu. And at this point, there's kind of this weird rewind to when Roxanna and I are together on the show. There is going to be a book with music involved. Here it is. I was like, oh, I think this is the time. And then I realized, oh, yeah, well, of course I want to talk about something that has music in it.
- [28:27]
A
With Roxanna that's so interesting.
- [28:29]
B
I don't know how it happened, but I'm not mad about it. So this book released in 2022, it has mushrooms on the COVID So every time I see it in a bookstore, I at least pick it up and I hold it. And it's a smaller book, but I hadn't actually ever read the blurb. Opted to read it. I'm just like, I like this cover. I'm interested in this reader Roulette changed that here as well. This one was after I got home from my road trip. I was getting ready to take the dogs for a walk one morning and I realized that the night before, I had finished my audiobook. But I gotta have something in my ears when I'm going for a walk. So. Old galley from 2022 in Libro FM. And here we have it. Who knew? So here's the setup. For three years, Song Yan has filled the emptiness of her Beijing apartment with music, but not her own. She gave up on her own career as a concert pianist many years ago. So she instead teaches other young students to play, especially because her husband continues to deny her the children that she has been asking for and wanting. So she's pouring her affection for kids into these young students. He resists even when his mom arrives from the southwestern Chinese region of Yunnan and begins her own campaign for a grandchild. Guys, it's time to. The tension keeps rising, and Songyeon finds it harder to keep her cool, especially now that she's constantly having dreams of a doorless room she can't escape, populated only by a strange orange mushroom that speaks to her. It's a pretty weird dream. Very soon after, a strange package of mushrooms native to her mother in law's province is delivered, seemingly by mistake. They have no idea where this came from. Songyeon sees it as an opportunity to bond with her mother in law. And as the packages continue to arrive every week, like a subscription to a mushroom service, the women stir fry and grill the mushrooms, adding them to soups and noodles and just filling the apartment with gorgeous smells. She has a little bit of like an off putting feel about them. When they first arrive, they're in a bag. It's got condensation around the outside. She's like, these are probably diseased. Her mother in law is like, no, these are the best mushrooms. She's so excited when a letter arrives in the mail from the sender of the mushrooms. Songbyan's world begins to tilt further into the surreal and so does the readers. Summoned by the letter writer to a seemingly ageless house hidden in a hutong that sits in the middle of a congested city, she finds Bai Yu, a once world famous pianist who disappeared 10 years ago. He's heard of her, he's heard of her students. He has a mission for her. The mushrooms, the music, they're all related. And then this weird old house that seems kind of lost in time. So we've got the relationship dynamics with the mother in law, with the husband, and then with this world class pianist who everybody's like, what happened to him? Right? Like when you have a celebrity that just kind of drops off the face of the earth. This book has a surreal and strange feeling to it. The mushrooms aren't psychedelic, but the reader is feeling a little unmoored as the story moves along. It's literary and observant, but strange and off putting as well. This one won't be on my favorite books of the year list, but I'm glad to know what finally lies inside the mushroom music book that has been playing its song to me for years at indie bookstores. It was not a fever dream. You can feel the plot and there's a center line and you're never like, wow, is this all a hallucination? What's going on? But it has that kind of dreaminess to it where the story has to play out and you just have to follow along with it. So this is ghost music by An Yu.
- [32:22]
A
That is so interesting. I was just looking it up on Goodreads as you were talking about it because I'm like a concert pianist who doesn't play anymore. Weird mushrooms. Like, I love when weird things kind of come together in a book. Like, I would never put those two things together, but it sounds so. And then this other pianist who's disappeared off the face of the earth. Like, it sounds like the literary fiction version of the second ending, which I talked about last time we met.
- [32:48]
B
Yes.
- [32:48]
A
Which was about the concert pianist who didn't play anymore. The other prodigy. It didn't have mushrooms, but it had a lot of weird elements in it. Sounds so interesting.
- [32:57]
B
And it does have some weirdness to it. The reviews are not great. I think on storygraph, when I looked it up yesterday, it has like a 3.59.
- [33:05]
A
Yeah.
- [33:06]
B
I think it's because you have to just be like, okay, well, this is the story that this author wanted to tell. I don't need all the answers. There's some interesting things happening here that are just kind of almost magical realism, but not. And I think that's uncomfortable for a lot of readers. And again, it's not going to be one of my favorites of the year. I think I gave it 3.75, edging up into 4. It's memorable. I keep thinking about it. It's been a month or two since I read it, or at least a month since I read it. But I just, I thought it was very interesting and I liked the elements that came together within this book.
- [33:41]
A
And I love that I am prioritizing interesting books over. As much as I talk about Goodreads ratings, I am prioritizing interesting books over high rating books. Because a lot of times high rating books deliver on people's expectations.
- [33:53]
B
Right.
- [33:53]
A
And if something is subverting expectations or completely blowing them up, then it doesn't score as well.
- [34:01]
B
Right.
- [34:02]
A
And I think I said on an episode a while ago with Meredith, I don't care as much if I like a book. I care more about am I thinking about it afterwards? Because if I like a book, I mean, I could give you a million books now that I would like. I could just read a series for the next 20 years. Right. And I'll like every book in it. But am I thinking about it afterwards or does it just slip from my head?
- [34:21]
B
Right.
- [34:22]
A
And I think it's a balance. Like these summer storms. Loved it. It was amazing. But then I love to balance it with something that I am thinking about, like a detective auntie or ghost music. So I think that's a really interesting pick. It's gonna actually really go high on my list. I'm like, oh, maybe I need to read this next, because just, I think it sounds like a really interesting story.
- [34:39]
B
Yes, it is. What's your third book?
- [34:42]
A
Okay, people, there was an old KFC commercial. This is completely going off script, but I have to share it. There was an old KFC commercial that, like, this girl is walking. I think it was kfc. She was walking on the sidewalk. It's a great, beautiful summer day. And suddenly she screams at the top of her lungs. Screams at the top of her lungs. And then it pans to. She sees a red leaf on the sidewalk. It's just like fall is coming.
- [35:06]
B
It's like she's terrified. See, we don't get those in Arizona.
- [35:10]
A
Oh, okay. See another thing.
- [35:13]
B
There's not, like, red leaves just, like, lying on the ground. I mean, Northern Arizona. Jessica Howard's gonna be mad that I said that out loud. Northern Arizona. Yes. You all have beautiful fall color. We're very proud of you. We have cactuses and evergreens.
- [35:27]
A
Okay, so I forgot that. So in Ontario, that is 100% a thing. You're sitting by the pool, enjoying your Mai Tai, having a wonderful day, loving your August. Then you look up and one of those GD trees has a red leaf or a yellow leaf. And you're like, so mad because you're like, what it is, but beginning of August. How can you even talk about fall? Because you know, here, fall is a real thing. All that. Everybody's like, roxanna, why are you going on such a tangent? But I am bringing a fall book.
- [35:55]
B
Yay.
- [35:56]
A
Because you know what? It's not there yet, but it's coming.
- [35:59]
B
It's almost September, right?
- [36:01]
A
So, yeah. And it's around the corner. And I want to give everybody a heads up and as something to add onto your list. And this one is a great one. It's the Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller. Okay, so think of a Gilded Age rom com gothic with a prickly feminist widow, a cinnamon roll inventor, and a truly haunted house. Ooh, this one is delicious, Katie. It is delicious for this one. We are in 1875 New York, where Alva Webster returns from a scandal abroad. Her husband has just died mysteriously. She has some trauma and she's starting over. And she starts over by buying a crumbling mansion to renovate and rebuild her life. But in this mansion, suddenly odd things start happening on site. And everybody tells her, look, this mansion is haunted. This is not a good idea. Because her plan is to rebuild this mansion. She owes his money. She's going to Release a book on it. Like, she's basically going to become the OG Home decor influencer. Okay? Like, that's what she's doing. And she's gotten a publisher who's going to do this book for her. But people are like, no, it's not going to happen because this house is haunted. And so she doesn't buy into any of that. She's like a very no nonsense person. But then these odd things keep happening. Along comes Samuel Moore, who's a sunny genius. He's all curiosity and kindness and a really, really smart scientist. And so he offers to investigate the haunting with science to see does it actually exist. No spoilers, but the house has opinions. The story goes from there. Oh, my gosh. This is such a great book, Katie. This is 4.5 stars for me. I love the anachronistic feminist energy here. You know, like those alva has a flint and velvet exterior and it meets Sam's cinnamon roll interior. And that contrast just works. Their banter is like laugh out loud funny, which for me is really rare. I don't laugh a lot in books and sometimes I find banter a really hard note for me to strike. Well, here I really did laugh out loud. And the supernatural thread is real and confidently handled. So this is spoopy. It's definitely not scary. But the supernatural and the haunting is woven into character growth. It's woven right into the plot rather than tacked on. Which is why I said this is great in fall. I read it in summer and loved it. And I think you could read it at any time. But if you're looking for sort of a spoopy cozy that has some more depth to it, this is not a cozy. It's more of a romance. But it's got a lot of like the first one, these summer storms. It's got a lot going on. Romance is one part of it. I think this would be a great read for you as you get a default. It's just such a lovely book. And the Moore family, Samuel Moore's family is a delight. The characters here are really, really well drawn, vibrant, funny, and you just want to be at the dinner table with these people. It's really excellent. Here's a renovation nerd note. The house is named Leaf de huis. So that's L I E F D E H U I S. And I was like, why would she name it that? Because I read it in print and I was like, why would you name it something so complicated? It's never explained. You know, I think it's Finnish or something. And I was like, okay, I guess it's leaves or something. But as I was googling for the podcast, I realized it actually, it's pronounced leave the house, which is perfect for a haunted riddle. And so it's got little details like that. So the setting details really give it that sooty, gas light vibe. But it's got that funny edge to it, so it never turns grim. This is a backless gem. Anybody who hasn't read it, you know, if you're a fan of Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourne, Evie Dunmore's Victorian romances, gentle, ghostly atmosphere with romance at the core, I would definitely pick this one up. So that is the Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller.
- [40:11]
B
Perfect. I love that I do have this in my brain card catalog as something that Mary talked about long ago. So if this feels like a very strange, hazy callback, or if you're one of those listeners who listens currently and in the past at the same time, and you're like, wait, I just heard about that. I'm pretty sure it was Mary. I didn't look it up while you were talking, but she's the vibe I'm getting from this.
- [40:36]
A
I'd be shocked if Mary hadn't talked about this as soon as you said. I'm like, well, yeah, yeah. I'm sure she's included in one her fall roundups, her spoopy season roundups, in.
- [40:46]
B
Her spoopy reading guides.
- [40:47]
A
Yeah, I bet you that's probably where I got it from, to be honest. Now that you say it.
- [40:52]
B
Oh, yeah. Possible.
- [40:54]
A
You know, I add something to my TBR graveyard and it disappears. So I don't even know. But it's probably her because it's exactly her vibe.
- [41:00]
B
Exactly. Okay. I love that. And I like that we now have this new perspective on it. This, like, leave the house thing. The way you said it the second time sounds German to me.
- [41:12]
A
Yeah, I'm going to look it up because readers are going to be upset that I got it wrong. So it's not Finnish. I'll figure out what it is.
- [41:18]
B
Yeah, well, again, I finished all the duolingo that they have for Finnish, and it doesn't sound finished to me, so I'm going to go with German, Austrian. Hmm. Something.
- [41:29]
A
Oh, it's a Dutch word.
- [41:31]
B
Dutch.
- [41:32]
A
Okay. But it means love house or house of love. But it's pronounced liefde house. Or at least that's how it says it's pronounced.
- [41:41]
B
Maybe it's like liefde, like the. And that's love. Yeah, but it sounds okay.
- [41:47]
A
Leaf is love and is. It's not tweets. It's in house, but it means house.
- [41:53]
B
Okay. I like it. Veronica Speedwell is a perfect comp, right? That like cheekiness, mystery, central, romance, rom com. I love that.
- [42:05]
A
So good.
- [42:05]
B
It sounds great. And you said flint and velvet at her core. Oh, that is such a great description of a character. So good.
- [42:13]
A
I love that prickly, strong core. Yes, I love that. So that really drew me in. And the writing is excellent all the way through.
- [42:21]
B
I love it. Okay. My third one this week is a book called Take what yout Can Carry by Jian Sardar. Five star book alert, y'. All. This one blew me away. This book jumped into my life in another unexpected way. In Laramie, Wyoming, the place I chose for our meetup was a used bookstore and coffee shop called Night Heron Books. My girlfriend, who had hosted us for the night, picked up a few books and she, she let me choose which one she should get for herself. She said, katie, I only read probably 10 fiction books a year, so it's like a weighted decision. She's not going to get all of them because they'll just languish. She just wanted the best one for her. So I read the setup of all three. I took a look at ratings. I did some first page reading, getting a feel for the writing, et cetera, and the setup for this one grabbed me right away. But then of course, she bought the only copy because it's a used bookstore, so. So I used a Libro credit to grab a copy for myself. I started it on the very next drive. Of course, I was more than thrilled to find a five star under the radar gem in my ears. This book is historical fiction, but don't tell many of our listeners because it takes place in 1979 and we don't like knowing that that is historical fiction. It's very recent history. Olivia is our main character. She is an aspiring photojournalist currently working as a secretary at a newspaper. She wants to take portraits that matter, that make an impact on the world around her. So when her boyfriend Delon asks if she would like to come as his plus one to a family wedding in northern Iraq, she jumps at the chance. Finally, this is when she'll be out in the world seeing real life and through the eyes of a local, no less. She's also more than thrilled to know that she'll get to meet Delon's family and understand his childhood in a way she never could at home in Los Angeles. However, this is no vacation. Delon and his family are Kurds from Kurdistan, a nation torn apart by war. Now it is a region that stretches across northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, southeast Turkey, and northern Syria. The Kurdish people have a unique language, culture, traditions, and national identity. In 1979, they are also in danger. The trip itself and the journey home both proved to be much less safe than even Delon had realized. Because he's been away from home for so long, his family is under curfew. They and the neighbors have secret stashes, secret little holes in the ground in order to hide books written in the Kurdish language. And every knock on the door is reason for alarm. While Olivia falls in love with Delon's family and the gorgeous scents and sounds of the Kurdish people, her life is also shattered. She captures many wonderful photographs, but one is of a tragic moment, and it will upend everything they hold. Dear Lord, y'. All. I may have made it through the berry pickers without crying, but this story, the tears at the end, were completely earned. I was so moved by this family, these central characters. I fell so hard for them, for the people and. And the place. And I was completely enraptured from beginning to end. It didn't matter if I was sitting around the kitchen table with Olivia and Delon or if we were sitting in a garden filled with Kurdish delights. This is a story I will not soon forget. Maybe never. It was gorgeous. I'm thrilled to report that the COVID is exactly perfect for the story, with each of the elements on it slowly revealing themselves through. Through the text in their time. And the author's note at the end added so much to the story itself. It was like throwing another backlight on all the action that we had just witnessed on the page. It was perfect. I had never heard of this book. I had never seen this book anywhere. It has great reviews. I have no idea why it flew under the radar, but between the COVID and the setup, I was like, well, this sounds great, and it's certainly not going to be a wasted credit. I loved this book so much. I loved the power play dynamics of Olivia's job at the newspaper. I loved the mentorship. What's going on here? Oh, gosh. Her roommates, the people she lives with in Los Angeles that are kind of supporting her through what she has seen. And then Dalon's family at home. There's a language barrier there, and she gets to know them and love them anyway. Everything about his family, the house they live in, the character that it has, the neighbors and the child that lives next door. I have goosebumps all over my body just thinking about the way that this book transported me and turned me into a different person by the time I had finished the last page. And it's not an issues book. It's not like you should know that this tragedy happened. It's not like that at all. It's just giving you the people to fall in love with so that you then care about everything else having to do with it. Adored it. Absolutely adored it. This is Take what you can carry by Jian Sardar.
- [47:31]
A
I had never heard of this book. And I just looked it up. Right. Beautiful cover. Such an interesting premise. Like, why had we not heard of this? 2021.
- [47:44]
B
Yeah. It's not even that old. No, I have no idea.
- [47:48]
A
Amazing, Katie. Like, it sounds so perfect.
- [47:53]
B
It's perfect. And I had never read anything about, like, the Kurdish community of Iran, Iraq, Syria.
- [48:00]
A
Yeah, Turkey.
- [48:02]
B
I just. Oh, it was so stunning.
- [48:04]
A
Okay. 4.35 stars on Goodreads for people who care about that. And yeah, I've not read of anything about Kurdistan either. My only quibble is 1979 is not historical fiction. You knew? I was not going to interrupt you.
- [48:16]
B
As soon as I said it, I was like, roxanne is going to be so mad.
- [48:19]
A
50 years. Okay, I get it. It's not just the 1800s. I get it. I'm grudgingly willing to concede that. But it has to be at least 50 years. So I'll just tell you, next time I will interrupt you and completely disrupt your flow. So just keep that in mind, my friend. Okay.
- [48:35]
B
Okay. When we've talked about what counts as historical fiction in the past, I think anybody that it's within their life, they get a little like, no, I beg to differ, but it was brought up that something that is very clearly rooted around the September 11 attacks of 2001 could be considered historical fiction because it is set within a certain time in history and it can only take place during that time. And I was personally offended by that because I was like, no, that was only 20 years ago. Like, how dare. Well, 1979 is more than 20 years ago, and it could only take place in this very specific time in history.
- [49:15]
A
No, I refuse to accept that. You know how you guys, like, refuse to accept feedback? Yeah, this is my. Tell me. Come after a book, but I'm not coming after that 20 years or, like, some specific event that means, like, the Obama election could be a moment in time. Like, no, true. So many books are written about a certain moment in time. I refuse to accept that. To me, it's 50 years. Just choose a time period. I understand there are much more nuanced critiques about this. I'm not pretending to have a nuanced critique. I'm just putting a big old hammer into the ground.
- [49:49]
B
Red stamp.
- [49:50]
A
Yeah. And I refuse to think about it any further. So just FYI.
- [49:54]
B
Okay, so we'll call this beautiful literary fiction for everyone else, and for some of us, we can file it as historical.
- [50:03]
A
No, you can't. None of you can. And if you do, don't tell me about it. Okay? But getting back to the book, I love how you talked about it as you care about the characters, and then the issue becomes important to you because you care about the characters. I think that is so important. That is my favorite thing. And that's what I mean. I think you explained it so well. You encapsulated what I mean about not being kind of hammered over the head with something. If I care about the characters and they go through things, I'm learning because of that, but it doesn't feel like learning because I actually just want to see what happens. So. This one sounds fabulous, Kim.
- [50:36]
B
It's so good. And honestly, y', all, let's sell it out. Just everybody go buy a copy today. You can read it. I don't care when you read it, you can read it in 20 years, and then it'll actually be historical. I don't care. Just go get it. It's so gorgeous. Someday, reader, you is going to be so happy you read this book. Oh, exceptional. Okay, y', all, those were our six current reads. Now I'm excited to get into our deep dive, where I get to sit at the feet of the teacher, which I love. Deep dives like this, we're going to talk about how to use AI to improve your reading life and just getting into some of the nuances and delights of the AI world and what we can do with it. When we last talked about this, Meredith recommended uploading your currently reading tracker to ChatGPT and then having it use that data to answer questions about your reading life and what makes it tick. So we did that in real time on episode 37 of season seven. So if that feels a little bit like we just talked about AI, that was five questions, and she had me answer them as we went through the episode that happened in real time. So, Roxanna, we're tackling this again now, but it's a different. It's a shift, and I'm so interested to understand why this was important to you to talk about today.
- [51:50]
A
Okay. So over the last few months, I've really done a deep dive into AI, and one of the ways I've been using it a lot is to be my reading sidekick. So I just have used it so much, and it has made my reading life richer in so many ways that I wanted to share some easy tips, tricks and hacks to help readers really think about how they could use it. Because I think part of it is like, you know, when somebody hands you Photoshop and you're like, I'm sure this tool can do amazing things and one day I will figure them out. But it's just so much that. Okay, beyond kind of the basic things, it's hard to know what to do. So I wanted to give some guidelines and then some easy ways you can try it out and then see which one works for you. Like, these have really, really upped my reading and helped fulfill it at a time, honestly, it's been really hard for me to read. There's a lot going on in my life and usually I would sit here and wring my hands and say, woe is me, which I will continue to do, reader, rest assured. But this tool has really helped me kind of pull out of that quicker.
- [52:55]
B
Okay. I love it.
- [52:57]
A
Okay, so let's dive in. I'm going to start with ChatGPT, because I think it's just easy if you have Gemini, if you have Claude, I'm just going to start with a, like an LLM. I'm not going to go into any agents or anything. We can do that one day. It's fun. But right now we'll just start easy. What I'm going to say first, there's a few things you need to know before you get started. Like, this is like the tool section, you know, have the right pencils and the right pens kind of thing.
- [53:21]
B
Mise en place if you're a chef.
- [53:24]
A
Yes, exactly, exactly. So the first thing I'll say is, whatever version of GPT you're using, or Gemini or Claude or whatever you're using, make sure it's a thinking version. So in GPT, if you're using paid, that's called five thinking. If it's not paid, you're using O3. If you're not sure, just ask your LLM. Hey, which version is the thinking version? Because what that means these LLMs are optimized to give you the quick answer. And what the AI companies will tell you is, like, always do the quick answer. It's fast because they don't want to use a lot of compute power. And it's good enough for 80% tasks. You know what, reader? It's not good enough for us. It's not going to give us the detail we need. And it's like sitting there with a Commodore 64 with no mouse. You know, they're sitting next to us and we have this great podcast set up and we're doing all this stuff, like, use the thinking version if you can. If you can't. And I think if 4o is all what you have for free, it still does all these things. Work with that. So it's great. But if you can use the thinking number two, this is important for everybody. Start a new conversation.
- [54:29]
B
Okay?
- [54:30]
A
What that means is just have one thread and then keep that thread. If you can't label that thread, X is reading, keep that thread. Every time you open a new prompt, it forgets everything it knew about you. Which means when you use it and you have a billion tabs open, let's say like a different conversations, you're like, well, why isn't this useful? Because it doesn't remember anything in those other conversations. So keep one conversation going and then number three, give it some context about you either. If you have a reading tracker, great. Drag it in. You can connect it to drive and bring it right in. If you don't want to do that, you can convert to a CSV file, which is an easy thing to do in Google Drive, and then you can just copy and paste it in. If you have a goodreads account, if you have a storygraph account, you can convert that information, all your reading history to a CSV file and plop it in. And if you're not sure how to do that, you can just ask GPT. But it's literally a button that says export on both of those. And I did that with my to be read, and I also did that with my already read list. Yeah, if you don't have any of those things, never fear. Just do a little couple sentences or use voice note and be like, hey, GPT. I'm a reader who likes backlist, diverse voices. I prefer fantasy. I don't like X, Y and Z. I like short books. I like long books. I like audio. Just rant for a while. It doesn't have to be in any kind of fancy formula or prompt or whatever. Just talk to it about you. Okay? That's important because you get better information when you talk to it about. You do those things before you get started. It will vastly, vastly improve the output you get okay. And that's when it becomes helpful. You know, I think all of us, like, I've gone into GPT4 and been like, I like family dramas or whatever, what should I read next? And I'll be like, have you heard of Lessons in Chemistry? And I'm like, this thing is crap. I'm like just throwing my phone across the road.
- [56:28]
B
Yeah.
- [56:29]
A
If you do those three things, you don't get that kind of stuff. Like say, no, I'm a real reader. Like I'm a reader that feeds all the, the top 10 lists and has done all that. I never want you to suggest that. Like you can say never and always or remember this about me. And it will remember. So just say, don't recommend things that you read everywhere because remember, it pulls from all the data. It's trained on all the data. If you have the free version, it's trained on all the data up to 2022. Remember that. So it can't surf the net newer than that. So you're not going to get newer things. But obviously if it's pulling all this information and Lessons in Chemistry is mentioned in 70% of places, you're going to get that.
- [57:05]
B
That.
- [57:06]
A
So you just say, I don't want the big reads, I want the under the radar reads, whatever it is. Okay. Once you have put that in there in that conversation, this is a great mood based TBR chooser. I did this yesterday. I leave voice notes for it all the time. You can easily type it out. So you could say, I want a tender intergenerational winter setting that's not grim. Give me three backless picks from my shelves or library holds or for my tbr. Because now it has your TBR in there.
- [57:37]
B
Right?
- [57:38]
A
Right. And it can pick from there. If you don't have your TBR in there, just say, give me three backlist under the radar picks. Yesterday I went in and I said, I've been reading a lot of long literary fiction that take a long time to pick up with my attention span. Right now I can't do that. Give me something that's quick that it to get into, that's absorbing but is not fluffy, you know, and it knows I don't read thrillers or anything like that. And I had put in my Goodreads tbr, which is like a graveyard of a tbr. I've said before, like I use it, but it's got, I know, thousands of books on it. I never. So it's good because that's what ChatGPT does and it Surfaced Good Talk by Mira Jacob, which you had talked about many years ago. And I was like, I need that right away. And I couldn't get it on my library holds for a long time. And then I just forgot.
- [58:25]
B
Right.
- [58:26]
A
It did come up as a Kindle deal and I bought it. I was super excited and I fell asleep that night and I just forgot. So there's. It was in that book graveyard. So I was like, oh, yeah, I forgot. I wanted to read that. Started it yesterday. Such a win, such a great book.
- [58:40]
B
Good.
- [58:41]
A
And it picked up another one for me that I'm going to read next. So it's great for that. And if nothing fits, if it brings up three, it doesn't fit. Say, okay, give me one adjacent pick with a twist. Say, maybe I want something that's shorter or audiobook friendly or set somewhere new. Or what do you think I might like, given what I've told you or given my history? You know, you might have to play with it for a bit, but it's a great way to choose your next read when if you're not as much of a planned reader and you're kind of trying to figure out what should I read next, it's kind of a little more informed version of your reader roulette.
- [59:14]
B
Yes. Somebody else spinning the wheel. Something else spinning the wheel.
- [59:19]
A
Well, and not just spinning the wheel, but like looking through your thousands of TBR books and saying, which fit the mood you're in now given the criteria you have. You know, when I'm in bed at 9:30pm I'm like you. I can read for three minutes.
- [59:34]
B
Yeah.
- [59:35]
A
And I do that. I end up on this endless scroll and I'm like, no, no, no. This way I just tell it what I want and it surfaces. Things like that. Or I tell it what I don't want and I just actually get to reading sooner than choosing.
- [59:48]
B
And that's what we all want, right? Is to be able to get more books into our reading lives. And that's what this tool is doing for you. Instead of spending the limited time we all have limited time finding the book, it lets you get to reading it sooner.
- [60:04]
A
Yes, exactly. Okay, so I have always admired Meredith's process that she has about recording a voice note as soon as she's done a book and she emails it to herself, then she puts it in her book log. I will never, ever do that.
- [60:18]
B
Me neither. But I love it.
- [60:20]
A
I love it. I did it once. I immediately left a voice message for Meredith telling her how great it was. I never did it again. Just never did it again. Too much work. Okay, I do fill out my reading log, but that takes a lot of.
- [60:33]
B
Work for me too.
- [60:35]
A
And then I do lament that I don't have, like, a great summary of each of these books. I was like, well, how could I use ChatGPT to make this easier for me? So what I do is I leave a quick voice memo right in GPT when I finish. You could also leave it in a voice memo on your phone and just paste it into GPT. Remember, it's that same log. What I said to GPT was, listen, I want to update my reading log with all these comments, but I go in maybe once every two months, once every three months, once every six months. And I don't want a whole bunch of these voice memos scattered in my GPT or in my phone and it's too hard to reach them. So when I gave it that prompt, it came back and said, okay, tag it with Booknote. Whenever you say book note, I'm going to know this is a book note. These are the five things I want you to tell me. And then I'll put it in and I'll stick summarize it for you. I'll make three key bullets and then you're ready to go. And then you ask me for a Booknote digest when you're ready to update, and I will surface all those book notes for you.
- [61:38]
B
Cool.
- [61:39]
A
So that's what I do. And I said, you want me to set a reminder every month? I was like, yeah, you just notify me every month that I need to update. And here's the Booknote digest. So it does that for me. If I'm leaving a voice memo, I'll say booknote. Or I'll just type in Booknote and it'll expand like it has all these fields. Remember the name, remember the author, remember the spice level. Like the things I told it that were important to me.
- [62:01]
B
Yeah.
- [62:02]
A
Remember to say kind of a few summaries about how you felt. Like the thing that's important to me as I'm writing three to six months, when I go into my reading log, I can update it. I'm working with an agent now to actually just get it to update for me so I can just talk about it and it can go into the reading log. That is very buggy right now.
- [62:21]
B
Yeah.
- [62:22]
A
But I am working on a no update needed, like no physical update needed version that you could update. But for now, at least that is better. And I have a way of remembering all those great Things about books. Because I love how Meredith can go back into 2010 and be like, this is what I wrote about my book. And I'm always so jealous, and I never do that. So now I have a history.
- [62:44]
B
Same. Okay, so we give it a tag, and it'll give us a digest. I like it.
- [62:50]
A
Yeah. So that's number two. Okay. If all those things are just, you know, like, nice, but just too heavy and too much work, then if you have got your CSV in there or your. Your actual reading log, I go in and I ask it just a ton of stuff about my reading. So I asked it yesterday, Hey, I feel like I've read less books this July than last July. Have I? Oh, yeah, you read less. But guess what? Your reading page has gone. Your reading count has gone up, your blah, blah, blah. Okay. You know, this summer, I feel like I've read less diverse authors than I did last summer. You know, can you tell me something about that? Is that true or not? I can just talk to my data, right? I can do windows, like, summer versus last summer, July versus last July. Things that I. And if you have your reading log in here, just imagine the fun you can have with this, right? Because then you have all that information. Then when it tells me, I'll say, I want more descriptive. Make it like a story because you're.
- [63:50]
B
You're boring to talk to. Yeah.
- [63:51]
A
Yes. Tell me some good stuff. Okay, now make some visualizations because I really like charts. Like, that's why I love the reading log. So just show me this July versus last July. Okay. Have I read more fantasy this year than I did last year? You know, what three genres did I read more of this summer than I did last summer? And of course, you can do year to date versus last year to date, but you're not bound by the year time frame. You can just do whatever time frame you want, and then you can ask it. Whatever questions are the ones that are important to you. And then you could say things like, which books from my TBR feel most like the ones I've loved? You know, give me three and tell me why each one fits. And so it can really tell you which books it thinks would be a great fit for you because it has the data from your past ones to help identify that. Now, if you don't have the data in there, never fear. The important thing is just training it. So when you finish a book, just go in and tell it why you liked a book, right? Or give it a long rambling memo. Like you would leave your Best friend. What you like, what you don't like, why this worked for you. I hate books that hammer you over the head. But I love books that have characters I care about. But I hate books that are about rich people that I hate. And just talk like that. Don't give it any organization and then just tell it, digest that or remember this about me.
- [65:09]
B
Turn that into something useful.
- [65:10]
A
Yeah. And then it will be much more useful for you. And then you can pull stuff like that. Like, what books would I like next? Like, and if you don't have your TBR in there, you can be like, what books from 2023 would you say would be most like the books that I love? And just play around with it.
- [65:27]
B
Excellent.
- [65:28]
A
So those are the three tips I'm going to leave you with. I have more, but I don't want to overwhelm people. I think that's enough to get people started. It's more like, like you said, I love the cooking example. I've given you the mise en place and three recipes you can riff on.
- [65:43]
B
Yes.
- [65:43]
A
You have your sauce, you have your souffle, and you have your roast chicken. Just go in there and play around with them and see what works for you and how you can make your reading life richer in a way that means something for you.
- [65:55]
B
Right. And if we're not using it to make our reading lives richer, are we even using it? I mean, if there is good to be had from AI, it's definitely to get more out of the thing that you love as your favorite pastime, hobby, et cetera.
- [66:14]
A
Right.
- [66:14]
B
And that's what we're doing here.
- [66:15]
A
Well, and that's why we'll say our reading is a great test case. Like, it's great for that. I have found that. So on the bigger context, I'll just quickly say, because reading is something you care about, there's a lot of tools that don't exist that we all wished existed. And you know, I've been watching a lot of like tutorial videos about agents and automation. All these things. It's all these like 25 year old bros telling me about how they use it to email their girlfriend to make them a smoothie every morning. I literally heard that the other day. Or like automate their okay, give me my weather in the morning. And I'm like, I don't need these stupid things. Like, why would I learn this whole system? And I'm not emailing my girlfriend to make me a smoothie. I'm making the damn smoothies. Right, right. It sometimes shows Me things or they're very technical that I'm like, okay, I don't need to know that in my life. But you know what? There's so many things you can do for your reading that are really important. Like, think about all those things. Like, like I just said, I love my reading tracker, but I get really lazy about updating it. So let me learn a way to do that, or I would love to have more insights on how I read this summer versus last summer. Let me do that. It's a great little sandbox that has some good constraints. It's fun to play around it, and it's less intimidating than if you're like, let me create some systems to optimize my life. Or let me figure out this whole AI trend so I can transform the world and the future. Like, no, let me just play around and see how it helps my reading. Yeah, it's a fun place to start.
- [67:40]
B
I love it. Let's pop on over to the fountain and make some wishes. I can't wait to hear what you're wishing for this week.
- [67:47]
A
Okay, so a little bit tied to this AI conversation, I realized when I was kind of looking at ways to use it. Oh, the last tip I'll give is, if you're not sure, ask it. There were things I was like, I don't know how to use this. Like, what are some good, low, easy ways? And it just told me, and then I did them.
- [68:02]
B
Okay.
- [68:03]
A
So I realized as I was doing that, like, and it told me things, I could use it as a mood generator. Give me some information. I can help you figure out trends, all those kinds of things. And it made me realize sometimes we do things on autopilot and we don't even think about it. So we choose a book the same way we take notes or we don't take notes, and we stop noticing the tiny frictions. You know? Like, I think on our last call with the four of us, we talked about, how do you choose a book? And I was like, I don't. I don't. I guess I don't really choose a book. I have this huge tbr and then I just choose what comes. And I talked about it like it was a great thing. And it is great. It's great to have this, like, big wine cellar of books. But I didn't have a process to choose. And I realized, well, yeah, maybe that's why I'm struggling, because I have these weeks and weeks in between books that I'm just not reading anything. And I realized, oh, that's a real friction point, but I've never actually identified it before. So when I asked GPT, how do I solve that? It gave me some great solutions. Whether it's AI, whether it's not, I don't care about that. But think about maybe some frictions that you're facing in your reading life, and what are some small tips and tricks that you could use to maybe just take that snag and smooth it out a bit. And I think that'll make your reading life better. So that's my wish for everybody. Just pull out a snag, you know, examine it for a bit and figure out how to make it smooth. Ping, splash.
- [69:22]
B
I like that. I think that's a really good tip because it is that humans are not meant to always notice the same things over and over again. Right. Like, we are meant to notice something new. But if there's a little thing that's been bothering you for a really long time, you will have stopped noticing it. So if you don't take time to consciously evaluate the situation around your reading life, maybe you're not going to notice that this is actually a thing that's been bothering you for a while about the way you read or the way you choose your next book until you sit down and do it right. So I like that. It's like grabbing a nail file and first feeling for, like, where do I actually need to file rather than just doing it by route.
- [70:04]
A
Yeah. Or like the pile of Amazon boxes in the basement that you don't notice. This doesn't apply to you or Meredith, who get rid of them right away. But for some of us, you know, you just stop noticing. And so when you look at what to clean up in the house, instead of I'm doing the dish rack for the 35th time, walk around the house and be like, oh, yeah, okay, I should probably get to that. It's that thing, like, just look around and be like, what's actually bothering me versus doing the same. Like my infinite scroll at bedtime of my Goodreads graveyard to figure out what to read. I didn't think that was a problem because I just didn't think about it anymore. And then I was like, oh, that's something I could fix. Other people don't do it that way. When I was talking to you guys, I was like, oh, Mary has this great seasonal TBR that she does. You read a roulette. Everybody has different ways. Maybe I could solve this for myself. So, yeah, just look around.
- [70:51]
B
Amazing. Okay. Mine is much smaller and more practical. But maybe impossible. My wish this week is adopted and shared from bookish friend Amanda. Here's what she pointed out in the bookish friends group. Amanda pointed out that Kindle books typically open to the first page of a book, where the content starts skipping the COVID epigraph, dedication, table of contents, all that info at the beginning, which, sure, some of us don't want to see, all that, right? But some of those are really important to the story and the way the author and publisher intention to experience it. So she said her fountain wish is that Kindle would start a book at the COVID instead of the start of a story. And then she includes the dedication to her current read, which she would have missed if she didn't every time she started a book. Take the time to scroll backward in her Kindle book to the COVID and she would have missed out on this gem. It reads, amanda, you look at life through the eyes of a child, and I don't know where you got them, and it's making me very uncomfortable. Please stop. That's the dedication in this book. As a reminder, this wish was stolen from Amanda, so it's even more special. It's not to her. It just happens to include her name. The book she's reading is Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendricks, which explains why it's very weird and very unskippable. I would wish this week that Kindle settings would have the option to toggle this on for those of us who are true purists and want to start at the COVID of a book and not miss all those little fun tidbits right at the beginning. But this also applies at the end. A lot of times you hit the last page and it'll pop up. Bing, you're all done. Do you want to go back to your library? No, I want to read the author's note. Please get out of my way so I can continue to actually finish this book. Like you're not smarter than me, Kindle. I want to read the entire content, and I would like it to ask me whether I would start at the COVID or at the first page of content. That's my wish. Pink Splash.
- [72:49]
A
That's such a great wish, Katie. It's so great. See? Another point of friction. I didn't realize. So I do go back. When I remember right?
- [72:55]
B
And I go back.
- [72:57]
A
Okay, so sometimes I don't remember. But I love to see a cover, even if it's black and white. On my Kindle, I like to see it. And then to your point, I like the dedication all those pieces, but I don't keep. Katie, I just realized when you said it that when it tells me I'm done, I'm like, okay, I guess I'm done. But what if I've missed an author's note, like, so many times? An author's note has been what has.
- [73:19]
B
Made or broken the book.
- [73:21]
A
Yes, yes. And I like author's notes at the end. I don't love them in the beginning because I don't have the context. So maybe there's one in the end and I've been like, okay, I guess the book's done, and then moved on. And, like, I didn't even think about it.
- [73:33]
B
And it tells you that you're done. Like, that's so rude. Get out of my book and rate.
- [73:38]
A
This and put it on Kindle.
- [73:40]
B
Like, hurry up.
- [73:41]
A
I'm like, just shut up. And sometimes, you know, like, it's like when Netflix plays the next show. Like, sometimes you just want to sit with it.
- [73:47]
B
Let me watch the credits and sit with this music for a second. I need to absorb.
- [73:52]
A
Yeah, don't just shove this in my face. It's true.
- [73:55]
B
It's so true. Okay, great wishes. That is it for this week. As a reminder, here's where you can connect with us. You can find me Katieotes on bookmarks on Instagram. Meredith is @meredithmondayshorts on Instagram.
- [74:09]
A
And you can find me Roxanna Oxannethereader on Instagram.
- [74:12]
B
Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Putamong Evans. You can find her on Instagram at most of Megansreads, although she is on maternity leave. And so Chrissy is doing our editing and production right now. And we are so grateful. Full show notes which Chrissy has made with the title of every book we mentioned in the episode and timestamps so you can zoom right to where we talked about it can be found on our website at currentlyreading podcast. Com.
- [74:35]
A
Our website also includes links to all the ways you can support the show, like our Patreon and our store. You can also contact us directly at Currently reading Podcast on Instagram or via email@currentlyreading podcastmail.com and do us a favor, check out the Instagram content. Betsy is doing such an amazing job. It is just such a light in your life. So make sure you go and check us out on Instagram.
- [74:59]
B
Absolutely. If you really want to help us again, you can visit that website and become a patron that helps support the show. It keeps it ad free. You get tons of bonus content. The spreadsheet which we talked about already today and so much more. You can also rate and review us on Apple podcasts or shout us out on social media. Those all make a huge difference in finding our perfect opportunity audience.
- [75:22]
A
Until next week, may your coffee be.
- [75:24]
B
Hot and your book be unput downable.
- [75:27]
A
Happy reading Katie.
- [75:28]
B
Happy reading, Roxanna.