Will Bogle (6:23)

Thank you.

Anne Bogle (6:24)

In your hands. Take it away.

Will Bogle (6:25)

I. I appreciate the casual and fun framing since I'm pinch hitting here.

Anne Bogle (6:30)

So unscripted. Did you catch that?

Will Bogle (6:32)

Unscripted? I did. I saw that too. So here we go. Unscripted. We have gotten these questions directly from Patreon. We asked there if you all had questions and fielded some of those. And we're going to start at the very beginning. Podcast Origin story question right here from Susan from Tampa. She's a fairly new listener, started with Summer reading guide in 2023 and and as someone who's relatively new, she had a question. What's the origin story for what should I read next? And especially how you came up with the three books you love, one you did not and what you've been reading lately. She's also wondering where did the book club come from.

Anne Bogle (7:10)

Ooh, welcome, Susan. And these are good questions. I feel like this is a what should I read next? Legend or myth? In the sense that I have answered this question over the years and I'm really curious of someone paying attention when note changes in my story over time, I don't think it's changed, but part of me does wonder. The origin story of the podcast is with the blog, and I know that readers had questions about that as well, so I think we'll touch on that in a bit. But I started Modern Mrs. Darcy in 2011. I had no intention of talking about books, maybe periodically, but I definitely didn't envision what the blog came to be like. Reading was something I loved, but I didn't anticipate it being as much of a thing or the thing that it did become. But I found really quickly that because I love to read and because I've always thought that books are such a springboard to talk about personal, deeply personal and also deeply universal themes that fascinate me and that are just so great to talk about. So good for human connection. I found myself blogging about books regularly and pretty soon readers were asking me like, oh, hey, I know you read a lot. Could you tell me, could you like, what's a great book? I'm going on vacation. Can you recommend something that I'll really enjoy? And I would be really annoying and be like, well, what do you like? And they'd say, ann, it's not a hard question. Like just, just like, tell me about a great book. You know what great books are. And I even then thought reading was so personal. So after kind of mulling this over on the back burner and honestly, William, I was probably verbally processing this with you on February 8, 20, 2014, William, could you put this link in chat? We'll put it in show notes for our Tuesday listeners as well. I launched a blog post that said that was called literary matchmaking, personal shopping for books, whatever you want to call it. Here goes. And I asked, I explained what I just told you and said, readers, I have an idea and I want to take it out for a spin. How about you? In comments, tell me three books you love, one you don't, and the last book you've read, and I'll recommend three books you may enjoy reading next. And I really enjoyed that. That was a lot of fun. There were 207 comments on that post in like hours. Modern Mrs. Darcy didn't get a lot of traffic in 2014, so that was a lot of Comments. And I loved it. It was great. I answered a few of those queries a week on weekends, over a period of many moons. At the same time, I was thinking, gosh, I wish I could talk to people. Like, I want to know more. I think, oh, this book would be perfect for you. So perfect you've probably already read it. Are you willing to take a chance on kind of a grisly thriller? Cause I think it would be perfect. Unless you hear me recommend the title and go, absolutely not. How do you feel about romance? How do you feel about family sagas? I just. You couldn't talk back to me over. You could over email, but it was so slow going. Meanwhile, my friends were starting podcasts, and I thought that sounded fun. And it took me ages to put together literary matchmaking and the burgeoning podcast landscape and realize it could be a conversation. So that is the origin story for what should I read next? The podcast launched on January 12, 2016, and 2016 was actually a real busy year for Katie, who worked with me for many years. Called it our Pemberley estate for modern Mrs. Darcy, but MMD. And what should I read next? And the book club, et cetera. We announced the book club in May of that year, and it started as a summer thing. We thought blog community is great, but what is a way that we could bring readers closer together in a more orderly fashion and where we could really go deeper with books? And so we launched a trail balloon that started. We started meeting together in June, and by the end of summer, and honestly, it was actually possibly just a few weeks in, we knew that we wanted to continue. I can talk for eight minutes about every question, but I will try not to. All right.

Will Bogle (11:13)

I just realized the very well prepared doc that I got has timestamps, so.

Anne Bogle (11:18)

Oh, no. Does it really?

Will Bogle (11:19)

Yeah, it does. I just realized I was like, what are these numbers? Yeah, we're supposed to see them. We are on the clock, so. Yeah, there we go. Live without a net. Right. Okay, next question is from Nancy. Nancy's from Marblehead, Massachusetts. She's been listening for a long time and. And, you know, wants to know, like, how'd you know that giving advice about reading was like, your passion? You know, I mean, not just like, how did it come to the blog or the podcast? But were you always a person that people wanted to ask a recommendation of?

Anne Bogle (11:53)

No, but I was always a person who was interested and excited for that conversation. I wonder, hearing your question, Nancy, and it's a good one. Thank you. Is if I'm not one of those people who's found something great and wants other people to know what's available to them as well. You know, like the secret trailhead or the. Like, the best menu item. For me, maybe that's books and reading. But let's see. I didn't expect to be recommending books on a regular basis, and certainly not in a professional context. Basically, ever. Modern Mrs. Darcy was born in, like, a New Year's conversation between Will and me, like, right on the rollover between 2010 and 2011, and we were talking about what we wanted for the year to come. And I had, gosh, trying to think how old our youngest was at the time. I had little kids. I worked as a property law paralegal, and I wanted a created creative outlet. I don't know if I knew that's what I was yearning for. Is that what I was yearning for, William?

Will Bogle (13:01)

I don't remember.

Anne Bogle (13:03)

It's possible. I just wanted to have something that I had more agency over that was fun and satisfying and finishable. But Will was like, you could start a blog. And I was like, this is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because nothing. I mean, even now, like, does our work in this space get finished? No, never. But sometimes it does. Sometimes I write a book and it gets published, and then it's done. And I'd love to do that again one day, but that's not Nancy's question. So it felt like I incubated this idea forever, but really, it was only maybe six weeks. The blog launched in February 2011, which means we do have a 15th anniversary right around the corner. And I did not tell a single soul it existed. The joke that a lot of early bloggers had that back in the 2000s and 2000s was, only my mother reads my blog. I didn't tell my mom. I didn't want anybody to read it. And I was just, like, writing in the basement by myself and got acquainted with a blogosphere, started finding other sites, leaving comments. People would visit my site, and during this whole time, I'm just thinking, this is in my hands. What do I want to write about? And what I quickly kind of stumbled into was I loved writing about what I was reading, and I wasn't giving literary analyses or reviews. What I was saying was, hey, I read this book, and the character or the memoir said this really interesting thing that I can't stop thinking about. Here's what they said, and here's how it connects to my life, and here's what I'm thinking of, and here's What I have more questions about. Here's what I want to think first further about, and here's what I want to explore. And I really just quickly stumbled into the discovery of how books are a way in to really meaningful and also just really fun conversations with people I know and also people who began as strangers on the Internet. And when I started blogging, I thought it was going to be about me writing by myself. I was flabbergasted to discover that blogging was a community. I had no idea, idea, but that was the path towards talking about books in detail and regularly. And also I think being seen as someone who might have something to offer to readers looking to find good books that would bring new and different meaning to their own lives. Thanks for the question, Nancy.

Will Bogle (15:34)

Okay, so we covered some of this right, right there with that, that answer. But Jamie from Whidbey island, she was wondering about like sort of how as a business this all came to be. You know, where's it started? You just covered. But like, where's it gone? What was it like you mentioned, Katie? Like, what was it like having staff? And when did you add staff? And then also there's a question here about me. When did Will come on board and is this his full time job?

Anne Bogle (16:00)

See, when Shannon was going to be here, I thought I'd get to talk about you without you. Now you're here to fact check me. All right, well, we talked about this a little bit, but like when Will and I were brainstorming at our kitchen table in 2010, 2011, I don't believe there was any conception of the blog as a business. And the fact that podcasts existed, zero presence on my.

Will Bogle (16:23)

Oh no, podcast was definitely not a part of that conversation.

Anne Bogle (16:26)

I remember when we subscribed to an audio journal and got cassette tapes.

Will Bogle (16:30)

Cassette tapes in the mail. Yeah, yeah, the original podcast. Yeah.

Anne Bogle (16:34)

But then I started to get oriented in the blog space and I learned that there were people doing this who were making a little bit of income off it. And that was mostly through ads, which I did not have the kind of views where I could run ads on my site or affiliate sales. And I put a few affiliate links on my site, figured out how to do that, explained to people how they worked. And I do remember when I got my first 25 cent, like commission from somebody buying. It was vitamin D from my site and it was a quarter. Like, can you still buy a gumball for a quarter? It was nothing. But also it made me go, oh, like this actually works. Then later, like months later, some Kind of soul, apparently, based on my reports of my affiliate income, used my affiliate link to buy their college textbooks and that I got like, $25 from that.

Will Bogle (17:28)

And.

Anne Bogle (17:29)

And I was like, oh, that is not real money. But that could. I was beginning to understand how people did create an income from their site that could begin to justify the time that they weren't spending at their jobs or on other things in order to do their writing for the Internet. And my initial goals, when I thought, I don't know, like, I'm a firstborn daughter. I like to try things. I like to see what I'm capable of. And at first I thought, can I generate enough income to pay for the Diet Coke, fancy pens, and books I am purchasing? Actually, you know what? It wasn't books at that point. That'd be way too ambitious. It was overdue library fines to, you know, like, could I balance that out with income? But that was the beginning of it. So for our team, it was just me at the beginning. Except William has always been my tech helper, which that's not true. Like, he's always been the tech lead. Hey, this is what I need to do. Can you help me figure it out? Better yet, can you figure it out for me and show me how? And just sounding bored about all the things. I'm a verbal processor, and I'm not going to invite you to say words about that. Actually, William, the patrons can just see you nod. But I did have a virtual assistant, which isn't a phrase that gets tossed around a lot anymore. For a few hours a week beginning in maybe like 2014. And we started. Actually, I. I use the royal we a lot. Sometimes we is my team and I. Sometimes we from this era is William and I. But I began hiring our first regular team members in earnest in 2015. And then 2016 was a huge year. Just really pivotal. That's when Ginger came on. I know she's here today. I think Lee was with us either before or after that period. She worked with me for a time as a va, was not with me for a time, and then came back. So if you're wondering, why don't you know? That's why I don't know. But again, 2016 is having a moment in the cultural landscape, but it was a huge year for our business. Just really pivotal. I had started talking about the contract for my first book in 2015. I signed it in 2016. That's when we started the. The podcast. The book club hired people who are still with us. It was a great year.

Will Bogle (19:59)

Yeah, that was a big year.

Anne Bogle (20:00)

Did we say it was the question when you came on?

Will Bogle (20:03)

I was in there. I started the next year because I noticed you kept adding things. And so it went from like, I'm writing a little blog, and sometimes I write a news, like an email, and then you're like. And I added this book club, and I started making a podcast, and I wrote a book, and I. And I was like, you might need to drop something. And you didn't want to. You liked everything you were doing. So. So I came on to help at that point because it's.

Anne Bogle (20:28)

I have a funny story about that. More help. So this was a couple of years later, but I hired a business coach that I really trusted and respected to help me figure out what. How to narrow. Because I've always had a lot of admiration for people. You do one thing and do it really well. And this business coach was very kind. She did not say sweetie or honey or bless your heart, but I heard it as sweetie. You do not want to do just one thing. You would be bored out of your mind. And what would you quit like? You have this lovely little constellation of related stars, and I think you'd miss anything you cut loose. So let's figure out how to make it work. And my team, I know that Ginger and Bridget are here, have been making it work. William's been making it work. I'm really grateful. But, yeah, William came on in 2017 full time. He came on full time when the podcast had taken off enough that we were generating ad revenue, so it wasn't quite as terrifying to give up his health insurance. And. Oh, gosh. Which we were just saying, I really miss the health insurance from your old job. But, like, I don't know. The next month, something changed in the podcast landscape, and our revenue got cut in half because we work in a volatile industry. But he has been full time since 2017. Oh, my gosh. And it's 2026.

Will Bogle (21:43)

Yep. It's been a while.

Anne Bogle (21:44)

So that's longer than I realized, actually.

Will Bogle (21:46)

Yes. Going on 10 years, which we're celebrating 10 years here. Stephanie from Flower Mound, Texas, is asking, in the 10 years, you probably have a lot of superlatives, but she's wondering, what is your favorite episode, the one that you wish everyone would listen to? And because I know you really well, I know you hate superlatives. And if anyone listened to Anne's best books, and you notice that she wrote a blog post about the best books she read, and then the best audiobook books you listen to and then we did a podcast and it included additional titles that were not in the first two. Yes. Narrowing down to like one, you know, superlative is really hard. I also find this very hard. But looking back through our super secret spreadsheet vault, which patrons, if you, if you can't find that in Patreon, Patreon, let us know. But you have access to the spreadsheet. It has all of the guests and all the books that they brought with them and then all the books Anne's recommended. I think two of my, like, very early favorites would be Esther from Read it to Read it and Eat, which was episode 94. We went into her cookbook bookstore in Chicago and I was like, I love this place. Let's talk to this person. And so unfortunately, the read it need is no longer there, but lovely, lovely space. And I remember that being a real fun episode. Either that or also still real early 99 with Carolyn Weaver, the pencil lady. Also a real place that you and I went and then you got to meet and talk to her. Yeah, there's a couple of things I.

Anne Bogle (23:15)

Love talking to Caroline. I wanted to send all the handwritten letters. I got her pencil box subscription. But you know what I still remember from that episode is her saying, oh, I walk into the Strand and buy books based on who blurbs them. And I'm like, people do that. She was really happy with her reading life. Okay, so first of all, Stephanie, I noticed that you asked me, what is your favorite episode? Like, that's a hardcore, no holds barred superlative. It's not the same as I'm always telling, what should I read Next guest It's three books. You love any three books. It could be different tomorrow. It could be different in a year. It could be different in 15 minutes. But Stephanie, that's not what you went with. What is your favorite? Okay, going from the gut. And I might have a different answer at the end of our time together today, but I'm going to say Tara Nichols, A Century of Good Books in a Single Year. That was episode 168. It aired on January 22, 2019, and then we did a follow up in January 2022. That episode is called you'd Reading Life is in Good Hands. And we will link these in our what should I read next? Comments. But I think the reason this one is so top of mind is we are talking today in January 2026 and lots of readers have been doing look backs at the year gone by and look aheads to intentions and hopes and dreams for the year. To come. And Tara talked about how a very specific reading challenge changed her life. And something I've heard from a lot of you in the what Should I Read Next? And Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club Spaces are you listened to that episode and it changed the way you thought about your reading. And I'm shocked at the number of readers who said I'm going to do that one year and then it first aired in 2019. You've had time to do that many of you, so I'm going to go with that one. Ask me again tomorrow.

Will Bogle (24:58)

That's a fun episode. Yep, you can always have a new.

Anne Bogle (25:01)

Favorite readers as we launch the New year, we're checking in on short and long term goals at my house, like how we're doing on financial planning. As a business owner, my finances are not as straightforward as they were when I just got a regular paycheck, but I'm sure many of you can appreciate one big question that is on our minds a lot these we have four kids. How are we going to pay for college? Whatever your financial questions, Fearless Finance is here to make getting personalized advice affordable and accessible. Your Fearless Finance Advisor meets with you virtually so you don't have to take even more time out of your schedule for in person meetings or worse, put off getting financial help because scheduling is too hard. Whether you have a big question or a small one, whether you need to build a plan from scratch or tweak the one you've got, they've got the experience and knowledge to point you in the right direction. When you work with Fearless Finance, you're not locked into any high fees, commitments or requirements for minimum net worth. In the past, Will and I worked with a different firm that charged a percentage of our portfolio and and we realized that those fees really added up and we didn't like that we got charged even if we didn't need the meetings or didn't need any maintenance on our financial plan. That is a big reason why I recommend Fearless Finance. They charge by the hour so you only pay for the time you use down to a quarter hour. And I love knowing I can act on their recommendations with confidence because I know they make those recommendations based purely on what is best for me and my needs. Visit fearlessfinance.com today you can chat with the planner for free to make sure it's a good fit and you'll get $50 off first planning meeting when you use the code READNEXT. That's fearlessfinance.com New Year same extra value.

Will Bogle (26:39)

Meals at McDonald's so now get two snack wraps, plus fries and a medium soft drink for just $8 for limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska, and California. And for delivery. All right, Gina from SoCal, who is. What's our next completist? She got caught up during COVID and now listens every week. So she's a completist. She wants to do you ever get sick of reading? And she imagines that it must be hard to turn a hobby into a job and wondering, like, you know, what do you do about that?

Anne Bogle (27:11)

That's a good question. I really don't. I joke that I read for a living, but I really don't. I write about books and I talk about books for a living, and the reading is something I get to, slash, have to do along the way. But I don't really think about it like that. I don't get sick of reading, but sometimes I do grow weary of the way. I feel like my work requires to read in the moment. But something I love about what we do is if I don't like the reading, I feel like I need to do for what we're making at Modern Mrs. Darcy. And what should I read next? I get to go to my team and say, let's tweak what we're making. Like, what can we do differently? We're doing spring book preview differently this year, and it's because I felt like I was on the new release treadmill and I didn't want to read 60 books to talk to you about some for that event. At first, we weren't going to have a spring book preview. And then I said, wait a second. It's not only my job, but my delight and pleasure and privilege to read a lot of these new releases. I wanted to read because that is who I am and what I care about. So let's do an event where I can, like, chat to you about it in a more intimate setting instead of providing you a big overview of what's coming out this season. So if I'm feeling kind of sick of the kind of reading I feel like I'm obligated to do, I feel really fortunate that I'm able to change that. Yeah, because being sick of reading, no.

Will Bogle (28:36)

That would be terrible.

Anne Bogle (28:37)

That's. That's. That's a sign. That's a symptom of something that needs fixing. If I were in grad school, maybe we'd be having a different conversation about this, but we. We don't. We don't put you all through grad. School around here. We're having fun. Good, smart, nerdy fun. But we're having fun.

Will Bogle (28:53)

Okay. More on sort of the work of reading. Liv from outside Toronto is wondering what are your top recommendations for sources? Where do you find the really interesting, most under the radar recommendations?

Anne Bogle (29:08)

That's such a good question. And Liv, you're catching me with this question at an interesting time because I have been both pretty busy in my personal life and also largely offline over the holidays. So I'm trying to think what are some sites that I used to visit because I haven't been lately. I love to browse and see what's out there. I'm always ducking into bookstores when they're available for my work. I'm browsing all the new releases and sometimes backlist that's being promoted on the Edelweiss bookseller publishing platform. I love to talk to my bookseller pals. I'm always interested in hearing what they're reading. Especially. Especially Holland Saltzman at the novel neighbor in St. Louis and Andrea Griffith at Browsers Bookshop in Olympia. She puts out a. It's like a bi monthly newsletter called. Oh, what's it called, Andrea? Mostly books. It's great. I love it. And you can order anything you want from browsers. Same from the novel neighbor in St. Louis. So interesting. Or under the radar from people who don't read like me. That would be you, William. Also, publications that aren't book related I think are really great. Like Outside magazine. My cousin was. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Well, fair stuff like that. Nature magazine. Like I found a great book recently from Science magazine online. Like that's not typical for me and I think that's why I was so happy with it. My cousin reads so solely from the library. An audiobook, lots of backlist find stuff I've never heard of. And sometimes she'll recommend stuff to me that I just talked about last week on what should I read next? She doesn't listen. She doesn't know. I love that, honestly. Our team member Ginger's here. I get a lot of good picks from her. I also go down a lot of rabbit trails. I'll read a book I love that will read me to that will lead me to books that that author cites as inspiration or books that the fictional characters are reading in the pages. I get a lot of good Recommendations from Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club. We host authors almost every month. And sometimes I kind of hate to say this out loud, but sometimes you all hear all the books we talk about. But sometimes when we're sound checking in advance. We'll just chat about what we're reading with the authors, and I jot down a lot of notes about titles that sound good from those sound checks.

Will Bogle (31:29)

Okay. Shout out to Ginger. I also get great recommendations from her. Ginger is a very odd Venn diagram of, like, what Ann reads and what I read. And, yeah, there's a lot of Ginger titles in our house. I would also say we have a fabulous used book sale, like any used book sale. There are so many copies of, like, David Baldacci or whatever, you know, like, I mean, there's just like, tons and tons of the same stuff, you know, or junk, either one. But it's really. I think it just has a big draw. It pulls in books from a lot. A lot of different places. And if you're kind of patient enough, I found a lot of interesting stuff there. That's all. Obviously, like, very backlist, but especially, you know, I mean, there's a lot of great books that. That I did not read from 15, 20, 25 years ago that are not going to pop up now, you know, in the front of the library stacks or whatever, you know, so. All right. Speaking of books, and especially new books, Allison from Memphis wants to know, how many ARCs do you think you receive in a year?

Anne Bogle (32:34)

In a year?

Will Bogle (32:35)

Yeah, I look at your answer here, and I was like, yeah, I just don't buy that. Were you answering a different question? Did you think it said monthly? What is it?

Anne Bogle (32:44)

No, I jotted. I'm going to say it's something like 10. I think I read something like 10% of the books that come in.

Will Bogle (32:50)

Oh, I thought you were saying you got 10 arcs a year. And I'm like, this is not true. You think you read about 10% of the arcs that come in? Okay.

Anne Bogle (33:00)

I get a lot fewer physical advanced review copies than I used to. That really changed in 2020. And there are things that I do and don't like about reading digitally, but it takes up a lot less shelf space. I'm going to say, okay, Brigid's here. Brigid may have a better idea than I am. Brigid's my executive assistant in addition to her other roles, and she spends a lot of time chatting with publicists about getting me books or politely accepting or declining authors or offers of sending me books. And then a fair number of books just show up. I'm going to say, maybe these days, unrequested, I get 5 in the mail a week, and I'm pitched. I'm going to say something like, 30e galleys. That's my best guess. We'll get back to you. But, oh, what percentage. What percentage do I or someone from Team MMD read?

Will Bogle (33:54)

Yeah, they.

Anne Bogle (33:56)

The books are coming to me. Sometimes we do features on our team reading, but in Bridget sometimes request things for our team members, which is a nice perk of working at this space, I hope. But yeah, I think it's just like 10%. Okay. Bridget is estimating 50 egaly pitches via email a week is now time to chime in. We don't accept cash or compensation to talk about books. I don't get anything besides.

Will Bogle (34:29)

Good point here. Yes. Yeah, we don't.

Anne Bogle (34:31)

We don't sell anything.

Will Bogle (34:32)

Sort of paid placement or whatever.

Anne Bogle (34:34)

If I can't find a book I want and I can buy it, I do.

Will Bogle (34:36)

You were saying 20. 20 kind of shifted things or whatever. I do remember a few years back, I had the thought I should actually count how many books are coming into our house, like just in a month. Just every. Because it was a lot of physical copies that then have to be. Whether you read them or not. Like something has to be done with them, like we cannot have the space for them or whatever, you know, so.

Anne Bogle (34:57)

And sometimes I get emails that say, hey, do you want the new Ann Patchett? And I'm like, yes, it absolutely. Thank you. I love you forever. Thank you. And sometimes Bridget or I are trying to track down the books that I would really desperately like to read, say for the summer reading guide, that are not among the ones that we're being offered. So it's. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to read, especially because a lot of these pitches are just new to me. They're not ones that were already.

Will Bogle (35:25)

All kinds of directions. Yeah. All right, let's talk about some. Some specifics. Talk about things that are new to you. Lori from New York City is wondering what book surprised you the most? Oh, she didn't say the most. I'm sorry, what are books? A couple of books that surprise you as being favorites that you just didn't know, didn't expect.

Anne Bogle (35:47)

Ooh. It's true that I do read a lot. Thinking, well, I don't want to make. What should I read next? Listeners only listen to what Ann loves week in and week out. Like, I. So I try to read a lot of stuff that doesn't sound like it's up my alley but that I anticipate being really good or sometimes I don't know how I'm going to think about something because I've never tried it, so I want to try it. But three that came immediately to mind, Laurie, were Painting Time by Mylist de Kerangal, Crooks by Lou Bernie, and basically 80% of the nature writing I've ever read. I consistently end up loving that genre. And it's never my first reach when I'm thinking about what to read next. Good question.

Will Bogle (36:29)

Okay, if I were better at doing this live, I would have asked this question immediately next. Because we were just talking about arcs and all the books coming into our house. Tina from Dallas wants to know, what do you do to keep the number of books in our home even mildly under control? And Tina, I really appreciate the framing there because, like, yes, it is. She's saying she's dealing with stacks and piles everywhere. She wants to know how you hear you call when it starts to feel out of hand.

Anne Bogle (36:54)

That's such a gracious assumption. They are not in control at the moment, but I don't think they're completely out of hand.

Will Bogle (37:03)

It's been worse.

Anne Bogle (37:04)

It's been worse. It's been worse. I do regularly cull. I have various shelves in various parts of the house for various purposes, and I'm looking at each area with a different set of eyes. And I do a lot of waiting and seeing. Like, I'll look at some books and think like, oh, you just, you just came in recently. I haven't read you yet. Let's. Let's see how you age in this little collection here. And then the next month or year, I'll decide if it's time for that book to stick around or not. Sometimes I make choices out of necessity, like, we gotta find more boxes or build more shelves. Do I want to do that or do I want to get rid of some books? And almost always the answer is get rid of some books. But I really try to find good homes for the ones that I'm moving out of the house. And also when I'm thinking about what to get rid of, I think about how important is it to me to have a specific copy, like if you gave it to me with love on the occasion we met together, I'm not going to get rid of that book. But if it's something I picked up at a used book sale that I know my library has four copies of on the shelf basically ready and waiting for me at any time, that's the one I'm going to get rid of.

Will Bogle (38:15)

We. We do add a lot of bookcases. I think we're. I think we're about out of bookcase space though.

Anne Bogle (38:22)

But I don't know, the kids are going to college. They have rooms.

Will Bogle (38:26)

We're not going to talk about that. Yep. Okay. We also have, I mean it's always fun when Lee comes to town. She loves to go through the bookcases and say, okay, what are we doing here? You know, she's very hands on and helpful about like what books do you. Do you need and do you want? We also have a couple friends that will you say you give them a good homes. We have a couple people that'll take like ten at a time. So like I think you might like these and it doesn't matter if I'm like real specific. I think you might, you might. And then off they go. So that's helpful. Okay. Speaking of books that you're just definitely going to hold on to, Zippy from Phoenix wants to know who your auto read authors are. The ones you just absolutely know you are definitely going to read as soon as you hear they have a new one. And who's like a completist author?

Anne Bogle (39:17)

Ooh. We have a series in the works on modern Mrs. Darcy that I am kicking off very soon on this exact topic of our completest authors. This is non exhaustive, but here's a few. Tiari Jones, Ann Patchett, though I'm not a completist on either because I haven't read their first books. I'm scared of Tiari's and I haven't gone back to Ann Patchett's. I'm scared of Tiaris because the content is a little Murdery social. Gonzalez, Emily St. John Mandel, Peter Heller. My list of Kerangal, who. I'm not a completist on that last one because I don't read French and all her works haven't been translated. But that's a handful.

Will Bogle (40:03)

Are you a Peter Heller fiction completist?

Anne Bogle (40:08)

Yes. I've only read Kook for nonfiction. If he has more, I haven't read it.

Will Bogle (40:12)

Yeah, he wrote a book about whaling and I think there's one other nonfiction.

Anne Bogle (40:16)

I haven't read that one. Have you?

Will Bogle (40:18)

The whaling book?

Anne Bogle (40:19)

Yeah.

Will Bogle (40:20)

No. No.

Anne Bogle (40:21)

Okay.

Will Bogle (40:23)

I'm not opposed. I just like. It's not high on the list. So I read Kook. I liked Kook a lot. Okay, so those are authors that you are like. I know. I'm going back to that immediately because I just love everything they do. Carrie from Canaan, New Hampshire wants to know over the past 10 years, like have you noticed your. Your reading taste change and has that surprised you?

Anne Bogle (40:48)

Hi, Carrie. That's such a good question. I'm sure they have. Although when this question first landed on on my brain waves, I was thinking of it as how do I read differently? But maybe what I initially thought of as taste is probably more like I'm older, like my life experience. The lens through which I'm reading these books has really changed significantly in 10 years, both in reading and in life. I have a lot more books in my mental hopper. I've seen a lot more of the range of what a talented writer can bring to the page. And I have a lot more life experience to draw on than I did previously. But all in all, I read more fiction than I used to. I used to read more like, I think I used to read a lot more biographies than I read now. Actually, I read more literary fiction than I did, I think, 10 years ago. Wait, is this true? How old would I have been? Never mind, that's not true at all. I'm picturing 20 something Ann at the library. And that was not 10 years ago. I think now I either want to read a familiar story in a way that makes me see the ideas fresh, either because of the angle or because the prose is really sharp. I think I'm looking for insight in a way I wasn't before. I'm looking for entertainment that is really sparkly and fresh and well done. I think maybe my standards are higher, but at the same time I'm more willing than I ever have been to just like try a book and see where it takes me, see how I. How I think and feel about it. So that was a real muddle of an answer. But I'm really grateful for all the bookish experience that I'm now bringing to what I'm reading these days. And I think I just have a lot of appreciation for what's possible on the page.

Will Bogle (42:45)

Oh, that's a good phrase. I was thinking there when you were saying you're willing to take a chance and all that. I think one of the things about, and I don't know if this is taste, but you really taste is probably what you try to read. This is definitely what resonates with you. I know you really like someone who's doing something interesting, right? The unique, unique format or point of view or. Yeah, that you just really enjoy that part of the, I guess, craft.

Anne Bogle (43:17)

Yeah, no spoilers. But I was just telling you on the couch last night that I'm reading this new book that comes out in June that might be in the summer reading guide that has structure that I've just Who came up with this? How?

Will Bogle (43:28)

I'm glad I left that to you because I was not going to mention it. Not going to mention it, right. Okay. Hot off the presses.

Anne Bogle (43:35)

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Will Bogle (43:57)

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Anne Bogle (44:48)

It's funny how some people think working with your partner sounds like the dream, and some people, including happily partnered people, think it sounds terrible. Like, it's really interesting to get people's reactions for the first time if they're like, meeting me or finding out for the first time like, that I work with my husband, sometimes I get, oh, and sometimes I get, ugh, better you than me. So it's. I, I understand that this is a highly individual thing. Um, we are both big quality time people, so this sounded really good to us. Like, one of the reasons that I knew I was really into my husband back when we were babies was like.

Will Bogle (45:32)

10 years ago in our 20s.

Anne Bogle (45:33)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, we go to the DMV together and it wasn't terrible because, like, he was with me or I was with him or whatever. Like, he'd be like, oh, you're going to Target, I want to come. And I'm like, I mean, I like Target too, but. But he just wanted to be with me. It was so nice. And we did, like, seek counsel from a variety of trusted sources before he quit his job. And we felt like we got. I mean, we're not locked in. Like, either one of us could do something different at any time.

Will Bogle (46:04)

I'm curious whose counsel you're thinking of.

Anne Bogle (46:07)

Well, we went to see a marriage therapist for the first Time, for sure.

Will Bogle (46:10)

Yes. Went an actual. Talked to an actual therapist.

Anne Bogle (46:13)

Yeah, yeah.

Will Bogle (46:14)

Instead, I was thinking after we decided.

Anne Bogle (46:16)

Yeah.

Will Bogle (46:17)

Or after I decided I'm going to quit my job. We. We met people from the Internet. I don't remember why, but we were with a bunch of couples. A bunch of couples.

Anne Bogle (46:25)

We won't name no names, but you might recognize them.

Will Bogle (46:28)

Several work together, and one of them had just for two days, worked at a new job. And they were like, it's amazing. He's no longer in the house. We don't work together. I don't have to worry about whatever. Like, they're giving us just all this scare tactic. They weren't even, like, giving advice. They were just saying their experience. And I'm looking at Ann going, huh? I am definitely quitting this job that I have. So now I'm confused. Like, do I jump in and do this with you or. Yeah, but. Yeah, but you did what we just figured out nine years ago. It's been great.

Anne Bogle (47:02)

I think, like, when people ask this, I think usually they're asking about, like, the interpersonal dynamics and how it affects their relationship. But working together is hard in practical ways. I did not at all anticipate when we started contemplating working together, like, whether it's something really fun, like, we're taking a big trip with our kids and both of us want to be offline. When two people are out of pocket from our small team, it really impacts everybody else. And then sometimes that's for hard stuff, like when there's a death in the family, like, it takes both of us offline, and that's hard to, like, really impact our team like that. And that's just something I didn't anticipate when we started working together. But we have a really great team. I haven't said that for 20 minutes. I'm going to toss that in here.

Will Bogle (47:48)

Those are big challenges. I thought you were going to say. When we first started working together, we had one home office, and we sat almost, like, you know, side by almost side by side.

Anne Bogle (47:56)

I forgot.

Will Bogle (47:57)

And it was just like, you can't keep talking to me. Like, I'm working. Like, I'm writing, I'm thinking, I'm creating. I'm, like, structuring, like, sentences, and you cannot just turn and talk to me. And so we. We needed a little. Yeah. Sort of workplace culture there, you know?

Anne Bogle (48:15)

So when Yvette says, do we have rules around it? Yes.

Will Bogle (48:18)

Oh, there are rules. There are rules. Yeah. Yep. But we now. We now go out to coffee every Friday, so we can talk about all the things that I did not turn to ask her in the moment, you know, so.

Anne Bogle (48:31)

Okay, that's one of my favorite work routines is.

Will Bogle (48:33)

Oh, I love that one. That's great. Okay, here we go. This is another one that I just. I just love. I'm like, really? This is just about me. Mandy from Spokane is asking. She says Ann often says will is out on a bagel run. What's your favorite? And are there any special, like, you know, bagel memories? And I have a question. Is that true? Are you frequently talking about me getting bagels?

Anne Bogle (48:58)

I was wondering this too. Do I really say this? I do definitely know that I said it. Regarding links I love either on the blog or in the email. On Friday, January 2, was January 2, a Friday?

Will Bogle (49:13)

Everybody was home. Yeah, I'm getting bagels.

Anne Bogle (49:14)

I get.

Will Bogle (49:14)

That makes sense.

Anne Bogle (49:17)

Our team offices, offices, air quotes were closed until January 5, like from right before Christmas till January 5. And I wasn't sure if I was going to do links or links I love or not on January 2nd. I love putting that together. It was one of my things that worked for me in 2025. I just really enjoy the process. I think you have, like, reading it, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that over my holiday break or if I wanted to stay on the couch with a book during the several hours it would take to put that together. But then Will went off for bagels, and I was like, sure, I can, like, tool around the Internet and share a shorter collection. And I did say regarding links, Will is on a bagel run, so I'm popping in here. We do like bagels. Maybe not as much as we like some of the local bakeries and coffee shops, but. But sometimes I'm like, you know, what I want in my life soon is a big smear of cream cheese and a whole bunch of smoked salmon on something like crispy and chewy. We have a couple local to Louisville places and look like they're not New York bagels, but they are good enough to make me happy. But Mandy asked if we had any special memories. Like, we've had some really great bagels in New York and elsewhere on our travels. And Mel and Dave were in town. I want to say it wasn't that long ago, but it actually probably was that long ago.

Will Bogle (50:35)

It was July. Yeah, yeah.

Anne Bogle (50:38)

They brought bagels from, I think, Pittsburgh that they loved that were amazing. So, I mean, yeah, bagels are food. There's. Who does. We have great memories about food. We do, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Will Bogle (50:51)

We do love our. Yeah, but that's funny.

Anne Bogle (50:53)

Wheels on a Bagel Run Bakery. Yeah, that's gonna be my new catchphrase, guys.

Will Bogle (50:56)

I didn't realize that was the thing.

Anne Bogle (50:57)

Yeah.

Will Bogle (50:57)

So, okay, thank you all for all those questions. I love seeing them, even the ones. They're fun. I didn't expect all of those, so I appreciate that for the folks that are here, Ann, we have a couple of questions here in the Zoom Chat. Here, let me ask you a couple of these real quick as well.

Anne Bogle (51:23)

Let's do it.

Will Bogle (51:26)

Realizing, recognizing that this is your job, how many books do you read in a year?

Anne Bogle (51:30)

Ooh, max. 300 minimum. 200 in between. Really varies.

Will Bogle (51:37)

200 minimum. Okay.

Anne Bogle (51:39)

Yeah, we're talking on January 20th. I finished my 14th book of the year last night, but that is an exaggerated pace because of the holidays, so I won't continue at that pace. But since I know some hard data, coincidentally at this moment in time, I'm going to share it.

Will Bogle (51:58)

Yep. Okay. Melissa wants to know, where do you do most of your reading?

Anne Bogle (52:03)

Ooh, the couch. The yellow chair you see on Instagram. Sometimes on the treadmill, sometimes in the car. Not while the car is moving. When I'm waiting. When I'm waiting for my kid.

Will Bogle (52:17)

Or audiobooks. You do a lot of audiobooks?

Anne Bogle (52:19)

I do a lot of. Of listening when I'm walking the dog or folding laundry or. I almost said going for a run. I haven't been for a run in a solid year. But yes, couch, yellow chair, car are probably the big three.

Will Bogle (52:37)

You read in bed every night.

Anne Bogle (52:38)

Oh, I forgot that. Never mind.

Will Bogle (52:40)

It may not. It may not be a lot, but in bed.

Anne Bogle (52:42)

In bed belongs in the top.

Will Bogle (52:43)

That is definitely every night more than the car. Um, speaking of your reading habits, this is. I'm sorry, this is actually not. Not live. But I think we have a moment to fit it in here. Uh, Helen asked in Patreon. Um, she's asking from Melbourne, Australia, where it's not freezing cold, I expect. What do you drink while you. While you read? Is it coffee? Tea, wine? Like, what do you.

Anne Bogle (53:04)

It depends on the time of day, but I do drink a lot of coffee with my. My reading. A lot of tea, herbal tea. At night, I love, like, decaf Paris or Earl Grey or the Bangkok blend from Harney in the morning. I used to love a glass of wine with a good book, but I haven't drunk for a few years. But I do love those Saint Agrestis, like, Phony. The Amaro Falso, I think, is my favorite no. You know what's my favorite is the mezcal. Like, the smoky one. But I probably do that, like, once every two weeks. Not terribly often.

Will Bogle (53:39)

Okay.

Anne Bogle (53:39)

But, yes, I love a good beverage to go with my drinks. Sometimes I'll, like, line them up. Sometimes I'll have my spin drift and a glass of water. Something beside. Because I don't want to get up. I want to read my book. I was just reading how sitting to watch a show for an hour at a time is not as good for you as people who don't sit for an hour at a time to watch tv. And I was thinking you're talking about tv, but the. Probably the implications are the same for sitting and reading my book. Or not. I'm just going to pretend not.

Will Bogle (54:11)

Since we're talking about how we work together or whatever. There is a lot of, like, transitions. What do I do next? How do I move forward? Then the answer is just a beverage. Right? Just set the scene right. Like, whatever time of day it is. Like, it is time for coffee. It is time for Diet Coke. It's like, I need to sit down with my beverage.

Anne Bogle (54:30)

I mean, like, so many people who work. I was going to say from home, but probably who work at a desk anywhere. I know I've been productive when I have, like, three empty glasses, like, around me. Yeah, I can't. I can't work without a beverage. A beverage means business.

Will Bogle (54:43)

A beverage means business. There you go. So, okay, and I have one final question for you. Julie from Bakersfield wants to know, in 10 years, the past 10 years, what are you most proud of?

Anne Bogle (54:56)

Oh, that's such a nice question. Thank you, Julie. Okay. Far and away, more than anything else, the community we've created around books and reading in our spaces. You all are kind and gracious and helpful and delightfully nerdy and enthusiastic and just. I feel. I feel like we all love books a little more than is generally believed to be normal or reasonable. And I think that's why we're good together and good for each other. And also what the show and community and, you know, the people in it have done for people's lives and their reading lives. On a secondary maybe. Well, I don't know if this is concrete exactly, but like, running a business in the wild west of the Internet and the podcasting landscape and rolling with the changes, I hope through all that, we served you, the readers. I. I hope I've been a good boss and just riding the waves I can't control. And also operating out of a firm sense of our Values. Through all that, there's been some hard stuff thrown our way. Hard stuff in the world. Hard stuff in, like, my and my team's personal lives. And I feel like we're doing it, like, in spite of all that. I'm proud of us.

Will Bogle (56:18)

Yeah. Right on the heels of that, I'm proud that we make what we want to make. We. There's probably a lot that goes into that, but we got pitched by a very famous author who someone thought should be on the show or whatever, and we just. We're like, oh, this is amazing. This will be great.

Anne Bogle (56:37)

Right?

Will Bogle (56:37)

But, like, could not agree on what the show, you know, they wanted to show up in a particular way for an interview, and we're like, that's not actually what this show is. And just, just couldn't. Couldn't make it in a way that felt like it was the way we wanted to make it, you know, and just, Just all the way through. I think that's. That's true. So I'm, I'm proud of that because I see a lot of things that are like, hey, just like, you know, take a poll, what the audience wants to hear and then throw it in chat GPT and create a bunch of emails or whatever. I'm just like, what.

Anne Bogle (57:05)

How? We don't roll like that.

Will Bogle (57:08)

We don't roll like that. I think Anne and I, we see stuff like that all the time. For. For 15 years we've seen that. But. But one thing Ann and I have said for, for 15 years is ideas are easy. If you don't have an idea, it's actually having time to sit down and do it well. But the ideas have been easy, and we love coming up with new stuff. That's why Anne's business coach says, don't quit things. You'll just want to do more things. I would also like to throw in. You said the community, the whole community. But I love, I think the friends, the team and friends. And we mentioned Lee coming to our house. You mentioned Mel and Dave, who we met for the first time, like, literally traveling together, you know, Anyway, there's a lot of people that we've gotten to meet along the ways. You've mentioned a couple booksellers that are now friends, you know, so, yeah, I love that.

Anne Bogle (57:55)

And I feel like we're doing something right to have these amazing people, some of whom are in chat, Ginger and Brigid, with us for the long haul. It makes me feel like we must be doing something right if they're excited about doing good work in this space. If y' all are excited about hearing from all of us, it is a mutual admiration society. So good work with good people about good books. Yeah, thank you Julie for the lovely.

Will Bogle (58:23)

Question and thank you and the call.

Anne Bogle (58:25)

To get a little questions.

Will Bogle (58:26)

Yep.

Anne Bogle (58:31)

I am turning back to the chat. Marianne says a life goal is to meet all the MMD team in person. That's a life goal for me. I still haven't met Holly in person whose work I'm grateful for every day. That's true. Holly and Ginger got to meet in Japan, but I wasn't there. Oh, thank you all so much for joining us. Okay, this has been a blast. We'll do it again soon because it's always fun to answer questions and you always have them. Now as we do, we're going to close out the show. Readers, I hope you enjoyed this replay of our Patreon Live event today. For more conversations and gatherings like this, join us at patreon.com whatshouldIreadnext. As always, you will find the full list of titles we discussed today, short though it may be, at what should I readnextpodcast.com please make sure you're following in Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, wherever you like to get your podcasts. If you mark our show as subscribed or following your podcast feed, that sends important data back to the networks and that really helps our show and our team in practical, tangible ways. Thank you so much for taking a moment to check your settings. You can follow our show on Instagram @whatshouldIreadnextleigh runs that account. That's where we share episode quotes, notes on upcoming events like this one, and invitations to Conn. Connect with your fellow readers by reacting and responding to our posts and stories. Sign up for our email list for updates on our latest episode and other important news from what Should I read next HQ, sign up at what should I readnext podcast.com newsletter. Thank you to the people who make the show happen. What Should I Read Next? Is created each week by today's co host and my Executive producer Will Bogle, Media Production Specialist Holly Wilkachevsky, Social Media Manager and Editor Lee Kramer, Community Coordinator Bridget Mistlehorn, Community Manager Shannon Malone, and our whole team at what Should I Read next and modern Mrs. Darcy HQ, plus the audio whizzes at Studio D Podcast Production. Patreon members, thank you so much for joining us for this event. We could not make this podcast without you readers. That's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening and as Reiner Maria Rilke said, ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading. Happy reading, everyone. Happy reading.