Boss My TBR + Finding Your Reading Sanity (S8E42)

The Currently Reading Podcast

Meredith Schwartz

Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode of The Currently Reading Podcast is a great place to jump in if you love honest book recommendations and spoiler-free bookish conversation.

Meredith and Kaytee help two listeners take control of their overflowing TBR piles with personalized picks. They also get into everything they have been reading lately, from literary fiction like Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar to the cozy fantasy of T. Kingfisher, and they talk honestly about how to keep your reading life calm instead of overwhelming.

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing:

Bookish Moments: needing some reading sanity and two Kindles?
Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately
Deep Dive: Kaytee and Meredith boss some listeners' TBRs
Before We Go: our new segment featuring a bookish friend post and Meredith brings a book she may DNF

Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site).

1:23 - Bookish Moments of the Week

3:16 - The Reimagining of Thornwood House by Jaleigh Johnson (pre-order, releases June 9, 2026)

5:56 - Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

10:53 - Current Reads

11:14 - The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan (Meredith)

17:03 - The Better Mother by Jennifer van der Kleut (Kaytee)

21:30 - Strangers by Belle Berden (Meredith)

24:06 - Awake by Jen Hatmaker

28:49 - Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher (Kaytee)

29:36 - A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher

32:40 - What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

32:41 - Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

32:42 - Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

34:56 - The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan (Meredith)

36:42 - An Unlikely Story

38:25 - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanne Clarke

39:26 - The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

40:13 - Isola by Allegra Goodman (Kaytee)

45:35 - Deep Dive: Boss My TBR

From Carrie:

47:19 - Lady Tremine by Rachel Hochhauser

47:20 - How to Kill A Guy In Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson

47:24 - Five by Ilona Bannister

47:27 - Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire

47:57 - romance.io

48:02 - This Summer will be Different by Carley Fortune

50:38 - Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

From Gianna:

52:26 - The Boomerang by Robert Bailey

52:28 - Down with the Shipmans by Meg Mitchell Moore

52:31 - For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

52:34 - Good People by Patmeena Sabit

52:37 - Lady Tremine by Rachel Hochhauser

57:23 - Before We Go

Kaytee highlights a bookish friend post

Meredith brings a book she might DNF and why

59:43 - Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zang by Kylie Lee Baker

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Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey readers, welcome to the currently reading podcast. We are bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we've read recently, and as you know, we won't shy away from having strong opinions.
0:23.5	So get ready.
0:24.8	We are light on the chit-chat, heavy on the book talk, and our conversations will always be spoiler-free.
0:30.0	Today we'll discuss our current reads, a readerly deep dive, and a little something bookish before we go.
0:35.2	I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz.
0:36.5	I'm both a mom and a Mimi and a full-time
0:39.2	CEO living in Austin, Texas. And as much as I love to read about murder and mayhem, sometimes I need
0:45.9	kindness and camomile. And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mama for living in Arizona, and I've
0:52.1	found myself in a readerly pickle. This is episode number 42
0:55.9	of season eight, and we are so glad you're here. A readerly pickle? That sounds not good.
1:02.2	Well, I do like pickles, but not in this case, so I'm going to need some advice today,
1:06.5	Meredith, and that's why we're here. All right, we'll do it. First I'll let everybody know that our deep dive today, we have a new crop of victims. We will be bossing some TBRs for our deep dive today, which always delights us. We love getting a little bossy around here. But first we'll get started the way we always do with our bookish moments. Meredith, what have you got? All right. Katie, I, the story of
1:28.5	26, I know I should have said this in the show we did last week, but upon further reflection,
1:34.1	the store of 2026, my reading this year is fits and starts. Okay. I will have like five
1:41.5	books in a row that are four and a half and five star reads back to back to back
1:46.0	to back to back where I'm just in an amazing flow. I'm like, I will never have a reading slump
1:49.8	again. I have conquered all slumped. Don't say that ever. And then I will just kerthump. I will
1:57.9	hit and I have had the hardest time figuring out what I want to read.
2:04.8	And part of it, too, is that I, last, in the last week, I picked up a bunch of books back
2:10.6	to back to back, but they were all really dark.
2:15.7	Horror, murder.
2:18.1	They were just like really, really, really dark.
	...

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