Ep. 101: Fall 2021 Circle Back with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2021
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the Fall 2021 Book Preview (Ep. 93), Catherine and I shared our most anticipated books that were coming out August – December 2021. Today, we're updating you on the books we shared in the Fall Preview…now that we've had the chance to read — or at least attempt them. Many Fall books lean more literary, which hasn't been working well for me lately, and overall, the Fall 2021 books didn't turn out quite how we'd hoped.
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Announcement
- My 2022 Rock Your Reading Tracker is now available for $14.99 or FREE if you're a Superstars Patron. The tracker also got a big upgrade for 2022!
Highlights
- Sarah's and Catherine's Fall 2021 reading stats and success rates.
- Sarah talks about getting in tune with her shifting reading tastes, rather than attempting to read they way she did 2 years ago.
- Sarah's and Catherine's highs and the lows.
- Our Best and Worst picks from the Fall 2021 Book Preview episode.
Fall 2021 Books Read Before the Preview Episode [6:05]
Sarah's Picks:
- Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight (September 7) | Buy from Amazon
| Buy from Bookshop.org [6:10]
Catherine's Picks:
- Once There Were Wolves
by Charlotte McConaghy (August 3) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [6:38]
Fall 2021 Circle Back [7:43]
August
Catherine's Picks:
- The Women of Troy
by Pat Barker (August 24) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org
- The Guide
September
Sarah's Picks:
- Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney (September 7) | Buy from Amazon
- L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon (September 7) | Buy from Amazon
Catherine's Picks:
- Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang (September 7) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [25:00]
- Unbound by Tarana Burke (September 14) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [31:19]
- Em by Kim Thuy (September 28) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [37:35]
October
Sarah's Picks:
- We Are Not Like Them by Jo Piazza and Christine Pride (October 5) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org
- My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (October 5) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [27:57]
- No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield (October 12) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [34:01]
- Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (October 19) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [39:14]
Catherine's Picks:
- Fight Night by Miriam Toews (October 5) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [41:50]
- The Book of Mother by Violane Huisman (October 19) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [47:54]
November
Sarah's Picks:
- O Beautiful by Jung Yun (November 9) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org
Other Books Mentioned
- The Silence of the Girls
- The River
- Descent
- The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard [35:11]
- My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout [39:42]
- Shelter by Jung Yun [45:02]
About Catherine Gilmore
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Catherine started The Gilmore Guide to Books over six years ago after wrapping up a career as a corporate librarian. She loves books and reading (surprise!) and currently lives in Ann Arbor, MI.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm talking with one bookish guest about two old books they |
| 0:12.8 | love, two new books they love, one book they don't love, and one new release they're excited about. |
| 0:18.9 | We're going to get real and sometimes a bit snarky about |
| 0:22.1 | all things books. If you like the show, I'd really love your support. Spread the word to your |
| 0:27.3 | reader friends. Subscribe to the show. Rate and review it wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's get rolling. |
| 0:34.4 | Hey everyone. Welcome to the fall 2021 circleback episode, which is an extension of our |
| 0:41.0 | quarterly book previews. Catherine from Gilmore Guide to Books is joining me. And you all know for |
| 0:47.0 | the quarterly book previews that Catherine and I have generally not read the majority of the books |
| 0:51.8 | that we share. So today, Catherine and I are circling back to |
| 0:55.6 | share our thoughts on the books we shared in the preview now that we've actually had a chance |
| 0:59.8 | to at least attempt to read them. Welcome, Catherine. Attempt is the right word. Thank you. I'm happy |
| 1:06.5 | to be back, but it's going to be an interesting episode. It is the right word for today. |
| 1:13.2 | All right, Catherine, tell me about how your books are going to be today. Bipolar. |
| 1:20.1 | Either going to be high or, uh-uh. Look, at least you have some highs. I was going to say, |
| 1:26.5 | what are you going to be? |
| 1:28.1 | Debbie Downer. |
| 1:35.1 | I have a couple bright spots, but like some of my successes, I would say, are barely successful. |
| 1:37.5 | Okay, so nothing rave. |
| 1:41.8 | I have two that I'm very positive about. |
| 1:43.0 | Okay, well, I'm sorry. |
| 1:45.7 | I'm making you jump ahead, so. But that's two out of eight. |
| 1:51.8 | That's not good. A couple housekeeping things really quickly. First of all, this will be our last episode of 2021. I will take a couple weeks off for the holidays and we'll be back on January 12th |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sarah Dickinson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Sarah Dickinson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.